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| LATE RACE ACTION DETERMINES
ALL THREE HANFORD WINNERS by Gary Jacob |
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Bandit Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds and Hot Stocks |
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Hanford, CA -March 25, 2000--When fast timer and race
leader A J Burgin missed the line on a lap 25 restart and bounced
through a rut, Jerome Warmerdam was there to take advantage and he
blasted past to win the 30 lap main event for the Bandit unwinged 360
sprint cars Saturday night at Kings Speedway. Mike Johnson from Clovis
was in the right spot when race leader Charles Paul from Porterville
pitted with overheating woes with less than two laps to run in the 25
lap IMCA Modified main event. Johnson drives a Larkins Chassis and was
the 1998 Kings Speedway track champion. Another 1998 track champion
Joaquin Contente also pulled off his winning pass with just two laps
to run as he won the 20 lap Hot Stock main event with his late move
around Dave Bush.
The Bandit sprint cars drew a 17 car field and Burgin's fast time effort on the 3/8 mile clay oval 16.103. The field was split into three heats with Gene Manhire outrunning Burgin in the first. Defending Bandit series champion Jarrett Chaney edged newcomer Jason Yount in heat 2 and Matt Day was the third heat winner ahead of Warmerdam. Their 30 lap main was red flagged on the very first lap when opening night winner Manhire saw a chance to pass up high in turn 4. He hooked a rut and did a series of snap rolls to rip the entire front end from his mount. He was unhurt and Brian Schuler led the first 5 laps before Day took over. Burgin passed Day on lap 12 and Warmerdam followed him into second. Burgin had lost his power steering on lap 10 and had a fluid leak dumping hot oil on his racing shoes. Warmerdam used lapped traffic to take the lead from Burgin on lap 24 only to have a yellow flag for a stalled Chaney nullify that lap. Burgin missed the line on the restart and hooked a rut to allow Warmerdam to race by for the lead and eventual win. Burgin settled for second and Day ended a big night with a third ahead of Greg Porte, Schuler, Brad Evett, Larry Dietz and Warren Dorathy. The IMCA Modifieds had 24 cars racing with Johnson the only driver trying to double having run the day show that afternoon in Chowchilla. Defending Kings champion Jimmy Reeves started his day at Chowchilla, but left after a last place heat finish while Johnson stayed to the run the main where he crashed leading and finished fifth. Since this was the first IMCA Modified race for 2000 at the track, the heats were a draw format and Reeves beat Steve Smothermon in heat 1. Richard Vandersteen and visitor Bill Saltzman ran 1-2 in heat 2 and Chad Patterson edged out Johnson in heat 3. The top 12 from the heat action redrew for their order at the front of the pack and Johnson started 6th. He quickly broke into third behind leader Paul and Smothermon. The great duel between Smothermon and Johnson saw Johnson gain second when Smothermon got trapped behind a slower car on lap 16. Smothermon and Tom Bowser were dueling for third when they crashed with a slower car to force a lap 21 yellow. Johnson appeared to have nothing for leader Paul, who was the Thunderstock champion in Tulare in 1999, but Paul's tough luck season continued as he overheated and pulled off the track before the white flag. Johnson raced into the lead and won easily over Patterson, Vandersteen and rookie Gary Dutton. Eddie Stewart was fifth ahead of another Bakersfield regular Wayne Coffman. Reeves dropped out of the main event while running fifth. The Hot Stocks had 20 cars included usual Bakersfield Speedway regulars Brady Bell and Keith Heaslet. Heat winners were Rich Denman, defending co track champion Claudine Contente and Bush. Bell led early in the feature, but failed to finish and Joaquin Contente, Bush and C Contente all dueled for the victory. Joaquin Contente used lapped traffic to aid his move around Bush with just two laps left in the 20 lapper. Bush ran second ahead of C Contente, Rick Tarr, Shawn Fromme, Aaron Revious, Denman and Hurt, the other co-champion from 2000. Heaslet, the surprise winner at Bakersfield the previous weekend, was 10th. Summary Hot Stock Heat 1-Rich Denman, Brady Bell, Joaquin Contente. Heat 2-Claudine Contente, Ron Hurt, Richard Yarborough. Heat 3-Dave Bush, Rick Tarr, Brian Burnes. Main-Joaquin Contente, Bush, C Contente, Tarr, Shawn Fromme, Aaron Revious, Denman, Hurt, Craig Fromme, Keith Heaslet, Ken Noland, Scott Williams, J T Contente, Joey Salazar, Bell, Bryan Hughes, Jim Harris, Yarborough, Roy Hart Jr, Jay Jones. IMCA Modified Heat 1-Jimmy Reeves, Steve Smothermon, Tom Stidham. Heat 2-Richard Vandersteen, Bill Saltzman, Lonnie Lacy Jr. Heat 3-Chad Patterson, Mike Johnson, Wayne Coffman. Main-Johnson, Patterson, Vandersteen, Gary Dutton, Eddie Stewart, Coffman, Gary Pugh, Lacy, Charles Paul, Harris Goodkind, Smothermon, Tom Bowser, Arthur Devult, Shane Schaben, Saltzman, Joe Chapman, Gerard Felipe, Ed Nichols, Reeves, Stidham, Rex Porterfield, Jeff Heusdens, A J Wright, Gerald Russell. Bandit Sprint Car Fast Time-A J Burgin 16.103 Heat 1-Gene Manhire, Burgin, Greg Porte. Heat 2-Jarrett Chaney, Jason Yount, Warren Dorathy. Heat 3-Matt Day, Jerome Warmerdam, Brian Schuler. Main-Warmerdam, Burgin, Day, Porte, Schuler, Brad Evett, Larry Dietz, Dorathy, Yount, Keith Silva, Josh Davis, Chaney, Dave Knott, Jimmy Phelan, Manhire, Jim Thomson, Wayne Marcum. |
