7/6/2011
Silver Dollar Speedway
Night of Three's at Chico
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Photo by Steven Cox [sprintcarphotos.com][/caption]CHICO, CA (7-6-11) -Â by Troy Hennig CHICO, CA - JULY 8, 2011.Three seemed to be the magical number last night during Wells Fargo point championship racing #10 at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. Three of the five main event winners won for the third time this year. Chico's Jason York won his third main of the year in the sprint cars. Chico's Richard Papenhausen and Kevin Lesch also won their third main events of the season. The other two drives were first time winners. Misty Castleberry and George Magenheimer each won and celebrated on the front stretch after the races. All of this racing took place under The Home Depot / JP's Paint and Body Works night at the speedway.
Fort Jones driver Dan Menne led the sprint cars to the green flag. Menne held the lead until lap seven when he drifted off the back stretch. This allowed Tyler Wolf and Jason York the opportunity to get by. As the field roared by York passed Wolf and was the leader. Colby Copeland was also in the mix. However, the teenage sensation rolled over in turn two. This brought out the red and ended his night. York continued to lead but began to struggle a bit getting through turns one and two. Wolf was able to capitalize and passed York. Yet, as this happened Robert Stice spun around in turn one. This negated Wolf's pass and the field was scored back to the previous lap. York regained the lead. It was the last time York gave the top spot. "It feels good to get a little lucky finally," said York. "When he passed me for the lead I was lucky enough to get it back and I told myself to start driving it like a non-wing car to help me get through the turns."
It was York's third win of the year. When asked about what's better, last years championship with no wins or no championship but three wins, the answer was easy for York. "Most definitely the wins," he said. "This makes up for last year." Wolf gave York all he could handle but finished second. Colby Wiesz moved up all night and finished in the third spot. Menne slipped to fourth. Greg DeCaires made a rare start and finished fifth. Wolf started the night by turning the fastest lap with a 12.496. Australia masher Josh Ruhs won a spirited first heat race. Robert Stice earned honors by winning heat two.
Donny Fortney led the first three laps of the Dirt Solution Limited Late Model main event. David Larabee moved to the inside of Fortney and took the lead on lap four. Larabee paced the field and looked in control to possibly grab his first win of the year. However, on lap eight, George Magenheimer was credited with the lead. Larabee was off in the pit area. Unfortunately the race was slowed because of the high rate of attrition that occurred during the 15-lap race. A three car pile up took out crowd favorite Larry Damitz. Damitz is 82-years young. By racing tonight, he became the oldest driver in the history of the speedway to turn laps. Not only did he race, but he won the second heat race of the night. Magenheimer won the first heat. George was able to lead the final seven laps for the win.
Misty Castleberry won her first mini stock main event of her career at Chico. In victory lane she said, "It's nice to not lift around this place. You can go flat footed and that's always cool." Sean Perry led the first two laps of the feature event. Perry held the top spot until lap two when Jimmy Ford moved into the lead. Ford won the original race this year at Chico. Ford's lead was short lived. On lap five Damian Merritt made a nice move to pass Ford. Merritt led the next five laps until Castleberry dove to his inside on lap nine. There was definitely contact between the two, however, they both continued on and raced for the lead. Disaster struck for Merritt on lap 10, when he looped it in turn two. Castleberry restarted as the leader and was never seriously challenged by second place finishing Joel Giusti. Jim Davis drove a smart race to finish third. Olin Crain charged from ninth to fourth. Merritt rounded out the top five. Castleberry won the second heat race while Shawn Merritt won the first.
It was a clean sweep for Richard Papenhausen. The Chico champion won the eight lap heat race and 15-lap main event. Coming into the night he was tied with Mark Abouzeid for the championship. Leaving tonight, Papenhausen should be unofficially three points ahead of Abouzeid. Abouzeid led the first two laps but drifted high in turn two and relinquished the lead to Kevin Pendergrass. On the ensuing lap, Papenhausen passed Pendergrass and never looked back. Jeff Olschowka moved into the second spot on lap five. This is how the top three would finish. "Tonight the track wasn't as hooked up as usual," said Papenhausen. "It wasn't all about horsepower tonight and I like driving on those types of tracks."
Lately, Kevin Lesch has been more. Lesch was able to clean sweep the street stock division tonight. Lesch won the six lap heat race and backed that up with the 15-lap street stock feature win. It was his third win of the year for team Chico Volkswagen. "I have to thank Mark and Amy for allowing me the opportunity to drive their car," said Lesch in victory lane. "Tonight it my daughters birthday so it was a great night." Kyle Cheney won the other six-lap heat race. In the beginning of the feature, Lesch had to hold off Bill Patterson. On lap five, Patterson spun in turn two and gave up his second position on the track. He did however, battle his way back to fourth place in the end. Mike Slightom moved into the second spot but he was quickly passed by Cheney. Cheney had an eventful night that saw him in and out of the pit area but perseverance paid off and he finished second. Lesch was dominant again and easily won his third main event of the year. Slightom was third followed by Patterson and Gary Newman.
Wells Fargo point championship racing continues this Friday night, July 15, with Bell Carter Olive Night at the Speedway. Four divisions will be on hand. Please visit our website www.silverdollarspeedway.com for more information.
Full results, including starting spots are available at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=682957
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