Kiefer asserts himself with Sports Mod victory at Speedway
BY MIKE GRIFFITH The Bakersfield Californian mgriffith@bakersfield.com
Levi Kiefer is making a statement in the Sport Mod division at Bakersfield Speedway.
Kiefer took the lead from Rick Childress Jr. on the 19th lap on Saturday night and went on to victory in the 25-lap feature.
It was the third straight win for Kiefer, who missed the first two races of the season.
Childress, who won on Friday night in Hanford, finished second.
“Usually Ricky is really tough when he gets out front,” Kiefer said. “I didn’t want to see him get out front before me.”
Childress took the lead on the sixth lap and Keifer moved to second on Lap 12.
“Ricky was fast, I knew I had to find a way to get around him,” said Kiefer, who did just that by diving low in turns three and four on the 19th lap.
Childress was left still looking for his first win of the season on his home track.
“The track started getting a lot rougher (up high) and I started to hit those holes and make mistakes,” he said. “You can’t make mistakes here and win.”
Nick Sylvester finished third followed by Kevin Johnson and Tina Pounds.
Tony Toste was the class of a small Late Model field, setting fast time in qualifying, winning his heat race, the trophy dash and the main event.
He did it all with ease, finishing things off by winning the 30-lap feature by nearly a half lap.
“I was just trying to stay focused and hit my mark and not make any mistakes,” Toste said. “I was here two weeks ago, led 22 laps, made a mistake, and finished second.
“It was a little bumpy in some places, but I was able to find a way around them. All in all, not a bad night.”
Ron Bartels finished second followed by Larry Childress, Cody Laney and Rob Sanders.
Only seven cars were in the pits and six started the feature.
Bartels was driving the car normally driven by his son, Nick.
“Nick’s got a baby boy on the way any day now and this was a lot of fun,” Bartels said.
Tina Bell knew her car was sending out plumes of smoke a few laps into the Mini Stock main event but she wasn’t worried.
“Brady (her husband) was telling me to go to the pits but I knew it was just the dipsticks,” She said, noting that so much crankcase pressure was building up that it pushed the dipstick out, allowing oil to spill out onto hot part, thus creating the smoke.
So Bell did the prudent thing: she stayed on the track and race to victory for the fourth time in five races.
Bell started the 14-car feature 11th and roared into the lead on the fifth lap, about the time her car started smoking.
Doug Shepherd, who won last time out and started 10th, moved into second midway through the 20-lapper and applied lots of pressure over the final five laps but came up a car length short at the finish line.
“I knew he was there,” Bell said of Shepherd.
