Fans were lined up for miles watching the parade of haulers entering their town of Bakersfield as the S.N.T.R. drivers entered Mesa Marin Speedway. This was stop number 4 on the 10 race "Summer Sizzler Series" After all the haulers unloaded many noticed there were several cars missing as well as the points leader Tony Bowling. It was later learned that when Bowling went to put the 21 American Racing Wheels Camaro into the hauler the engine let go. The new motor that they were building was not ready yet. So they did what any race team would do in this situation. They threw a keg party, ordered Arby's and hired strippers.
After hot laps as usual Gibson and Malone were atop the speed charts. There were several drivers stepping it up in practice that usually aren't that high on the charts. So it was going to be interesting to see how qualifying was going to play out. When the dust settled all were gasping at the outcome. Whaley came out of nowhere with his retro 46 Bob's Arco Plymouth Cuda to sit as "Fast Qualifier" with a time of 17.770. The other thing that got everyones attention was who wasn't at the top, or anywhere near it for that matter. Mike Gibson who usually is either "Top Qualifier" or 2nd was no where to be seen on the charts. A communication breakdown on when he was to qualify is blamed for this issue. So Gibson would have to start from the very back. That's not a problem for this driver. The other notable was Terry Walters. The 20 Shaner's Towing driver turned everyones head with the 4th fastest time to earn his way into the Dash.
The top 5 Qualifiers:
46 Jim Whaley Jr 17.770
85 Trevor Malone 17.784
06 Greg Artlip 17.919
20 Terry Walters 18.198
74 Billy Fuller 18.249
The Dash race was pretty uneventful as Whaley led all 4 laps to take his first Dash this season.
The slow heat was the next up on the card for the night. The action happened fast and early as there was a controversey on a no call that many felt should had been made, but wasn't. On the first lap entering turn 3 the 6 of Darcy Rutherford got hard into the back of Clayton Stokes in the 092 Gasho Trucking Camaro. This sent Stokes spinning around and backing hard into the wall. This was deemed a legit racing accident as it was a difference in braking points. Two laps later Rutherford struck again as he took out the leader again. Gary Roussea in the 31 Sunoco Race Fuels Chevelle had cleared the carnage that Rutheford had instigated and took the lead. However as was stated 2 laps later entering turn 1 Rutherford struck again. Rousseau was entering turn 1 and Rutherford just dive bombed him. There was no way for Rousseau to know he was there because it happened so fast. Rutherford was where Rousseau couldn't see him and Rutherford made contact and sent Rousseau spinnig around. This was the no call that many expected to be called. Rutherford should have been blacked for "Aggressive & Reckless " driving but wasn't. Needless to say Rutherford got his first win of the season but albeit somewhat controversial.
Heat 2 provided "Hot, Nasty Badass Speed" and insane racing action, but it to had a call that should have been made that wasn't. Terry Walters was on the pole and was supposed to set the pace. But entering turn 3 he went from 35 to 60 before the green dropped and by leaps and bounds jumped the start. It was so obvious that Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could have seen it. The fans were speechless that it wasn't flagged and restarted. Never the less the race was let go and then it was the big names goin at it hot & heavy. Walters got out to a big lead from the jump but about 8 laps later his bumper and mirror were full. Whaley was right behind him ans Malone on the outside of Whaley. For 10 laps this went on with Whaley having no place to go and constantly trying to fend off Malone, but also trying to not run over Walters who was making all kinds of mistakes due to the pressure. Whaley lost it with 4 to go and Malone got around Walters to take away what would have been Walters first ever heat win. Coincidently Walters and Malone are team mates at G.M.S.......can we say Busch & Gordon?
It was Feature time and driver introductions were given along with the command to fire up the engines. The Feature really didn't have too many high points for some drivers, but for 2 in particular it was what we always see.....patience and intelligence. Two things that drivers must have on tough tracks, and it showed that tonight it would pay off to those that possed it. Gibson and Whaley masterfully worked traffic all night and worked from the back to 1st and 2nd before the "Competition Yellow" was thrown. They entered pit row 1st and 2nd respectively. As usual though there was a curve ball thrown. Greg Artlip in the 06 Castrol GTX Mustang took fuel only and came out in 1st. Whaley and his crew were miracoulous as they somehow edged Gibson on exit of pit row. When the green flew Artlip just launched off into turn 1 and was driving like no one has seen him before. This track is close to Artlip as Stockton is his hometown. Artlip had to know that not taking tires would be his downfall, but as racers we sometimes don't think decisions all the way through , which proved to be the point in Artlip's case. It would still be good enough for a 6th place finish for him. Whaley was patient and methodical as he stalked Artlip as well as keeping Gibson at bay. Finally Artlip pushed up entering turn 3 and Whaley and Gibson turned their beasts hard left to get under him and would make the pass. Gibson tried everything he could without wrecking him to get by, but Whaley just powered on to get his 1st Feature of the season and 20th of his career. Gibson was quoted saying after the race "Jim wasn't holding me up, I could get to him but couldn't get anything goin. I wasn't gonna try anything stupid...probably woulda ended up 3rd or taken us both out."
Next week the drivers ar off but return in 2 weeks to the flat and tight turns of Spencer Speedway. Stay tuned race fans it's only gonna get better from here on out.
The Summer Sizzler Series top 5 from Mesa Marin:
1st. 46 Jim Whaley Jr (Bob's Arco)
2nd. 28 Mike Gibsob (GMS)
3rd. 6 Darcy Rutherford
4th. 85 Trevor Malone
5th. 31 Gary Rousseau (Sunoco Race Fuels)