Manning Scores Second Straight Bakersfield Win Friday Night at Southwest Shootout

By Ben Deatherage  BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (April 10) –  Robby Sawyer and Zack Forster bested their respective IMCA features at Bakersfield Saturday evening. In the IMCA Modified main event, the early goings were dominated by Steve Noland, who held onto first until being overtaken on the fifth lap by Troy Morris III. Morris was the lead element of the field until he was passed on the eighth circuit. The driver to do that was Sawyer.   Sawyer then began building a massive lead over the rest of the pack. The 30-lap affair would go non-stop and nothing stopped the fifth-starting Sawyer from collecting his first win of 2021. Ethan Dotson rallied from 19th starting to finish in second place while behind him, in third, was Morris. Making it an all-Bakersfield top five, Jerry Flippo crossed the wire fourth followed by Kyle Heckman in the Bill Henderson-owned entry. Cade Lewis showed the way early in the IMCA STARS Mod Lite feature. A lap one incident bunched the field and prevented Lewis from getting too far from the [Read More]

By Steven Blakesley BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (Apr. 18, 2025) —  2024 Bakersfield Speedway champion Gavyn Manning finally prevailed at the all-new speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway, winning Friday’s 30-lap IMCA Modified feature during the special Friday Night Lights program at the 1/3-mile dirt track. Manning had finished runner-up in both events to open the 2025 season before finally achieving victory, but his second in the Shaw Race Cars Western Region after a big win at Mohave Valley Raceway’s Bill & Shirley Meyer Memorial late last month. Outside polesitter Dalton Houghton made a strong move to take the lead on the opening circuit of the feature race. Ninth-starting Manning took advantage of multiple early race restarts to work the inside line and take over the lead by the fourth lap of the feature. Manning accumulated a five-second lead that was nullified by a caution on lap 22. Opening night winner Robby Sawyer, in the Joe Gallaher-fielded No. X, soldiered on with early damage, running in the third position for most of the main event. Sawyer then retired [Read More]

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (April 4, 2022) – A driver who admittedly hasn’t led a lot of laps finally led the most important one Saturday night. Brian Baker won the April 2 IMCA Northern SportMod feature at Bakersfield Speedway. While it wasn’t his first win in the sanctioned division, the checkers were his first in 10 years in the class at his hometown track.  “I’d never finished in the top four here. There’s no place I’d rather win at than Bakersfield,” said Baker. “We won our heat race and when we pulled the one out of the bucket to start on the pole, we knew we’d have to get out and go.” Baker stayed in front all 25 times around the track, holding off all challengers following numerous cautions. “There were some of the best drivers in California behind me,” said Baker, ultimately the winner ahead of hard-charging Garrett Jernagan, Levi Kiefer, Nick Spainhoward and Jason Bannister. “There was definitely an uneasy feeling for a driver who hasn’t led a lot of laps.”  “We had every different [Read More]