PAS drivers take Round #1
BY JEFF EVANS Californian staff writer jevans@bakersfield.com
Give Perris Speedway drivers Round 1 of the four-race competition against Bakersfield Speedway. Perris points leader Luke Dodd, from Riverside, slipped past fellow Perris racer Lynn White from Colton to win the 30-lap main event. Bakersfield Speedway racer Matt Wankum of Wasco was third. The Hobby Stocks 30-lap main event was the first round of the 1-800 LoanMart Challenge Series between drivers at Perris Auto Speedway and Bakersfield Speedway. White, the pole sitter, went neck-and-neck with Bakersfield’s Steven Johnson and Jimmy Irwin for 23 laps. White got loose out of turn two and Johnson and Irwin pulled even. But Johnson and Irwin sideswiped each other, causing both to spin and bringing out a yellow that sent both to the rear of the pack. Dodd, the Perris points leader, moved into second at that point and worked past White out of turn two of the 28th lap. Dodd comfortably led the rest of the way. It was a rough night for Bakersfield’s top two points leaders. Leader Chad Johnson, who had won the last three Hobby Stock races, left the track on the first lap with an apparent motor problem. Joe Humphrey, who was second in points before Saturday, was rolled up on the concrete wall near the start/finish line of the first semifinal when he tangled with Ralph Cooke, ending his night. The race paid $100 just to start and $1,000 to win. Drivers from Perris received $100 tow money. The semifinal winners were Bryan Harrell from Wilmington and Karl Noland Jr. of Terra Bella. Heat winners were Bakersfield Speedway points leader Chad Johnson (his fifth heat win of the season), Perris points leader Luke Dodd of Riverside, Johnny Malcolm from Colton and Bakersfield’s Jimmy Irwin.
Pole sitter Clay Daly led from the second lap on and coasted to an easy win in the 30-lap Late Model main event. It was Daly’s second victory of the season. He won the May 18 race. Daly and Bakersfield’s Brad Pounds were neck-and-neck for the first third of the race, and Pounds even slipped into the lead briefly at the end of the first lap. But Pounds, whose car looked so explosive the first 10 laps, dropped back after that and Bakersfield’s Larry Childress moved under Pounds and into second place on the 11th lap. By the 16th lap, Daly and Childress had pulled away from the pack, and Daly had a six-car length lead over Childress, who never mounted a serious challenge. Pounds, meanwhile, placed third to hold off several racers. The third- to eighth-place finishers were each no more than one car length apart over the final eight laps. Late model heat winners were Pounds and Dino Napier, who nosed out Mike Johnson at the checkered flag. Tommy Malcolm from Corona won the trophy dash.
In the American Stocks, pole sitter Rich Tillema never relinquished the lead despite being challenged several times by runner-up Tim Martin. It was only the second race of the year for Tillema. Points leader and three-time winner Matt Lewis, who was sent to the back of the pack early in the race after spinning out, steadily worked his way back and placed third. Martin won his third heat race of the season, beating Lewis by a quarter-car length. Don Mead was the other heat winner, also his third heat victory of the season.
In the Senior Mini Dwarfs, for racers ages 9-13, Anthony Balcazar became the first repeat winner in the season’s sixth race. He took the lead in the fourth lap of the 15-lap main event. Gavin Manning was second and Joe Snyder was third. Nicholas Johnson won the 10-lap B main event. Heat winners were Lela Brogdon, Balcazar and Trenton Millard. In the Junior Mini Dwarfs, for racers ages 5-8, Kyleigh Forster won her first main event with her fifth top-five finishes. She easily beat co-points leader Troy Morris III. Forster and Kabe McClenny, the other co-points leader, were heat race winners.
