WEST EVANS WINS BAKERSFIELD NMRA-TQ MIDGET MAIN JUNE 2011
By noderel:
Bakersfield, Ca. June 25, 2011 - Reigning NMRA-TQ Midget Series champion West Evans won his first three-quarter midget feature this season in round four Saturday at the third-mile clay Bakersfield Speedway. He started third in his own No. 36 Spike chassis with a 750cc Bob Wirth Suzuki providing power and led the final seven laps of the 25-lap race. Victory moved Evans from fourth to second in current points. He is only12 digits in back of point leader Brian Baker, the now 22-year old 2010 NMRA rookie of the year and winner of one 2010 feature. Baker won his second TQ main event April 23 at Bakersfield Speedway, NMRA's home track.
Evans, from Moorpark, assumed the lead on lap 19 after Anthony Lopiccolo, the fourth starter and leader of laps 4-18, lost his muffler on the front straight. He had to retire from the race per track rules and finished eighth in a 12-car field. Scott Dobson started sixth and finished second in his own Rick Stewart chassis with a 750cc Honda. First-time point leader Baker drove his own Dennis Hart/Clerc 750cc Honda from seventh to the third paycheck. Local driver Dakota Schweitzer came from fifth to fourth in Steve Parke's Stewart/Honda. Pole starter Dave Lambert led the first three laps and was fifth across the finish line in his own Hart/Honda.
Ron Ahrendt in his Ellis/Honda and rookie Adam Baker, Brian's twin, were the only other finishers. They also completed 25 laps. Non-finishers included newcomer and 22-year old Baker family friend Michael Black, of Taft. He logged 17 laps in his Hart/Clerc Honda that the Bakers purchased from Joe Bishop, of Camarillo. Rick Poe, a 72-year old driver from Santee, has not raced since he drove TQs with NMRA in 1967-68. He finished 12 laps in his No. 2 silver bullet. Eighth starter Chuck West, in the Evans Motor-sports No. 38 Stealth/Suzuki 750cc, had an ignition issue on the first lap. Amanda Thomas, the ninth starter, also did not complete the first lap because of a fuel problem.
Third starter Lopiccolo, driving his father Paul's 2007 NMRA championship No. 21 Stewart/Honda, won the first six-car, 8-lap heat race. Second starter Evans led all 8 laps in the second heat. The next NMRA event will take place Saturday, July 2 at Bakersfield Speedway. The same track will host event six of the season on July 23. In other TQ news, the annual Ron Otto Memorial Race at Santa Maria Speedway (rained out on June 4) has not been rescheduled. Weeks of negotiation between the promoter and sanctioning body could not find a suitable rain-date. The Ron Otto race will be held again in 2012.
The Summary:
Heat 1: Anthony Lopiccolo, Ron Ahrendt, Scott Dobson, Michael Black, Chuck West, Amanda Thomas.
Heat 2: West Evans, Brian Baker, Dakota Schweitzer, Adam Baker, Dave Lambert, Rick Poe.
Main: Evans, Dobson, B. Baker, Schweitzer, Lambert, Ahrendt, A. Baker, Lopiccolo, Black, Poe, West, Thomas.
POINT STANDINGS:
Driver | Car Owner | ||
1 Brian Baker 2 West Evans 3 Chuck West 4 Dakota Schweitzer 5 Ron Ahrendt 6 Scott Dobson 7 Adam Baker 8 Anthony Lopiccolo 9 Dave Lambert 10 Michael Black |
236 |
1 No. 6 Brian Baker 2 No. 36 West Evans 3 No. 38 West Evans 4 No. 59 Steve Parke 5 No. 87 Ron Ahrendt 6 No. 18 Scott Dobson 7 No. 17 Adam Baker 8 No. 21 Paul Lopiccolo 9 No. 55 Dave Lambert 10 No. 14 Baker Family |
248 |