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WCVDTS
Willow Springs
Round 7
Sunday
October 23rd, 2011
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Sunday Sportsman Results and Photos
Photos bt VFT
Pro Dash 4 Cash
Pro Dash 4 Cash
1. 12 Brad Baker
2. 9 Jared Mees
3. 42e Kayl Kolkman
4. 26 Johnny Lewis
5. 54 Mike Rush
6. 30 Bronson Bauman
Digger Open Pro
Digger Open Pro
1. 12 Brad Baker
2. 7 Sammy Halbert
3. 10 Briar Bauman
4. 42e Kayl Kolkman
5. 54 Mikey Rush
6. 62 Luke Gough
7. 26 Johnny Lewis
8. 16 Jimmy Wood
9. 30 Bronson Bauman
10. 33e Mikey Avila
11. 91 Michael Martin
12. 18d Dennis Trentman
13. 9 Jared Mees dnf
14. 15 Garrett Stout dnf
 
 
The young Mister Briar Bauman on the last corner of the final lap at Digger Pro
main did an amazing save captured by Jimmy Wray and vft.
Jimmy Wray's photos of Willow
October 23rd, 2011 Eddie Mulder's
W.C.D.T.S. Round #7
Willow Springs- Rosmond, Ca.
Article by Jamey Blunt
Another eighty eight degree day was on tap for round seven, the final
round of the 2011 season of Eddie Mulder's W.C.D.T. series. As has
become tradition, the final two rounds are held the week after the last
Grand National race of the season affording the opportunity for many of
the top Pros in dirt track racing to stay in California to earn some
extra money before their winter break. What with the regular seventeen
sponsors of the series (Digger Helm, Rod Lake Racing, Motion Pro,
K&N Filters, Barnett Clutches & Cables, JRC Engineering, Penton
Racing Products, Megacycle Cams, Brown's Cycles, Maxima Racing Oils,
Coventry Spares, A&A Racing, Tuffplates, Todays Cycle Coverage,
S&S Off Road Magazine, Works Performance Shocks, and GT Graphics)
and the six (Mark and Randy Zimmerman-Specialty Fabrications Inc.,
Greenlawn Mortuary, Coors Light, Cycle Works-Don Galloway, Zanotti
Racing, and Dodge Brothers Racing) sponsors added just for the Willow
Springs races there was a $14,000 purse at stake in the Digger Helm Pro
main and over $4,000 up for grabs in the Dash-4-Cash. One hundred forty
seven entries filled nineteen heat races, seventeen main events and two
dash-4-cash races to fill out the day's program. Three water trucks
were on hand to keep moisture in the racing surface, a blade and drag
were also used in track prep and truckloads of D G were brought in just
for this event.
The Pro Dash-4-Cash pitted the two fastest riders from each of the pro
heat races in another four lap shootout with $4,000 at stake. Those top
six were Brad Baker, Kayl Kolkman, Jared Mees, Mikey Rush, Johnny
Lewis, and Bronson Bauman. Mees had the quickest reaction time off the
line with Lewis right behind and Baker just a few feet in back of him.
As they headed down the back straight Baker shot up under Lewis going
into turn three while Lewis almost parked it in the hay bales up high.
As the top three drove out of turn four it was Baker who hooked up best
and secured the lead by the entrance to turn one. Halfway into lap two
Rush and Kolkman got into the mix with Rush up to third briefly. A lap
later as Kolkman, Lewis, and Rush fought over third Baker and Mees were
gone. With a lap remaining Baker had a two second gap at the front and
Kolkman had settled the fight over third and was closing in on Mees in
second. At the checkered flag the order was Baker, Mees holding off
Kolkman, Lewis with Rush glued to his backside and Bauman.
Eighteen Pros were on hand and had to be sorted through three heat
races and a semi to narrow the field down to fourteen riders' stages
three rows deep for the twenty lap Digger Helm open pro final. The
fastest lap ever turned during a race on the 3/8 mile oval was put in
by Sammy Halbert back in 2009 at 20.22 seconds aboard his H.D.XR-750.
This made Halbert the track record holder to this point, more on this
later. The top two finishers from each heat race made up the six on the
front row, who were Brad Baker, (with the fastest hear race time by
almost over four seconds) Kayl Kolkman, Jared Mees, Mikey Rush, Johnny
Lewis, and Bronson Bauman. Thunder roared and dirt flew as starter Fred
Allen turned them lose with a wave from his green flag and fresh tires
searched for traction clawing at the ground. From pole position Baker
launched straight and true into turn one with the lead staying to the
inside with Jared Mees a close second. Sammy Halbert who started on the
second row opted for the high outside line through turns one and two
and would make up ground from his eleventh place starting position.
Johnny Lewis ran in third until the second trip through turn one where
he went up against the hay bales allowing Rush through to third but did
manage to make the save and drop back in at fourth. Also on lap two
Garrett Stout would retire from the race and a lap later Halbert in one
clean sweep would go from fifth to third past Lewis and Rush. On lap
three Baker also posted his fastest lap of the race with a freshly
groomed and clear track at 20.28 seconds. Also on the move was Kolkman
who got buried on the start but was now in fifth by lap four which is
when gremlins struck Mees as his XR-750 began to sputter and loose
power. Exiting turn two running along the back straight Mees would take
the runoff exit road and retire from competition for the day. At this
point the 2010 AMA Horizon award winner Briar Bauman made his presence
known as he was up to fifth from his eighth place start. Exiting turn
four on lap five Briar Bauman got a drive and drove past Kolkman for
fourth, also at this point in the race Baker had a four second lead
over Halbert. On lap seven Baker was into lappers and his first victim
was Dennis Trentman while Rush in third had been caught by Briar
Bauman, Lewis was back to sixth at this point with Bronson Bauman at
seventh and Jimmy Wood riding injured and in pain in the ninth
position. At the half way point the order was Baker (a full straight
away ahead) Halbert alone in second, Rush in third holding Briar Bauman
in check for fourth, Kolkman in fifth, Lewis sixth, Bronson Bauman
seventh, and Luke Gough finding his pace moving through the field from
an eleventh place spot through turn one now up to eighth. Briar Bauman
seems to get stronger as the race goes on, and on lap twelve he made
his move on Rush to take over at third. On lap fourteen Baker being
very consistent turned a 20.37 second lap time and had a six second gap
back to Halbert in second. By lap fifteen Kolkman had caught Rush and
was waging war for the fourth place position and Gough had caught and
passed Lewis for sixth, dropping Lewis to seventh. With two laps
remaining Wood was pressuring Bronson Bauman for eighth and would
secure the position leaving Bronson to finish in ninth. Exiting turn
four to the white flag Briar Bauman almost threw it all away, it was a
close call but his talent and quick reflexes saved his butt and his
third place podium position, Baker went on for the victory with an
eight second cushion over Halbert, Kolkman had a drag race out of turn
four with Rush for fourth place, which Kolkman and his H.D. won by a
couple of feet making Rush fifth. Gough came home a hard fought sixth
with Lewis seventh, Wood eighth, Bronson Bauman ninth and Mikey Avila
needing a stronger horse rounding out the top ten. Just after the
podium ceremonies Baker had these comments, "The track was excellent, I
had a lot of fun, I got the hole shot and never looked back just kept
my head down. I just tried to run consistent and as smooth as I could
and it all paid off. The competition didn't have anything for me, ya
know I wanted to step it up in front of Eddie since he was a former
national #12 so I just pushed hard to make him proud." Sammy Halbert
had this to say, "We messed up in the heat race and didn't have our
typical set up on the bike, I thought I could just run whatever and do
well here but since I messed up and started on the second row I could
only charge up to second and that's all I could do. I could see Brad up
front and he was gone but ya know I kind of slacked off after Pomona
and didn't really have anything for him today but we'll come back to
Willow and bring my A game." Third place Briar Bauman stated this about
his save in turn four," Turn four definitely got the best of me today I
came off and got a little throttle happy and went western but
fortunately was able to save it and get third. It scared me, I wasn't
ready for that one I was just trying to get up to Sammy and all of a
sudden I was going the other way, and I'll always remember that one."
Tracking down Jimmy Wood to find out how his left hand is recovering
from surgery gave this insight," Seriously it's gonna need a month or
more to heal. I need to get it checked out again but they said that
once I'm done they'll immobilize it for a month and allow it to heal.
Then we'll see," thus closed the 2011 season, Baker left the final
round with two victories and the second fastest lap ever turned at
Willow, while Halbert vows to return better prepared, but still the
track record holder by a very narrow margin.
Sunday Sportsman Results and Photos
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