Drake powers to Late Model victory Saturday

On a night when getting the lead early paved the way to victory in all the other races at Bakersfield Speedway, Steve Drake was an anomaly.

Drake took the lead 20 laps into the 30-lap Late Model feature and went on to win the final race of the night on the third-mile clay oval.

“The track was racey, just slow,” Drake said of dry/slick track conditions that allowed drivers to run just about anywhere. “You just had to be patient and bide your time.”

Clay Daly started on the front row and used to high groove to take the lead from NIck Bartels on the second lap. Daly quickly opened up a several car-length lead while Bartels found himself in a side-by-side battle with Drake.

“I was in the middle groove, Nick was low and we probably ran side-by-side for 10 laps,” Drake said.

Once Drake broke free from that battle, he slowly started to reel in Daly.

“His car looked to be getting tight and mine was getting looser,” Drake said. “I got a good run on him low in turn four (on the 20th lap) and after that I was just holding on.”

Drake was several car lengths in front when a caution bunched the field but Daly could not make a run at Drake over the final four laps and had to settle for second.

Cody Laney passed Bartels for third on the final lap.

Levi Keifer started on the pole and led all 25 laps for his first Sports Mod feature.

“We’ve been testing the last couple of weeks, we couldn’t get the car to run,” Keifer said. “It was good tonight. Starting up front helped with the competition there is out here.”

Keifer, the third different winner in five races, stayed glued to the bottom throughout the race and was never challenged

“The bottom was good and I wasn’t moving up unless someone passed me,” he said.

Chris McKellar worked his way through the pack to finish second. Jason Nation was third and Wayne Coffman fourth.

Billy Simkins started on the front row and was in a different zip code as he sailed to an easy win in the Pro Stock class.

Simkins simply powered away from the field and was a full straightaway ahead just a few laps into the 25-lapper.

“This is a rebuilt crate motor and they get it on,” said Simkins, who put in the sealed crate motor after blowing his built engine a few weeks ago.

Lee Jensen came from the rear of the field to finish second, a full straight behind. Chris Smith was third.

Andy Boydstun took the lead early in the Mini Stock feature and held on for his first win of the year.

“Once I got out front I just had to run my line and run my race,” Boydstun said.

Shannon Treide came from the rear to finish second with Misty Warren third.

Scott Dobson raced to victory in the 20-lap NMRA Three-Quarter MIdget feature.

Dobson went to the high side of the track following a restart and that proved to be the fast way around him as he sailed into the lead on lap 12 and led the rest of the way. West Evans was second with Bruce Hiroshima third.