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Hogge Wins Friday Night Pat Pettit Memorial Opener
At Ocean Speedway
Watsonville, CA...September 30...Bobby Hogge IV kicked off the Pat Pettit Memorial Shoot Out at Ocean Speedway with a $1003 victory in Friday night's 33 lap IMCA Modified Main Event. The Watsonville champion has been on a bit of a roll lately with big victories in the Rod Restad Memorial Race at Yreka and the Lon Skinner Memorial Race at Southern Oregon Speedway. Hogge took the lead from Stephen Hopf on lap five and then had to deal with several yellow flags. However, each time, Hogge maintained a good pace on the restart and drove to an impressive victory. Chico star Ryan McDaniel gained second on lap 11 and took up pursuit of Hogge for the rest of the race. 2016 Wild West Speedweek champion Kellen Chadwick came from a B Main to finish a strong third ahead of Ethan Dotson, Alex Stanford and Jim Pettit II.
There were 48 IMCA Modifieds in action, and Petaluma Stock Car veteran Fred Plourde III won the first eight lap heat race ahead of Ryan McDaniel. Past Watsonville champion Brian Cass held off Hogge to win the second of six heat races. Late Model ace Clay Daly won his heat race ahead of Oregon long tow Jeremy Richey. Robby Sawyer won the fourth heat ahead of Hopf. Randy McDaniel won the fifth heat ahead of Anthony Slaney, and Pettit won the final heat in front of newly crowned Merced Speedway champion Randy Brown. Nick DeCarlo went flag to flag to win the first 12 lap B Main ahead of Robert Marsh, Josh Combs and Stanford. 2015 IMCA State champion Alex Wilson won a loaded second B Main ahead of Chadwick, Paul Stone and Ethan Dotson.
IMCA State champion Brian Cooper won a thrilling battle with Rick Diaz to win the 20 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event B. Cooper took the lead from Matt Jenner on lap four, and Merced champion Diaz crept into second on lap six. Brian's brother and Chico champion Todd Cooper took over third on a lap 11 restart. Diaz began pressuring B. Cooper for the lead as they hit heavy traffic with four laps to go. Diaz made an outside pass in Turn 2 of the 19th lap to take the lead. However, B. Cooper made a move on the inside as they went through Turns 3 and 4 for the final time. B. Cooper emerged with the lead and the $503 victory. Diaz got sideways and fell back to fourth. Todd Cooper finished second ahead of Jordan Hagar, Diaz and Watsonville champion Jim DiGiovanni.
The 32 car IMCA Sport Modified field ran four eight lap qualifying heat races with Dennis Simunovich beating Fred Ryland in his heat, only to skip tech and lose the win. B. Cooper won his heat ahead of Diaz, Jenner won a heat race in front of Adriane Frost and Nick Spainhoward won his heat ahead of Chris Falkenberg, who also forgot to go to tech to lose second to Trevor Clymens. Al Johnson won a late race battle with Mark Odgers to win the 12 lap B Main. Odgers fell to fourth behind David Pierce and Justin McPherson on the last lap.
Despite being 9:20 and with only one race remaining, the checkered flag flew on lap 11 of the scheduled 20 lap Hobby Stock Main Event. Terry Campion led Bruce "Bubba" Nelson through all of the yellow flags for the win. Track champion Robert Gallaher gained third on lap four and finished there ahead of Watsonville Hobby Stock legend Sam Kennedy and Billy Nelson. Rich Denman won the first of three eight lap qualifying heat races ahead of Bubba Nelson. Campion won his heat race ahead of S. Kennedy and Robert Huckaby won the last heat ahead of Gallaher. Jeff Elrod went flag to flag to win the 12 lap B Main ahead of Phillip Vaughn and Katie Briggs.
SBDCA champion David Teves scored another 20 lap Dwarf Car Main Event victory. After an impressive heat race win ahead of Justin Yanez, Teves jumped into the early lead in the Main Event ahead of 2015 champion Gene "Punky" Pires. Only two yellow flags slowed the pace in the race, but nothing could stop Teves from driving to another well earned victory. Pires settled for second ahead of Marty Weisler, Mark Biscardi and Eric Weisler. Danny Wagner won a good battle with Nick DeCarlo to win the second heat race with a last lap pass.
Race Results
IMCA Modifeds
Heat 1-Fred Plourde III, Ryan McDaniel, Nick DeCarlo. Heat 2-Brian Cass, Bobby Hogge IV, Alex Wilson. Heat 3-Clay Daly, Jeremy Richey, Josh Combs. Heat 4-Robby Sawyer, Stephen Hopf, Paul Stone. Heat 5-Randy McDaniel, Anthony Slaney, Robert Marsh. Heat 6-Jim Pettit II, Randy Brown, Ryan Porter. B Main 1-Nick DeCarlo, Robert Marsh, Josh Combs, Alex Stanford, Bill Egleston. B Main 2-Alex Wilson, Kellen Chadwick, Paul Stone, Ethan Dotson, Ryan Porter. Main Event-Bobby Hogge IV, Ryan McDaniel, Kellen Chadwick, Ethan Dotson, Alex Stanford, Jim Pettit II, Nick DeCarlo, Randy Brown, Stephen Hopf, Clay Daly.
SBDCA Dwarf Cars
Heat 1-David Teves, Justin Yanez, Kyle Jones. Heat 2-Danny Wagner, Gene Pires Jr., Nick DeCarlo. Main Event-David Teves, Gene Pires Jr., Marty Weisler, Mark Biscardi, Eric Weisler, Nick Squatrito, Kyle Jones, William Belfield, Danny Wagner, Justin Yanez.
Hobby Stocks
Heat 1-Rich Denman, Bruce Nelson, Billy Nelson. Heat 2-Terry Campion, Sam Kennedy, Mike Stockton. Heat 3-Robert Huckaby, Robert Gallaher, George Fernandez. B Main-Jeff Elrod, Phillip Vaughn, Katie Briggs, Chris Sorensen, Kodie Dean. Main Event-Terry Campion, Bruce Nelson, Robert Gallaher, Sam Kennedy, Billy Nelson, Joe Willoughby, Chris Sorensen, Nick Triolo, Tony Oliveira, Jeff Skelton.
IMCA Sport Modifieds
Heat 1-Dennis Simunovich, Fred Ryland, Jordan Hagar. Heat 2-Brian Cooper, Rick Diaz, Cale Kanke. Heat 3-Matt Jenner, Adriane Desousa-Frost, Jim DiGiovanni. Heat 4-Nick Spainhoward, Chris Falkenberg, Trevor Clymens. B Main-Al Johnson, David Pierce, Justin McPherson, Mark Odgers, Brian Pearce. Main Event-Brian Cooper, Todd Cooper, Jordan Hagar, Rick Diaz, Jim DiGiovanni, Adriane Desousa-Frost , Jerry Bartlett, Fred Ryland, Cale Kanke, Josh Hensley.
