This message was edited on
April 25, 2007 at
11:30:10 PM by ljennings
CHUCK WEST WINS AGAIN IN NMRA-TQ MIDGETS
- By Tim Kennedy
Oildale, CA., Apr. 21 - Chuck West, from Clovis, won his second consecutive NMRA-TQ Midget 25-lap main event Saturday at the third-mile, banked clay Bakersfield Speedway. He drove the No. 38 Stealth/JC Performance Kawasaki owned by his cousin and fellow TQ driver West Evans. It was his eighth NMRA-TQ feature victory and his first at the north Bakersfield track that has hosted racing since 1946. West, a two-time NMRA champion (2002 and 2006), started sixth in the 13-car field. He led the final 24 laps in round three of a 16-race season. The April 14 race at Santa Maria will be rescheduled.
Kenny Wiley, in a Rick Stewart-built chassis with Honda power, took second position on lap 24. The series 2002 rookie of the year edged former second place driver West Evans, who settled for third in his own Stealth/Suzuki. Point leader Bruce Hiroshima, NMRA's 2004 rookie of the year, finished fourth in his Stewart/Honda. Leading rookie contender Jonathan St. Clair took fifth place, moving into a tie for sixth place in driver points with Scott Dobson, the 2006 NMRA rookie of the year. Dobson, Ron Ahrendt, Jenna Bliffen, rookie Nick Cali and first lap leader Jeff Marshall completed the top ten. Rookie Richard Marshall and C. West captured the pair of eight-lap heat races with seven cars in the first heat and six cars in the second.
Hiroshima (169 points) now leads a tight four-driver battle for the series point lead with all four drivers within eight points of each other. Double-winner West (163 points) ranks second. Season opening main winner Wiley (162 points) is third. Ahrendt (161 points) ranks fourth currently. Hiroshima's No. 5 car leads the Evans No. 38 in owner points 178-172. Paul Lopiccolo's No. 21 is third at 171 points and Ahrendt's No. 87Ellis/Honda is fourth with 170 points.
The next NMRA-TQ race will be Saturday, May 5 at the Santa Maria Speedway third-mile banked clay track on California's central coast.
Summary:
Heat 1 - Richard Marshall, Kenny Wiley, Nick Cali, Jeff Marshall, Jonathan St. Clair Ron Ahrendt, Jenna Bliffen.
Heat 2 - Chuck West, West Evans, Richard Ortega, Jr, Scott Dobson, Bruce Hiroshima, Scott Niven.
Main - West, Wiley, Evans, Hiroshima, St. Clair, Dobson, Ahrendt, Bliffen, Cali, J. Marshall, Ortega, R. Marshall, Niven.
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