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Oildale, CA....July 26.....When no B
Main was required on Saturday night, Bakersfield Speedway Park officials elected
to rip up the 1/3 mile clay oval and that action provided the high line that Tom
Stansberry needed to race from 15th starting to a $1000 win in the 30 lap VRA
Unwinged 360 Sprint Car feature Saturday night. The win was a third straight for
the Bakersfield resident as he won the last two weeks at Ventura Raceway.
Stansberry broke into the top five on lap 9 and was leading by lap 13. Former
Ventura champion Kevin Kierce ran a $750 second and Ryan Devitt had a season
best $500 third. Luis Espinoza was a disqualified from a 4th place run when he
didn't go to tech. Chris Wakim ran 8th to take a 150 point lead over Rob
Kershaw. Stansberry continues to close on the point leaders as he is only 635
points back following the three straight wins. Teenager Brad Pounds was chasing
a fourth straight win for the second time in 2003 and he was successful this
time as he paced the final 16 laps of the time shortened 22 lap feature. A seven
time winner with his Xtreme Chassis, the fourth ranked Pounds is now just 4
points out of second in the track title fight, 25 back of rookie point leader
Larry Hood. It was another high mileage weekend for L Hood as he ran fourth in
Winnemucca NV on Friday night. Gary Dutton ran second ahead of impressive raw
rookie Cory Turner. Lloyd Reed used an outside run around former track champion
Steve Noland to win the 25 lap super street stock main. Teammate Lonnie Welch
ran second ahead of S Noland. Welch moved into a tie for the point lead with
Darrell Hood, the father of L Hood. With his second win, Reed is now just 2
points back of the co-point leaders.
The VRA Unwinged
360 Sprint Cars brought a 22 car turnout to the 1/3 mile clay oval. Clark
Templeman III broke in hot laps. Wakim won heat 1 from third starting as pole
starter Bobby Davis Jr placed second ahead of incoming point leader Kershaw.
Espinoza won heat 2 from an outside front row start with third starter Kyle
Hancock second ahead of Jonathan Logan. Pole starter Jayson May from Taft won
heat 3 with Blake Miller second of Bakersfield's own Rick Gifford. The track
prep work prior to the 30 lap feature smoothed out the dry slick surface and
allowed for an extreme outside line that was competitive with the extreme bottom
line. Davis Jr and Hancock shared the front row ahead of Miller and May. Wakim
started 6th, Kershaw 8th, Kierce 10th and Stansberry 15th after a fifth place
heat run. Hancock paced the first 12 laps. Mike Knopf stalled with a flat tire
for a lap 2 yellow. May made a bid to take the lead from Hancock only to spin
for a lap 4 caution. Wakim was now second ahead of Miller and former late model
star Gifford. Gifford grabbed third from Miller on lap 6 and made an outside run
at Wakim. Wakim forced Gifford high on the track and Gifford contacted the wall
and got rearended by Miller. Mark Deskovich spun for a lap 8 yellow with Kierce
up to fourth. A strong move on the restart netted Kierce second and Stansberry
broke into the top five in fourth. Stansberry took third from Wakim on lap 10
and he passed Kierce for 2nd on lap 12. The former dwarf car racer Stansberry
then used an inside line to take the lead from Hancock on lap 13. Miller
shuffled Wakim back to fifth and Kierce grabbed second from Hancock on lap 16.
Will Perkins pitted. Devitt made a late charge as he passed Espinoza for fifth
on lap 23, grabbed fourth from Miller on lap 24 and gained third when Hancock
slowed on lap 28. Stansberry paced the final 18 laps for the win with Kierce
second ahead of Devitt. Espinoza's failure to report to tech disqualified him
with Miller gaining fourth ahead of VRA Senior Sprint point leader Ron Bach, Ron
DiDonato, Deskovich and Wakim. Kershaw ran 11th behind Jeremy Ellertson and
Hancock. The next four dates for the VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars are at Perris
Auto Speedway as they don't return to their Ventura home track until Sept 13th.
The IMCA
Modifieds had a 19 car turnout. Outside front row starter Mike Hood won the dash
over Cory Turner. Defending champion Rick Childress won heat 1 from fifth with
Pounds second. Mike Scott won heat 2 from 4th as last starter L Hood ran
second. Jeff Miller won heat 3 from an outside front row start with M Hood
second. The main event had 17 starters with both Billy Griffin and Mike Corwin
scratching. Outside front row starter Miller paced the first six laps. David
Childress settled into second ahead of M Hood. Pounds started 7th, was fourth in
two laps and took third from M Hood on lap 5. R Childress pitted his smoking
mount and leader Miller pitted on lap 7. Pounds gained the top spot with M Hood
taking second from D Childress on lap 8. Dutton used an inside pass to take
third on lap 11 and D Childress got tangled up with Brady Bell. Four cautions
fell between lap 17 and lap 20 as M Hood began to smoke and both Steve Morrison
and Bell spun. The seven cautions had eaten up the event time limit and Pounds
took the checkered flag on lap 22 ahead of Dutton, Turner, L Hood, Buck Cox,
Robert Sanders, Scott, Tommy Gregory, Marvin Leist and Jimmy Goldsmith. Turner
has the former Eric Jacobsen Carr Chassis. L Hood paces the rookie of the year
standings for the Western Region and has a 21 point lead over Dutton in the
Bakersfield title fight. R Childress is now 2 points back of Dutton and 2 ahead
of Pounds.
The Super Street
Stocks had a 11 car field. Reed won the dash from third starting with fellow
back row starter Randy Schweitzer second. Welch came from 4th to win heat 1 with
Santa Maria Speedway regular Kenny Kirkpatrick second from fifth starting.
Darrell Hood won heat 2 from 4th with fellow second row starter Reed second.
John Romero and Tim Bewley shared the front row for the 25 lap main with S
Noland and Bill Little in row 2. Welch and Reed shared row 4 with Hood starting
10th. Romero paced the opening lap before S Noland took over. Reed was fourth in
two laps and he leaped to second on lap 3. Bewley got by Romero for third before
debris forced a lap 4 caution. Kirkpatrick raced to fourth on lap 7 and Keith
Heaslet had a flat. After chasing S Noland for 14 laps, Reed used a high line
pass to take the lead on lap 17. At the same time, Welch passed Kirkpatrick for
4th. Welch passed Bewley and S Noland for second by lap 21. Little spun for a
lap 21 yellow and Romero pitted. D Hood made an outside line run over the
closing four rounds as rim riders Reed and Welch ran 1-2 ahead of S Noland. D
Hood climbed to fourth with Kirkpatrick fifth over Bewley and Little. Hood and
Welch came out of the race tied for the point lead, 2 ahead of Reed and 26 in
front of Dave Bauer.
Summary
Super Street Stocks
Dash-Lloyd Reed, Randy Schweitzer, Tim Bewley.
Heat 1-Lonnie Welch, Kenny Kirkpatrick, John Rmoero, Steve Noland, Bill
Little.
Heat 2-Darrell Hood, Reed, Keith Heaslet, Bewley, Schweitzer.
Main-Reed, Welch, Noland, Hood, Kirkpatrick, Bewley, Little, Dave Bauer, Romero,
Schweitzer, Heaslet.
IMCA Modifieds
Dash-Mike Hood, Cory Turner, Robert Sanders.
Heat 1-Rick Childress, Brad Pounds, Sanders, David Childress, Marvin Leist.
Heat 2-Mike Scott, Larry Hood, Gary Dutton, Brady Bell, Steve Morrison.
Heat 3-Jeff Miller, M Hood, Turner, Chett Reeves, Buck Cox.
Main-Pounds, Dutton, Turner, L Hood, Cox, Sanders, Scott, Tommy Gregory, Leist,
Jimmy Goldsmith, Bell, Morrison, Reeves, M Hood, D Childress, Miller, R
Childress.
VRA Unwinged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat 1-Chris Wakim, Bobby Davis Jr, Rob Kershaw, Ryan Devitt, Ron Bach.
Heat 2-Luis Espinoza, Kyle Hancock, Jonathan Logan, Kevin Kierce, Mike
Knopf.
Heat 3-Jayson May, Blake Miller, Rick Gifford, Alex Pruett, Tom Stansberry.
Main-Stansberry, Kierce, Devitt, Miller, Bach, Ron DiDonato, Wakim, Jeremy
Ellertson, Hancock, Kershaw, Pruett, Jonas Reynolds, Logan, May, Matt Day,
Davis, Will Perkins, Gifford, Knopf.
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