Photo Credit:David Misco

Bakersfield, Calif. (August 8^th) – Mesa Marin Raceway hosted round number nine of Davey Hamilton’s SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout Saturday night on the fast high-banked half-mile oval. Seventeen year old rookie Mike Mason of Bakersfield led every lap in the Infamous Inc. “100.” “This win was long overdue. The car was great, from lap one to lap one hundred. I made a rookie mistake last night in practice and wrecked the car, all the guys stayed up real late working on it to get it ready for me today. I owe this one to my crew.” Mason said. Modesto’s Steve Belletto finished second, followed by Joey Zampa, Eric Schmidt, and Victory Circle Chassis and Parts Rookie of the year point leader Mark Smith.

For the second race in a row, Ken Boyd of Ceres, California set quick time in qualifications. Boyd’s lap of 18.783 bested Thomas Martin who ran 18.863. Ryan Foster qualified third with a lap of 18.882 seconds, followed by Eric Schmidt who ran 18.912, and Randy Hedrick ran 18.913 to round out the top five.

Boyd drew a 10 to determine the invert for the Infamous Inc. “100”. Rookie Mike Mason started on the pole, followed by Joey Zampa. Mason led the field to the green flag, as Tommy Fry followed closely behind in second. Steve Belletto ran third, Zampa slipped back to fourth with Troy Ermish in fifth on lap two. Randy Hedrick made his way around Ermish to take over fifth on lap six, as Mason, Fry, and Belletto pulled away. Hedrick and Eric Schmidt passed Zampa on lap 10 to take fourth and fifth positions away. The first caution flag of the night fell on lap 12, as Troy Ermish spun in turn four. As the race restarted, Schmidt took fourth from Hedrick on lap 18, as Steve Belletto passed Tommy Fry for second. While running fifth, Hedrick lost power on lap 22 and retired his race car for the evening. Eric Schmidt took third away from Tommy Fry, as Ryan Foster broke into the top five on lap 25.

Steve Belletto and Eric Schmidt ran side-by-side for second and third, as Mason stretched out his lead. After a brief caution on lap 31, the race went green again. Jeff Anthony moved into fifth on lap 35, as he passed Fry. Schmidt took second away from Belletto on lap 38, and then Belletto passed Schmidt back on lap 39 to take the second position back. Mason continued to show he had the car to beat, as the race reached the halfway mark on lap 50. Belletto continued to run second, with Schmidt closely behind, Foster fourth, and Jeff Anthony fifth.

Jeff Anthony passed Ryan Foster on lap 54 to take the fourth position, as Mason opened up a ten car length lead over Belletto and Schmidt who ran side-by-side once again. Foster took fourth back from Anthony on lap 58, as series point leader Rick Ruzbarsky’s car began to smoke on the track. On lap 64 Ruzbarsky lost a right front tire exiting turn two. Ryan Foster tried to avoid the tire off of Ruzbarsky’s car but hit the fast moving tire heading into turn three. Foster’s night was done, as he retired his car with suspension damage. Meanwhile Ruzbarsky’s crew worked hard on his Pontiac so he could resume the race. With only 34 laps remaining Ruzbarsky was only able to complete one more lap to finish 18^th, as Foster finished 19^th.

As the field restarted on lap 66 Mason continued to lead as Steve Belletto followed, Jeff Anthony ran third, Eric Schmidt fourth and Joey Zampa fifth. On lap 67, Anthony and Schmidt made contact in the middle of turn three and four, sending Anthony’s car hard into the wall. Ken Boyd did his best to avoid the wreck, but still suffered a left front flat tire, and front end damage. Burney Lamar and Tracy Bolin made contact down the backstretch sending Lamar into a spin heading into turn three. Lamar spun across the grass, and back onto the racing surface with slight cosmetic damage. While running in fourth position on lap 80, Bolin spun exiting turn two, and hit the inside wall hard to end his night of racing. The field restarted for the last time on lap 83. Mike Mason pulled away from Belletto and never looked back, picking up his first career SRL Wild West Shootout victory in front of the home town fans. “I gave it everything I had the last few laps. I think I was better then the 55 in three and four, but he would just kill me coming off of two. The car was way to loose. I’ve struggled here at Mesa Marin in the past, so we are real happy to have a strong run, and finish second tonight. Said second place finisher Steve Belletto.

Joey Zampa finished third after starting on the front row. “The car was really tight at the beginning of the race. We fell back a few spots early on. It got a little better as the race went on. We stayed out of the wrecks, and had some luck on our side tonight. We finished third the last two times out here, so we are pretty excited about that. Zampa said. Roseville’s Eric Schmidt finished fourth and Tracy’s Mark Smith fifth.

Burney Lamar recovered from an earlier race spin to finish sixth, followed by Jeff Seifert, Troy Ermish, Jeremy Hopkins Jr., as Ken Boyd rounded out the top ten.

With two event’s remaining in the 2004 season, Rick Ruzbarsky and Steve Belletto are tied for the points lead. Boyd trails by only 7 points in third. Jeff Anthony sits fourth, just 19 points out of the lead. Ryan Foster rounds out the top five, 42 points out of the lead.