Lynch Wins Winston West Series Race

Scott Lynch, one of the leading contenders for rookie of the year in the NASCAR Grand National Division Winston West Series, won the King Taco 200 Saturday night in front of a near-capacity crowd of 6,312 at Irwindale Speedway.

“I just got a five-, six-car lead and tried to pick up the pace when they got close,” said Lynch, who earned his first win of the season and second career win in the series.

Lynch, from Burley, Idaho, took the lead early until the 20th lap, when an accident involving Jack Sellers and Jim Inglebright reset the field.

On the restart, Lynch easily pulled away from the pack and led by as much as five seconds over Steve Portenga.

Lynch fell back after a pit stop on the 50th lap but regained the lead on the 115th lap and held on for the remainder of the race. Kevin Richards finished second, Mike David third, and Scott Gaylord and Brett Thompson rounded out the top five.

Todd Burns had his series debut in the race but was pushed into the wall on the 100th lap and finished last.

In the 50-lap Late Model feature race, Burns saw his eight-race winning streak come to an end as Tim Huddleston upset the defending champion for his first win in over a year.

-- Tony Solorzano

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Damion Gardner of Concord, Calif., started third and won his seventh NAPA Auto Parts/Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event of the year at the Perris Auto Speedway.

Gardner took the lead on Lap 4 from Yorba Linda’s Rip Williams and dominated the remainder of the 30-lap race.

Williams ran out of fuel near the end of the race and was nipped at the finish line for the runner-up spot by Steve Ostling of Corona.

Defending SCRA champion Richard Griffin of Silver City, N.M., still leads the series point standings even though he was sidelined with a flat tire on the seventh lap. The four-time champion finished 21st.

Ojai’s Troy Rutherford finished seventh and trails Griffin by 35 points heading into the next event Aug. 9 at Albuquerque. Gardner is third in series points, 55 points behind Griffin.

-- Robert Mayson