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Photos by http://www.JohnsRacingPhotos.com
Andy Gregg finishes 6th on Coca-Cola Championship Night at Silver Dollar Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – August 24, 2008…Placerville, CA’s Andy Gregg finished off the Feather Falls Casino 410 sprint car point season with a sixth place effort on Friday night at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway, which also marked the final event at the track prior to the 55th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions.
The final 410 point race of the Silver Dollar Speedway season found a very stacked field of competitors on hand as many drivers looked to get their final laps in at the track before the huge $50,000 to win Gold Cup that is coming up in less than two weeks.
The previous couple of races at the quarter-mile bullring had seen Gregg charge from the rear of the field due to qualifying further back than he would have liked, but the Placerville driver was able rebound this most recent Friday as he clocked an 11.785 to put him fifth fastest, despite coming out next to last in the order.
The start of the heat race however, saw a couple drivers get stacked up and Gregg was victim of it as he fell to the rear of the field on the opening lap. With the track still being very fast he was unable to move forward and was forced to run the 12 lap B-main, which he eventually went on to win and transfer the Myers & Sons Drywall, Dale Miller Plumbing No. 16x into the main event.
Gregg then lined-up in the fifth row for the 25 lap championship night main event and sat in 10th when the first caution came out on the third circuit. The track surface remained hooked up and fast in the feature and the “Hurricane” diced it up within the top 10 drivers on the speedway as the halfway point emerged. The race changed on lap 18 though as Gregg was able to do a great job to avoid a large pile-up in turn two that took many of the front runners out of the race.
On the restart Gregg sat in the sixth position and he was able to maintain that spot over the remaining seven laps to cross the stripe in sixth and score his fifth top 10 finish in six Feather Falls Casino point race starts aboard the Straight Line Roofing, V-Mac Racing Products Maxim. “We would have liked to finish a little higher, but we’ll take a sixth because this car has been fast and I think we had a good month in Chico to get everything ready for the Gold Cup,” Gregg said.
On Saturday Gregg and the Team Guts Racing No. 16x machine headed for the Placerville Speedway to compete for the first time in a handful of weeks at the red-clay bullring. The home town racer began the event by timing in fifth fastest for the second night in a row and ended the evening with an eighth place finish in the main event. Gregg will return to the Placerville Speedway next week looking break into victory during the final point race of the season at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds track.
Following Placerville next Saturday Gregg and the team will get everything ready to go for the 55th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions, which kicks off at the Silver Dollar Speedway on Wednesday night September 3 with the annual Civil War Series Invitational. Gregg will then throw the 410 engine under the hood of the No. 16x sprinter to do battle with the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series, as the best drivers in the country invade the Chico based track for three nights of racing.
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Andy Gregg will compete at the Placerville Speedway next Saturday before heading to the Silver Dollar Speedway for the 55th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions on September 3-6
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