New car, new season, same old result for Jimmy Thompson.

The Grover Beach resident took a big first step in the chase for his fifth consecutive sprint car title at Santa Maria Speedway with a convincing victory in Saturday night/s J.B. Dewar/Bandit feature.

Thompson, who has owned the Dewar title for every year since 2000, got by Santa Maria/s Darren Simas five laps into the 30-lap feature and cruised to the victory in his first event of the year.

"It/s a brand-new chassis, and my brother (crew chief Ben Thompson) has been working on this engine; It/s just awesome," said Thompson, who won last year/s Dewar title on the season/s final night with a feature victory.

The race was a typical Dewar/Bandit event, full of lengthy stoppages totaling over an hour from green to checkered. There were two red-flag sessions for flips , and only 13 of the 21 starters were able to finish the race.

Thompson, starting on the second row, got a good jump off the start and blew by front-row starter A.J. Burgin to trail Simas entering the back straight. It remained that way for the first five laps, until Thompson was able to duck under Simas coming out of turn two on lap five, taking the lead for good.

After that, the only real battle was for third place: With Simas putting a tight grip on second place, Davey Pombo and Danny Sheridan were able to get away from Burgin and Steve DeMott to battle for third place. Neither car was more than two lengths away from the other in the final 10 laps, with Sheridan/s kamikaze move around the outside in the final turn the difference in taking third from Pombo.

DeMott took fifth ahead of Burgin, with Richard Harvey Jr., Gary Rayburn Jr., Jason Ray, Jimmy Reeves and Danny Olmstead rounding out the top 10.

After the race, Thompson dedicated his win to three-time former track champion Steve Clevenger, calling the former sprint car and California Dirt Car titleist as "a hero of mine." Clevenger, who won the sprint title in 1979 and the CDC titles in 1899 and /89 passed away from brain cancer last week.

Kenny Kirkpatrick took the Street Stock main event by the throat, taking the lead eight laps into the 25-lap feature and pulling away for an easy victory.

"The car likes open air, and the driver does, as well," Kirkpatrick said to the fans from Victory Lane.

Kirkpatrick held the early lead from pole, but was passed by Willy Oathout two laps in. Behind them, Tim Randolph and Billy Simkins were putting on a show of a battle for third, dueling for most of the race.

Kirkpatrick got by Oathout on lap eight, taking advantage of a bobble by the lightning-quick Oathout. Oathout later fell behind, allowing Randolph and Simkins to continue their tete-a-tete for second.

Randolph ended up in the runner-up position despite a furious late charge from Simkins, while Rick Wilkinson claimed fourth and Chad Weber edged Oathout for fifth. However, that result was unofficial as of press time.

Nipomo/s Dave Thompson was a fortunate winner in Factory Stock, inheriting the lead with three laps to go and holding off Tom Breshears for the season-opening 20-lap victory.

"Racing luck, that/s what it was," Thompson said in Victory Lane. "At this rate, I should go to the (Chumash) Casino tonight."

Thompson took over the top spot when early leader David Addamo suffered an engine failure three laps from the checkered flag. Addamo took over the race lead by getting past Breshears on lap seven and pulled away from the field, his lead reaching as big as half a lap. However, his race came to an abrupt end on lap 17 when the engine expired, forcing Addamo into the turn-four wall. Thompson took the lead and never looked back.

It was the second time that Addamo/s Factory Stock entry came out a loser on the night 7 he was involved in a rare two-car flip during his heat race, tangling up with backmarker Rick Prettie while battling for the lead. He was able to get the car back together and finished fourth in the heat.

Early in the evening, the track held its "Car Beautiful" contest for the Dewar/Bandit sprints and the Factory Stocks, both making their initial 2004 visit to SMS. Lompoc rookie Dan Oliveira took top honors over Ryan Dale and Addamo in Factory Stocks, while Sheridan beat out 17-year-old Evan Suggs, Richard Harvey Jr. and Jason May for top honors in the sprints.

One driver who had a tough night was Jay Ervine of Las Vegas, making his first appearance at SMS. His 1999 Chevy Suburban hauler blew its engine as the team pulled into the pits, forcing them to possibly stay over the weekend on the Central Coast. Then, Ervine got caught out on the dry-slick conditions and flipped his orange-and-blue No. 21 sprinter during qualifying, suffering major damage.

April 18, 2004