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Cox and Moore command the North State in Civil War Double Header

CHICO, CA (5-26-13) - The Hoosier Racing Tires Civil War Sprint Car Series trekked to the northern likes of California over the Memorial Day weekend for the annual North State double header with two high profile events at two tracks in just two days. On Saturday night, the competitive series for winged 360 sprint cars took to the likes of Marysville Raceway Park and less than 24 hours later, assaulted the high banks of Silver Dollar Speedway for the fifth segment of the 2013 tour.

On Saturday night, Sacramento's Justyn Cox ended his night with a prestige of adding the Mel Hall Memorial victory to his name after his winning performance in Marysville. Sunday night, Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico saw a familiar face in victory lane when Princeton's Mason Moore returned to victory lane at the track he use to call home nearly every Friday night.

On Saturday night, the Civil War Series event at Marysville wasn't just another Civil War Series event. On this given night, teams and drivers paid homage to the late Mel Hall with the annual Mel Hall Memorial. In addition to the inflated regular Civil War winnings, the evening offered a multitude of contingency bonuses offered by the track as well as sprintcarfan.com that was followed by an evening of barbeque and socializing amongst teams and fans who remembered Hall for his love of the sport.

Back in 1991, Hall who teamed with several longtime area racing promoters and brought several area tracks together to form a traveling series for the 360 sprint car division. Hall, was known best for his longtime promotion of the now defunct Ernie Purcell Speedway in Grass Valley and the track that is now known as Marysville Raceway Park, it was Hall who took the reigns of the Marysville facility in 1994 and brought sprint car racing to the track that was primarily a stock car racing facility.

After a hard fought battle with cancer, Hall passed away in 1999 and left behind a legacy in auto racing promotion in California while at the same time laying the ground work to insure racing continues in the north state for years to come. Saturday night, that legacy was remembered in the form of round four of the Civil War Sprint Car Series.

A total of 38 cars formed the roster for Saturday's big night in Marysville. In qualifying, Placerville's Andy Gregg earned the top spot with a 13.134 second lap. Mason Moore was second quick with Herman Klein rounding out the qualifying podium in third place.

Driving Harley Van Dyke's competitive #5h sprint car, Cox timed in with the ninth fastest lap of the evening and later secured a position in the 30-lap feature event without the stress of any further preliminary action.

Starting on the outside of the front row, Cox mastered a narrow, dry track surface Saturday night to claim the win over pole sitter Shane Golobic. Moore started seventh in the line up and powered his way up to the podium with a third place finish over Colby Wiesz of Colfax and two time series champion Sean Becker who rounded out the top five.

Prior to the A-feature, Moore was the first driver to the checkered flag in the B-feature where he was followed by Steven Tiner, Bradley Terrell, Becker and Matt Peterson. Jake Morgan won the C-feature over Brandon Mansfield and Raquel Jennings.

Heat races in the Marysville event were claimed by Justin Sanders, Mike Henry, Kyle Miller and Wiesz.

On Sunday night, the entry total jumped to 49 cars at the winged warriors made their first appearance at Silver Dollar Speedway for the annual Silver Dollar Fair event. Geoff Ensign was the fastest driver in qualifying with a 13:074 second lap, claiming the honor over Shane Golobic and Jimmy Trulli.

Moore timed in with the 11th fastest lap of the evening which eventually proved fruitful. The former series Rookie of the Year secured his spot in the money race with a fourth place finish in his heat race. With the effort combined with the inversion, Moore started the 30-lap feature on the outside of the front row aside pole sitter Andy Gregg.

With a grandstand filled to capacity, many of which were newcomers to the sport visiting the Silver Dollar Fair, Moore and Gregg powered out of the fourth turn to kick start an electrifying race that was ideal for drawing new fans back to the track. The front row duo was trailed by defending series champion Andy Forsberg along with Billy Aton.

As Forsberg and Aton faded back out of podium contention, Moore and Gregg were joined in their duel by Shane Golobic who started 7th in the field as well as Justin Sanders, the series point leader. Sanders started all the way back in the 18th position as was a man on a mission, charging his way all the way up to the front of the pack.

At the checkered flag, Moore became the fourth different winner in four races of the Civil War Series. Gregg joined Moore on the podium along with Golobic. Sanders finished an impressive fourth place over Herman Klein and Forsberg.

Earlier in the night, Trulli won the B-feature over heat race rollover victim Sean Becker. Kirt Organ was third followed by Matt Peterson and Kenny Drew. The C-feature was claimed by Heath Hall along with Nick McCulloch, Brian Boswell, Nick Davis and Koen Shaw.

Steven Tiner claimed the first heat race win of the night. Forsberg was the winner of heat race two while Max Adams and Sanders claimed heats three and four early in the night.

The recent double header was the beginning of a busy month ahead for the Civil War Sprint Cars. This coming Saturday, June 1 the tour will make their first appearance of the year at Placerville Speedway along with the BCRA and USAC Western Midgets for a big night of open wheel competition. In addition to the racing, championship rings for the 2012 Civil War Series will be presented during the event.

For additional information on the weekend to come for the Civil War Series please visit the official website of the series at www.civilwarsprints.com or Placerville Speedway at www.placervillespeedway.com.

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