Worth the wait

It took two nights to get the job done, but Bobby Hogge got what he came for at Cocopah Speedway.

The driver from Salinas, Calif., arrived at the Somerton oval for Friday night's opening round of the 2012 IMCA Modified Winter Nationals presented by Sun Graphics and used what he gained in a fourth place finish in that feature event, to win Saturday night's $3,000-to-win grand finale.

“We just started off tonight where we left off last night,” said Hogge from victory lane Saturday night after leading the 24-car feature event from flag to flag.

“Last night (Friday) we tried some little stuff, a little out-of-the-box stuff. We don't normally run on this big of a slick and smooth race track, so we used it as a little bit of a test session.

“We burned up all last night (Friday) to get to where we were in our heat race and our hot laps tonight. We left car alone after the heat race (Saturday) and worked on tires.”

Friday night's $750-to-win feature event saw El Mirage, Ariz., driver Jason Noll start from the outside of the front row and drive off with the trophy in convincing fashion.

“We came to have some fun,” Noll said afterward.

Also, Scott Drake, from Webb City, Mo., took home the eight-race, Winter Challenge Series championship by virtue of a sixth-place finish in Friday night's feature coupled with a seventh-place finish in Saturday night's finale.

The Winter Challenge Series started at Canyon Speedway Park with six races and climaxed at Cocopah Speedway with the Friday and Saturday night shows. Drake had left Canyon Speedway Park with a five-point lead over Chris Abelson, from Sioux City, Iowa, and a nine-point lead over both Tim Ward, from Gilbert, Ariz., and Dylan Smith, from Osceola, Neb.

Once at Cocopah Speedway, Drake was offered the use of Jason Briese's car — Drake had been hired to drive Darin Duffy's car at Canyon but not at Cocopah Speedway — and the veteran earned 69 points to beat out Smith by two points and Ward by nine. Abelson was a no-show at Cocopah Speedway.

“Jason Briese said, ‘Stick around for a week and help me out,'” said Drake after Saturday night's finale. “And I've had just so much fun. And I've got me a new friend right here, Jason Briese.”

Saturday night's finale in front of a packed grandstand saw Hogge start inside the second row. But when the green flag flew Hogge ran down low and went three-abreast with pole sitter Guy Norton, from Peoria, Ariz., and Phil Penney, from Pervical, Iowa, who started on the outside of the front row, heading into Turn 1.

Hogge made the move work, exited Turn 2 with the lead and never looked back, stretching the lead to almost a full straightaway at times.

“I got a real good jump after the green and actually was leading going into one,” said Hogge. “I normally don't like going three abreast, but those two guys got up in the slick and I got a good run down there on the bottom where there was a little moisture.

“I tried to keep it tucked in tight in turn one to give those guys as much room as I could.”

Norton would fade to a 13th-place finish while Penney would finish 10th.

Coming on to finish second was Aaron Spangler, from Dove Creek, Colo., with Duffy finishing third, Smith fourth and Ward rounding out the top five.

While Hogge, Spangler, Duffy and Smith got into the feature by virtue of winning their respective heat races, Drake had to race his way into the lineup — the hard way. He too had won his heat race, but was disqualified when it was discovered that his rev limiter chip was missing after the race.

That left Drake starting at the back of the 15-car, second “B” main, which he managed to win, giving him the 11th starting spot in the feature.

“I think I cost Scott the win (in the feature) here tonight,” Briese said afterward.

He explained that after Friday night's show an intake oil leak resulted in a massive cleaning effort, that included removing the car's MSD ignition box. The chip was also removed in the process and not re-inserted.

Ward also had to race his way into the feature, finishing third behind Drake in the second “B” main.

William Gould, from Calera, Okla., won the first “B” main.

In Friday night's feature event, Smith came up with second place finish behind Noll, Alex Stanford, from Chowchilla, Calif., was third, Hogge was fourth and Duffy rounded out the top five.

Noll, Friday night's winner, finished sixth in Saturday night's feature.

Locally, Keith Taber was the only driver from Yuma to make it into Saturday night's feature event, where he finished 21st.

Brawley's Steven Daffern, whose car rolled over on Friday, finished 16th in Saturday night's feature, Imperial's Steven McCollough finished 20th and Brawley's Russell Allen finished 22nd.

On Friday night, Bobby Horton was the only driver from Yuma to get into the feature event, where he finished 18th.

Allen, from Brawley, finished 12th and Lance Mari, from Imperial, finished 13th.

In the Winter Nationals weekend undercard, Vince Perez, from Goodyear, Ariz., won Saturday night's Modlite feature event, while Tony Martin, from Phoenix, won Friday night's Modlite feature event.