Michels Sweeps Feature Races

Rip Michels extended his lead in the Super Late Model series and made a bid to regain the top spot in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing series by taking both 50-lap feature races Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway in front of 4,898 fans.

Michels took advantage of a restart in the first race to jump in front of pole-sitter Tony Bruncati. Despite a number of challenges from Rod Johnson, Michels went wire to wire to claim the first race. In the second race, Michels needed four laps to catch Dan Morore. This time, he had no serious challenges from Johnson.

The scheduled 40-lap Vista Paint Super Stock feature was reduced to 25 laps, which benefited series leader Lee Ladd, who earned his first win in four races by holding off T. K. Karvasek.

In the 50-lap Ultra Wheels Super Truck feature, Jim McGill bided his time while Dave Blankenship and Ryan Arciero battled each other for the lead, but with six laps left, McGill jumped into the lead and held on for his first win of the season.

In the 30-lap Mini Stock feature, Eric Reed earned his first win of the season by upsetting the top two drivers in the series, Tony Lawler and Fred Adams.

In the 35-lap King Taco Legend Cars feature, 14-year-old rookie driver David Ross earned his first win by holding off series leader Brent Jones and fellow 14-year-old rookie Austin Grabowski.

-- Tony Solorzano