Ocean Speedway welcomes Modified Wild West Southern Tour
By Tony Karis

Ocean Speedway completed this season's 12th week of racing with the first appearance of the International Motor Contest Association-sanctioned Modified Wild West Southern Tour.

Tour points leader Paul Stone of Winton took the win for his second victory of the season. But the show went to Jim Pettit II after a Lap 11 altercation with the speedway's point leader, Kenny Nott.

Pettit suffered a flat left rear tire, forcing him to the pits, then restarting at the rear of the field on his return to the track. Officials deemed Nott's driving aggressive, forcing him to join Pettit at the rear of the field for the restart.

Stone inherited the lead for the restart on Lap 12. Two-time state champion Clay Daly mounted a challenge but fell out of the race with mechanical problems, just as Salinas' Bobby Hogge IV had after making his first appearance this season and leading Laps 5-11.

A caution on Lap 24 regrouped the field with Hollister's Andy Obertello in second. Pettit, dicing his way through the field to the delight of the fans, was sixth for the restart.

The race concluded with two tour regulars and three local drivers completing the top five. Obertello, San Martin's Michael Dalton and Pettit were second, third and fourth, respectively, with Tony Toste of Grover Beach completing the top five.

Six of the top 10 finishers had to transfer from the two "B" main events to join the "A" main field. They included Dalton, along with Junior Dawson

of Santa Cruz in seventh place and Salinas brothers Austin and Cody Burke in eighth and 10th.

The Wild West Southern Tour spans from Central and Southern California to Arizona. Ocean Speedway is the northernmost track for IMCA.

Camron Diatte, 16, provided the other highlight of the night, when he earned his first career features win in the Bay Area Dwarf division.

The night was a rough one for the little cars, which weigh 1,000 pounds and are powered by 1,200 cubic-centimeter motorcycle engines.

These scaled-down 1930s-style vintage racers are very entertaining, but a real handful for an inexperienced driver.

"You really have to be smooth when driving a dwarf car," Diatte said. "The short wheel base and skinny tires can make these cars hard to handle. I'm very glad for the win regardless of the situation. We've had lots of setbacks since the start of the season. I hope this is a sign of good things to come for the rest of the year."

Six caution periods were waved off in the first 10 laps of the 20-lap feature. On the restart to complete the final 10 laps, Rich Wilson of Corralitos and John Prentice collided on the front straightaway, sending Wilson upside down. Prentice hit the light pole, then landed on four wheels after sliding down from the crash wall. This halted the race, adding to the overtime.

The checkered flag on the race scheduled for 20 minutes or 20 laps was waved on Lap 10 after it consumed 35 minutes of track time. The division's next race will be on the July 4 weekend.

Gilroy's Steve Montgomery won his first American Stock main event for 2009. He grabbed the lead from Ford Mustang driver Rod Herrick of San Jose on Lap 5, and held it the final 15 rounds.

He is the fifth driver to win a feature this season.

Montgomery completed a perfect night, winning the second heat race while current division point leader Wally Kennedy won the first heat race and finished third in the feature.

The small 12-car field was led by Morgan Hill's Jeff Decker, who cruised to his fourth consecutive feature in the Ocean Late Model division. San Jose's Eric VanHooser finished second. Both were heat race winners.

The Late Models were the smallest field of cars of the five divisions but had the largest amount of carnage. One-third of the field crashed and almost every competitor went home with body or suspension damage, except Decker.

__________________