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Photo by Johns Racing Photos
Broken fuel line takes away top 10 Civil War run for Brett Miller
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – May 26, 2008…Charging from the rear of the field on Sunday night Chico’s Brett Miller looked to be on his way to a strong run with the California Civil War Series before a fuel line issue forced him into the pits and ultimately out of the race. The 18 year-old was able to maneuver the Scot Clarke prepped machine anywhere he wanted on the track until the tough break just past the midway point of the feature.
The annual Memorial Day weekend double-header at the Silver Dollar Speedway began under cloudy skies on Saturday with a non-sanctioned 360 event. The entire weekend was held as part of the annual Silver Dollar Fair and a large crowd was on hand to witness the action during the two-night show. The opening night saw Miller and the Care Free Pools team struggle as the track was extremely greasy and fast throughout the evening.
There was no qualifying held on Saturday as a pill draw determined heat race line-ups for the evening. Miller started third in his heat race but fought an extremely tight condition and fell back at the waving of the green flag and eventually pulled off with a couple laps remaining. He then started 14th in the B-main and although the car was still tight, he was able to move forward and stay out of trouble to get up to the fourth & final transfer spot with just a few laps left.
Miller tried his best to hang on, but pushed up the track with a couple laps to go and it allowed Alissa Geving to get by for the final transfer. “The Catfish” drove on to finish fifth and with everybody making the call for the main event it ended the night early. After assessing the situation the next morning it was decided to swap cars for Sunday’s event to see if it could help remedy the problems from the night before.
After making the motor swap and changing a few things on the car, the team got into the pits just after 4pm and were able to fire the car off to make sure everything was good to go for the evening of Civil War Series competition. The track was much drier on this night and unfortunately for Miller he was set to be the very last of 48 cars to hit the speedway for timed qualifications. With the track slowing down as the session went on he was still able to cut a good second lap to put the Platinum Powder Coating, Wolfe Electric Maxim 23rd quickest.
Miller then started from the pole in his heat race and charged out into the lead at the waving of the green flag. Early on he felt intense pressure from fellow youngster Alissa Geving, but was able to hit his marks on the tricky cushion and maintain the lead. After about five laps the car began to come in and he pulled away from the field to easily win the 10 lap contest picking up his first heat race victory of the season.
The track began to progressively get slicker as the night went on and Miller lined-up in the 18th position for the night’s 30 lap Civil War Series main event. When the green lights came on he was able to pick off a few cars during the first few laps as he ran the high scary of the quarter-mile bullring. “The Catfish” gave up his nickname as he charged around the top side battling it out with Civil War veterans David Robinson Jr, Herman Klein and Mike Benson.
Miller was able to get up to as high as ninth before he slowed to a stop during a restart with about 10 laps remaining in the race. It was found that a fuel line had come loose creating problems with the engine and the JP’s Paint & Body, Al’s Concrete No. 1x was pushed back into the pits to put an end to the night. Altough it was a dissapointing end to the weekend, the night as a whole was a great rebound from Saturday as the car was locked down and rolled through the corners very well all night long.
Miller and the Care Free Pools Racing team will look to the change the luck when the Feather Falls Casino Friday Night Point Series resumes action in a couple weeks on June 6. The 18 year-old will go into the event sitting ninth in the current Silver Dollar Speedway point standings. For more news on Brett Miller and the team log onto our website located at http://www.brettmilleracing.com
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