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Santa Maria, CA., Jun. 11 - Jody
Bandfield enjoyed winning the first NMRA-TQ Midget main event of his
career so much May 28 in round four of the season that he encored in
round five Saturday. The 20-lap feature at the banked third-mile
Santa Maria Speedway was the inaugural "Ron Otto Memorial
Race" named in honor of the popular, long-time NMRA
officer/official who succumbed to a heart attack at age 74 last
November 30. Otto resided in nearby Nipomo with his wife Gay. Their
son Tony is a respected racing starter and they remain active with
NMRA.
Bandfield drove his own No. 4 Honda-powered car
to his second victory. He sub-drove the No. 15 Welcomer Honda
for builder/driver Walt Johnson to his first feature triumph two
weeks ago at Bakersfield Speedway.Bandfield increased his one-race
old NMRA series driving point lead. It marked his second trip to
victory ceremonies as a car owner. Newcomer Shawn Kautz drove the
Bandfield No. 4 to victory last season at Santa Maria for his only
victory to date.
Chuck West, NMRA's 2002 driving champion from
Fresno, finished second Saturday in one of the two West Evans-owned
cars. Johnson returned to the Welcomer ride that he built and
finished third. Bruce Hiroshima, in his own No. 70 new car this
season, and 2003-04 NMRA champion Steve Lambert were fourth and
fifth in a 10-car field. Michael Bliffen, West Evans, Steve Parke
and Ron Ahrendt were sixth through ninth respectively. Richard
Ortega did not start in the second, older Hiroshima car.
Parke led the first three laps of the main and
Bandfield paced the final 17 circuits. Parke and Lambert took the
eight-lap heat race victories. Round six of the scheduled 14-race
season will take place in three weeks on Saturday, July 2 at Orange
Show Speedway. It will be the second of four scheduled TQ Midget
races at the quarter-mile paved track in San Bernardino at the
Orange Show Fairgrounds.
Summary: (pick-up agate)
Heat 1 - Steve Parke, Bruce Hiroshima, Walt
Johnson, Jody Bandfield,
Michael Bliffen.
Heat 2 - Steve Lambert, Chuck West, West
Evans.-DNS-Ron Ahrendt, Richard
Ortega.
Main - Bandfield, West, Johnson, Hiroshima,
Lambert, Michael Bliffen,
Evans, Parke, Ahrendt. DNS-Richard Ortega.
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