BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Derek Thorn became the second two-time winner of the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Winter Showdown on Saturday at Kern County Raceway, earning $10,000 for his efforts.
Starting on the outside of the front row, Thorn wasted little time taking control of the 150-lap race. He drove around polesitter Christian McGhee on the outside on lap two and proceeded to lead the next 74 laps until the midway break at lap 75.
Under a new set of rules for the Winter Showdown, the leader at the halfway point earned $5,000, with another $5,000 prize up for grabs to the winner at then end of the 150-lap feature.
Thorn continued his dominant run in the second half of the feature despite a series of late-race incidents that would slow the field. The first of those came with 24 laps left when Dan Holtz slammed the turn three wall to bring out the red flag.
Three more incidents, including one that brought out a second red flag with 17 laps left, would slow the field but during every restart that followed Thorn pulled away from the pack. The last came with seven laps left, but Thorn eventually pulled away to a .480-second victory over Buddy Shepherd.
“Chaos kind of there. A lot of cautions and when you’re leading cautions just aren’t your friend. It was just one after the other after the other after the other,” Thorn said. “Shepherd was good on the short runs. We made some adjustments there. Mike (Keen) gave me such a great car. Every heat cycle the car would get a little bit different.
“I think I’ve got a flat tire. The last two laps, three laps the car all of a sudden started doing some weird stuff.”
Dylan Lupton finished third, followed by Preston Peltier and Jacob Gomes.
Jeremy Doss won the companion SPEARS Modified Series main event.
Saturday’s action at Kern County Raceway was broadcast live by SPEED SPORT TV affiliate SpearsRacing.TV.
The finish:
Derek Thorn, Buddy Shepherd, Dylan Lupton, Preston Peltier, Jacob Gomes, Kyle Neveau, Blaine Rocha, Christian McGhee, Cale Kanke, Dean Thompson, Austin Thom, Dylan Garner, Brandon Farrington, Keith Spangler, Tracy Bolin, Bob Lyon, Kole Raz, Scott Sanchez, Cole Moore, Jace Hansen, Jim Wulfenstein, Andy Allen, John Moore, Corey Neveau, Dan Holtz, John Dillon, Carlos Vieira.