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Marysville Raceway Park
Press Release 3.7.09
For immediate release
By Bob Burbach
Frantic racing action punctuates Spring Sprint Car Open at MRP; Forsberg wins first ever opening night victory as Shank captures Wingless feature
Marysville- Auburn’s Andy Forsberg rocketed to his first ever opening night win in the Winged Sprint Car feature at Paul and Kathy Hawes Marysville Raceway Park Saturday. Antioch’s Terry Shank muscled his way to victory in the companion Wingless Sprint Car main. The Spring Sprint Car Open started the 2009 open wheel season in northern California.
A cool, clear evening greeted a jam-packed grandstand that was remarkable in size and among the best in the raceway’s history. Bringing the opening sprint car race of the season back to Marysville Raceway Park did the trick as teams from all over pressed through the pit gate and the pits swelled with a solid field of quality racecars. The atmosphere in the pits was electric and on several occasions old friends and bitter rivals alike talked and laughed together while the teams prepared for the night’s activity. The 2009 sprint car season was about to get under way.
Promoter Paul Hawes’ dogged persistence to put this race on proved to be the catalyst that kept this event from being postponed. The near disastrous rains over the last week or so nearly brought this event to its knees. The back stretch wall was to be painted a pristine white, but the rains kept little touches like that on the back burner. After a couple of days of tireless effort promoter Hawes was confident he could pull it off. On Saturday it took a while to bring in the track in, but once in, the newly configured Marysville Raceway Park proved to be wicked-fast. A tip of the straw hat and thanks to the hardy fans who patiently waited while this quick ribbon of clay was being ironed in.
Central valley hot-shoe Tommy Tarlton showed the way in time trials with a 12.744 on his second lap. With MRP now measuring very nearly a third from middle to high, Tarlton’s lap was impressive as that time was just .07 slower that MRP’s best time last season. So, doing the math shows that MRP is now longer, and remarkably faster. Bixby, Oklahoma star Shane Stewart also found the hooked up clay to his liking. Stewart blistered the track turning in second quick time. Ironically, both Tarlton and Stewart had to transfer to the feature by way of the B Main event. The field was that thick with quality equipment.
After the preliminary action was concluded a “10 pill” was drawn for the inversion and that planted all of the quick qualifiers dead center in the starting field of 20. The draw also put Forsberg on the pole next to 3-time track champion Korey Lovell. It is interesting to note that Lovell had no laps on the new chassis when he arrived at the raceway. As a matter of fact the car was finished and the body panels installed earlier Saturday morning. Tarlton started 11th next to Stewart. The 30 lapper was next.
When the green banner flew it was Forsberg who carried the field into turn 1. Lovell dropped into 2nd but was quickly overhauled by Herman Klein. A couple of quick early yellows allowed the racers to breathe a little and it also kept the field tightly bunched; important news for the mid field starters that were carving their way through the crowded corners. The new green provided some of the closest racing action ever seen at MRP as Tarlton, Stewart and LA’s Tyler Walker took to the high side and started to make some progress.
The race was red flagged shortly after this flurry of racing action when Mason Moore caught a wheel in three and endured a savage series of barrel rolls that trashed his beautiful racer. Moore had been coming forward in that knot of cars that battled from about 7th place through about 12th. Moore climbed from the car unscathed. Forsberg and the other front-runners that now included Jimmy Trulli (in a smooth 4th place) were fast approaching quick lapped traffic when the red lights flashed on.
The new green would be a long green flag segment and Forsberg had to get up on the wheel and start carving through traffic. Outlaw star Jason Sides had started 5th and decided it was time to go. Sides started to really fly and began turning the fastest laps of the race. Meanwhile, Tarlton sliced through the field like a hot knife through butter and appeared inside the top five as the race moved into its last 10 laps.
With 4 circuits left to decide it Tarlton and Klein had a miscue that eliminated both cars, brought out a yellow and set up a trophy dash to the finish. Sides, in 2nd, and Forsberg were separated from third place runner Lovell with three lapped cars. Sides and Forsberg would decide it in a heated dash to the checkers.
When the final green waved, Forsberg had a brilliant restart and put about 5 car lengths between himself and Sides. That decided it and, even though Sides started to close, Forsberg maintained the lead to starter Jerry Witzke’s checkered banner.
In victory lane, Forsberg was excited and thanked virtually everybody in sight. Forsberg alluded to the fact that this was the first time he had ever won a season opening event. Hard to believe, given his many championships and successes. He also said that his front row start probably gave him the victory. Perhaps, but Forsberg’s impressive management of lapped traffic with Sides breathing down his neck was the key to this victory. Mike Monahan, Andy Gregg, Sides and Richard Brace Jr. all picked up heat race wins.
In the Wingless Sprint Car feature, Marysville’s Jeremy Hawes took his flyin’ Ford to the front almost immediately with a bold move through turns 1 and 2, taking the point from front row starter Tyler Wolf. The race was plague by a series of early race incidental yellows.
When the race resumed it was obvious that if anyone was going to catch Hawes it was going to be Shank. Shank really started to throw his red #1 around and finally reached 2nd. Shank closed on Hawes by lap 4 and showed him a wheel. Hawes in turn got up on the wheel and threw his racer around the track with abandon. The pair battled nose to tail and side by side in a crowd-pleasing duel.
On lap 8 of the 20 lapper, Shank got a great run off of two and nearly collided with Hawes as Shank buried his car low into turn three. Shank’s car was in way too hot and started to slide toward Hawes. It looked like there was going to be a big crash. The crowd held it’s breath, but both managed to come out of it without hitting each other. Shank, however, had secured the lead and went on to win with Hawes and Wolf in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Preliminary heat race action was red flagged during heat race #2 for a scary looking end over end flip in turn 1 by Mason Myers. The car twisted through the air coming down hard near the wall, upside down. The driver crawled from the badly battered racer, but seemed to collapse nearby. Track personnel were on the scene immediately and Myers had banged his ankle in the dizzying series of flips. Otherwise he was OK.
Hawes and Shank were the heat race winners.
Next Saturday MRP will open the gates at 10AM for an open practice session or “playday” for all divisions. Pit passes for the entire day are $20. The event will be checkered at 4PM. The grandstands are FREE.
Then on Saturday night, March 21st MRP will present the 2nd Annual Great Taxi Cab Open. This monster stock car event will headline the Mighty Modifieds, Pro Stocks (sprint car type top wings allowed, no “Posse” type side panels), Pure Stocks and an MRP Mini Stock spectacular. There will be some 120-130 cars headed to MRP for this amazing race. Mark your calendar and be at MRP for this one.
Note: Please make this observer aware of any names that are misspelled or incorrect. The text is based on information we have at the time of its release. Complete finishes, stats and points become official and available at the close of business on Tuesday and will be posted to the web site.
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