Bakersfield drivers dominate Turkey Classic

VICTORVILLE • By mid-afternoon on Friday, the pit area at Victorville Auto Raceway was beginning to fill with drivers and crews and racecars, anticipating the start of this year's version of the annual three-day Turkey Classic.

Out-of-towners filled the pit area along with track regulars and the final results showed those visitors came to win.
Track crews were hard at work throughout the afternoon and into the early evening preparing the rain-soaked track for the weekend's racing.

Drivers were getting anxious as the time went by and the opportunity to get in some practice laps prior to Saturday's heat races slipped away and, as the day drew to a close, race teams were still arriving at the track.

Once underway, racing went along without a hitch. Fans were treated to a total of 18 heat races, a B-Main, three Trophy Dashes and three Feature races. The Trophy Dashes were held for the three divisions that had 20 or more entries in their fields.

The heat races for all of the nine divisions were first up on the Saturday race program along with the three Trophy Dashes that had a $100 dollar prize attached to them.

In those Trophy Dashes, the number of heat races in each division that had 20 or more entrants determined the number of cars and the number of laps they would race.

For example, if there were three heat races in a division, the three heat winners would race a total of three laps in their Dash. The winner of the Dash in the Mini Stock division was El Cajon's Dennis Taylor II. Chris Bach, who hails from Winchester, captured the Street Stock Dash and in the Modified Dash it was Huntington Beach's Kevin Hocking.

In Saturday evening's feature races it was two young Bakersfield drivers who took the top spots in the Mini Dwarf feature. Tony Lamas drove away with the First Place trophy while Mikayela Spainhaward grabbed the second place honors.

Local racers completed the top five in Mini Dwarfs. Victorville's Aaron “Bubba” McLaughlin, Arcadia's James “LJ” Billings and Apple Valley's Dacey Blalock finished third through fifth, respectively.

In other feature race action it was again El Cajon's Dennis Taylor II who held off a hard-charging Brian Fabbri, who drives out of Apple Valley, to take home the Mini Stock Turkey trophy for his win. Robert Davis, who came in from Kingman, Arizona, rounded out the top three.

In the final feature event of Saturday's program in the All American division, it was almost all-Bakersfield as the first four cars under starter Bob Rideout's checkered flag all call Bakersfield home. Steven Johnson grabbed the top spot, Garth Zander finished in second place and Steven's brother Tyler had a third-place finish. Completing the Bakersfield top four was Robert Swearingen.

The Sunday race program consisted six feature races, ranging from 20 to 30 laps in length. These were run along with 20-lap B-Mains in Street Stock and Modifieds. Due to the large number of Modifieds, a total of 43 in all, an additional 15-lap C-Main was inserted in the program.

The 20-lap Dwarf Car feature started off the night's main event program and it was here that a local driver rose to the top of the heap as Apple Valley's Kyle Cline screamed across the finish line to grab the win.

Making only their second appearance on the High Desert clay were the Dirt Late Models and it was another Bakersfield driver, Robert Sanders, who grabbed the checkered flag in the 30-lap feature, followed by Arroyo Grande's Devin Crockett and Lompoc's Chet Buckley.
Each year the Bakersfield drivers make a huge impression on the local fans during the Classic and this year was certainly no exception. In the 30-lap Super Street feature it was yet another Bakersfield driver who outshone the rest of the field as Brian Shepard raced his way to the top spot in the pack. Ridgecrest's Danny Quinn and Santa Maria's Tim Randolf trailed Shepard under the flag.

Trona's Chris Smith, who many local fans remember for his season-long battles with Newberry Springs' Mike Morris a few years ago, made his presence known with a fourth-place finish in the Super Street final. Fans in the stands remarked that it felt like old times watching the Super Streets back at the Raceway, if only for one extended meeting.

Next out of the chute were the 360/410 cubic inch Non-Winged Sprints. Norco's Tyler Brown, who had been a frequent competitor during the regular season at VAR, rose to the challenge and got the checkered flag, beating out Bill Rose, who traveled from far-off Plainfield, Indiana to get second-place honors.

Norco's Ronnie Gardner, Yorba Linda's young Austin Williams and Ventura's Jimmy Crawford completed the top five finishing positions, ending the race in third through fifth places, respectively.

Once again it was a Bakersfield driver, and another member of the Johnson racing family, who topped the field in the 30-lap Street Stock feature race. Kevin Johnson was the winner in this race and he was followed under the checkered flag by teammate Richie McGowan. Johnson and McGowan challenged each other throughout the race and in the end it was Johnson who emerged the victor.

The final race of the final night of the 2008 season saw the 30-lap Modified feature take to the track. The town of Chowchilla was well represented as Alex Stanford outran both Las Vegas' Ryan Cotrell and Bakersfield's Troy Morris, Jr. to win top honors in the class.

VAR TURKEY CLASSIC RESULTS

TROPHY DASH WINNERS
MINI STOCK
Dennis Taylor II  El Cajon

STREET STOCK
Chris Bach       Winchester

MODIFIEDS
Kevin Hocking       Huntington Beach

FEATURE RESULTS
MINI DWARFS
1. Tony Lamas    Bakersfield
2. Mikayela Spainhaward    Bakersfield
3. Aaron McLaughlin    Victorville
4. LJ Billings    Arcadia
5. Dacey Blalock    Apple Valley

MINI STOCK
1. Dennis Taylor II    El Cajon
2. Brian Fabbri    Apple Valley
3. Robert Davis    Kingman, AZ
4. Earl Downing    Spring Valley
5. Scott Opperman    Corona

ALL AMERICAN
1. Steven Johnson    Bakersfield
2. Garth Zander    Bakersfield
3. Tyler Johnson    Bakersfield
4. Robert Swearingen    Bakersfield
5. Tim Willis    Fontana

DWARF CARS
1. Kyle Cline    Apple Valley
2. Ryan Cotrell    Las Vegas
3. Walt Boyd    Riverside
4. Mike Van Acker    Acton
5. Dave Quigley    La Mirada

DIRT LATE MODELS
1. Robert Sanders     Bakersfield
2. Devin Crockett    Arroyo Grande
3. Chet Buckley    Lompoc
4. Ronnie Williams    Las Vegas
5. Ron Bartels    El Segundo

SUPER STREETS
1. Brian Shepard    Bakersfield
2. Danny Quinn    Ridgecrest
3. Tim Randolf    Santa Maria
4. Chris Smith    Trona
5. Ed Perry    Carpinteria

360/410 NON-WINGED SPRINTS
1. Tyler Brown    Norco
2. Bill Rose    Plainfield, IN
3. Ronnie Gardner    Norco
4. Austin Williams    Yorba Linda
5. Jimmy Crawford    Ventura

STREET STOCK
1. Kevin Johnson    Bakersfield
2. Richie McGowan    Bakersfield
3. Theo Van De Sande    Carpinteria
4. Curtis Dietzsch    Moreno Valley
5. Mark Nustad    Johnson Valley

MODIFIEDS
1. Alex Stanford     Chowchilla
2. Ryan Cotrell    Las Vega
3. Troy Morris, Jr.    Bakersfield
4. Paul Stone    Winton
5. Mark Allison    Las Vegas