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Moore and Hammett Win at Chico
by: Troy Hennig
(Chico, CA 8-1-08)...Travis Moore was going to use this year as an research and development experiment. What he found out is that he's also good at winning. Moore inherited the lead from Mason Myers on lap six and went on to lead the final 14 laps for his second win of the year. “I had to win again so people don't say the first win was a fluke,” said Moore. “This year has exceeded my expectations for sure.” Joining Moore in victory lane was Steve Hammett. The street stock masher muscled his way to his third main event win of the year. “Now I just wish I had started off the year racing up here because we'd be better in the points,” said Hammett. “I had a little contact with Rogers coming out of four but it was just hard racing.” A total of 20 non-wing sprints Joe Hunt Magnetos and 13 street stocks entered the nights racing.
Mason Myers took the lead at the start of the 20-lap wingless main event. Myers soon held a comfortable lead over Travis Moore. Myers and his brother, Cody, have been a powerful one-two punch in the division. However, neither has visited victory lane. Tonight, if things had held together it looked like Myers would be tough to beat. Yet, the racing demons emerged on lap five and smoke came out from the engine department. On the next lap Myers pulled to the infield. Moore took the lead and was holding off a charging Jay Youngman. On lap 12 Keith Bloom Jr., who was running near the seventh spot, drifted off turn four and hit the wall. He did not return for the restart. Kyle Hirst was driving the powerful Orth family sprint car and had raced his way into a top four spot until he exited the track. On the same lap Charlie Cagle stopped in turn two. Two hard chargers of the night included Brain Southers, who started 13th and finished seventh. Behind him was David Larabee. Larabee started 17th and finished tenth. Up front it was all about Moore. He led the final few laps to get the win. Youngman finished second while Marc Zieske ran third. Zieske has been impressive in the few starts he has made this year at Chico. B.J. Martin finished in the fourth spot. Josh Bates rounded out the top five and earned an extra $100 courtesy of www.theskipperpartys.net.
Youngman and Moore each won their heat races. It was quite the night for Moore and Youngman, wins in the heat race and first and second in the main event.
The Street Stocks main event was one of the most exciting races of the night. The race itself got off to a crazy start. Going into turn one a four car pile up ensued. Jeff Olschowka took the brunt of it and flipped. The car was a wreck, but to his credit he came back out after the red flag and continued racing. He wound up finished fourth to keep his championship hopes alive. Others involved were Mike Gomez, Ryan York and Richard Workman. Racing resumed with Scott Rogers as the leader. Rogers held the spot even though he was pressured each lap by Steve Hammett. Moving up to the third spot was Heather Bartlett. The three battled lap after lap for the lead. The race took a turn when Rogers caught up to some slower cars late in the race. As the white flag waived it was Rogers the leader. However, going down the back straight Rogers got bottled up. This allowed Hammet to close. Going through the final turns Hammett got underneath Rogers and passed him coming out of turn four. Hammett lead the most important part fot he race, the last 100 feet. He got the win, his third of the year. Also in the dash for the win Bartlett and Rogers had contact. Rogers spun through the line to finish second. Bartlett did spin but turned he car around quick enough to still finish third. Olschowka was fourth and Phil Marino battled back to finish fifth.
Marino and Workman were winners in heat race action.
Full Results online at www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com.
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