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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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GRAND SLAM 2008-ROUND TWO, 6. 28. 08 by Norm Bogan |
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Bakersfield Speedway hosted the second contest
of the All-Star meeting for traditional 360 sprint car racers.
Closing out a week of temperatures over the century mark, a
slight cooling trend in the weather made for a pleasant shirtsleeve
evening for the fans. On
the track though, there was no cooling trend as the action was fast
and furious all night. Forty-one
sprint cars signed in along with fifteen IMCA Modifieds running as a
companion class. The Modifieds ran two heat races with all
contestants transferring to the 25-lap feature.
The sprints ran five heats with the top three in each heat
transferring directly to the “A” Main.
They would also run two “B” Main events for the
non-transfer cars with the top four in each semi moving into the
evening’s feature. Chris Wakim, Justyne Hamblin, Albert Pombo,
Clark Templeman III and Troy Rutherford claimed the Sprint Car
heats. The two Modified heats were captured by Brad Pounds and Chris
McKellar. In the third Sprint heat, Alex Schutte jumped
out in front and ran away from the field running up top until he
hopped the cushion in turn four, laid the right rear against the
wall and flipped. The
other sprint heats were closely contested.
The Modifieds presented the fans with some very competitive
racing throughout the fields of both heats. The two Sprint Car fifteen-lap “B” Main
events had fields of thirteen cars each scheduled to vie for the top
four spots. The team
cars of Rick Hendrix and Mike Spencer secured the first two
positions in the first semi. The
other two transferring were Josh Ford and Brandon Thomson, who came
from the rear by rim riding around the top, but once moving into
fourth, he dropped to the bottom to protect his transfer spot. The second “B” Main had three cars DNS, so
the field of ten fought hard for the top four positions.
Those fortunate enough to move on were Greg Bragg, Davey
Pombo, Tom Stansberry and Rusty Carlile.
Alex Schutte made the necessary repairs to his wrecked car
and returned, putting on a great drive from the back, but a couple
of altercations delayed his moving forward and he settled for a
seventh place finish. The Modified Main Event found local hero, Brad Pounds coming from eighth starting spot and moving into the lead early, but several yellows kept the competition closed up and the best dice of the evening was between the #11 of Gary Dutton and #97 Jay Marks as they ran side by side for the whole race and finished second and third. Now for the highlight of the night as a stellar
field staged for the thirty lap Sprint “A” Main.
Greg Taylor started on the pole and immediately moved into
the lead, extending it at each of the early restarts, while Ojai
neighbor, Troy Rutherford moved along side and eventually decided to
lead for a while, but lurking in the background was probably the
hottest 360 pilot in the West, Peter Murphy.
What made this feature so much fun to view was the number of
drivers that had to come from back in the field and moved to the
front. Peter took the
lead and was challenged soon by Danny Faria; with Davey Pombo
nipping at his heals. As
the checkers fell, Murphy went from 12th to first, Faria
from 13th to second, Davey Pombo from 19th to
third, Troy Rutherford held on for fourth from the fifth starting
spot and Mike Spencer advanced from 20th to fifth. So far, Murphy has claimed the first two Grand
Slam events, plus several Bandit features this season. Kudos to the track preparation crew, who kept
at the racing surface, providing some very exciting competition,
especially with cars advancing from the back of the fields to claim
top finishes. With no
qualifying, starting positions were based on the luck of the draw
and points accumulated during the early competition. The crowd was supplemented by the Chevron
Employees Night, which included some door prizes and the offering of
a free food pass along with admission for each fan entering the
front gates. There was a new Quad raffled off and one of the track staff
workers was the winner. As
he took his new prize for a victory lap, he ran out of gas! All in all, the crowd seemed to savor the day,
which started with the summer heat, but developed into a pleasant
evening and was topped with some outstanding racing.
The consensus was that the field of cars, the ambience of the
facility and the evening’s racing agenda were all winners. Round three of the Grand Slam series will be at Santa Maria Speedway on July 26, 2008. Set aside the date now for a visit to the Central Coast. |
