Danville's Spurgeon Earns His NASCAR Stripes

NASCAR's annual visit to Wine Country always brings some unique twists and turns. While the main event, the Toyota/Save Mart 350, is still to come Sunday, a contingent of local drivers thrilled race fans Saturday in the K&N Pro Series West Carneros 200.

Lakeport's Derek Thorn emerged banged and battered, but still the winner Saturday, ahead of Cameron Hayley and Michael Self.

Danville's Tim Spurgeon was fighting for a top-10 finish as the last few laps got more and more hectic. The rookie of the year contender benefited from the misfortunes of others.

The race was red-flagged with three laps to go, stopping traffic while crews fixed the wall in Turn 10 thanks to Taylor Cuzick's wild trip off the asphalt. That gave Spurgeon a chance to slice through the lead pack with his KleenBlast/Abrasive Warehouse Ford on the restart and he got as high as ninth before finishing 11th.

Saturday's race wasn't just a matter of speed, but also survival. San Ramon's Scott Ivie limped into the pits with a radiator that was as dry as the desert after 35 laps and never got back onto the track.

"We were overheating on the first lap and we just couldn't cool it down. It was just too hot for what we had to do," Ivie said.

Ivie qualified 27th and managed to hold his position in the 35-car field until his day ended. He finished 31st.

Fairfield's Jim Inglebright, a three-time winner at Sonoma in various series, showed experience counts for a lot at the tricky road course. Inglebright's Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet started 22nd, but he managed to power his way to as high as sixth place late in the race. It looked like he was going to challenge for a top-five finish when his car ran out of gas with just a few laps to go.

"We were the entertainment at that point. People on the hill were wondering if we were going to refire the engine. they were standing and cheering when we got it going," said Inglebright, always one of the favorites with fans and fellow drivers at his home track.

After the red-flag restart, he took no prisoners in a dash to a 13th-place finish.

Another top rookie, Tom Klauer of Rancho Cordova, finished 20th.

Novato's Dave Smith took 10th place.