Santa Maria Speedway   May 29, 2011   by David Castaneda

The West Coast Late Model Shootout took to the track Sunday night capping off “The Nationals” weekend of Late Model action with a 40-lap race to a $5000 reward.  Mike Kirby of Torrance and Brad Pounds of Bakersfield battled for the early lead with Kirby taking the point by lap two.  On Lap 10 Kirby had caught the back of the field and had to ease his way around the lapped cars. Pounds and Trevor Glaser of Tangent, OR stayed close to the lead as Kirby dealt with traffic. Glaser was able to get around Pounds and held second through a restart following a caution on lap 21. The restart cleared the traffic and that left Kirby and Glaser to fight for the lead with Glaser taking the point on lap 26.  Next it was Pounds who put the pressure on Kirby and that allowed Glaser to start putting distance on the rest of the field.  Now it was Glaser that had to weave around traffic. Glaser kept the lead through the traffic and was able to hold off everyone for the win and the $5000 first prize. Pounds held on to second and Kirby finished third.

The West Coast Street Stocks started 22 racecars in Sunday’s 30-lap Main event with a $3000 first prize up for grabs.  Defending series champion Tim Randolph of Santa Maria started on the outside of the front row, but  an early caution had him restarting out front in a “Delaware” restart format that has the leader alone out front with the remainder starting side by side behind him. Randolph was able to stay in front of Lee Jensen of Bakersfield through a couple of restarts and as the laps went green Randolph started to put some distance on Jensen, but a red flag on lap 9 for fuel on the track closed up the field. On the next restart Randolph again took the lead, but now it was last year’s Nationals winner Chris Smith of Trona who put the pressure on Randolph from second place. Smith took another two laps to get around Randolph with Lonnie Welch of Bakersfield following to take over second. But Welch tapped the wall on lap 19 and Randolph quickly regained second place.  On lap 27 Billy Simkins of Bakersfield, who started back in 11th place, passed Randolph for second. But Randolph was able to regain second place again within a couple of laps. The battle for second was good news for Smith, who stayed out front for the rest of the race and took his second Nationals win in a row at Santa Maria. Randolph finished second with Simkins taking third.

The MMI Services Hobby Stocks ran a rare 30-lap Main Event on Sunday competing for a $1500 first prize. Austin Ruskauff of Santa Maria, grandson of recently departed Chicky Claborn, was added to the field as a “Promoter’s Option” to make it a 23-car field for the Main. After 29 Hobby Stocks showed up at SMS on Saturday it took several heat races to set the top qualifiers that would transfer to the Qualifying Dash. Gary Dutton of Bakersfield won the 8-lap dash on Saturday to get the pole for the Sunday feature and quickly jumped out front on the green flag and started to pull away from second place Sargent Zander of Bakersfield.  Billy Nelson II of Gonzales used lapping traffic to get by Zander for second place on lap 9. On lap 15 a caution caused by a spin on the backstretch erased Dutton’s lead and had Nelson and Kevin Johnson of Bakersfield right behind him on the Delaware restart. After the green flag came out Dutton was able to retake the lead over Nelson.  Kevin Irwin of Bakersfield moved into second place late in the race, but Dutton was just too quick for the field to catch him and crossed the finish line first for the win. Irwin crossed the line second with Bryan Terry of Bakersfield finishing third.

The Papich Construction IMCA Modifieds ran two complete races over the weekend with their first full program running on Saturday night. The thirty-seven Modifieds that came to SMS for the weekend of racing required two 12-lap B-Mains to set the 22-car field for Saturday’s 25-lap Main Event. In Saturday’s main it was Chad Weber of Arroyo Grande who took the lead with Logan Drake of San Luis Obispo pulling up next to Weber for the first few laps. Weber and Drake kept trading the lead when Drake started feeling some pressure from third spot held by Josh Vogt of Santa Maria. On Lap 11 Vogt got around Drake for second followed by Bobby Hogge IV of Salinas who took over third. On lap 14 Vogt passed Weber to take over the lead. But Hogge took the high side on the very next lap and took the lead away from Vogt. On lap 20 a caution came out for a wreck in turn three just as the rain started to fall. The race was called and Hogge was declared the winner. Vogt, second in Modified points, finished second and point leader Danny Lauer of Santa Maria came in third.

On Sunday forty Modifieds showed up to run the second race of the weekend again setting up two more B-Mains to set the 22-car starting field. After the green flag waved for the main event it was Brad Pounds of Bakersfield who led the opening lap. Pounds continued his lead while Chris McKellar of Bakersfield and Josh Vogt of Santa Maria fought it out for second. By lap 7 Alex Stanford of Chowchilla had passed Vogt for third. On lap 13 Stanford passed McKellar to take over second and started to close on Pounds. On Lap 18 Stanford pulled to the inside of Pounds and made the pass. Stanford pulled away from Pounds as the laps started to wind down. But a spin by Justin Crockett of Arroyo Grande on lap 22 set up another duel to the finish by Stanford and Pounds. On the restart Stanford jumped out front and Pounds had to contend with Tony Toste of Arroyo Grande pressuring from third. That was just what Stanford needed to take the victory and a $1500 payday. Pounds finished second and Toste took third place.

Sunday’s Intermission was full of activity starting with a Memorial lap for Chicky Claborn, the matriarch and good friend to several teams and fans of the Santa Maria Speedway. Nearly 100 racecars circled the track in her honor capped off by laps taken by her son Joey Claborn and her grandson Austin Ruskauff. Chicky lost her battle with cancer this weekend just as the Speedway was raising money for Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.

The Relay for Life, The Santa Maria Speedway, and Sport Clips partnered up to raise money by having a bake sale at the track, hair-cuts for any donation, raffle items, and the Brave The Shave contest featuring several drivers who put their hair on the line to raise money for the American Cancer Society. In the end 11 drivers ended up getting their head shaved. And they were joined by SMS promoter Chris Kearns who is now sporting a Mohawk after a group of crew and drivers put up over $300 to get him in the barber chair. Tony “The Chief” Gonzales of Mega 97.1 FM, who also chairs the local Relay for Life team, also took one for the cause and had his hair completely shaved. Relay for Life coordinator Debbie Jeffers estimated that the event had raised over $6500 to support the battle against cancer.

Next Saturday, June 4th at the Santa Maria Speedway brings open-wheel action to the track. The USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Cars headline the Ron Otto Memorial featuring the NMRA TQ Midgets, Toste Grading & Paving Mini-Stocks, CDCRA Dwarf cars and an appearance of the “Raging Inferno” Fire Truck. This jet-powered fire truck will also be giving rides to the kids at SMS.  Tickets are $16 for Adults, $2 discounts for Senior, Military, and Students, $6 for kids 6-12 and free for kids 5 and under.

Full results and points will soon be posted on the SMS website at:  www.RaceSantaMariaSpeedway.com