Bobby Hogge IV wins IMCA Wild West Modified Tour
By Tony Karis


Six divisions with 109 cars checked into the pits Friday night for Ocean Speedway's 23rd week of racing this year.

Salinas' Bobby Hogge IV led wire to wire in the 30 lap IMCA Wild West Modified Tour 30-lap main event.

Starting from pole position, the two-time Ocean Speedway late model champion was challenged by Prunedale's Jim Pettit II and Salinas' Cody Burke through the first half of the race.

Burke, winner of two features this year did a yeoman's job finishing second to Hogge and defending his position against the very talented Kellen Chadwick of Oakley.

The two-car battle between Hogge and Pettit for the lead didn't materialize after a red flag stop. On the restart, Pettit suffered handling problems from changing track conditions and slipped to sixth at the finish.

Austin Burke, Cody's younger brother, briefly moved into the top five. But with three laps remaining the dirt track shuffle sent Burke to seventh place, while Nott slipped by Pettit to finish fifth. Atwater's Ryan Porter, running third most of the race, finished fourth to Chadwick.

Nott won the second heat race with a new 8-lap record time of 2 minutes, 1.752 seconds. The old record of 2:05 was set in 2004 by Dave Press in a Grand AM modified.

El Centro's Lance Mari and Salinas' Robert Marsh won the two "B" main events. Five cars from each "B" race transferred into the feature race.

Campbell's Eric Weisler captured his first career feature race in the Bay Area Dwarf car division. San Jose's Nick Squatritto took the lead from Weisler on Lap 3. Aptos' John Prentice, with an inside pass on both cars, grabbed the lead on Lap 5 and dominated the race for the next seven laps.

Starting 13th, Gilroy's Gilbert Toste moved into contention and challenged Prentice for the lead. Toste, attempting an inside pass on Lap 13, made contact in turns one and two with Prentice spinning his car and bringing out the caution flag. Prentice restarted at the rear of the field and officials disqualified Toste.

After the restart, Squatritto led five more laps before Weisler regained the lead for the final two rounds. Prentice and Toste were credited with 15th and 20th, respectively.

Ernie Davilla of Salinas won the "B" main event and the top six finishers transferred to the main event. Squatritto, Prentice and Hollister's Ryan Ameln were heat race winners.

Gilroy's Robert Gallaher won his first feature event of the season in the 4-Banger division. Gallaher, who has four heat race and two trophy dash wins this season, pulled away from early race leader Gilroy's Brandon Leonard in the final five laps of the 20-lap feature.

Watsonville's Matt Sotomayor extended his lead in the division standings.

Sotomayor, Carmel Valley's Grant Koontz, who is second to Sotomayor in the standings, and Hollister's Sean Markley Jr. completed the top five.

Steve Montgomery of Gilroy won his fourth feature race this season. Steve Taddi, driving an Oldsmobile Cutlass, finished second with Watsonville's Tony Oliveira third in a Ford Thunderbird. Andrew McKenzie of Santa Cruz finished fourth and series leader Wally Kennedy was fifth.

Kennedy extended his lead to 52 points over Gilroy's Al Eaton. Rookie McKenzie has pulled ahead of his young rival, Aptos' Nick Silva by a mere three points in the rookie and overall standings. The two remain third and forth in the division.

Morgan Hill's Jeff Decker earned his seventh straight main event win in the Ocean Late Model division. Decker and San Jose's Eric Van Hooser were heat race winners.

Only four cars participated in the season's third destruction derby.

__________________