BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Brody Roa won the 30-lap non-winged 360 sprint car main event at The Dirt Track at Kern County Raceway Park on Friday night.
Roa’s newly acquired ride in the May Motorsports car bested Ryan Timmons and James Herrera.
Early leader Ryan Bernal in the Josh Ford Motorsports No. 73 fell victim to a mechanical failure on the 21st lap and had to settle for a disappointing fourth place. Bill Jones and Shane Sexton completed the field.
Bernal took the lead coming out of the final turn of the first lap after starting in the third spot. The Hollister, California wingless veteran chauffer wasted little time showing his dominance. Timmons moved into the third spot right behind Roa.
The race’s first slow down occurred for a Herrera spin in the second turn. The caution negated any advantage Bernal had built up. Sexton would be the first car to retire from the race on lap 12 with a broken rocker arm. He pulled into the infield but on lap 16 race officials felt they needed to pull his car totally out of harm’s way, so the caution flag waved.
Roa took full advantage and on the restart made a bold pass to the inside of Bernal in the third and fourth turns. The two drivers were clearly the class of the field and would spend the next few laps sizing each other up, making a strategy for the closing laps.
Bernal, however, would have an issue on the 22 lap and his second-place car came to a halt in the fourth turn.
With his main competition gone, Roa played a somewhat conservative race and just went fast enough to stay ahead of Timmons.
The heat races were lined up by a pill draw and were split between Bernal and Roa.
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