A Fast Start, Strong Finish for Walker

Ben Walker led from start to finish and won the NASCAR Super Late Model Firstworld 100 before a crowd of 6,035 at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday night.

Walker, of North Hills, started from the pole. His closest competitor was Greg Voigt of Goleta.

Voigt challenged Walker for the lead on the 81st lap. He passed Walker in Turn 2 and as they entered Turn 3, Walker stayed high while Voigt went low and found the lapped car of Dennis Arena in front of him. That allowed Walker to widen his lead in Turn 4 and the straightaway while Voigt struggled to get by Arena.

“I saw him coming on and trapped him on the bottom,” Walker said. “I ran in the middle so he couldn’t come up. It was a good, tough race.”

A caution came out on lap 88 when Doug Renno’s engine blew. On the restart, Walker got a great jump and his Chevrolet was able to pull away from Voigt for the win.

Mike Wright of Joshua Tree had to hold off Kenny Smith of El Monte on the final lap to win the 20-lap MSRA Pro-4 Modifieds race.

Smith started at the pole but after getting hampered by an accident early in the race, he had to work his way through the field. He was closing in on Wright, but because of time constraints the race was cut from 25 laps to 20, and Smith’s effort fell short.

Art Neville of Canyon Country passed Jim Smith on the ninth lap and won the 25-lap Legends Series race.

Robbie Brand of Barstow won the 25-lap American Race Truck race.