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Oildale, CA....July 19.......Battling back to retake the lead after Brent Sexton had passed him on lap 18, Keith Janca won the 20 lap main event Saturday night as the California Lightning Sprints ran wingless at Bakersfield Speedway Park. Outside front row starter Janca paced the first 17 laps only to see B Sexton made a high line work to take the lead on lap 18. Janca stayed committed to the bottom and retook the lead on lap 19. Janca won ahead of B Sexton and David Cardey with Jonny Bates losing his fourth place finish when he was penalized two spots for a jump start on the lap 17 green flag.
The 24 car turnout included a few Northern California visiting cars. Bates won the first heat from sixth starting as outside front row starter Paul Townsend ran second. Visitor Cameron Beard was third. Janca showed his strength by also coming from the sixth starting spot to capture heat 2 as pole starter Steve Barnette ran second. Cardey came from 7th to place third. Ernie Bartley won heat 3 from the pole with sixth starter B Sexton second ahead of front row starter Dale Gamer. The top five in each heat transferred and a B Main was run to determine the final 5 transfers. Pat Hickey led the first five laps of the 7 car race, but lost the lead to rookie Danny Hyde on lap 6 as rain began to fall. Former Route 66 Raceway stock car racer Robert Early ran third ahead of newcomer Brad Russell and visitor Bill Hopper.
The lineup for the 20 lap main event had Bates and Janca in the front row. B Sexton started 6th and Cardey lined up 8th. Janca took a quick lead over Bates with Cardey flying on that opening lap as he climbed from 8th to 3rd. Cardey took second from Bates on lap 3 with B Sexton in fourth ahead of Townsend. Gary Sexton raced into fifth just before Lonnie Lopez flipped for a red flag. Bates used an inside line to regain second from Cardey on lap 7. G Sexton took fourth from B Sexton before a problem for Jesse Dean forced a lap 9 yellow flag. B Sexton leaped back to third on this green flag with Cardey shuffled back to fifth. B Sexton, G Sexton and Cardey all passed Bates for the 2-3-4 slots on lap 13 and Cardey was back to third on lap 14. The final caution on lap 16 found Janca leading B Sexton, Cardey, Bartley and Bates. Janca stuck with the low line on this restart with B Sexton trying an extreme outside line. The new line netted B Sexton the lead on lap 18, but Janca remained committed to the bottom and he was rewarded as he retook the top spot on lap 19. Janca won ahead of B Sexton and Cardey. Bates crossed the line 4th, but got penalized back to sixth for his jump start. That gave Bartley fourth ahead of G Sexton, Bates, Beard, S Barnette and Donny Gansen. In just his third main event start, Russell got the hard charger award for coming from 19th starting to 11th. Janca had begun the night just a single point behind 9 feature winner Cardey in the series title fight. This was Janca’s third win and B Sexton has the other four feature wins on the busy schedule.
The series will again race wingless at Barona on July 26 and then put the wings back on for August dates at Perris and Bakersfield.
Summary
Heat 1-Jonny Bates, Paul Townsend, Cameron Beard, Gary Sexton, Donny Gansen.
Heat 2-Keith Janca, Steve Barnette, David Cardey, Lonnie Lopez, Kip McCleary.
Heat 3-Ernie Bartley, Brent Sexton, Dale Gamer, Jesse Dean, Jim Henderson.
B Main-Danny Hyde, Pat Hickey, Robert Early, Brad Russell, Bill Hopper, Kirk Jackson, Dylan Morris.
A Main-Janca, B Sexton, Cardey, Bartley, G Sexton, Bates, Beard, S Barnette, Gansen, Henderson, Russell, Hickey, Gamer, Early, Hyde, McCleary, Dean, Townsend, Hopper, Lopez.
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