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Photo by Johns Racing Photos
Jimmy Pettit charges on Friday & finishes runner-up on Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – July 7, 2008…Continuing his strong 2008 season in the wingless sprint car division at Silver Dollar Speedway Chico’s Jimmy “Love-shack” Pettit raced to a pair of strong finishes over the 4th of July weekend, bumping him back up to the top five in the Feather Falls Casino point standings.
For the second weekend in a row the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds was heavily occupied by fire fighter personnel due to the fires in the surrounding areas, but thankfully we were once again able to compete at the speedway without a hitch.
The July 4th weekend kicked off on Friday night with the 15th point race of the season at the Silver Dollar Speedway and it saw a solid field of 26 wingless spec sprints on hand. Pettit pulled a high pill at the pit board and started his heat race from the fifth row, but he was able to move up a few positions during the eight lap contest and get up to sixth by the checkered flag.
After passing points and heat finishes were taken into account Pettit was the very last driver to make it into the A-main through the heat races. It forced him to start from the 15th spot in the scheduled 20 lap race however, and he would have his work cut out for him. Early on the main event had a tough time getting going as a number of cautions and a couple long red flag periods slowed the flow.
Due to time issues the length of the feature was shortened to 15 laps and Pettit was able to make the most of it as he charged forward through the pack and crossed the line in fifth aboard the Kevin Sharrah Designs, Pep Boys No. 24p. With the strong run under his belt he looked forward to coming back on Saturday and trying to get into victory for the fourth time in ’08.
The event on Saturday was run in conjunction with the Golden State Challenge Winged Sprint Car Series and featured 21 wingless sprinters signing in for the special show. On this night Pettit had a much better draw and found himself on the pole of the night’s third and final heat race. At the waving of the green flag he battled it out with current point leader Keith Bloom Jr. and was able to win out and drive away to victory.
When the number six pill was pulled for the inversion it put the Skyway Tool Center, Pro Machine Racing Engines No. 24p on the pole for the main event and Pettit jumped out into the lead at the waving of the green flag. The feature mirrored the one from Friday however, as cautions early on forced a number of yellow flag laps. Pettit continued to lead the race over the first few laps, but following a caution on lap three he was placed back to second for the restart.
When we finally got some green flag laps in Pettit fell to third on lap nine and proceeded to have another strong battle with Keith Bloom for the third position as the feature neared its end. With less than a couple laps to go the second place car looped it in turns one and two, which resulted in Bloom being taken out in the process. Pettit slipped underneath both of them and drove off for a second place finish to score his eighth top five in 13 starts with the John Padjen Motorsports Wingless Series.
Despite missing four races Pettit still finds himself sitting fifth in the JPM wingless standings on a season in which he isn’t even running for points. The wingless sprints will be headed for another double-header this weekend with Chico coming up again on Friday and a trip to the Placerville Speedway on Saturday.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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