Kern County Raceway Park officials crowned David Mayhew in the 75 lap NASCAR Pro Late Model division seasons finale Saturday evening.

Other champions crowned included Chris Dalton in his second consecutive Spec Mod title while Randy Smith claimed the NASCAR Mini Stock championship.

Mayhew’s win came in a barnburner of a race where the top-three cars dueled side-by-side numerous times including several three-wide battles. Perhaps the best race in the history of the division, Mayhew made the right moves coming out of the lap 50 break to take the win.

2013 division champ Tim Smith led the opening lap before Eureka’s Brandon White took over on lap two, with Mayhew taking over on lap three as White chased the car up the hill in turn four. White fell back to fifth but was up to second by lap 16.

Dallas Montes slowed with rear end issues to bring out a caution on lap 19 and on the ensuing restart Smith cut down a right front tire and lost five laps on pit road. White haunted Mayhew for many laps, finally taking the lead back on lap 41 in lapped traffic. Donny St. Ours moved past Johnny White for third on lap 40 as well.

Coming out of the halfway break, Johnny White was able to get back into the fray and the trio of White, White, and Mayhew wrestled for the lead. Johnny White took the top spot on lap 52, but coming out of a lap 65 caution Mayhew was able to make the decisive pass.

A last lap melee between the Whites saw Brandon White win a narrow drag race with St. Ours for second while Johnny White finished sixth after spinning.

The championship for Mayhew completes the puzzle of Late Model titles as Mayhew won the CITGO Lubricants Late Model belt in 2013. Saturday’s victory was also his 21st career win at the track in just 44 nights of competition since opening last May.

On the NASCAR Spec Modified side, Johnny White was able to dominate the feature for yet another series win in what has been a perfect season in that class. White wasted little time after starting seventh, taking the lead on lap five from Jim Coffey.

The 30 lap event went caution-free but nine drivers managed to stay on the lead lap. The racing from third on back was strong with Chris Dalton finding a way to navigate past the battle between Brock Thompson and Gary Dutton to steal third. Third was strong enough to give Dalton the championship while Thompson’s fourth place finish placed him second in the standings. White claimed a 4.7 second victory over Jim Coffey in the blistering 10 minute feature.

On the quarter-mile track, the NASCAR Mini Stocks also went without a caution and Randy Smith ended his 10 race campaign on top as both race winner and division champ. Stacy Evans led the first two laps before fellow rookie and trophy dash winner Sam Peasha took over. Peasha spun with contact from Greg Bardonnex and fell to the rear as the race stayed green. That spin allowed Smith to take over the top spot.

Smith looked in control but Terry Pettit, fresh off a new track record, charged from the rear of the pack to run on Smith’s bumper for the final half of the 30 lap race. Smith hung on for the win ahead of Pettit with Bardonnex third.

The highly anticipated Faster Pastor race saw eight Kern County pastors compete in a 15 lap race in the KCRP Racing Experience Pro 4 Modifieds. Elias Abdallah from Journey Church backed up his fast time in qualifying by taking the victory. Abdallah took the lead from Matt Weir of Valley Baptist on lap two and pulled away from the pack after the lone caution on lap four.

Neal Preston of Faith Community Church fought off sixth starting Skip Hinton for second place at the line as well.

Kern County Raceway Park is dark for racing this Saturday night but will open the KCRP MX track for open practice on both October 25 and 26. The next racing event on the speedway is November 1stwith the CITGO Lubricants Fall Shootout which will include $10,003 to win SRL SPEARS Southwest Tour and $5,000 to win CITGO Lubricants Late Model races.

Major marketing partners at Kern County Raceway Park include Budweiser, CITGO Lubricants, Monster Energy, Advance Beverage Company, Coca Cola, DC’s RV Center, Three-Way Chevrolet, and Whelen Engineering.

Kern County Raceway Park is online at www.kernraceway.com More information is available on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kernraceway and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kernraceway

For marketing information on Kern County Raceway Park, contact Steven Blakesley by email atsblakesley@kernraceway.com or by phone at 661-835-1264, ext 3203.

October 18, 2014 Faith & Family Night presented by KUZZ
Kern County Raceway Park – Bakersfield, CA

NASCAR Pro Late Models – 75 laps
1) 17 David Mayhew, 2) 19 Brandon White, 3) 26 Donny St. Ours, 4) 32 Kevin Callahan, 5) 37 Keith Spangler, 6) 7 Johnny White, 7) 75 Daren Blanton, 8) 99 Tim Smith, 9) 09 Thane Alderman, 10) 34 Dallas Montes, 11) 7 Gene Fife 43:19.139

NASCAR Spec Mod – 30 laps
1) 17 Johnny White, 2) 8 Jim Coffey, 3) 13 Chris Dalton, 4) 2 Brock Thompson, 5) 25 Gary Dutton, 6) 4 Eric Brust, 7) 55 Matt Lewis, 8) 78 Anthony Barket, 9) 12 Ed Coffey, 10) 70 Tanner Wattenbarger, 11) 33 Ralph Morgan, 12) Mark Allan 10:20.850

NASCAR Mini Stock – 30 laps
1) 41 Randy Smith, 2) 15 Terry Pettit, 3) 18 Greg Bardonnex, 4) 22 Stacy Evans, 5) 46 Eric Aldridge, 6) 51 George Harmer, 7) 5 Sam Peasha 8:21.152

Faster Pastor – 15 laps
1) 17 Elias Abdallah, 2) 6 Neal Preston, 3) 3 Skip Hinton, 4) 57 Kenneth Osbourn, 5) 7 Jim Ranger, 6) 16 Jeremy Doyle, 7) 4 Matthew Weir, 8) 21 Brian Fox 8:06.572