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Oildale, CA....April 26......After
a six car inversion placed him on the pole, SCRA veteran Mike Kirby wheeled the
Shoemaker car to victory in the 30 lap main event as the VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint
Cars made their first ever Bakersfield Speedway Park visit Saturday night. Kevin
Kierce grabbed second from point leader Mike Knopf on lap 8 and finished there
with Chris Wakim third ahead of Bakersfield's own Tom Stansberry. The fast pace
set by Kirby left just the top ten finishers on the lead lap. Teenaged Brad
Pounds won his third straight IMCA Modified main event and ended the night just
3 points behind Steve Smothermon in the track championship fight. Pounds wheels
an Xtreme Chassis built a new company formed by father Scott Pounds and Terry
Henry. Showing improvement every week in his new D&M Performance mount,
Jason Selvidge ran second ahead of Billy Griffin, who was debuting a new
Xtreme for car owner Ken Hobson. The 20 lap super street stock feature ran
without a caution flag and veteran racer Darrell Hood won from 4th starting. D
Hood took the lead from Steve Cargill on lap 8, but was slowed by a lapped car
on the final lap. Lonnie Welch nearly passed him on that final straight, but
settled for second ahead of Royce Patterson and new Bakersfield resident Billy
Simkins. Lloyd Reed ended the night with a four point lead on Dave Bauer and
just six ahead of Welch.
The VRA shows were
booked when the new track owners broke the previous ties with the Kings Speedway
Bandit series. The 29 car turnout included several Bakersfield based Bandit
competitors and was split into four qualifying heat races. Former dirt late
model racer Rick Gifford won the first heat ahead of third starter Kirby and 8th
starting Wakim. Stansberry took heat 2 from the pole with Ron DiDonato second
ahead of Rob Kershaw. Pole sitter Jake Ford won the third heat with Kierce
edging out Bakersfield car builder Larry Brown for second. High Desert racer
Will Perkins won heat 4 with 4th starter Knopf second ahead of Derrick Hearon.
The top four finishers in each heat advanced and they were joined by the top
four from the 12 lap B Main. Steve Gresham paced the first 3 laps before Ryan
Devitt took over. Matt Day climbed into second on lap 7, but lost that spot to
Steve Conrad on lap 10. Conrad and Day both drove around Devitt on lap 11 and
Conrad won with Day second ahead of Devitt and Blake Miller. Just missing
transfers were Shawn Kautz and Gresham.
The VRA series uses a passing
point system in the heat action and the top six were inverted at the front of
the 20 car A Main grid. That put Kirby and Knopf on the front row ahead of
Perkins, Jake Ford, Stansberry and Gifford. Kirby was untouchable from the green
flag as he leaped to a big lead over Knopf and Jake Ford. Kierce passed
Stansberry for 4th on lap 4 and made another big move on lap 8 when he passed
both Knopf and Jake Ford to climb to second. Hearon spun for the first caution
on lap 12. Recent Route 66 winner John Aden spun fora lap 13 yellow and
Day pitted. Jake Ford grabbed third from Knopf on lap 16 and Wakim broke into
the top five on lap 18. Wakim pushed Knopf back to fifth on lap 20. A lap 21
caution involved Wakim, Hearon and Kershaw. The only red flag fell when third
place Jake Ford crashed hard into the fence and flipped with 8 laps to run. He
was unhurt. On the restart, Wakim inherited third ahead of Stansberry and
Perkins. Ron DiDonato broke into the top five as Brown and Mike Davis tangled.
The final caution came on lap 27 when Clark Templeman III spun. Kirby pulled
away on each green flag to win ahead of Kierce, Wakim, Stansberry, DiDonato,
17th starter Conrad, Perkins, Gifford, Templeman and Brown.
With the Ventura and Hanford tracks
dark, the IMCA Modifieds had a 27 car field split among four heat races. Popular
Kathy Pierson won the dash ahead of pole starter David Childress. Selvidge came
from 4th to win the first heat in front of Pierson. Ventura regular Damon Redman
won heat 2 from the outside front row with Gary Dutton second. Back in his
modified, Mike Corwin won heat 3 from 2nd starting as Pounds came from fifth to
nip former champion Alan Updyke for second. Back row starters Steve Smothermon
and Rick Childress were 1-2 in the 4th heat. Dutton scratched to leave 9
transfer spots in the 12 lap B Main. Jeff Miller, Chris Mendenhall and Kenneth
Cleveland were all trailered before the B Main started. Griffin took the lead
from Jim Deines on lap 5 and won the B Main ahead of J Deines, Larry Hood, Tommy
Gregory and Mike Hood. Pounds' improving point average put him 7th starting in
the 20 car A Main lineup. Ventura's Joe Porche led the first lap before Redman
raced out front. Selvidge was 2nd on lap 3 and Pounds third a lap later. Pounds
waged a side by side duel with Selvidge and Smothermon was an early race spin
victim. Corwin broke a transmission. Pounds pulled ahead of Selvidge and then
took the lead from Redman with an inside pass on lap 7. Selvidge grabbed second
from Redman with Brady Bell, Griffin and D Childress into the top five by lap
12. Debris forced the only caution of the closing laps on lap 15. Bell continued
to make an outside run at second place Selvidge, but he only managed to give up
third to Griffin. Pounds won with Selvidge second ahead of Griffin, Bell, D
Childress, M Hood, L Hood, Updyke and R Childress. Pierson finished 10th and
ended the night 4 points behind second ranked Pounds. She is just two points
ahead of both D Childress and Bell. Even sixth ranked R Childress is only 11
points out of the point lead.
The super street
stocks had a 12 car turnout including hobby stock racer Zach Forster who got
track permission to put on bigger tires so that he could race with relatives in
town. Outside front row starter Dave Bauer won the dash ahead of Simkins. Welch
came from 4th to win the first heat ahead of Bauer with D Hood a spin victim.
Royce Patterson was driver of the week for the Marlon Scruggs car and he won
heat 2 ahead of fellow front row starter Cargill. John Romero broke in hot laps
to end his night. Ed Barrett and Cargill shared the front row for the 20 lap
feature. Cargill took a quick lead over Bill Little and Welch. Hood started 4th,
dropped to fifth on lap 1, was 4th on lap 2 and leaped to 2nd on lap 3. D Hood
took the lead from Cargill on lap 8 and Welch was second a lap later. As the
laps ran down, Patterson took third on lap 15 and Simkins was fourth on lap 17.
On the final lap, D Hood got hung up behind the Forster car and Welch saw an
opening up high. Welch nearly pulled off his winning pass on D Hood before they
got to the checkered flag. Welch settled for 2nd ahead of Patterson, Simkins,
Cargill, point leader Reed and Bauer. Barrett was the final lead lap finisher.
Summary
Super Street Stocks
Dash-Dave Bauer, Billy Simkins, Lloyd Reed.
Heat 1-Lonnie Welch, Bauer, Ed Barrett, Zach Forster, Bill Little.
Heat 2-Royce Patterson, Steve Cargill, Simkins, Reed, Jason McElroy.
Main-Darrell Hood, Welch, Patterson, Simkins, Cargill, Reed, Bauer, Barrett,
Little, Forster, McElroy.
IMCA Modifieds
Dash-Kathy Pierson, David Childress, Alan Updyke.
Heat 1-Jason Selvidge, Pierson, Brady Bell, Jeff Miller, Jim Deines.
Heat 2-Damon Redman, Gary Dutton, David Childress, Tommy Gregory, Lin Deines.
Heat 3-Mike Corwin, Brad Pounds, Updyke, Chris Mendenhall, Jody Davis.
Heat 4-Steve Smothermon, Rick Childress, Joe Porche, Larry Hood, Mike
Hood.
B Main-Billy Griffin, J Deines, L Hood, Gregory, M Hood, Mike Scott, Doug
Thompson, Davis, Chett Reeves, Steve Morrison, Robert Sanders, L Deines.
A Main-Pounds, Selvidge, Griffin, Bell, D Childress, M Hood, L Hood, Updyke, R
Childress, Pierson, Redman, Porche, J Deines, Davis, Scott, Gregory, Reeves,
Corwin, Smothermon, Thompson.
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Rick Gifford, Mike Kirby, Chris Wakim, Bill Welch, Steve Gresham.
Heat 2-Tom Stansberry, Ron DiDonato, Rob Kershaw, John Aden, Kyle
Hancock.
Heat 3-Jake Ford, Kevin Kierce, Larry Brown, Clark Templeman III, Steve Conrad.
Heat 4-Will Perkins, Mike Knopf, Derrick Hearon, Mike Davis, Mark Deskovich.
B Main-Conrad, Matt Day, Ryan Devitt, Blake Miller, Shawn Kautz, Gresham,
Jonas Reynolds, #32, Deskovich, Hancock, Chris Tramel, Joe Henderson.
A Main-Kirby, Kierce, Wakim, Stansberry, DiDonato, Conrad, Perkins, Gifford,
Templeman, Brown, welch, Davis, Miller, Devitt, Ford, Knopf, Kershaw, Hearron,
Aden, Day.
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