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WEST EVANS—FIRST REPEAT WINNER IN NMRA-TQ MIDGET MAIN @ PERRIS
– By Tim Kennedy
Perris, CA., Jun. 19 – West Evans won round seven of the touring NMRA-TQ Midget season Saturday on the quarter-mile clay Perris Auto Speedway in a six-division card with local modified and stock car divisions. He became the first repeat feature winner of the season and backed up his May 22 Bakersfield Speedway triumph. The 47-year old Moorpark (Ventura County) resident and NMRA officer started fifth in a ten-car field and led the final 21 laps of the 25-lap race.
Evans drove his own No. 36 Spike chassis with a Bob Wirth Suzuki 750cc engine. It was his fifth TQ midget main event victory since he and other TQ midget owners/drivers in 2002 revived the 30-year old TQ-only sanctioning body. USAC had sanctioned TQ racing on the West Coast for 15 years through 2001. Evans also won a pair of TQ main events under USAC sanction during 2001. He began racing TQs in 1988 and climbed the points ladder steadily each season. He finished fifth, sixth or seventh in driver points each year from 1996-2001. He also received the 1996 USAC Most Improved Driver Award for the TQ division.
Chuck West, the last TQ feature winner at Santa Maria Speedway, started seventh and finished second in the West Evans Motor-sports No. 38 Stealth/750cc Suzuki owned by his cousin. Bruce Hiroshima raced from sixth starting to third place in his Rick Stewart chassis with Honda power. Jimmy Dodson, the 2008 NMRA rookie of the year, came from ninth at the start to earn fourth. Point leader Anthony Lopiccolo raced from eighth to fifth. NMRA's 2009 rookie award winner Dakota Schweitzer (from fifth), Scott Niven (from third), and Amanda Thomas (from pole) completed the top eight and logged 25 laps. Thomas also led the first four laps. Retired LAPD police officer Ron Ahrendt, 67, and Dave Lambert finished ninth and tenth and both finished 24 laps. Evans (from third) and Lopiccolo (from fifth) won the two five-car, eight-lap heat races.
NMRA point standings for drivers and owners tightened considerably following Perris. Lopiccolo had his drivers point lead cut from 47 to 35 points over Evans. Both drivers are seeking their initial TQ driving championship. Evans has won two TQ car owner championships (2006 and 08). The 2010 car owner championship race had Evans' No. 38 car overcome a five point deficit to Paul Lopiccolo's No. 21 Stewart/Honda; it now leads the 21 car by a slim five points (427-424) with nine races remaining in the current 16 event schedule.
NMRA teams will compete Saturday, June 26 at the Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale. It will be the fourth of seven TQ races in 2010 at the third-mile clay track in northern Bakersfield as part of another multi-division card.
Summary:
Heat 1 – West Evans, Chuck West, Scott Niven, Amanda Thomas, Jimmy Dodson.
Heat 2 – Anthony Lopiccolo, Bruce Hiroshima, Ron Ahrendt, Dakota Schweitzer, Dave Lambert.
Main – Evans, West, Hiroshima, Dodson, Lopiccolo, Schweitzer, Niven, Thomas, Ahrendt, Lambert.
POINT STANDINGS (as of June 23, 2010)
Drivers Car Owners
1 Anthony Lopiccolo 407 1 Car 38 West Evans 427
2 West Evans 372 2 Car 21 Paul Lopiccolo 424
3 Chuck West 353 3 Car 36 West Evans 393
4 Bruce Hiroshima 338 4 Car 87 Ron Ahrendt 364
5 Ron Ahrendt 331 5 Car 5 Bruce Hiroshima 356
6 Dakota Schweitzer 300 5 Car 6 Jimmy Dodson 356
7 Scott Niven 290 7 Car 59 Steve Parke 343
8 Dave Lambert 289 8 Car 55 Dave Lambert 310
8 Amanda Thomas 289 8 Car 40 Ed Thomas 310
10 Jimmy Dodson 287 10 Car 66 Scott Niven 308
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