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Mason Moore kicks off season at Mini Gold Cup
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – March 10, 2008…Young Mason Moore got his sophomore season of winged sprint car racing underway during this past weekend’s 22nd annual Mini Gold Cup at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico.
Moore and the No. 22 team led by crew chief Mike Clarke were at the competitive event to try and gain as many laps as possible and put last year’s experience to use. Last season the 17 year-old wasn’t able to run the Mini Gold Cup so it was definitely something he wanted to do this year.
The very stacked event saw 60 plus cars on hand for both night’s, including World of Outlaw drivers Jason Meyers, Joey Saldana, Shane Stewart and former WOO regulars Paul McMahan and Jason Solwold. Add in all of the top drivers from our Northern California area and it made for one of the toughest fields in recent Golden State Challenge Series history.
The defending Silver Dollar Speedway Rookie of the Year struggled through motor issues during opening night, which never really let him get up to speed. For Saturday night the team got things remedied and Moore was able to qualify 32nd quickest aboard the Moore Financial Services No. 22.
Starting eighth in the night’s final heat race Moore drove to a sixth place result putting him into the 12 lap B-main. Making things tough was the fact that the semi-main on Saturday could have been an A-main in itself anywhere else in the country. Lining up outside of the eighth row the Princeton, CA driver was able to carve his way forward to finish in the 10th spot, putting an end to the night.
To show just how though the field was at the 22nd annual Mini Gold Cup, drivers such as Brent Kaeding, Jason Statler and Willie Croft were also unable to make the transfer out of the semi. Kaeding and Statler are both former GSC King of California’s and Croft finished third in series’ points last season.
Up next for Mason Moore and the No. 22 team will be this coming Saturday’s California Civil War Series season opener at the Placerville Speedway. Last season Moore finished eighth in Civil War points and earned Co-Rookie of the Year with good friend Kyle Larson. Look for the team to hopefully debut the new paint scheme this weekend on the 22 machine. A good start to the Civil War season this weekend will pay dividends for Moore as he looks to bring home the series title this year.
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