After Interrupted Start, Conrad Wins Hobby Main in Saugus Opener

There was no catching Neil Conrad of Arcadia once the 25-lap Hobby Stock oval main event finally got rolling Saturday night at Saugus Speedway.

After two re-starts because of first-lap accidents and a yellow flag on Lap 3, Conrad, who started second, grabbed the lead and never relinquished it.

From there Conrad, 34, a three-year track veteran who finished 12th last season in the division’s points standings, roared through heavy traffic to claim his initial main-event victory before an opening-night crowd of 3,781.

“Feels great,” said Conrad, a firefighter. “Traffic wasn’t bad until about halfway through the race. I started catching up on it then. Other than that, I was pretty fortunate.”

Conrad finished six seconds ahead of Gerald Gledhill of Reseda on the one-third-mile oval. James Kusch of Sepulveda finished third and Michale McAtee of North Hollywood finished fourth.

In other races, Mal Border of Tujunga capped a successful evening with a 20-lap victory in the Mini Stock Racing Assn. Pro Four West main event. Border, who also captured the division’s trophy dash, finished ahead of Gary Ebeling of Monrovia, Kenny Smith of El Monte and Mike McFarlane of Palmdale.

In a thrilling 15-lap Hobby Stock figure-eight main event, Jim Gunnarson of Reseda grabbed the lead on Lap 13 and raced unscathed to the checkered flag. Kusch finished second and Conrad third.

In the 10-lap Jalopy main event, Richard Smith of Reseda moved into the lead on Lap 7 and held on to win.

Jeff Walker of Newbury Park led from start to finish in the eight-lap Saugus Mini Stock main event.

Pat Dennison of Van Nuys and Ebeling each won eight-lap MSRA Mini Stock heat races.