Saturday night's Late Model feature at Santa Maria Speedway was loaded with several top-notch drivers, most on hand in preparation for next week's appearance by the Western All-Star Late Model series.

With that said, Bakersfield's Brad Pounds made sure that his first-ever victory in the class was in honor of an appropriate person one day before Mother's Day.

“I want to dedicate this to my mother,” said Pounds of his late mother, Carolyn. “I wish she was here with us for this.”

In the night's other action, Danny Lauer of Santa Maria held off Watsonville's Clay Daly to win the IMCA Modified feature, Santa Maria's Frank Nyback scored his first Mini Stock victory of the season and Carpinteria's Theo Van De Sande scored his third consecutive Factory Stock feature win, including two in a row in points races.

Pounds - who had made serious in-roads in his recent runs in Street Stock races at the 1/3-mile clay oval - stormed through a very solid Late Model field passing El Segundo's Nick Bartels on lap 21 of the 30-lapper, then pulling away for the victory.

The son of longtime West Coast star Scott Pounds, the younger Pounds was quick to give credit in a Victory Lane interview.

“I have to thank my dad for this as well,” he said. “He's worked a lot on this car. Richie McCowan deserves a lot of credit as well.”

Advertisement

The race originally appeared to be a two-car battle between Bartels and his father Bill, known more for his massive Harley-Davidson dealership in his hometown of Marina Del Rey. Bill led for the first eight laps, before Nick was able to sneak underneath. The elder Bartels faded late in the race, finishing 10th.

Nick Bartels then held serve for another 13 laps, pulling ahead of Anaheim Hills driver Ron Meyer. However, Pounds began to work his way forward, using a high-side line around the turns. He passed Meyer for second on lap 14, then appeared to get past Bartels on the next lap, only to have the move erased by a caution flag.

The move for the lead actually took an entire lap, beginning on lap 20 and extending all the way around the track before Pounds secured the lead coming out of turn two on lap 21.

Steve Drake was able to get around Bartels in the final laps for second; Bakersfield's John Lowery was fourth, while defending SMS champ Billy Griffin of Buena Park edged past Meyer at the line for fifth.

Before the night's main events, Pounds barely edged Lompoc's Dana Beattie to win the “Car Beautiful” award for the Late Models.

Lauer started the 25-lap IMCA main in the middle of the 19-car field, but was able to edge his way forward through the early stages of the race, so that he was running fifth by lap six.

“We finally got this brand-new race car handling the way it should,” said Lauer. “Hopefully, we have more to come.”

After other front-runners fell by the wayside in the following laps, Lauer was able to pull in right behind early leaders Daly and Bakersfield's Shane Jones.

Jones fell back himself after Lauer passed him on lap 15, not long before Daly ran into backmarkers while leading. That allowed Lauer to catch up to the leader, and he made his move on the low side on lap 18.

After that, Lauer was able to slowly pull away, getting good jumps on two late restarts and cruising to victory. Rounding out the top five were Daly, Coalinga's Rich Denman, Arroyo Grande's Chad Weber and Bakersfield's Sean Minor.

With the top three in Mini Stock points - Justin Marsh, Justin Crockett and Jeremy Heroux - all starting in the final three rows of the 20-lap feature, those up front had an opportunity to control things for themselves. The pole-sitting Nyback and front-row mate Mike Weigel of Lompoc took full advantage of that, swapping the lead between themselves through the race.

Nyback held the top spot early on, only to have Weigel take it when the duo reached a lapped car on lap nine: Weigel took the low side under the backmarker, while Nyback went high. That allowed Weigel to pull ahead and lead the middle section of the race.

“The car was very rough early in the race,” Nyback said. “But as the race went on, it started to come around, and get better and better.”

That helped Nyback in his move back to the front, getting by Weigel on lap 16 and never looking back, crossing the line four lengths ahead.

The other story of the race was the charge by the top three in points, with Heroux - who led the trio for the entire race - able to pull in behind Weigel for third; Marsh was hot on his tail for fourth and defending champion Crockett was fifth.

Van De Sande had to earn every inch of his victory in the 20-lap Factory Stock main, as defending series champ Kirk Morgan hounded him for the entire time he led.

“It's really great, winning three in a row,” said the Dutch native, who gave thanks to his in-laws from Holland who had made the trip Stateside. “We certainly didn't expect that.”

Van De Sande took the head from pole-sitter Ray Pezzi of Terra Bella at the end of the opening lap and never trailed, but Morgan was within two lengths the entire race.

The turning point may have come on lap 13: Van De Sande had been fighting understeer going around the turns at mid-race, allowing Morgan to pull alongside. However, after a lap-13 restart, Van De Sande - who had been using the high line around the track all race - dropped down to a line in mid-corner, erasing the understeer and slowly lengthening his lead at the end.

Following Van De Sande and Morgan to the line were Arroyo Grande's Kevin Linson, Atascadero's Charlie Scovell and Pezzi.

May 11, 2008