Gutierrez Outlasts Field In Bandit Finale

It was a VERY long final Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway, but San Martin's Wes Gutierrez was just as happy to get into Victory Lane, no matter how long it took. Gutierrez had the measure of the field in the 40-lap Bandit Sprint feature, the main event of the inaugural “No Entry Fee Nationals” on the 1/3-mile clay oval. “Aw, dude, I'm so happy right now,” said the youthful Gutierrez in a Victory Lane interview. “That had to be the longest race I've ever run.”

In the other action on the last night of the 2008 SMS schedule, Bakersfield's Mike Pilatti took the unlimited Mini Stock feature after Springville's Tate Cottis was disqualified, Simi Valley's Jeff Shelton won the Ventura Racing Association Dwarf Car Pro feature, and Valencia's Kent Benson Sr. dominated the VRA Dwarf Car Senior feature. For Gutierrez and the rest of the 22-car field for the Bandit feature, the 40-lapper was as much a test of endurance and of staying on four wheels. By the time the checkered flag fell just after 10 p.m., only 12 of the cars remained on track. “I had to stay patient,” said Gutierrez, who scored his second career win in as many weeks, “but good things come to those who wait.”

For all his patience, his move for the lead took just as much bravado. On lap 16, Gutierrez went on a low-side slide job on Bakersfield's Rusty Carlile in the north turn, getting the move to stick on the low side. After that, Gutierrez, hailing from a small town outside of Gilroy, sped off into the distance, or as much as he could with two more caution flags thrown in the following three laps. The second of those brought one of the more harrowing moments of the night: Fresno's T.J. Smith did a high-flying flip down the front straight, coming to a rest inside the entrance to turn one. It could have been a serious accident, but an upset Smith jumped immediately out of the car and kicked a body panel that had come off his car.

Gutierrez was able to build solid leads over Carlile between laps 19 to 34, only to have the race bogged down by three more caution flags from laps 34 to 38. However, his work through lapped traffic just before the lap-34 caution kept slower cars between himself and Carlile, securing enough of a lead on restarts to secure the win. Visalia teen Richard VanderWeerd swiped second from Carlile on the last lap with a daring low-side move on turn two.

“I saw that he was running high, and the lapped car (Carlile was behind) was up high, so the low side was the only place I could go,” VanderWeerd said. “Thankfully, the move stuck.” Fresno's Kevin Barnes took fourth, followed by Tyler Schmidt of Hollister. In a trend that continued for much of the night, the Mini Stock feature was clouded by a rash of cautions flags, six in all. Originally, it looked as if Cottis was going to win the 20-lap race, which was shortened to 16 due to six caution flags that flew over the first 13 laps.

“This has to be the best track I've run on all year,” said the young Cottis. “I have to thank Santa Maria for prepping this track this good.”
However, the tide turned against Cottis when his car failed post-race technical inspection, handing the win to Pilatti. Pilatti and Watsonville's Matt Sotomayor - both also driving front-wheel-drive cars instead of SMS's normal rear-wheelers - spent most of the race on Cottis' tail after he took the lead from Nipomo's Korban Ensign on lap two. Sotomayor was especially tough, having won a national-level event at Watsonville's Ocean Speedway last weekend.

The lead trio were followed by the best car that SMS had to offer, the No. 17M Toyota driven to this year's Mini Stock title by Justin Marsh. However, instead of Marsh behind the wheel, Arroyo Grande's Gary Rayburn Jr. drove it to a solid third, followed by Ensign and Jeff Wilson of Corralitos. Whenever the VRA Senior category has run at Santa Maria, the driver in Victory Lane has almost always been Ventura's Ed Niedzwiecki. However, Benson took all of the intrigue out of the 20-lap feature this time around by storming away from early leader Kevin Alverson of Newbury Park and never trailing, earning his first career victory.

The only time anyone had a shot at Benson's lead was on two late re-starts on caution flags, both by Niedzwiecki, who had battled his way through the field after a poor start. Benson, though, broke away from the rest of the 12-car field and cruised to victory. The biggest action of the race came when Northridge's Mike Neal suffered a major engine failure on lap 12, leaving engine fluids all over turn one. Ventura's Mark Davis hit the wet spots and slid into the back of the prone car of Neal's, flipping Davis onto his roof. Both drivers walked away, but neither continued in the race.

Niedzwiecki took second, followed by Dave Hume of Ventura, Alverson and Tom Bellinger of Cypress. The VRA Pro feature wasn't able to make it to its original distance of 20 laps due to seven caution flags over the first 11 laps, forcing officials to cut the race down to 15 laps. It likely wouldn't have mattered to Sheldon, who held the front of the field after taking the lead from Thousand Oaks driver Brent Stevens with a daring outside move on lap seven.

Once out front, Sheldon held the field off through the remaining yellow flags, never wavering up front. Stevens got into a late duel with Mentone's Brian Saxton for second, but was able to hold the position. Saxton took third, followed by Sheldon's teammate Eric Alton of Simi Valley and Chris Olson of Chino Hills.             October 12, 2008