Series
Round Six September
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Eddie Mulder's West Coast Vintage Dirt Track Series Round Six September Article by Jamey Blunt With a lot
of effort, hard work, know how, and time invested
Eddie Mulder and Digger Helm brought motorcycle racing to the Kern
County Fair
in Twelve riders from a field of twenty four staged for the "A&A Racing"/"Maxxis Tires" Vet "A" main event. Heat race winners Craig Estrada, Craig Johnson, and Ken Thiebaud all lined up next to each other on the front row. Mike Vital attempted to start the race on his own, but fell into place in fourth off the line behind Estrada, Johnson, and Thiebaud. Marshall Lapp would perform soil testing on the first lap while Kurt Chandler settled in at fifth spot. Estrada protecting his inside line held the lead for three and a half laps until Johnson who had been chasing what cushion there was up high made the pass exiting turn four on the fourth lap for the lead. Then in the exact same spot one lap later Thiebaud pulled the same move to take second away. On this same lap Vital stalled his mount and left the race. Meanwhile quietly working his way forward from a seventh place start was Mr. ED's Joe Steffen. The single best move of the race came from Steffen on the last trip through three and four as he shot from fifth to finish third, making the final order Johnson (with a best lap time of 10.58/100 seconds), Thiebaud, Steffen, Estrada, and Chandler. Dave Cheney made the trip from Nipomo, Ca. with his race face on. Cheney on an Eddie Mulder prepped Triumph sat on pole for the "Barnett"/"Browns Cycle's" Super Senior main. Cheney jumped out front as Tom Howard hit the ground in turn one (a Paso Robles repeat) then came Roy Burris and Mark Stuckert. Howard literally crawled off the track and would rejoin the race. Two and a half laps gone saw Stuckert push past Burris, and Cheney turn his fastest lap at 11.93/100 seconds as he left the field. The only two stroke in the field, Bultaco mounted Cliff Nagatani would get past Ken Barrow to finish fourth, with Burris holding on to third, Stuckert on the beautiful BSA second and Cheney wire to wire for the win. Heat race
winner David Brown was shocked he didn't hole shot
the start of the "Works Performance"/"Tuff Plates" Classic
500-750sv main event. Who did nail it was Chris Rudy and his 1957 HD.
Brown
trying to make up a lot of ground in a very short time threw it away
entering
turn three on the first lap. Brown very astutely keeping the bike
running
rejoined the race, but in last position. At the front Rudy led the
Bultaco's of
Jeff and Ron Lessley, with Matt Rohr fourth and Lenny Rodriguez fifth.
Brown,
like In the "Kawasaki of Simi Valley"/"Motion Pro" Youth 65cc main, heat race winner Andre Ochs jumped the start not once but twice giving starter Fred Allen no choice but to set him back. Kevin Alcorn having already won the 50cc main nailed the start. Larry Smith ran second and Nathan Howard was third with Ochs settling in at fourth. By lap two Ochs fought his way past Howard for third and a lap later coming out of turn four Alcorn threw it away giving Smith the lead. On the final go round Ochs had closed to within two lengths and had the fastest lap time at 11.66/100 seconds but time ran out and second place was as high as Ochs could climb. Smith picked up yet another 65cc victory and is prime to move up to a bigger class. At the start
of the " Lauren
Wallace has pretty much owned the "Flat Track Art Guilfoil and Joe Steffen both won their heat races in the "K&N Filters"/"Berkeley Honda Yamaha" 500 Support class. As the "A" main pack left the line Steffen led and Guilfoil missed a shift causing him to go down holding up the field, letting Steffen get away. Dan Shaw inherited second with Mike O'Neil third and Brad Rudy fourth. Out front with over a full straight lead Steffen put in a 10.47/100 second lap on lap three as he began to hit lappers. By the end nothing would change, with this running order fixed. Rudy's run at O'Neil the biggest challenge on the track would come up short on the final lap. Twenty one
riders made up the "Rod Lake
Racing"/"C&J Racing Frames" Open Amateur class, with only
twelve of these making the "A" main. Crowd favorite Lauren Wallace
led off the line followed by Bill Kolkman, Andy Wood and Patrick
McNamara. Into
turn three McNamara put a wheel under Wood and pushed him wide to take
third
away. Kolkman and McNamara would come together two turns later and Wood
would
take over second with McNamara third and Kolkman fourth. Meanwhile out
front
Wallace was gone, turning an 11.07/100 second lap while the jockeying
for
position behind her continued. Entering turn three on the third lap
McNamara
went under Wood to take second back while from deep in the pack
With
$10,000 at stake 25 pro's showed up for the Digger Helm
Pro 600. Heat race winners, (2005 AMA Horizon Award winner) Stevie
Bonsey,
Steve Murray, Jared Mees, and Jethro Halbert all staged on the front
row for
this 20 lap feature. Bonsey led off the line from the three row deep
field only
to have three riders hit the dirt before one lap was complete. Daniel
Brown,
Craig Johnson, and Marshall Lapp being the three involved, with all but
Johnson
making the full restart. On the second attempt Bonsey once again shot
to the
front only to have three more go down in turn one. This time Sam
Halbert along
with (for the second time) Daniel Brown and Marshall Lapp were picking
themselves up. On the third full restart Bonsey worked his magic again
to lead
with Article by Jamey Blunt |
Race Report: Mees rides to victory in
Bakersfield
Submitted by Jared Mees on AMA web site