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Jun 29, 2010
Srl Press Relations
Pettit Wins, Takes Point Lead
Bakersfield, CA - Jim Pettit II won his first SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series event of 2010 Saturday night at Madera Speedway in the "Laps4LittleOnes.com 125". It was the Prunedale, CA drivers fourth straight top three finish of the season and propelled him to the top of the SRL championship standings.
"We finally qualified well enough to be within the invert, then Eric (Holmes) drew a ten so we started eighth, which is our best starting position of the year, but we had a lot of really good cars in front of us." Seven drivers bested the previous SRL qualifying track record. "We knew we had a good consistent car, so I took my time moving forward and eventually put ourselves in position to win."
Pettit is now tied with the late Jeff Anthony for the most all-time SRL wins at nine.
At the drop of the green flag it was Thomas Martin who won the first lap race back to the stripe over pole sitter Ryan Foster. The top five ran nose to tail until a lap 11 caution due to a spin by Dave Byrd, with Martin leading, followed by Foster, Auggie Vidovich, M.K. Kanke and Pettit.
On the restart Vidovich had moved past Foster for second. The top five remained unchanged nose to tail until both Kanke and Pettit moved past Foster on lap 31.
Another yellow on lap 37 involving Kevin Callahan in the Motorway Motorsports #88 and former Madera Speedway champion Kyle Gottula.
On the restart, the line up was Martin, Vidovich, Kanke, Pettit, Holmes up to fifth, followed by Strmiska, Foster, Justin Westmoreland who was making his first SRL start since Orange Show, Kyle Cattanach and Derek Thorn in tenth. As the green flew to start lap 41, Vidovich charged under Martin into turn one, after the two cars rubbed, Vidovich cleared Martin to take the lead. Kanke was now all over Martin, with Pettit looking low on Kanke, while trying to hold off Holmes.
Lap 52, Westmoreland and new track record holder Brennan Newberry made contact racing for tenth to bring out the fifth caution of the race. Both cars stopped high in turn 4, Newberry suffered damage and would later pit losing multiple laps, Westmoreland went on to restart at the rear of the field.
On the restart, Vidovich pulled out ahead of Martin. The balance of the top ten was nose to tail and side-by-side racing hard for position. Martin slowed Kanke's momentum coming off turn 2, which allowed Holmes to move past Pettit and to the inside of Kanke. Holmes went from fifth to third in one move. Vidovich had stretched his lead, with Martin trailing and Holmes putting on the pressure for second, while Pettit was looking for room down low on Kanke for position.
A lap 91 spin by Martin brought out the caution. Pettit had just moved ahead of Kanke for third. Foster was fifth, followed by Stockton winner Jonathon Gomez, Jacob Gomes, Cattanach, Thorn, Cole Cabrera and Eddie Secord up to tenth.
Back to green, Holmes moved up to challenge Vidovich for the lead, followed closely by Pettit and Kanke. The top four consisted of a former NASCAR Southwest Tour champion, a two-time K&N Pro Series champion, a two-time NASCAR Tour and SRL champ and the defending SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series champion.
Holmes took the lead on lap 102, just before the caution due a spin involving Martin and Olympia, Washington's Jared Vorse.
Lap 111, with Holmes in the lead, Vidovich fell off the pace to allow Pettit to move to second, Kanke third, Gomez now up to fourth with a pass on Foster, who was being pressured by Victory Circle Rookie-of-the-Year leader, Gomes.
Three laps later the final caution of the night was thrown due to contact between Foster and Gomes in turn four. Foster was finished for the night with broken right front suspension.
On the restart it was Holmes with a cushion, being chased by Pettit followed by Kanke, Gomez, Westmoreland, Keith Spangler, Carlos Vieira, Secord, Cattanach, and Thorn.
With four to go Kanke slowed suffering from fuel pump problems and dropped out of contention. At the finish it was Holmes, Pettit, Gomez, Westmoreland, Spangler, Vieira, Secord, Byrd, Cattanach, Thorn and sixteen-year-old Cabrera rounding out the top ten in his first SRL start.
Holmes #18 car did not pass post race inspection and the win was awarded to Pettit, Gomez second and Westmoreland third.
Next race for the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series is the "SPEARS MANUFACTURING 100" on Saturday, July 17th at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
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