USAC Western States – Midgets & Ford Focus – June 5, 2004.  – Bakersfield Speedway, Oildale, CA.

 

Rough Bakersfield Track Survived by Flock and Rahe  – By Bobby Gerould – June 5, 2004 – Oildale, CA. …Robby Flock survived a rough and rugged Bakersfeild Speedway Saturday night to win the United States Auto Club Western States Midget feature event. In a wild, ten caution, two red flag, 30 lap race, the finish came down to a two-lap shootout between Flock, and Johnny Rodriguez. The latter is the points leader in the traveling dirt and pavement series.

 

“The racetrack was tough tonight. It was grabby and hooky all night”, said Flock. “I was an animal trying to get a win, sorry Johnny. But it was clean racing and it was fun”

 

Rodriguez was disappointed at the runner-up outcome but offered a positive outlook, “It’s racing”, he said. “If you keep runnin’ up front, a win will come. I liked the track tonight. It was rough and you had to cowboy it up!” 

 

Mike Spencer and Jimmy Christian shared the front row for the feature but fourth starting Tyler Brown was leading down the back chute on lap one! Brown swooped into the lead with a terrific hero move in the first corners. By lap seven, Brown had a straightaway advantage. However, when Robert Ellis stopped in turn two, bringing out caution number one, Brown’s car suddenly stopped running. He was able to continue but had to fall to the rear, surrendering his lead to Christian.

 

Christian held the point on laps eight and nine when Rodriguez, and Spencer traded second place at a furious pace on the high-banked 1/3-mile dirt oval. In his second race in a midget, Spencer, a USAC/CRA sprint car regular, then took the lead from Christian.  On a lap 12 restart, Jerome Rodela moved from 4th to 2nd with a hair-raising high side maneuver in turn one. The next lap, Rodriguez poked under Rodela to regain the runner-up spot.

 

Meanwhile, Flock was making steady progress in Mike Sala’s #19. At lap 14, Flock moved into fourth, which became third when leader, Spencer suddenly stopped with an electrical problem in the Rick Hendrix #12. That put Christian back in front for one lap.

 

Racing three wide to complete lap 16 of 30, Flock emerged in front as Christian and Rodriguez all battled for space. On lap 21, Matt Mitchell flipped in turn two but was unhurt. Flock continued to set the pace but Rodriguez closed each lap in turn one only to lose ground in turn four to Flock. After a lap 25 restart, Brown, who had scratched from the rear of the pack up to fifth, ran over the rear end of Steven Paden in turn four. Brown’s night was done.

 

The next restart saw Rodriguez take the lead from Flock in turn three but Flock had the lead by inches at the completion lap 25. Rodriguez made his pass stick as the cars turned to complete lap 26 but at the same time, Larry Brown went for a spectacular ride in turn three. The red flag flew, and Rodriguez’s pass was negated. Paden’s night ended on the ensuing restart when “something in the rear-end” broke while he was running third.

 

Flock withheld Rodriguez in a ‘green, white, checkered’ situation to mercifully end a survival of the best bolt-on parts. Of 21 starters, nine were running at the finish. Rodela, Garrett Hansen, and Steven Graves completed the top-five.

 

Tyler Brown, Travis Berryhill, and Wally Pankratz were heat winners. Dan Hillberg, and Josh Lakatos suffered flips in their respective heats. Lakatos’ turn two flip in the third heat was extra hard, and ultimately kept him out of the midget feature.

 

The 20 lap Ford Focus feature was raced in a rapid pace. Ryan Pace jumped into the lead from the pole on the sticky surface. Chris Rahe, who started fifth, quickly ran to the runner-up sot in three laps. By lap nine when the leaders reached traffic, Rahe closed right onto the rear nerf of Ryan Pace. Lap ten was unlucky for defending Focus champ Josh Lakatos who flipped hard in turn two. Lakatos emerged unhurt after his second crash of the night.

 

The lap eleven restart was controlled by Ryan Pace but on lap 13 Pace became sideways on the back chute which allowed Rahe to make the winning move with momentum in turns three and four. Rahe, of Placentia, CA. rode the cushion to victory over Ryan Pace, Bradley Galedridge, Bobby Michnowicz, and Jeff Gregory.

 

Ford Focus heats were taken by Chase Barber, and Eric Pace.

 

Midget Qualifying:

 

Driver

Hometown

Car Owner

First Time

Quick Time

Jerome Rodela

El Monte, CA

Rodela #25

13.595

13.381

Steve Paden

Downey, CA.

Farrier #0

 

13.475

Johnny Rodriguez

Elk Grove

Rodriguez #30

13.628

13.624

Tyler Brown

Norco, CA.

Brown #34

13.782

13.704

Steve Graves

Upland, CA.

Graves #94

14.233

13.812

Josh Lakatos

Pasadena, CA.

Lakatos #28

13.901

13.850

Larry Brown

Bakersfield, CA.

TCR #36

14.353

13.901

Jimmy Christian

Morgan Hill

Christian #16

13.935

13.935

Mike Spencer Jr.

Temecula, CA.

Hendrix #12

13.969

13.957

Dallen McKenney

Clovis

McKenney #88

14.460

13.969

Garrett Hansen

Manhattan Beach

Hansen #70

13.978

13.978

Wally Pankratz

Orange, CA.

HASA #8

14.274

14.002

Matt Streeter

Manteca, CA

Streeter #97

14.308

14.068

Robby Flock

Temecula, CA.

Sala #19

14.077

14.077

Matt Mitchell

Yorba Linda

Nick Mitchell #37

18.195

14.096

Scott Pierovich

Alamo, CA.

Pierovich #35

14.649

14.175

Travis Berryhill

American Canyon, CA.

Berryhill #11

15.119

14.353

Michael Simpson

Apple Valley

Simpson #59

14.411

14.411

Robert Ellis

Perris, CA.

Ellis #41

17.086

14.668

Darren Hillburg

Corona, CA

Hillberg #03

15.332

14.867

Shannon McQueen

Bakersfield

McQueen #7

16.453

15.230

Jason Yount

Fresno, CA

Horton #17

 

15.865

 

Heat One: – 1. T. Brown, 2. Rodela, 3. Streeter, 4. Pierovich, 5. McKenney, 6. L. Brown., 7. Ellis, 8. Yount.

 

Heat Two: 1. Berryhill, 2. Hansen, 3. Flock, 4. Graves, 5. Christian, 6. Paden, 7. Hillberg

 

Heat Three: 1. Pankratz, 2. Mitchell, 3. Simpson, 4. Spencer, 5. Rodriguez, 6. McQueen, 7. Lakatos.

 

Main Event:  1. Flock, 2. Rodriguez, 3. Rodela, 4. Hansen, 5. Graves, 6. McKenney, 7. Streeter, 8. Pierovich, 9. McQueen, 10. L. Brown, 11. Paden, 12. Christian, 13. Simpson, 14. T. Brown, 15. Mitchell, 16. Spencer, 17. Berryhill, 18. Pankratz, 19. Hillberg, 20. Ellis, 21. Yount, 22. Lakatos.

 

Lap Leaders: Tyler Brown 1-6, Jimmy Christian 8-11, Mike Spencer Jr. 12-13, Christian 14-15, Robby Flock 16-30.

 

Ford Focus Qualifying

 

Name

Quick Time

Josh Lakatos

14.641

Bradley Galedridge

14.738

Chris Rahe

14.744

Bobby Michnowicz

14.801

Ashley Swanson

14.809

J.J. Ercse

14.856

Steve Koster Jr.

15.013

Nick Morago

15.014

Ryan Pace

15.058

Jeff Gregory

15.170

Jet Davison

15.249

Audra Sasselli

15.268

JR Williams

15.406

Steve Davis

15.407

Chase Barber

15.594

Eric Pace

15.986

Aaron Schankerman

16.063

Robert Hawks

16.145

 

Ford Focus Heat One – 1. Barber, 2. Rahe, 3. Davison, 4. R. Pace, 5.

 

Ford Focus Heat Two – 1. E. Pace, 2. Galedridge, 3. Morago, 4. Gregory, 5. Michnowicz

 

Ford Focus Feature: 20 Laps 1. Rahe, 2. R. Pace, 3. Galedridge, 4. Michnowicz, 5. Gregory, 6. Ercse, 7. Morago, 8. Davis, 9. E. Pace, 10. Swanson, 11. Davison, 12. Barber, 13. Koster Jr., 14. Williams, 15. Sasselli, 16. Lakatos, 17. Schankerman, 18. Hawks.