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Hirst, Bartlett and Youngman Winner's at Chico
by: Troy Hennig
(Chico, CA 8-7-09)...Kyle Hirst made it two wins in the last three races at the ASA Sanctioned Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico on Friday night. Hirst was driving the GP Development #6 around the lightening fast quarter-mile clay oval speedway. Hirst led all 25-laps in route to his win. Chico's Heather Bartlett drove to her fourth win of the year in the street stock division. The pink #99 passed Richard Workman about half way through the main event and went on to get the popular win. Grass Valley driver Jay Youngman got his first win at Chico in the wingless division. Youngman shadowed Scott Hall for 19 laps until he dove to the inside of turn one on the last lap and passed Hall coming out of turn two. There was definitely contact between the two and it was Youngman who ended up in victory lane. The 410 sprints, street stocks and wingless sprints all raced during the Feather Falls Casino point championship season series.
Point race #18 was sponsored by Miller Glass. Tonight the speedway hosted kids bike night. Many of the young fans brought their bikes and during intermission raced on the speedway against kids in their own age group. Every kid received a trophy and or ribbon for their efforts. We also raffled off a bike to one lucky fan courtesy of Pullins Cyclery. ManCamp Motorsports also donated many prizes to be raffled off during the night. All in all it was a great family themed fun event at the Silver Dollar Speedway.
The 25-lap main event started off with Colby Copeland hitting the front stretch wall. He emerged from the car unhurt but was unhappy with another driver as he raised his hands in questioning what happened. On the next attempt a red was needed for John Michael Bunch. It has been heartbreak city two weeks in a row for Bunch. On this night he bicycled the car in turns one and two. As this happened the car seemed to have a mind of it's own and twisted in the air. His car did some quick barrel rolls before coming to a stop. He walked away under his own power but the car was done for the night.
Kyle Hirst took the lead on the third attempt at a green flag start. Hirst beat fellow front row starter Brad Bumgarner into turn one and never looked back. To Bumgarner's credit he chased Hirst for all 25-laps and tried to apply pressure late in the race when the two battled a slower car. Hirst never made a mistake to allow Bumgarner a chance to sneak in for the win. On lap three Zach Zimmerly and Mark Hall became interlocked with Halls front bumper stuck on Zimmerly's rear bumper bar. The two stopped in turn three and needed assistance in getting untangled. A loose wheel came of Wayne Rowett's car on the ensuing lap. The final yellow was needed for Colby Copeland who stopped in turn two. Sean Becker completed a nice charge to the front. He started 13th and finished fourth. Hirst thanked his crew and and fans for supporting him this year.
Phil Marino jumped out the early lead in the 20-lap street stock main event. Marino led until lap five when he heard a noise in the motor and pulled off. This gave the lead to Jake Vantol. This driver has been steadily improving and is also a nice addition the racing action. Unfortunately Vantol would lose the lead on lap nine when his right rear tire went flat. Now the lead went to Richard Workman. He held on to the top spot until lap 11 when championship point leader Heather Bartlett passed him coming out of turn four. Once up front Bartlett began to extend her lead. The final ten laps clicked off without much drama. Bartlett made it look easy and picked up her fourth win of the year. With one more win she would tie Marino for the most wins in 2009 with five each. Workman finished in the second spot. Joe Longmire was a hard charger tonight. Longmire started eighth and finished third. Joe Olschowka came back from a pit stop to finish fourth. Mike Slightom rounded out the top five finishers.
It came down to the last lap. Scott Hall had led the first 19 laps of the wingless sprint feature. Going into turn one Jay Youngman seized up Hall and made a move to the inside. The two made contact that sent Hall up and out of the groove. In fact Hall drifted off turn two and lost two more spots. Youngman continued on and led the final half lap to get the win. Jimmy Pettit moved into the second place finish. Travis Moore was third. Hall came across the line in fourth and had an on track post race discussion with Youngman. Nick Davis finished in the fifth spot. Mitch Miller didn't have any luck even though his family was sponsoring the night. Miller Glass was on hand but Miller's night ended on lap one when contact with another car sent him into the infield and a broken front end. Lap 15 saw newcomer Randy Freeman take a nasty end over end flip in turn four. He was unscathed but the car could not continue. Rob Jones brought out the caution on the next lap. The final four laps went caution free and set up the dramatic finish between Hall and Youngman.
Bobby McMahan turned the only sub 12-second lap in sprint car qualifying at a 11.932.
Full results are on-line at www.silverdollarspeedway.com
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