Archives

Details

Created: Tuesday, 24 April 2012 19:53

Written by Dan

Madera, CA - There was no shortage of racing entertainment when the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour made its way to the Madera Speedway on April 21, 2012 in the Mike Roos Memorial on Fresno Grizzlies Night, featuring the Triple A ballclub's mascot Parker along with the Legends of the Pacific, LunkerDaddy Late Models, Hobby Stocks, MST, Toyota Sedans and 4-Bangers.

With 26 fast-paced SRL cars taking to the track, it was Frazier Park's M.K. Kanke who rose to the top as he claimed the 125-lap main along with $3,000 prize money in the "Melo's Gas & Gear 125" race presented by AmeriPride.

"I really want to dedicate this race to Carol Hansen and Dan Flynn," Kanke said after the main in the winner's circle. "We lost them the last few months and that's what this is all about tonight."

With nine laps left in the main, it appeared Prundale's Jim Pettit II was on his way to victory lane before Kanke passed the defending 2011 SRL series champ and held on for the sensational comeback win. Pettit finished second while Colton's David Ross took third.

Kanke, who finished fourth in the tour's debut race in Stockton on April 7, 2012, had to battle from the back of the field after his car got tangled up with Manteca's Jacob Gomes on Lap 38 and caused a yellow.

"We really had a good car in the beginning but Jacob ended up getting into me a bit and I was sorry to see him get taken out there," Kanke said. "We just took care of our car and went from the back."

"He had some trouble early with that wreck but Mike's a good competitor and always has been," Pettit said. "He's a guy that you always have to count on contending and he had something for the end there where the rest of us didn't. He's been running in that same car for multiple years, so they got their baseline setup pretty good."

Through the first 53 laps, it was Roseville's Zane Lovelace that was clearly in control of the race as he used a fast take-off on the restarts to stay ahead of the field.

After lapping two cars, Lovelace had a comfortable lead with Eddie Secord, of Oak Hills, trailing in second while Dave Byrd, of Los Gatos, was in third.

After a caution on Lap 38, it took Pettit three laps to pass Secord and Byrd to get into second behind Lovelace.

It was on Lap 54 that Pettit caught up to the race-leader and positioned himself into first after Turn 1 on the front straightaway. From that point on, Pettit built a decent-sized lead with Manteca's Ross Strmiska in second and Secord in third.

"This is a brand new car and we've only ran it twice this year," Pettit said. "The first race, we were running third and had a flat tire but got back to 10th. Tonight we had a great car but the right rear just went away on us. That was the difference between him winning the race and us losing."

After a restart on Lap 95, Kanke made his way into the top five with Pettit out in front followed by Strmiska, Secord and Dublin's Jason Gilbert.

With 10 laps left, Pettit's lead had dwindled down with Kanke breathing down his neck.

Despite not leading until the final few laps, it was Kanke that eventually crossed the checkered flag.

"You never worry about (who's in front) until the last 10 laps ever," Kanke said. "Once you're up there, you just keep going. That's all you can do, you have to be patient and take care of your car so you can be there. We got lucky tonight."

It was a tough way to finish the race for a competitor like Pettit.

"We just have to work on our car a little bit better to save the right rear," Pettit said. "We didn't need to be so good early on, if we could back that up a little bit, the late part of the race wouldn't have even been close. We've got a little bit of work to do but we'll be okay."

Gilbert finished fourth overall while Chatsworth's Keith Spangler rounded out the top five finishers.

It was the SRL's first race on the Speedway's newly repaved surface and 12 SRL drivers broke the fast time of 14.320 set by Derek Thorn last season. Thorn broke his own record with a time of 14.009 followed by 11 drivers including Gomes (14.037), Pettit (14.134) and Strmiska (14.198).

"Kenny did an excellent job on this race track and we can run all over now," said Kanke, who's qualifying time was 14.307. "It's way better than it was before and our car is set up for this track. That's what made us persevere tonight."