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Photos by Graph X Designs
Late spin slows possible career best night for Zack West
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – August 1, 2008…A late race spin took away chances at a possible career best 410 sprint car finish for Chico’s Zack West on Friday night and relegated the We St-ing Racing, Community Construction JEI to a 14th place finish in the main event.
West has had the chance to run just sparingly this season and made his first start in a month last Friday during a Golden State Challenge Series sanctioned event at the Silver Dollar Speedway. In those limited starts this year however, West has shown improvement after a full season of racing and gaining experience at the track last season. The 18 year-old picked up a nice seventh place finish during his last Feather Falls Casino point race start on June 27 and looked to improve upon that this past Friday.
West began the 18th Silver Dollar Speedway point race on a good note as qualified fifth fastest in the field aboard the Ing Excavation, Pace Supply No. 14. A fifth place finish in his heat race then transferred him into the main event where he started from the outside of the second row.
The 25 lap feature came to the line with Dan Simpson and Peter Murphy on the front row, but the pair were both deemed to be on the gas too early and were sent to the tail. This moved West and fellow youngster Brett Miller to the front row. Following a couple more yellows race officials put drivers into a single file formation and when racing finally got underway, West settled into second.
West continued to sit in the runner-spot doing a great job until a bobble allowed current Silver Dollar Speedway point leader Andy Forsberg to get by. The Chico driver remained composed though and held his own motoring on in third while keeping current Civil War Series point leader Sean Becker at bay. Things changed with just seven laps remaining however, as West got loose coming out of turn four and spun to a stop on the front stretch.
The Cinecon Group Inc, Butler Built Performance No. 14 was pushed back off and he was able to cross the stripe in the 14th position at the checkered. It was a disappointing end to the feature, but a positive to take away is the fact that West held his own running towards the front of the field and certainly gives the team some added confidence as the season slowly winds down.
Silver Dollar Speedway announcer and PR guru Troy Hennig gave West some good ink in the race recap as well: “West looked like he belonged with the leaders, however, on lap seven he bobbled to allow Andy Forsberg to get by. Then on lap 18 he spun coming out of turn four and came to a stop on the front straight. At the time he was running third and holding off Sean Becker. It was one of those good nights turned bad with the finish. Yet, the driver and team should be proud of their effort.”
Next up for West and the We St-ing Racing team will be this coming Friday’s event at the Silver Dollar Speedway that will mark the 19th 410 point race of the Feather Falls Casino season. West will look to build off this past Friday’s performance and hopefully put the No. 14 machine near the front of the field. For more information on Chico, CA’s Zack West log onto http://www.zackwest.com
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Zack West had one of his best career nights behind the wheel of a sprint car going on Friday, running up front until a spin just seven laps shy of the finish. He'll look to get back in the saddle this coming Friday and build some momentum with just three races left in the Feather Falls Casino point season
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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