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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Brett Miller charges from last row to fourth at 28th annual Silver Cup
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – March 29, 2009…Battling through adversity to begin the night and difficult track conditions Chico, CA's Brett Miller put together one the finest runs of his career on Saturday night to transfer out of the b-main and charge for a fourth place finish in the main event, while at the same time conserving his tires on an abrasive surface at the 28th annual Silver Cup Race of Champions.
The double-header program at Silver Dollar Speedway saw an extremely large car count for the three divisions on hand and each night featured drastically different track conditions. Opening night on Friday saw an extremely well prepared and racy surface, but Saturday brought high-temps and strong winds to the Chico area, which took its toll on the quarter-mile bullring.
Friday's opener at the 28th annual Silver Cup saw Miller have a strong start to the night as he cut a great lap in qualifying to place the Care Free Pools, Live Energy Drink, Christopher Bean Coffee Company No. 1x, third fastest out of 37 competitors. He then proceeded to make a great high-side pass on the eighth lap of the third heat race to grab the fourth and final transfer spot into the feature. In the main event Miller ran around the top five early on, but would drop back a bit and cross the stripe in 11th at the finish.
Coming back on Saturday Miller looked for a better result in the main event, but early on in the program it didn't look possible as a problem with the brakes and rear end was discovered after hot laps. Even though Miller was due to go out third from last in the qualifying order, there wasn't enough time to make repairs so he was forced to time-in without the luxury of brakes and coupling it with a drying track his fastest lap of 13.253 left him just 29th quick.
Following qualifying the crew thrashed hard to get the rear end changed in time to make the call for the opening heat race where Miller would line-up from the outside of the fourth row. The 19 year-old carved his way into fifth after a couple laps and with only one more car to pass to get into a transfer spot he ran over something on the track, which punctured a tire causing it to lose air pressure and forcing Miller to nurse the car home to a fifth place finish, putting him into the b-main.
The semi-main event saw Miller line-up from the 13th starting position and with only 12 laps to make it up to the top four it forced him to get up on the wheel and charge forward quickly. At the waving of the green flag the "Catfish" moved up fast and got by a few cars on the opening lap to get up to the top 10. He would keep passing cars one by one as the laps ticked off and at the checkered flag he crossed the line in the third position to transfer into the feature.
Due to the slower qualifying time however, it put Miller way back in the 10th row for the 30 lap Silver Cup Race of Champions main event, but the driver of the Platinum Powder Coating, Care Free Custom Graphics, Wolfe Electric Maxim was determined to move forward. With the track being very abrasive on tires though he would have to play a conservative/aggressive race and the Chico native did just that. Making some nice passes on the difficult surface Miller would race up to the top 10 by an open red flag period with just a handful of laps remaining in the race.
When the green lights came back on Miller continued to pass cars as he moved forward in the running order and when a couple drivers blew tires in the top five it moved him up to fourth, where he would go on and finish after 30 laps of racing. "It was a great ending to the night for this whole team," Miller said. "The car was really fast and it was a tough main event to try and save my tires, yet also pass cars and move up through the field. We're definitely happy with how things ended though and are excited for next week."
Next Friday will see Miller and the Care Free Pools Racing team kick off the Feather Falls Casino point season at the Silver Dollar Speedway with the opening night of 410 competition at the quarter-mile bullring. The 19 year-old will look for a strong evening of action to kick off the Friday night season as he guns for his first track title with newly acquired crew chief Brian Cannon.
More news and info on Chico, CA's Brett Miller can be found at the newly updated http://www.brettmillerracing.net
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After charging from 19th to fourth at the Silver Cup, Chico's Brett Miller will look to carry some momentum into the opening Feather Falls Casino 410 Point Race this coming Friday at Silver Dollar Speedway. Photo by http://www.graphxdesigns.com
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