Eddie Mulder's West Coast Dirt Track Series
Round 5 - Willow Springs
Sunday, October 21st, 2012
Specialty Fabrications Dash-4-Cash
Specialty Fabrications D-4-C
1. 7 Sam Halbert
2. 12 Brad Baker
3. 10z Briar Bauman
4. 98 Kayl Kolkman
5. 12g Jared Mees
6. 30 Bronson Bauman
Pro Heat 1
12g Jared Mees - 7 Sam Halbert - 26 Brandan Bergen
Pro Heat 2
12 Brad Baker - 30 Bronson Bauman - 95z Austin Scaggs
Pro Heat 3
10z Briar Bauman - 27 Rob Pearson - 98 Kayl Kolkman
Pro Semi
80 Stevie Bonsey - 94j Kyle Jones - 38 Nick Armstrong
Pro Main
Digger Open Pro
1. 7 Sammy Halbert
2. 12 Brad Baker
3. 10z Briar Bauman
4. 1 Jared Mees
5. 98 Kayl Kolkman
6. 30 Bronson Bauman
7. 80 Stevie Bonsey
8. 26 Brandan Bergen
9. 38 Nick Armstrong
10. 94j Kyle Jones
11. 95z Austin Scaggs
Eddie
Mulders West Coast Dirt Track Series Double Header Finale
Willow
Springs October 20-21, 2012.
By Chris Johnson
It was the weekend
after the final round of the AMA flatrack half-mile finale at Pomona in
Rosamond, Ca where we had great weather with the typical afternoon wind
at the Willow Springs International Raceway Walt James 3/8 mile dirt
track. Many of the National Pro and expert racers stuck around to grab
the largest pro money purse for a non-National dirt track racing event
in California history, a grand total of over $30,000! Digger
Helm, Bakersfield's famous flattrack racer from the fifties and sixties
came up with $23,000 for the Pro mains (both Saturday and Sunday) and
Mark and Randy Zimmerman through Specialty Fabrications, Inc of Simi
Valley came up with another $7,000 for the Dash for cash on both days
with an additional $1,000 from three other contributors at the track.
The racing action we saw on the perfectly groomed cushion was as
exciting as any National in addition to great racing from the WCDTS
amateur competitors that also put on a great show both days all going
for the final annual Series championship positions. Special thanks to
racer, Gary Ritchie for his great work on the grader between
races! Awesome action both days in the Senior class main events
as Reno, Nv Triumph mounted Rick Reed took the win on Saturdays program
closely followed by Kingman, Az's Keith Bryant, and Californian, Jim
Ottele on his 1971 750 Shell/Yamaha finishing in third. The finish
order was switched for Sundays main as Ottele took the win over Reed in
some great back and forth senior action for both of these series
regulars. Reed took the Series Championship. One of the largest
classes of competitors, the fifteen rider Vet class was not shy on
action both days either, as Hesperia racer Jim Rosa (Honda)
undisputedly won on Saturday over a hard charging Paul Ott from Simi
Valley on his Kawasaki. These racers battled back and forth for several
laps but Ott would succumb to Rosa's persistence to settle for the
second award on Saturday. The Vet racing action continued
on Sunday as both Steve Nichols from Tulsa, Ok (Rotax) and Rob Bush
from Acton, CA (Honda) had an awesome battle for the lead and second
place until Rosa stormed through from a fifth place start to win
another Vet main event with Nichols finishing second and Bush in third
but first for the Series #1 plate. The foundation of this sport
had a strong showing as well in the 80cc Youth class. The youngsters
filled the program with ten racers. Saturdays action saw the two KTMs
of the Goodwin brothers from Keensburg, Co battle for the lead - the
older of the two, Austin, taking the win over his younger brother
Hunter and Bakersfield's Clay Williams on his CR85 finishing in the
third slot. Before Sunday's 80cc main event, promoter Eddie
Mulder had a pep talk with the #95 Clay Williams. The result? The
holeshot! Austin Goodwin would be in the second slot until one of the
other riders went down to trigger a restart. After the restart, Austin
swung wide and went off course in the same spot off the back straight
twice while the younger Goodwin put a charge on and almost caught the
race leader Williams. He could not get by so Williams would take home
the gold and clinch the Series 80cc Championship. Hunter Goodwin took
second and Nolan Reitz from Madera, Ca. finished with the bronze podium
spot to take third in the series. Saturdays Pro heats with
sixteen pros making the main event including Brad Baker (XR750 /
Chelhalis, WA), Briar Bauman (TL1000 / Salinas, CA) and Slammin Sammy
Halbert (XR750 / Graham, WA) set some very fast lap times.
Unfortunately, the newly crowned AMA Grand National Champion Jared Mees
(Clio, MI) started the weekend off with mechanical failures as both of
his XR 750s had difficulties even making the program and he was
borrowing and wrenching on bikes all day long. Starting off the
Main event action, the Specialty Fabrications Dash for Cash ($2,000) on
Saturday highlighted 2012 AMA National Rookie of the Year, Briar
Bauman's skills as he took an early lead on the Ronnie Brown tuned
Suzuki TL, with the hard charging duo of Sammy Halbert and Brad Baker
battling for second followed by Jared Mees, Bronson Bauman and Kyle
Jones - By race end, Baker would grab the advantage over Halbert for
second place after conflicts with lappers moved Sammy to the third spot
- leaving Briar Bauman a richer man for winning the dash and Jared Mees
overcoming his woes to fourth for the final payout
position. Sundays' Specialty Fabrications Dash for Cash
($6,000) heated up as fast time was set by Halbert, Baker only two
tenths of a second off and Bauman four tenths of a second from Sammy's
pace. Kayl Kolkman scored the holeshot with Halbert, Baker and Bauman
in tow but could not hold off the hard charging XRs and TL and ended up
finishing fourth behind eventual dash winner Halbert, Baker in second
and Briar Bauman third. Fifth place went to Jared Mees on Steve
Nichols' Rotax and the final payout spot went to Bronson Bauman in
sixth. Saturdays Digger Open Pro Main, Brad Baker and Sammy
Halbert would switch lead four times until again, approaching slower
racers, Halbert would get into several tangle sessions almost going
down twice, getting fourth place. Brad Baker victorious in this battle
and Saturday Dash winner Briar Bauman came home in second followed by
National #98 Kayl Kolkman taking the final podium spot for
third. For Sundays Digger Open Pro Main with 12 riders,
Halbert and Baker would pick up where they left off distancing
themselves from Bauman and Jared Mees (600 rotax). Mees was battling
with the TL of Bauman for that third spot when eventual winner Halbert
seem to find another gear and just pulled away from everyone - Brad
Baker coming in second and Bauman coming in third for the last podium
spot. Other noteable events included #17q Herb Wolff back to back
wins in the Super Senior/Sr Novice (riders 60 plus/50 plus novice)
class and 2012 Series Championship on his 72 Triumph. The Modern 750
vintage class had #38 Lloyd McGregor, hit the dirt Sat but still come
back to take a fourth place finish then Sunday, lead it from start to
finish to clinch the Series #1 plate. Jeff Gonzales(84j), Jack
Jones(11j) and Rick Reed(59y) battled all weekend in the 500 support
class. Gonzales won Saturday, Jones won Sunday with Reed a close
second. They finished 1,2,3 in the Series. El Segundo's Sean Heeney
#117 won the Youth 150 class and the 250 Open class
championships. The end of season trophy presentation was a very
special event as Promoter, Eddie Mulder personally hands out all of the
custom trophy number plates from Tuffplates, talks with the winners and
poses for photos while sharing racing stories, laughs and tears.
Another fantastic weekend of racing, camaraderie and bench racing add
to the atmosphere while we all look forward to the up and coming 2013
season. Special thanks to Digger Helm, Mark and Randy Zimmerman,
Rod Lake Racing, Motion Pro, K & N Filters, Barnett Clutches,
Coventry Ses, JRC Engineering, Megacycle Cams, Penton Racing Products,
Browns Cycles, Maxima Racing Oils, A & A Racing, Todayrquote s
Cycle Coverage, S & S Offroad Magazine, Works Performance.
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