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Santa Maria, CA., Aug. 16 - Kenny Wiley, 47, won his third NMRA-TQ Midget feature in the eighth race of the season Saturday at the banked third-mile clay Santa Maria Speedway. He drove Paul Lopiccolo's Rick Stewart chassis with Honda power. The Sun Valley resident started first in the 11-car field and led all 25 laps in a preliminary race on the USAC-CRA 410 cu. in. sprint car card won by rookie Nic Faas, 18, a 2007 USAC Ford Focus Midget champion. The Huntington Beach driver scored his career-best sprint car finish.
Wiley climbed from fourth to third in NMRA 2008 points. He also won the second eight lap heat race from the pole after recording only the tenth fastest qualifying time of the 11 qualifiers during time trials. The victory was the fifth in Wiley's TQ Midget career and his third at the Santa Maria track. He was NMRA's 2002 rookie of the year. Wiley and Lopiccolo have been a team for seven years and they won their first NMRA TQ driving and car owner championships last season.
West Evans started fourth and finished second, with his cousin Chuck West coming from fifth starting spot to third place in a car owned by Evans. Rookie Jimmy Dodson took fourth in tight racing after starting seventh. Bruce Hiroshima (from third), Ron Ahrendt (from second), Scott Dobson (from sixth), Scott; Niven (from 11th), rookie Anthony Lopiccolo (from 10th), Richard Ortega, jr. (from ninth) and Randy Moody (from eighth) completed the 25-lap feature in that order. No drivers were lapped.
Ahrendt came from the outside front row position to win the first eight-lap heat race. Ortega set the fastest qualifying lap of 16.355 on his first of two qualifying laps. Moody was second quickest at 16.369. Jimmy May established the NMRA-TQ one-lap SMS track record at 14.820 on April 10, 2004. The next NMRA-TQ event will be held at the third-mile clay Bakersfield Speedway on Saturday, August 30. Then TQ teams will return to Santa Maria for the fifth race this year on September 20. The NMRA season will conclude October 11 at the quarter-mile Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino for the only paved track event of the season.
Results:
Fast Time: Richard Ortega, Jr, 16.355.
Heat 1: Ron Ahrendt, Chuck West, Jimmy Dodson, West Evans, Scott Niven, Ortega.
Heat 2: Kenny Wiley, Randy Moody, Bruce Hiroshima, Scott Dobson, Anthony Lopiccolo.
Main: Wiley, Evans, West, Dodson, Hiroshima, Ahrendt, Dobson, Niven, Lopiccolo, Ortega, Moody.
POINT STANDINGS:
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