Ty Majeski beat the field and then he beat the weather-soaked clock on Saturday afternoon to win $32,500 in the Winter Showdown at Kern County Raceway Park.
The No. 91 took the lead from Preston Peltier off a Lap 116 restart and never looked back as the Sun set in Bakersfield, California. Rain had plagued SoCal all weekend and the track was without electricity throughout the afternoon.
If power couldn’t be restored, the race would end whenever the dusk fully settled in. That occurred on Lap 172 but only after an hour had passed as SRL Southwest Tour promoter Larry Collins gave the race an hour to restore electricity before calling the race.
An hour passed and the four-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion was declared the winner.
“We had a really good car all weekend and it came to us as it got later,” Majeski said in a makeshift victory lane. “We made a really good adjustment on our first stop and the car just came to life. Obviously, we want to come here and win after 300 laps but we’re happy to bring home the check.”
The power outage wasn’t the only thing that made the fifth-annual Winter Showdown an odd race. Qualifying was rained out on Friday night and the field was set by overall practice times. There was also a massive crash on the restart just before Majeski took the field when third-place on back all crashed at the start-finish line.
That incident took out at least 15 cars and delayed the race by nearly an hour, notable because the track was up against the clock.
Majeski says he has never experienced a race quite like this one.
“What an odd race, odd weekend in general,” Majeski said. “It rains like 30 days a year here and it rained all three days here, which is pretty crazy. I’m really thankful it went our way because it sometimes goes the other way, like the Snowball Derby.”
Majeski had one of the fastest cars late in the Derby in December, but his wide five hubs delayed his pit stops and cost him valuable track position. That race paid $25,000 to the winner and Majeski made up for December with over $30,000 in winnings on Saturday night.
Derek Thorn and Preston Peltier completed the podium.
As for the lap 116 crash that played a major outcome in determining the finish …
Either the front row didn’t fire off consistenlt or the second row timed it wrong. Either way Thorn got into the back of Jeremy Doss, who got pushed in front of Derek Kraus and everyone just stacked up behind them.
Third row on back.
The incident wiped out notable contenders like Kraus, Tyler Ankrum, Donnie Wilson, Jacob Gomes, Cole Moore, Mike Longton and Dominic Ursetta.
The incident especially negated the run of Doss, the race’s polesitter and the 2018 Southwest Tour champion who led the most laps — 99 of the first 100. Doss was forced to restart at the back of the field after the crash, raced his way into the top-five but crashed again to bring out the final caution of the evening.
Willie Allen and Ryan Reed completed the top-five. Peltier’s podium came in a brand new car, the first built out of the merged Hamke Race Cars – Rowdy Manufacturing Stable owned by Kyle Busch and spearheaded by Cody Glick.
The complete results can be found below.
- Ty Majeski
- Derek Thorn
- Preston Peltier
- Willie Allen
- Ryan Reed
- John Moore
- Kyle Neveau
- Carlos Vieira
- Tracy Bolin
- Tyler Fabozzi
- Brad Kossow
- Jeremy Doss
- Bob Lyon
- Doni Wanat
- Bear Rzesnowiecky
- Donnie Wilson
- Luke Hall
- Austin Herzog
- Jace Hansen
- Andy Allen
- Derek Kraus
- Logan Bearden
- Eric Holmes
- Eric Schmidt
- Tyler Ankrum
- Mike Longton
- Logan Bearden
- Cole Moore
- Jacob Gomes
- Jason Fraser
- Tyler Tanner
- Logan Jewell
- Jack Wood
- Chris Davidson
- Dan Holtz
- Dylan Lupton
- Dylan Caldwell
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Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.