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SCOTT DOBSON WINS BAKERSFIELD NMRA-TQ MIDGET 25-LAP MAIN
– By Tim Kennedy
Bakersfield, CA., Apr. 4 – Scott Dobson became the fourth different main event winner Saturday night in the fourth NMRA-TQ point race of the year. The 25-lap race was the second appearance of the season for the TQ-Midget series at the banked, third-mile clay Bakersfield Speedway. Dobson, from Camarillo, climbed from eighth to sixth in point standings and is only 14 points in back of the series point leader. Dobson started first and led the first 16 laps and the final four laps in Guy Barber's No. 18 Rick Stewart chassis with Honda 836cc power. It was the third career NMRA feature victory for the 2006 TQ series rookie of the year. He won his two prior NMRA features at Bakersfield Speedway last year. Earlier this year, during a break in the monster truck event (January 24), Dobson also won NMRA's six-car, non-point exhibition 20-lap race on the dirt covered Angel Stadium infield in Anaheim.
Kenny Wiley, NMRA's 2007 driving champion, started fifth, led laps 17-21 and settled for second. He drove his own newly built WTM/Honda as an owner/driver for the first time. He raced for Paul Lopiccolo from his rookie of the year season in 2002 through 2008. Wiley jumped from third to first in driver points and his new car assumed the point lead by two points (224-222). Anthony Lopiccolo, the NMRA co-rookie of 2008, started second in the 11-car field and finished third. Bruce Hiroshima started and finished fourth. West Evans started sixth and placed fifth. Jimmy Dodson, NMRA's co-rookie of the year in 2008, started seventh and ran all 25 laps. He finished second, but was disqualified and listed last. The first five finishers were weighed after the race and his car was under the 850 pound minimum weight requirement with driver.
Rookie Dakota Schweitzer, 17, Dave Lambert, former point leader Richard Ortega, Jr., rookie Amanda Thomas and three-time NMRA champion Chuck West rounded out the top ten. Schweitzer, from Bakersfield, completed all 25 laps and Lambert logged 24. The other drivers were DNFs. Lopiccolo and Dobson won the pair of eight-lap heat races after starting first. All drivers in the heats ran eight laps. Ortega was disqualified in the first heat. He had a problem after pushing off and pulled to the work area, fixed the problem and returned to his original starting position. NMRA rules require that drivers start at the back in such cases. Ortega did not, so he was disqualified from that heat race.
Wiley now has a two-point lead (212-210) over Evans in driver points. Fifteen drivers and car owners have earned 2009 NMRA points. The next NMRA TQ event will be a return to the banked, third-mile Santa Maria Speedway on Saturday, May 2.
Summary:
Heat 1 – Anthony Lopiccolo, Bruce Hiroshima, West Evans, Amanda Thomas, Dakota Schweitzer. DQ-Richard Ortega, Jr..
Heat 2 – Scott Dobson, Kenny Wiley, Chuck West, Jimmy Dodson, Dave Lambert.
Main – Dobson, Wiley, Lopiccolo, Hiroshima, Evans, Schweitzer, Lambert, Ortega, Thomas, West. DQ-Dodson.
POINT STANDINGS (April 10, 2009)
Drivers Car Owners
1 Kenny Wiley 212 1 No. 96 Kenny Wiley 224
2 West Evans 210 2 No. 36 West Evans 222
3 Bruce Hiroshima 205 3 No. 21 Paul Lopiccolo 216
4 Anthony Lopiccolo 204 4 No. 5 Bruce Hiroshima 215
5 Richard Ortega, Jr. 201 5 No. 8 Richard Ortega, Jr. 213
6 Scott Dobson 198 6 No. 18 Guy Barber 210
7 Chuck West 182 7 No. 38 West Evans 194
8 Dave Lambert 156 8 No. 55 Dave Lambert 169
9 Scott Niven 141 9 No. 66 Scott Niven 150
10 Amanda Thomas ® 137 10 No. 40 Ed Thomas 148
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