DEVOLDER AND JERNAGAN CLOSE OUT CALIFORNIA MODIFIED SPEEDWEEK AT BAKERSFIELD; HOGGE AND JERNAGAN CHAMPIONS
(August 16, 2020 from Stephanie Deatherage) – California Modified Speedweek presented by Hoppes Motorsports came to an end on Saturday, August 15th. The six-race series culminated at Bakersfield Speedway as the sixth different venue of the week. Fifty-three IMCA Modifieds were on tap complemented by thirty IMCA Sport Mods at the historic 1/3-mile clay oval.
Shane DeVolder got to the front early in the IMCA Modified feature. The Pacifica driver lost the top position on the second circuit when Norco youngster Alyssa Smith got around him. Smith would get too high on the fourth trip past the flag stand which gave the lead back to DeVolder on lap four.
Two consecutive cautions happened which compressed the field together, but a long green flag run took place. It allowed Shane DeVolder to establish over half of a lap lead and he got into lapped traffic with around ten laps remaining. The last ten laps would have three stoppages which disallowed Shane from reconstructing his large lead over the rest of the contenders.
Lap twenty-four witnessed the final restart of the night and DeVolder had no issue finishing the race out in front of the rest of the field. Shane DeVolder was the sixth different main event winner in six nights of the whole week. Shane now has three overall wins this season and it is the first time since June 27th at Diamond Mountain Speedway, in Susanville, that he has been victorious.
The Joe Glade owned entry, driven by Salinas veteran Bobby Hogge, ended the race second while Bakersfield native Ryan Daves posted a third-place result. The rest of the top five would feature drivers that had to come out of the B Mains. They were Jim Pettit II, of Prunedale, and Bakersfield’s Jerry Flippo in fourth and fifth. Four consolation features were contested with Jerry Flippo, Cody Burke of Salinas, Jim Pettit II, and Kyle Heckman, from Bakersfield, in the Bill Henderson machine.
Hogge would be declared the overall champion of California Modified Speedweek in the IMCA Modified division.
In the IMCA Sport Mod main event, Brent Curran set the tone early. The Antioch driver set a rapid pace over the rest of the field until a couple of cautions around lap six kept the rest of the competition attached to him. Restarts were a premium as eight stoppages would occur overall in the race.
Curran nailed the restarts and checked out each time from the rest of the pack. That was until after the field got going after a caution on lap elven when Garrett Jernagan navigated his way past Brent for the lead. Jernagan would also be hampered by restarts but managed to keep all challengers in check.
As the race wound down Jernagan, of Bakersfield, remained the race leader. With a late-race yellow, it set up a green-white-checkered. Despite the G-W-C having to be attempted twice, due to another stoppage, Garrett retained the race lead and went on to his fifth victory of the week. Jernigan also went atop the win list in all of California Sport Mods with six total wins overall in the 2020 season. Garrett Jernagan also was crowned as the California Modified Speedweek title winner in the Sport Mod division by a mere four points.
Brent Curran ended the night second with Jason Bannister, of Bakersfield, grabbing third. After having to come out of the B Main Bakersfield’s Brock Crawford rallied to a fourth-place finish. Tanner Thomas, from Atwater, was fifth and rounded out the top five finishing order. Brock Crawford was the winner of the lone consolation feature.
We want to thank all the tracks, sponsors, officials, teams, and crews that supported California Modified Speedweek. Also, a big shout out is in order to FloRacing for all the great coverage. For the final series point standings be sure to go MyRacePass.com, search “California IMCA Speedweek”, and click “Points”. For the latest news and information, be sure to visit the California Modified Speedweek Facebook page
2020 California Modified Speedweek Schedule (Date-Track-Location-Mod Winner-Sport Mod Winner):
Monday, August 10th-Placerville Speedway-Placerville, CA Bobby Hogge/Garrett Jernagan
Tuesday, August 11th-Petaluma Speedway-Petaluma, CA Troy Foulger/Garrett Jernagan
Wednesday, August 12th-Antioch Speedway-Antioch, CA Nick DeCarlo/Garrett Jernagan
Thursday, August 13th-Merced Speedway-Merced, CA Robby Sawyer/Garrett Jernagan
Friday, August 14th-Keller Auto Speedway-Hanford, CA Kyle Heckman/Brent Curran
Saturday, August 15th-Bakersfield Speedway-Bakersfield, CA Shane DeVolder/Garrett Jernagan
2020 California Modified Speedweek Sponsors/Marketing Partners:
Hoppes Motorsports
FloRacing
Ryland Racing
R&J Landscaping
Delta Transmissions
One Hour Drain
Hammonds Handyman & Pressure Washing
Advanced Sign Contractors
Ken’s Body Shop
Xtreme Scaffolding
