|
WEST WINS THIRD BAKERSFIELD TQ-MIDGET MAIN
- By Tim Kennedy
Bakersfield, CA., Jun. 2 - Chuck West, a two-time NMRA-TQ Midget champion, won his third consecutive NMRA-TQ Midget 2007 feature at the third-mile clay Bakersfield Speedway Saturday night. He started fifth and utilized a two-groove track to his advantage moving to the front. He became the third race leader and led only the final two laps of the 13-car, 25-lap race. The winner drove the No. 38 Stealth/Kawasaki owned by his cousin and fellow driver West Evans to his fourth victory in six main events run this year.
Evans, who was driving his own No. 36 Stealth/Suzuki, started fourth and finished second. Bruce Hiroshima, the NMRA 2004 rookie of the year, started sixth and finished third in his Rick Stewart chassis with Honda power. He took over the 2007 point lead by one point (340-339) over West. His No. 5 TQ retained the car owner point lead by one point (358-357) over the Evans No. 38 car.
Round six of the scheduled 16-race season was the third NMRA visit this year to the historic north Bakersfield post-WW II track that opened in 1946. West has won every race at Bakersfield this year and his three triumphs at Bakersfield make the track his most successful venue to visit. He has won his 11 NMRA features at six tracks-five dirt and one paved. He won his second career main at Ventura March 31 this season before he began his three race winning streak at Bakersfield on April 21.
Richard Ortega, Jr started second and led the first eight laps before he yielded the point to Randy Moody's Dave Lambert No. 55. Moody, a first-time NMRA feature winner on May 5 at Santa Maria Speedway, led lap 9-23 and then spun out, finishing 11th. Hiroshima took third place from Ortega on the final lap at the finish line and then spun after receiving the checkered flag. Leading rookie Jonathan St. Clair started ninth in his own Johnson/Honda and finished fifth, tying his career best TQ main event finish. In six races he has finished fifth four times and sixth once. He did not compete in round four at Santa Maria, yet he still ranks seventh in driver points.
Scott Dobson, Kenny Wiley, rookie Scott Niven, Ron Ahrendt and Michael Bliffen completed the top ten. Moody, Michael Elliott and Jenna Bliffen, 23-year old daughter of the tenth finisher, rounded out the field. Ortega won the first eight-lap heat after starting second in a seven-car field. Dobson, the 2006 NMRA rookie of the year, won the second eight-lap heat in a six-car field. Elliott flipped without injury during the second heat. A tight 2007 NMRA driving championship battle, with three drivers and three car owners within seven points of the lead, soon will embark on the summer schedule.
Round seven of the 2007 NMRA season will take place at Santa Maria Speedway banked third-mile clay oval on Saturday, June 16. It will be the annual Ron Otto Memorial race, named in honor of the long-time NMRA official who passed away several years ago at his home in Nipomo, a few miles north of Santa Maria Speedway. His widow, Gay Otto and son Tony are still active as officials with NMRA.
POINT STANDINGS (as of 6-4-07)
Drivers Car Owners
1 Bruce Hiroshima 340 1 5 Bruce Hiroshima 358
2 Chuck West 339 2 38 West Evans 357
3 Kenny Wiley 333 3 21 Paul Lopiccolo 351
4 West Evans 320 4 36 West Evans 338
5 Scott Dobson 306 5 18 Guy Barber 324
6 Ron Ahrendt 278 6 15 Jonathan St. Clair 297
7 Jonathan St. Clair (r) 243 7 87 Ron Ahrendt 296
8 Richard Ortega, Jr. 230 8 3 Michael Bliffen 248
9 Jenna Bliffen 173 9 8 Richard Ortega, Jr. 245
10 Michael Bliffen 149 10 20 Bruce Hiroshima 243
|
