5/23/2009
Silver Dollar Speedway
Menne, Bartlett and Schank Jr. Win at Chico
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="420"] HRP Photos by Steve Cox[/caption]
Menne started on the outside of the front row. Coming down to the green flag he drove by pole sitter Kevin Sharrah for the lead. Sharrah held onto the second spot while Brad Furr and Brett Miller ran side by side for third. With a few laps down Furr and Miller stopped on the track. Furr had a right rear tire down and Miller stopped in turn two with front-end damage. The race continued with Menne in the lead. Chad Compton had moved into the third spot and began to challenge Sharrah for second. Compton made his move and drove around Sharrah for second. Compton was very impressive tonight and had a second spot finish locked up until the final lap when he made contact with the big white tire in turn one and spun into the infield. He was officially scored in eleventh.
A restart on lap eleven saw a major pile up in turn two. Luke Dollansky was running in the top five when he went to the top of the race track and started to spin in front of the on coming cars. With nowhere to go and moving at a high rate of speed, Jeremy Phillips hit Dollansky very hard. Phillips cars did a quick and violent barrel roll that saw pieces of debris flying all over the place. Phillips car was badly beaten up but he walked off under his own power.
Up front it was all about Menne. He continued to drive a solid race, never seemingly to make any kind of bobbles or mistakes on the fast racing surface. Menne won the event going away. Finishing second was the hard charger of the night. Willie Croft started the main event in the 14^th spot. Croft moved his way through the field to finish second. He also started last in his heat race. Croft passed four cars to finish fifth. Croft, for the night, passed a total of 19 cars. Third spot went to Chico's Brad Bumgarner. The local prodigy started in the fourth row and battled all race long to finish in third. Bumgarner credits his strong finish to new work out program. Brett Rollag had a nice race and finished fourth. It's always good to see the Rollag family car finishing in the top five. Sharrah hung around all race long and ultimately finished fifth.
Andy Forsberg won the 12-lap B main event.
Heat race winners included Sharrah, Menne, Brett Miller and Chad Compton.
Local teenage favorite Mason Moore survived a scary flip in turn three of hot laps. Moore was visibly in a lot of pain and was transported to Enloe Hospital. Once at the hospital his father reported that Moore fractured his 4th vertebrae. The doctor told him that Mason would be out of the sprint car for at least six weeks.
Heather Bartlett might just be the most popular driver at Silver Dollar Speedway. Bartlett has finished second in the point's standings the last two-year. This year Bartlett thinks it is her time. Tonight she showed why not only is she a crowd favorite but why she will press towards a track championship. Bartlett took the lead about half way through the 20-lap race and never looked back. Bartlett took the lead when front-runner Kevin Pendergrass collided with a slower car that knocked him out of the race. Bartlett then went on to hold off Phil Marino who was closing in on Bartlett. Marino started the year off by winning the first two main events. Marino drove under Bartlett on the final two laps making a bid for the lead. Bartlett stayed true to her racing line that propelled her to the victory. Joe Longmire finished third and Mike Slightom was fourth. Nathan Mayo rounded out the top five. Marino won the first heat while Jake Vantol won the second heat.