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Photo courtesy http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Andy Gregg scores top five during Moore Insurance Night at Silver Dollar Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – May 17, 2009…Making his first start of the season at Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday night, Team Guts Racing's Andy Gregg drove to his third top five finish of the year in three 410 sprint car starts aboard the Dale Miller Plumbing, Myers & Sons Drywall No. 16x.
The Placerville racer had made two prior 410 starts this season and those had netted him finishes of third and fourth while competing with the touring Golden State Challenge Series. This past Friday's event however, marked his first start of the year in the Feather Falls Casino season at the Silver Dollar Speedway and he looked for a strong night competing at the Chico bullring.
Gregg began the evening by timing-in seventh fastest in the 25 car field and then brought home a third place finish in his heat race to transfer into the main event. With the number eight pill being drawn it put the Circle Race Wheels, RPS Performance, BR Motorsports No. 16x on the outside of the second row for the main event.
The Silver Dollar Speedway surface was a little different than it had been in recent weeks as it had dried out in various spots, but the bottom groove became very fast by feature time making it the place to be. The initial start of the 25 lap contest saw outside front row starter Sean Becker get sideways and have another car go over his right rear, which resulted in Becker suffering a flat tire and having to go to the work area.
This bumped Gregg up to the outside of the front row, but when the green lights came on he popped a wheelie coming out of turn four, which resulted in him dropping to fourth by the time the opening lap was completed. The 29 year-old would motor on in fourth until a lap 13 restart saw him make the move by Mark Hall to claim third.
Gregg ran in the third position for the next nine laps, but a caution with just three circuits remaining created a restart and it saw a hard-charging Becker make the pass on the outside to take the spot away. "The Hurricane" ran the final few laps smoothly and crossed the checkered in fourth to pick up another top five finish at the helm of the Guts Racing, JP's Paint & Body, Matco Tools sprinter.
Gregg was happy with the top five, but it would have been interesting to see how the race would have played out had he not wheelied coming off turn four during the start of the feature. "It's good to get another consistent finish, but with the way the track was I think we coulda had a shot to win this deal if we would have got out front on that start," Gregg said. "That's definitely part of racing though and I just have to thank my whole crew and all our sponsors who support this team. We've had a really good start to the year and just hope to keep it up as the season goes on. I also want to congratulate Robby Whitchurch on getting his first win tonight cause that's cool to see."
The next scheduled event for Andy Gregg will be this coming Sunday's California Sprint Car Civil War Series event at the Silver Dollar Speedway. The annual Fair event will mark the second point race of the season for Civil War and will be Gregg's first start of the year with the traveling 360 tour. More info can be found at http://www.silverdollarspeedway.com
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Placerville's Andy Gregg brought the Guts Racing No. 16x home in the fourth position during Moore Insurance & Financial Services Night at the Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday. Photo courtesy http://www.graphxdesigns.com
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