Childress Goes Back To Back In Sport Mod Action, While Burnes Dominates Mod Feature
Hanford, CA- Racing returned to the “King of the Dirt Tracks” on Friday night, and a stellar crowd on hand saw non-wing ace, Ryan Bernal break through and grab his first career winged sprint car win during the Duinkerken Farms King of Kings feature event, while Ricky Childress, Jr scored his second consecutive win with the RaceChic IMCA Sport Mod’s, and Bryan Burnes was dominant during the McAlister’s Auto IMCA Mod feature event.
With 22 winged sprint cars in attendance on Friday night, it was Mike Faria and Craig Stidham leading the field to green. As Faria got the initial jump, it was Hanford, CA product, DJ Netto making a couple of big moves to officially lead the first lap, before the caution flag flew.
As the action came back to life, Netto would nearly see his machine get upside down, but was able to save it as he continued to lead. Behind Netto, sixth starting Ryan Bernal was making he
bottom groove work very well, as he wasted no time working into the second spot by the fifth lap.
With Netto making the high, scary side of the speedway work, Bernal tracked him down as he continued to run the bottom, and brought the crowd to edge of their seat as he was all over Netto in lapped traffic.
Coming out of turn four, Bernal was able to grab the top spot on the 15th lap, just before a caution flag flew, and bunched the field back up. With Bernal out front, Netto continued to run in the second spot while Cory Eliason, and Heath Duinkerken battled for the final position of the podium.
A couple of late restarts gave Netto a couple of opportunities to battle for the lead, but Bernal was too good on this night, as he kept Netto at bay, as he picked up the win with Netto finishing in second, Duinkerken third, Eliason fourth, and Craig Stidham rounding out the Top-Five.
The RaceChic IMCA Sport Mod feature event saw Kelly Wilkinson jump out to the early race lead, before his machine drifted high in the fourth turn, allowing the No. 74 of Wayne Dotson to grab the lead.
Once in front, Dotson would slowly work his way away from the field, while the battle behind him intensified between Gary Dutton Ricky Childress Jr, and Tina Pounds.
With Dutton pulling off the speedway as the race neared the halfway point, Childress would get around Pounds for the second spot on the 13th lap, as he then went to work on Dotson.
On the 18th lap, Childress would make his winning move, as he would grab the top stop, and never look back as he parked in victory lane for the second week in a row with Dotson finishing second, Kruz Griffith third, Pounds fourth, and Austin Frye in the fifth position.
Bryan Burnes was simply the class of the field on Friday night in the McAlister’s Auto IMCA Mod division. After finding himself on the front row after a pair of false starts by the original front row, Burnes took early command of the race and was never seriously challenged on this night.
While Burnes continued to lead the way, Chad Reichenbach, and Roger Holder would battle behind him, as Kyle Griffith soon became a contender for a podium position. As the laps clicked
off, Holder would take command of the second spot, as Griffth took over the third position.
As Burnes took the checkered flag, and earned the win, Holder would finish in the second spot, with Ryan Porter taking the third spot by way of Griffith’s last lap spin, Alex Wilson would finish fourth, with Jeff Streeter rounding out the Top-Five.
Things will go quiet for the Keller Auto Speedway for the next two Friday’s, but the action returns in a big way on May 29th. That night will kick off the Battle For the Milk Can 4-race mini-series, (three for the mods and sport mods) as it offers a healthy $3000 to the King of Kings feature winner, while offering $300 to start. The IMCA Sport Mods will offer $600 to win, while the IMCA Mods will race for a cool $750 on each of the four scheduled nights.
The Keller Auto Speedway is located at 801 10th Ave Hanford, CA 93230.
ON TAP- The Keller Auto Speedway will take a couple weeks off before coming back to life on Friday may 29th for the first Battle for the Milk Can event.
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