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E-mail StoryMurphy continues Grand effort at Speedway
| Saturday, Jun 28 2008 10:59 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, Jun 28 2008 11:04 PM
Starting 12th in the feature race proved to be little handicap for Peter Murphy Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway.
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Murphy avoided a couple of early spins, took the lead on the 11th lap and sailed to victory in the 30-lap Bandit-VRA Grand Slam Sprint Car race.
Murphy is now 2-for-2 in the four-race Grand Slam series, 3-for-3 in races at Bakersfield Speedway and 7-for-11 on the season.
"It's a credit to my team," Murphy said, down playing his role.
Obviously, Murphy play a large role in the success of the team and his victory on Saturday was certainly no give-me.
He started seventh in his heat and just did get the automatic transfer to the feature. There he quickly adapted to the track conditions -- running low through turns three and four and high at the other end, to move into the lead and stay ahead of those chasing him.
"There was still moisture in (turns three and four) so I could stay on the bottom and my momentum carried me around (turns one and two) a little bit," he said.
Danny Faria Jr. came from the 13th starting position to place second and Davey Pombo came from 19th on the grid to third.
Rusty Carlile of Bakersfield was 14th in a new car and Greg May of Taft placed 17th.
Brad Pounds needed a push start to get going following the IMCA Modified feature but that was the only hiccup on the night as he easily raced to his fifth victory in 10 races to extend his point lead.
"We've been a bit off track for a few races," said Pounds, who snapped a three-race winless drought at his home track. "The motor was popping a little in my heat race (which he won) but we got it worked out."
Starting sixth, Pounds was third after one lap, second on the next lap and powered into the lead on the fourth lap.
A hint of just how dominating his performance would be came on a restart following a caution after the fourth lap. Pounds hammered the throttle in turn four and had a 10-car length advantage over second-place runner Jay Marks heading into the first turn.
Pounds held a half-lap lead over Gary Dutton when a caution on the 19th lap brought him back to the group but when the race restarted Pounds simply pulled away with ease.
"I was glad to see that caution come out because I thought "Pounds) was going to lap me," Marks quipped after the race. "I've never seen anybody go that fast."
Pounds was back to a 10-car length lead when the checkered flag fell but behind him Dutton and Marks were putting the final touches on a tremendous duel for second. The two came out of turn four side-by-side and Dutton, in the high groove, beat out Marks for second by inches. It was Dutton's fifth runner-up finish this season. Darren Hopkins was fourth and Chris McKellar fifth.
"You have to keep digging, you can't give up," Dutton said of trying to keep pace with Pounds. "Jay and I had a lot of fun racing each other."