Watkinson’s Saugus Effort Simply Grand

It was a night of firsts for Canyon Country’s John Watkinson at Saugus Speedway.

Watkinson and his NASCAR Grand American Modified car were nearly flawless on the one-third mile asphalt track Saturday night. Watkinson turned in a perfect performance to take the checkered flag in the Trophy Dash, heat race and the 30-lap main event before 3,529 Saturday night.

Watkinson started in sixth on the grid and quickly moved into second, placing heavy pressure on leader Bill McLean of Canoga Park.

Watkinson made his move inside McLean in Turn 1 of Lap 11 and was never headed the rest of the way even though he had to battle some heavy pressure of his own from second-place finisher Dave Phipps of Simi Valley.

Watkinson became the first two-time winner this season in the Grand Am division and his perfect performance put him into an unofficial dead heat with Phipps for the points lead at 125.

Gary Nazaroff of Covina was third and Dave Blankenship’s fourth-place finish kept him in third in the points race.

In one of the most accident-plagued races of the season at Saugus, pole-sitter Craig Rayburn of Santa Clarita survived to win the Sportsman 40-lap main event, which took almost an hour to complete.

Kevin Rinker of Riverside was second and fast qualifier Pat Mintey Jr. of Lancaster was third.

Gerrit Cromsigt of Palmdale turned in an aggressive performance in the Street Stock 25-lap oval main event to come all the way from 15th on the grid to win the feature.

Saugus Notes

Wade Hodge of Riverside followed Dave Brandon of Palmdale for 12 laps before powering inside Brandon in Turn 3 and went on to win the Sportsman 15-lap ‘B’ main event and gain a transfer spot into the feature. . . . Brandon, Vince Tjelmeland of Orange and Darren Kelsey of Moorpark also transferred.

Richard Russo of Newhall won the Street Stock 10-lap ‘B’ main event. Russo qualified for the feature along with Lisa Owens of Chatsworth, Chris Pedersen of Los Angeles and David Ford of West Hills.

Eight-lap heat race winners were Gerrit Cromsigt of Palmdale in the Street Stocks, John Watkinson of Canyon Country in the Grand American Modifieds, Larry Krieger of Reseda in the Sportsman and Keith Leonard of Lancaster in the Street Stock figure-eight division.

Trophy dash winners were Dennis Logue of Mission Hills (Sportsman), Greg Benner of Whittier (Street Stock); Cromsigt (Street Stock figure eight), and Watkinson (Grand American Modified).