Santa Maria, CA - May 26, 2002... The 9th Annual Danny Simkins Memorial,
Sunday night at Santa Maria Speedway, featured the CarQuest Western Dirt Late Model Tour, and round 2 of the California Street Stock Championship.

    Local point leader Steve Drake, of San Luis Obispo, continued his domination of the 1/3-mile oval with his third straight feature victory and his first Tour win of the season. Drake started on the outside of the front row and, despite repeated challenges from Mike Johnson, of Clovis, led every one of the 40 laps making up the event. Johnson came home second ahead of Mike Collins, of Terra Bella, who set fast time of 14.732 seconds. Fourth
spot went to Phil Barrow, of Camarillo, and fifth to Scott Pounds of Bakersfield.

    Eight-lap heat race wins were scored by: Richard Papenhausen, Chico; Drake; and Ron Bartels of Hawthorne.

    Round 2 of the California Street Stock Championship was a war of attrition, with only seven of the twenty-two starters able to complete the 30-lap run. Out front was not the place to be. Chad Weber, of Santa Maria, led the first twelve circuits before retiring to the pits with a hole in his oil pan. Next to take up the gauntlet was Rick Wilkinson, of Atascadero, who led the next six laps before being past for the lead by Elton Shaffer of
Santa Maria. Shaffer's lead lasted until five laps from the finish, when a rear axle let go, sending him to the pits. Wilkinson re-assumed the lead and held it to the checkers. Second went to Lonnie Welch, of Bakersfield; third to Joey Silva, of Santa Maria; fourth to John Harville, of Watsonville; and fifth to Doug Hagio of Prunedale.

    Santa Maria's Joey Claborn set fast time of 17.183 seconds and went on to win an 8-lap heat race. Wilkinson and Joe Wilson, of Bakersfield, won the other heats.

    Next Saturday night USAC and Ford Focus Midgets are on-tap, along with J.B. Dewar/Bandit Non-Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Factory Stocks. Admission prices will be: $17.00 for adults, $11.00 for seniors 65 and over, and $3.00 for children 6 to 12.

    Spectator gates, for this initial appearance of the season for the USAC and Ford Focus Midgets, will open at four with racing at seven. The Speedway is located 1/4-mile north of the 101/166 interchange on Hutton Road. Their web site is SantaMariaSpeedway.com.

Race Summaries  

CarQuest Western Dirt Late Model Tour: 

Heat 1 - Richard Papenhausen, Mike Collins, Phil Barrow, Dick Shepherd, Jay Edens, Bill Bartels, Bill Pearson.
Heat 2 - Steve Drake, Mike Johnson, Randy Claborn, John Silva, Pete Van
Iderstine, Craig Gardner, Eric Jacobsen. 
Heat 3 - Ron Bartels, Scott Pounds, Dana Nelson, Bobby Hogge IV, Shawn DeForest, Chet Buckley, Devin Crockett.
Main Event - Drake, Johnson, Collins, Barrow, Pounds, Shepherd, Silva, Nelson, Edens, Gardner, Van Iderstine, Jeffers, B. Bartels, Hogge, R. Bartels, Jacobsen, DeForest, Claborn, Crockett, Buckley, Papenhausen.

California Street Stock Championship: 

Heat 1 - Joey Claborn, Ed Perry, Lonnie Welch, Tom Manzella, Dave Bauer, Jerry Crowley, Tom Stevens, Darrell Hood. 
Heat 2 - Rick Wilkinson, Joey Silva, Kenny Kirkpatrick, John Harville, Robert Mathews, Mark Tull, Charlie Dowdy, Ed Barrett. 
Heat 3 - Joe Wilson, Brady Bell, Elton Shaffer, Chad Weber, Doug Hagio, Erick Karlson, Brian McNamara. 
Main Event - Wilkinson, Welch, Silva, Harville, Hagio, Manzella, Bell, Shaffer, Kirkpatrick, Crowley, Hood, Karlson, Tull, Wilson, Weber, Claborn, Stevens, Mathews, Barrett, Perry, Bauer, McNamara.