Championships decided at Speedway

BY MIKE GRIFFITH  mgriffith@bakersfield.com    The wins weren’t there this season for Brad Pounds but the consistency was and that lead to another IMCA Modified track championship at Bakersfield Speedway.

Pounds had the championship locked up by taking the green flag on Saturday night then went on to finish fourth. It was his 12th top-five finish in 18 races, more than any other driver.

Pounds had one win this season as there were 11 different winners.

By many accounts it was a solid season but for a driver used to winning multiple races each season, the disappointment was evident in his voice as he said a new car he built over the offseason with his dad, Scott Pounds, just wasn’t up to past standards.

“It feels good,” he said of his third championship in five years. “We had a good battle with Robby (Sawyer) the last few races I’m glad I came out on top.”

Pounds drove a car owned by Jay Marks on Saturday and will be in that car for the Bud Nationals in a couple of weeks.

Kyle Heckman took the lead midway through the 25-lap race and went on to his fourth win of the season. Ethan Dotson gave chase to Heckman late in the race but wound up a couple of car lengths back. Bryan Clark, who lead early, finished third.

Nick Spainhoward played it safe in the Sports Mod race and came away with his first track championship.

Spainhoward actually had the title secure at the drop of the green flag but did not take any chances as he cautiously moved from his 10th starting position to a sixth-place finish.

“I lucked out earlier and this season and had some really good finishes under my belt,” said Spainhoward, who had 13 top-fives in 17 outings. “I couldn’t have done it without my dad and Terry Henry, he put a good car under me.”

While Spainhoward was driving to a championship, Ricky Childress Jr. was driving to his fifth win of the season.

Childress took the lead 19th laps into the 25-lapper and pulled away for the win.

It was a great battle for second with Gary Dutton taking that spot over Billy Simkins in a near dead-heat at the flag.

Porterville’s Kevin Collier capped off a dominating Hobby Stock season with a second-place and and championship.

Collier won the first race of the season and never lost the point lead. He had seven wins in the first 10 races and he needed that cushion as a broken transmission kept him out of the 11th race and a mechanical problem left him dead last in race No. 14.

Those finishes allowed Bakersfield’s Robert Lawler to close the gap and make it battle but Collier finished ahead of Lawler in the final six races.

“This is awesome,” Collier said. “I really wanted this bad this year. I took 14 years off then came back to do this. This is awesome.”

Mike Hill Jr. took the lead early in the 25-lap race and powered away to his first win of the season. Lawler was third.

Bobby Michnovich won a caution-plagued 30-lap California Lightning Sprint race.