Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
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Becker Wins Exciting Silver Cup Main Event

By: Troy Hennig

(Chico, CA 3-22-08)...Sean Becker thrilled the Saturday night crowd during the annual running of the Silver Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway. Becker guided the Robinson Engineering C.E. Lambert Trucking #2sb around a tricky racing surface that developed a huge curb through turns three and four. Becker will pilot this sprint car during all Civil War events this season.

Chico's Mark Abouzeid led all 20-laps to win an action packed dirt modified main event. Abouzeid won the Friday night main event to add a clean sweep for the weekend. Abouzeid, driving his Chico Volkswagen #27 lived up to nickname the Rocket Man these past two nights.

Grass Valley veteran Billy Wallace made a late race pass to win the wingless 30-lap main event. Wallace is a top contender in this division and proved to be the class of a 23 car starting field. The win capped off another huge night of racing that saw 90 cars compete during the Saturday night. For the weekend a total of 190 drivers competed over the two nights of racing.

Paul McMahan led from the drop of the green flag. Kyle Hirst was second and Brad Sweet third. On lap five the first caution was waived when Herman Klein came to a stop off turn one. While that was happening Alissa Geving stopped in turn two with front end problems. Racing resumed with Sean Becker starting to march towards the front. Becker passed Randy Hannagan for fourth on lap six. On lap nine Becker passed Sweet to take over the third spot. Becker kept the pressure on the top spots and on lap 14 he passed Hirst for second. It was now Sweet's turn to move towards the front and on lap 15 he passed Hirst for third. Becker's improbable charge to the front culminated on lap 16 when he passed McMahan for the lead. The leaders were in heavy traffic and Becker used the top side of the racing groove to perfection in turns three and four. Yet, once you rode the cushion around the top in four the drivers needed to get to the bottom in turns one and two. Sweet moved into the second spot on lap 19 passing McMahan. From here on out Sweet and Becker not only raced each other but the slower cars and the slick racing surface that provided some of the best sprint car racing seen at the speedway in a long time. At times the two former go-kart prodigy's looked as if they were having more fun racing than we were watching. The finish was delayed on lap 23 when Kevin Sharrah's night came to an end off turn four. The final two laps saw Becker continue to shine with Sweet driving his heart out. The final turn saw Becker go to the cushion and Sweet dive to bottom. Sweet's car got loose and he lost his momentum. Becker cruised around the top and beat Sweet to the line. McMahan had another solid weekend and finished third. Hannagan moved around Hirst late in the race to finish fourth. Hirst held onto the fifth spot.

After a two year hiatus David Robinson Jr. returned to sprint car racing in the familiar F & F racing #x1. Robinson won the 12 lap semi-feature holding off Dan Menne and Robbie Whitchurch. The other three transferring cars were Richard Bailey, Seth Bergman and James Sweeney.

Mark Hall led all 10-laps to win the C main event. Kyle Miller and Myles Bishop transferred to the B main event along with Hall.

The start of the dirt modified main event started with two of the top contenders crashing. Richard Papenhausen stumbled at the start and was hit from behind by Ryan McDaniel. Both of these drivers went to the pit area and made repairs. Both drivers returned and put on an amazing charge towards the front for the next twenty laps. Up front it was Mark Abouzeid leading the way. Duane Cleveland moved into the second spot and Mike Sohnrey ran in the third spot. Quickly the driver on the move was Randy McDaniel. McDaniel started in the fifteenth spot but when an early caution on lap three was needed McDaniel had already moved into the top five. McDaniel kept his drive towards the front continuing and on lap eight he moved into the second spot. Abouzeid had caught the back of the pack and began to deal with slower cars. McDaniel was able to move in but never able to get enough for a dramatic pass. McDaniel was able to pass 14 cars, but he was not able to get pass the most important spot, the leader. While Randy was amazing getting to the top, his son was just as great. McDaniel restarted last after the lap one problems and he too was back into the top five. Ryan's charge would get him back into the third spot. Quite an amazing night for both McDaniel's. Cleveland finished in the fourth spot. Papenhausen was also able to move back through the field and finish in the fifth spot. Abouzeid held off the rest of the field and won the race. He now had back-to-back wins on the weekend. It's hard enough to win one race but to win both nights is a true testament to Mark's driving and his crew's ability to get the car right.

Marc Mackay led most of the wingless sprint main event on Saturday night. The driver won the previous night's main event and starting from the pole tonight he seemed like a logical pick to repeat. Mackay is well known as a winged sprint car driver but looked very comfortable without the wing on this weekend. But it was another winged driver who spoiled Mackay's night. Billy Wallace used the high line through three and four to pick off drivers one at a time. Mid way through the race Wallace drove around Mackay for the lead. Wallace continued to lead but almost lost the race when debris came off another car and was stuck in turn four. Wallace tried to avoid the deposited bumper and slowed to a crawl as the yellow came out. It looked as if the car stalled but Wallace never stopped and was able to continue on. Wallace resumed his position up front as the leader. Behind him was Taylor Simas. Simas started in the seventh position but was now in second. Simas new sponsor Power Trip Energy drink seemed to give him an edge inside the car and he battled Wallace for the lead. Wallace was just too good on this night and he held off Simas to get the win. Mackay held on to finish in third. Charlie Marrs moved from his eighth starting spot to finish fourth. Doug Butterfield started sixth and finished fifth.

Silver Dollar Speedway Feather Falls Casino Friday night point racing begins next Friday with the first annual Bill Brownell night. The winner of the 410 winged sprint car main event will win $3,000, a significant amount of money for a regular race. The dirt modified's and wingless sprints will also be on hand.

For complete results of the Silver Cup please visit www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com and click on Silver Dollar Speedway.

END

Photo by Graph X Designs

Brett Miller races to 11^th place finish at Silver Cup

By Gary Thomas

Chico, CA – March 23, 2008…Competing for the first time at the Silver Cup Chico’s Brett Miller brought home an 11^th place finish Saturday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway. The two-night 360 winged sprint car main event saw a total of 54 cars in competition at the high banked ¼ mile clay oval.

The Silver Cup uses a draw show format with passing points so qualifying wasn’t held on either night. Miller and the Care Free Pools Racing team kicked off the action on Friday night and it found the 1x machine lining up ninth in the final heat race. “The Catfish” was able to move up a few spots early on, but with the heat race going green to checker it made for a difficult task with the track still being very fast and hooked up.

Miller was able to hang on and cross the line in sixth aboard the Platinum Powder Coating, Wolfe Electric No. 1x. The main event was set by heat race points and with Miller being 24^th in the standings; it put an early end to the night. Thankfully however, the main event was only for money so it didn’t hurt him too much in the overall weekend points.

Coming back on Saturday Miller drew the number 27 pill which put him on the inside of the second row in heat race number three. The 18 year-old proceeded to claim the lead and hold off all competitors to pick up the 10 lap win and significantly help him out in the weekend points.

After points were added up following the heat races, Miller sat in the 10^th spot overall, giving him an outside row five starting position in the Silver Cup main event. The youngster did a solid job in the feature and battled with Brad Furr and Shain Matthews over the final laps of the main event to bring home an 11^th place result.

Miller and the team were satisfied with the finish with the large field of cars present and will now move on to next week as the Feather Falls Casino point season kicks off on Friday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway. The night will be a tribute to Bill Brownell and the main event will pay a nice $3,000 to win. The Care Free Pools team would like to congratulate good guy Sean Becker on his win at the Silver Cup on Saturday night.

For more on 18 year-old Brett Miller visit http://www.brettmillerracing.com

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Saturday Nights A-main was some of the best racing I've seen in years ! !

Brian 

"TURN AROUND; MATE !"