By Steven Blakesley
BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA (October 6, 2024) – Brentwood’s Blake Bower and Bakersfield’s Cade Lewis wrapped up two of the west coast’s traditional open wheel titles during Championship Night at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway Dirt Track on Saturday night. Bower had a come from behind effort to take the Ultimate Sprint Car Series presented by Inland Rigging crown while Lewis completed a strong season in the Avanti Windows & Doors USAC Western States Midgets.
Bower entered the evening with a 23-point deficit behind Simi Valley’s Cole Wakim. The deficit was erased when Wakim slid into the wall in first turn at the start of the 30-lap feature. He was unable to rejoin the race.
Austin Williams of Yorba Linda and Jake Andreotti of Castro Valley ran side-by-side for the top spot. Andreotti seized the lead on the high side in Jayson May’s No. 8M and Templeton’s Kaleb Montgomery slid past Williams for second. Bower ran fourth behind the battling.
Montgomery used a restart to cross over to the bottom and take the lead. Andreotti battled back and the leaders went side-by-side again for several laps. Montgomery charged away for a dominating second half of the feature for his first Ultimate Sprint Car Series win driving the JFM No. 73. Andreotti was second while Williams won a long battle of the Inland Rigging cars for third over Bower. Ryan Timmons finished fifth. Bower’s fourth place finish was enough to seal the Ultimate Sprint Car championship for the former two-time Western Midget Racing champion.
“That was awesome. It was going to be tough starting from seventh and I just knew it,” Montgomery said. “Jimmy (May) helped me with the driving for the feature and he gave me a rocket ship. I was just the guy lucky enough to drive it. I knew once I got Jake (Andreotti) to switch up his line I knew it was game on.”
Following the feature, Timmons dominated all five segments of the Pursuit race for a $2000 bonus prize. Heat races were snared by Andreotti, Williams, and Wakim. Pittsburg’s Jacob Tuttle, Bower, and Eddie Tafoya, Jr. were the fast qualifiers in each of the three groups.
Racing at the site of his first-career USAC Western States Midgets win in 2022 and his home race track, Bakersfield’s Cade Lewis finished the job for the 2024 Avanti Windows and Doors USAC Western States Midgets championship. The 30-lap feature saw Drake Edwards of Surprise, Ariz. wrap up Rookie of the Year with his second triumph of 2024 as well.
Coalinga’s Ben Worth worked the high side of Dane Colver to lead lap one. Fourth-starting Drake Edwards of Surprise Ariz. was a part of a three-wide duel for second, taking the position by lap three and bringing Lewis with him.
Lewis and Edwards ran the top while Lewis ran the bottom in a close formation. Edwards threw a slide job at Worth in turn one, allowing Lewis to go two-for-one into the lead. Edwards relentlessly pounded the top as the top-two in the standings dueled in a great feature.
Edwards completed the pass before a caution for Worth crashing into the turn two wall. Lewis showed his nose on the restart to no avail. Bakersfield’s young Jett Yantis drove into the picture but came up short. Edwards won his second race of the year and the Rookie of the Year followed by Yantis, 2024 champion Lewis, Bakersfield’s Brandt Twitty, and Colver.
“We absolutely work our butts off to get this thing right,” Edwards said. “Tonight the car was really really good. I was just trying to hang on there the last couple of things, we got really tight.”
Edwards and Twitty won the heat races while Yantis led time trials.
Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway Dirt Track returns to action with motorcycle racing on October 12, before the NARC 410 Sprint Cars invade on Friday night October 25 for the October Classic!
Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway Dirt Track Results – October 5, 2024
Avanti Windows and Doors USAC Western States Midgets
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 3P-Drake Edwards[4]; 2. 4-Jett Yantis[6]; 3. 101-Cade Lewis[5]; 4. 4B-Brandt Twitty[3]; 5. 50-Dane Colver[1]; 6. 7-Shannon McQueen[7]; 7. 20-CJ Sarna[8]; 8. 65-Ben Covich[9]; 9. 20X-Kyle Hawse[10]; 10. 14T-Ben Worth[2]; 11. 39T-Troy DeGaton[11]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 3P-Drake Edwards[5]; 2. 14T-Ben Worth[4]; 3. 4-Jett Yantis[6]; 4. 7-Shannon McQueen[3]; 5. 65-Ben Covich[2]; 6. 39T-Troy DeGaton[1]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 4B-Brandt Twitty[4]; 2. 101-Cade Lewis[5]; 3. 50-Dane Colver[3]; 4. 20-CJ Sarna[2]; 5. 20X-Kyle Hawse[1]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 4-Jett Yantis, 00:15.512[5]; 2. 101-Cade Lewis, 00:15.525[6]; 3. 3P-Drake Edwards, 00:15.576[4]; 4. 4B-Brandt Twitty, 00:15.812[10]; 5. 14T-Ben Worth, 00:16.070[3]; 6. 50-Dane Colver, 00:16.166[11]; 7. 7-Shannon McQueen, 00:16.194[1]; 8. 20-CJ Sarna, 00:16.213[7]; 9. 65-Ben Covich, 00:16.944[9]; 10. 20X-Kyle Hawse, 00:17.125[8]; 11. 39T-Troy DeGaton, 00:17.179[2]
Ultimate Sprint Car Series presented by Inland Rigging
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 73-Kaleb Montgomery[7]; 2. 8M-Jake Andreotti[5]; 3. 17W-Austin Williams[2]; 4. 17-Blake Bower[4]; 5. 29T-Ryan Timmons[8]; 6. 5E-Elexa Herrera[15]; 7. 63D-Jon DeWees[12]; 8. 84-Aaron Altaffer[14]; 9. 15-Rick Hendrix[16]; 10. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[10]; 11. 22-Bryan Whitley[11]; 12. 14-Blake Hendricks[13]; 13. 9X-Jayme Barnes[9]; 14. 3F-Jacob Tuttle[6]; 15. 29C-Camie Bell[17]; 16. 9-Cole Wakim[1]; 17. (DNS) 51T-Eddie Tafoya Jr
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8M-Jake Andreotti[3]; 2. 3F-Jacob Tuttle[5]; 3. 9X-Jayme Barnes[4]; 4. 33-Heath Holdsclaw[6]; 5. 14-Blake Hendricks[1]; 6. 15-Rick Hendrix[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Austin Williams[4]; 2. 73-Kaleb Montgomery[3]; 3. 17-Blake Bower[5]; 4. 22-Bryan Whitley[2]; 5. 84-Aaron Altaffer[1]; 6. 73B-Braden Chiaramonte[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Cole Wakim[4]; 2. 29T-Ryan Timmons[3]; 3. 51T-Eddie Tafoya Jr[5]; 4. 63D-Jon DeWees[2]; 5. 5E-Elexa Herrera[1]; 6. 29C-Camie Bell[6]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 3F-Jacob Tuttle, 00:15.492[6]; 2. 9X-Jayme Barnes, 00:15.820[5]; 3. 8M-Jake Andreotti, 00:15.934[2]; 4. 15-Rick Hendrix, 00:16.065[3]; 5. 14-Blake Hendricks, 00:16.731[1]; 6. 33-Heath Holdsclaw, 00:16.810[4]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 17-Blake Bower, 00:15.370[2]; 2. 17W-Austin Williams, 00:15.401[1]; 3. 73-Kaleb Montgomery, 00:15.683[4]; 4. 22-Bryan Whitley, 00:16.096[6]; 5. 84-Aaron Altaffer, 00:18.294[5]; 6. 73B-Braden Chiaramonte[3]