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Photo by http://www.StevesRacingPhotos.com
Late spin costs Andy Gregg good finish with Civil War in Watsonville
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – September 23, 2008…For the second week in a row Placerville’s Andy Gregg had a good run going until it was all cut short by late race issues, which relegated him to an 18th place result with the California Civil War 360 Series on Saturday night at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway.
The event on Saturday at Ocean Speedway marked the sole Civil War Series visit of the season to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds track and Gregg had tuned-up for it earlier this year during a Golden State Challenge Series event, where he brought home a ninth place finish in the feature at the quarter-mile bullring.
Gregg went into the night hoping to rebound from the Civil War event the previous week in Petaluma, which had seen him qualify third quickest in the field, but spin out late in the main event while battling Kyle Hirst for a top five spot on an evening that saw Gregg debut his new A.R.T. Chassis.
The driver known as the “Hurricane” began the 14th event of the Civil War season at Ocean Speedway by qualifying well once again as he timed in third quickest out of 39 cars aboard the Dale Miller Plumbing, Myers & Sons Drywall, Circle Racing Wheels No. 16x. Unfortunately heat race action didn’t go as well for the second week in a row as Gregg got loose while locked in a torrid battle for the final transfer spot, which resulted in him tipping over and being forced to run the B-main.
The Ocean Speedway stayed hooked up all night long and in the B-main Gregg was able to beat current Civil War point leader Sean Becker into turn one and hold off a furious race long challenge to pick up the win and transfer the Nor Cal Vinyl Fencing, Brothers Vacuums No. 16x sprinter into the main event. With the number six pill then being drawn for the inversion it put Gregg in the fourth row for the 30 lap feature and the Placerville veteran was able to avoid a stack up in turn four on the opening lap, to move up to sixth for the lap one restart.
Gregg then hung strong and was locked in a battle with former King of California & Ocean Speedway regular Jason Statler as the race wore on and traffic came into play. The driver of the Guts Racing, A.R.T. Enterprise machine was doing a great job holding off the relentless challenges of Statler until getting into a spin in-between turns one and two with less than 10 laps remaining in the race. Gregg was officially placed 18th in the rundown of the main event, which was eventually won by 410 regular Tyler Walker.
Following the event at Ocean Speedway Gregg has moved up three spots in the Civil War standings to tie Placerville champ Colby Wiesz for the 10th spot in the series points heading into the final race of the season this Saturday. Gregg has competed in 10 of the 14 Civil War races held so far this season and although the year hasn’t gone exactly how he would have hoped, the 28 year-old is looking forward to the finale in Placerville. “The final Civil War race in Placerville is always a lot of fun and one that everybody always shoots for,” Gregg stated.
The California Civil War Series Finale at Placerville Speedway has grown to be one of the “big” events in Northern California sprint car racing each September and is annually the final tune-up prior the following week’s 17th annual Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals. Last season Gregg brought home a seventh place finish at the Civil War Finale and he hopes to have a good showing on Saturday. “We’d certainly like to finish off the schedule with a win to try and help build some momentum for the Fall Nationals in Chico next week,” said the driver of the Team Guts Racing No. 16x.
The front gate will open at 5pm this Saturday with adult tickets costing $15. More info on the event can be found at http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
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Andy Gregg will bring the Guts Racing, Straight Line Roofing, Comstock Mortgage No. 16x into Placerville Speedway this weekend looking to build momentum for the 17th annual Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals, which is coming up on October 2, 3 & 4. Photo by http://www.JohnsRacingPhotos.com
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