BLACK WINS HIS FIRST NMRA-TQ MIDGET MAIN @ BAKERSFIELD AUG. 4, 2012
By noderel:
Bakersfield, CA., Aug. 4 – Mike Black, 22, won his first NMRA-TQ Midget Series main event Saturday night in his second year racing with the series. The 2011 NMRA-TQ Rookie of the Year finished ninth in final driver points last year with 818 points. He competed in eight of 10 TQ races and had one top five feature finish. This year he ranks fifth in points with one top five finish after five events. Black averaged 39.75 points per event last season and has bumped his average per race to 48.40 this season.
Black, who races as part of the three car Baker Racing Team posse from Taft, started second and led all 20 laps in the Brian D. Baker No. 14 Honda. West Evans, from Moorpark, came from sixth starting slot to earn second in his own No. 36 Spike/750cc Suzuki. Point leader Chuck West, from Clovis, started seventh in the eight car field and placed third in the Evans Racing No. 38 Stealth/750cc Suzuki. Adam Baker started and finished fourth in the Baker Racing No. 17 team car. Pole starter/rookie Don Kiefer was fifth, with Kenny Wiley sixth and eighth starter Dave Lambert seventh. All of the finishers completed 20 laps. Ron Ahrendt dropped out on lap 2. Evans (from fourth) and Ahrendt (from second) won the pair of eight-lap heat races.
Past NMRA champion West maintained his 2012 series lead in drivers points and now has an eight point edge over his car owner/first cousin Evans. Wiley entered the race second in points, 13 digits back, but he slipped to third; he now trails the leader by 21 points. Evans' No. 38 TQ now leads his 36 TQ by eight points. Twelve cars have scored points this year. The next NMRA race will be Saturday, August 18 at NMRA's home track—Bakersfield Speedway.
SUMMARY:
Heat 1 – West Evans, Mike Black, Adam Baker, Dave Lambert.
Heat 2 – Ron Ahrendt, Kenny Wiley, Chuck West, Don Kiefer.
Main – Black, Evans, West, Baker, Kiefer, Wiley, Lambert, Ahrendt.
POINT STANDINGS:
Drivers Car Owners
1 Chuck West 2 West Evans |
305 297 284 244 242 228 178 175 139 101 |
1 No. 38 West Evans 10 No.20 Bruce Hiroshima |
320 312 299 259 257 243 190 184 148 107 |