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Grant Wins First Turner Memorial Bandit Race at Kings Speedway by Peter "the Pretty Good"
Justin Grant won the Turner Memorial Bandit Series race at Kings in his second ever sprint car race. Young Grant drove a stout race and held off a Shark powered Peter Murphy who tasted blood in the frenzied green, white, checkered finish. The midget standout from up Sacramento way drove a clean and smart race in only his second ever start in a sprint car by starting fifth and moving forward from the get go putting himself in position to take full advantage from an unexpected gift from a fellow rookie. Grant's big night included earning the iTi Performance Motorsports feature winner award and also the BR Motorsports Rookie-of-the-Race award.
The feature was dominated by front row starter Richard VanderWeerd whose biggest challenge came from pole-sitter Davey Knott for the first couple of laps. VanderWeerd seemed to have things well within in sight up to when the white flag was waved, contently running his own race unconcerned about the elbows-up dog fights to his flank. Then everything went sideways in a hurry when the speedy rookie slid into turn one. Richard missed his narrow patch of turn one stickiness and got loose and in a long, almost graceful slide to turn two followed by two quick 360's in front of a zigging and zagging procession of racers whose reactions were faster than the skids that remained in their shorts. With nobody parked at the doughnut shop, VanderWeerd's valiant attempt to save his night was followed by a flustered attempt at getting the car moving down the back straight. Richard unfortunately slid into the back stretch barricade and stopping for good breakless with a brakeless and moderately broken race car as the final yellow fell.
This set up they last lap charge by Murphy who started 9th on the field and had to work his way through traffic. Murphy's biggest fight came from teammate Michael Faccinto who finished third after a few scuffles Peter and winner Grant. Rusty Carlile took fourth after starting 10th. Justyne Hamblin also was in the mix after making the most of a 14th place start and being one of the fastest cars at the end by threatening Carlile and finishing 5th.
The VMAC Quick-Time award went to Bakersfield's favorite son Rusty Carlile with 16.059, narrowly edging Peter Murphy's 16.133. Carlile went on to draw a 10 invert for the main which set up the crowd pleasing dog fight for the main.
The SPINTECH MUFFLERS heat 1 had Fresno's Flying Mike Faccinto winning in his Tachi/Tarlton 21T ride over Bakersfield rookie Ricky Kirkbride, Carlile, and Hollister rookie Tyler Schmidt. Visalia rookie Jace VanderWeerd and Hanford's local rookie sensation Geoffrey Strole missed the transfer in the hotly contested heat on a tacky fast track.
STAINLESS STORAGE SOLUTIONS sponsored heat race 2 in which rookie Richard VanderWeerd ran off and won handily. Jonathon Logan, Murphy and Bakersfield teacher Matt Day rounded out the transfers to the feature with their times. Justyne Hamblin and David Carlile, Rusty's rookie brother, also missed their pass with time, relegating them to the rear of the line-up.
EXTREME MUFFLERS handed an award to heat 3 winner Justin Grant who got his night going on the right track to go with his feature win booty. T.J Smith, "Fast" Albert Pombo and the always upbeat veteran standout Davey Knott made the transfer. Dapper Rick Eberhardt fell short of his time transfer and had to start to the rear in fine company.
The evening was set a side as a tribute to Jim Turner who lost his life a year earlier in a wreck at the track. The track was full of friends and family as drivers were introduced to the crowd before the main event and Jim's nephew took a teary eyed victory lap with checkers displayed before the wingless warriors were pushed off.
With vastly improved track conditions there were no red flags and a minimum of yellow flags in every division for the evening. The Bandit Show was supported by winged 360's and an undercard of IMCA Modified's and Stockers. New clay and a great effort in track prep were credited for the improved conditions to which racers readily appreciative.
Next up on the Bandit trail is next Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway on the sixth before returning to Kings for the final series point race at the 3/8 mile clay tack. This will be the set up for the Tachi Invitational Open race at the end of the month as the season winds down.
For information on Bandit rules or information call Pete the Bandit Guy at 805-305-9884.
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