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Chico Volkswagen Sweeps Friday Night Races

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Photo by Steven Cox [sprintcarphotos.com][/caption]CHICO, CA (7-1-11) - Even though it was Riebes Auto Parts Night at the Speedway, looking down at victory lane it looked more like Chico Volkswagen appreciation night. Both Mark Abouzeid and Kevin Lesch won their respective main events Friday night at Silver Dollar Speedway. Abouzeid led all 20 laps to win his second main event in a row at Chico. Not to be outdone by his car owner, Lesch accomplished the same feat. Lesch led all 20 laps to win his second main event in a row. "I think we will be buying more parts from Riebes this week," said a jubilated Abouzeid in victory lane. "I have a great crew and it shows how hard we work. Both cars win tonight. That's awesome!"

The BCRA Midget Lites made their one and only appearance of the year at Chico tonight. Seven cars showed up and gave the crowd a good show. Jason Sneep led all 20 laps to win the main event. Sneep was chased by Cory Green for the entire race. In the end, Snoop crossed the line with over a one second advantage. Zack Beard ran a solid race to finish in the third spot. Dakota Albright finished in the fourth spot. Rick Soto ran in the fifth spot.

Abouzeid led at the start of the dirt modified main event. The race was slowed on lap three when Chandler, Arizona resident Chris Olexiewicz stopped in turn two. He restarted the race but pulled off on lap 16 and was credited with a ninth place finish. That moved Richard Papenhausen into the second spot. The race for the win was between Papenhausen and Abouzeid. Papenhausen shadowed Abouzeid but was never able to get close enough for an opportunity to pass. Abouzeid held a 0.348 advantage at the finish line. Oreste Gonella finished in the third spot. It was nice having him back at the speedway. Joel Myers and Freddie Plourde rounded out the top five. Finishing sixth was Mike Sohnrey. Sohnrey returned to the speedway after a two-year hiatus. Papenhausen and Gonella won heat races.

Lesch shot to the lead of the 20 lap street stock main event. Terry Lawrence was in the second spot. Lawrence was solid tonight. He was just as fast as Lesch and champion driver Phil Marino. On lap 12 Lawrence was clipped by Marino and sent into the white tire in turn two. This sidelined him to fourth. On the next lap he spun out in turn one. The yellow came out. Under caution the officials moved Marino back to two spots for contact with Lawrence. This placed Kevin Ward in second on the restart. Lesch was able to speed away and hold a two second advantage over Ward. Marino worked his way around Richard Workman on lap 17 for the third spot. On lap 18 he passed Ward. At this time he was too far back to challenge Lesch. At the finish line Lesch held an insurmountable lead of over four seconds. Marino was second and Ward finished in the third spot.

Marino won the lone heat race for the street stocks. Richie Hoover won the eight lap heat race for the BCRA Midget Lites.

No rest for the wicked. Racing continues this Monday night, July 4th, with the biggest celebration of fireworks the speedway has ever seen. Front gates open at 5pm with racing to start at 6:30pm. Come by and secure your tickets for this once a year event at the silver dollar speedway, Riebes Auto Parts in Chico, Paradise and Oroville stores, JP's Paint and Auto Body, Withrow's Motorsports, Chico Mobile AC and Auto Repair and Aubries Leather and Lace in Paradise.

Full results from tonight at located at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=679746

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