Kyle Wood captures McGowan Memorial Hobby Stock main event

By Mike Griffith BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN Six times, the caution flag came out while Chris McKellar was leading the Sports Mod race on Saturday night, but that only slowed his march toward victory lane in the Richie McGowan Memorial race at Bakersfield Speedway.

McKellar clearly had the best car on a dry/slick third-mile clay oval and he easily distanced himself from his competition on each restart en route to his second win of the season. The final caution fell on the 19th lap and he managed to pull out to more than a full straightaway lead by the time the checkered flag fell on the 25-lap feature.

“It’s my first time starting up front and I really liked it,” McKellar said. “We had a fast car tonight. “This race is very important to me. Richie got me started in racing; my first car was at his shop.”

Brylon Holder finished second, followed by Wayne Dotson and Tina Pounds.

Pounds, McGowan’s daughter, gave birth to twin boys three months ago and was making her first start in about a year.

Trevor Baker took the lead with five laps to go and went on his second victory in the 20-lap American Stock feature.

Baker had been dogging leader Dakota Brown for several laps, often driving past lapped cars, before Brown got caught up in a crash, ending his night.

Brown, who led the first 15 laps, had Baker right on his bumper as they entered turn 3 with two slower cars right in front of them. Brown, in the high groove, was slowed and pushed even higher when Brooke Cimental drifted high.

John Rangle was high exiting turn four when he spun to the left and clipped the rear of Cimental’s car. Brown, still high, was going past when Cimental’s car made a hard turn to the right due to the contact. Cimental drove into the wall, collecting Brown in the process.

Baker easily led the rest of the way once the race restarted.

“He was up there on the high side and I saw he was making mistakes every time we were catching traffic,” Baker said. “I just wanted to stay nice and smooth.”

J.R. Garcia was second and Tyler Johnson third.

Robby Sawyer put a cap on the Richie McGowan Memorial race on Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway with an impressive in in the IMCA Modified feature.

Sawyer went from fifth on the starting grid to first on the first lap and never looked back, leading all 25 laps for the win.

A caution with a lap left resulted in a on-lap dash for victory and Sawyer help off a strong bid from Bobby Hogge IV to get his second feature win of the year.

“Richie McGowan was a good friend of mine,” an emotional Sawyer said afterward “If he could help you in any way he would. He was just an awesome individual.”

Hogge, who started in the eighth row, came on strong at the end. He got right to Sawyer’s bumper in turn two on the last lap but Sawyer stayed planted in the low groove.

“I thought I might have something for him but he got a great start and I just held on for second,” Hogge said.

Rick Childress Jr. was second and Alex Sanford third.

Kyle Wood won the 32-lap Hobby Stock feature.

Wood went from third to first on lap 19 when Roger Welch, who was leading, drifted high in turn three and took second-place runner Karl Noland into the wall.

Wood, who was third at that time, too the lead on the restart and held it the rest of the way.

“It feels good,” said Wood, the first repeat winner in the division this year. “We worked pretty much all night getting this car ready ready.”

Eric Cimental was second, Tim Delcid Jr. third, Aaron Stewart fourth and Matt Wankum fifth.