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Matt Mitchell holds off challengers for Tulare Thunderbowl USAC/CRA victory

By Gary Thomas

Tulare, CA – May 30, 2009…The beautiful sight of Wingless 410 Sprint Cars returned to the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday and at the end of the night it was Yorba Linda's Matt Mitchell holding off the strong challenges of Peter Murphy and Cory Kruseman to pick up his first career win at the 1/3 mile clay oval.

The USAC/CRA sanctioned event marked the first series visit to the Thunderbowl in two years and it saw Mitchell line-up from the outside of the front row and run a near mistake free race to win at the track in his first ever appearance at it. "Man it's awesome to come out here and win tonight," Mitchell said. "This place is fun and the track was perfect tonight so I have to thank everyone with the Thunderbowl for giving us a great track."

Early on it looked like Mitchell would stink up the show as he pulled out to a large advantage over the rest of the field, but a number of stoppages kept the rest of the competitors on his rear bumper. Clovis driver Peter Murphy started from sixth and got a great opening lap jump to shoot into third aboard his Tarlton & Son No. 21t. The Aussi native then took second on the fourth lap and began to try and make something happen with the J.W. Mitchell No. 37.

A lap 12 restart then saw the action heat up as Ventura's Cory Kruseman moved his way into fourth place and then claimed third on lap 15. At this time Murphy was all over Mitchell for the top spot as both drivers used the high-line of the well prepared 1/3 mile clay oval. Murphy tried everything he could and stayed glued to the rear of Mitchell's sprinter, but he also had to contend with Kruseman, who was putting heavy pressure on him as well.

The top three cars were nose-to-tail approaching the five to go signal and just as soon as it looked to be a shootout, the yellow lights flashed on for a stopped car on the backstretch. On the restart however, the drivers didn't disappoint and put on a tremendous show for the fans as Murphy looked high and low to make something happen with Mitchell, as Kruseman waited for either driver to make a mistake.

With the white flag unveiled Murphy got a great push off turn four and got side by side with Mitchell heading into turn one, but just when it looked like he would rocket around the outside for the lead, he appeared to get a bit high in turn two and the car stalled out. This allowed Kruseman to shoot by for second and the two-time Oval Nationals champ drove it extremely hard down low in turn three to get alongside the leader, but Mitchell had the momentum up high and was able to hold off the "Kruser" to pick up the win.

Kruseman crossed the stripe in second and commented that he looked forward to coming back for the Pacific Coast Nationals in November. "Tulare has always been a great track and I really feel it'll be a great venue to hold a National event at," said the driver of the Kruseman Motorsports No. 21k. "We haven't had the kind of success in the sprint car this year like we've wanted so to get a second tonight is pretty good for us."

Crossing the checkered flag in third was Blake Miller of Yorba Linda and in the process took over the USAC/CRA point lead aboard his Gardner Motorsports No. 93. Miller also re-set his own Thunderbowl Raceway track record in qualifying by clocking a lap of 15.013. Rounding out the top 10 in the feature were Garrett Hansen, David Cardey, Danny Faria Jr., Davey Pombo, Jonathan Logan, Tyler Edwards and Peter Murphy. Murphy's car ended stalled in turn three after the final lap heartbreak, but the crowd gave him a huge applause when he was pushed back to the pits on the front straightaway.

The Western States Modifieds main event was dominated by Bobby Hogge IV, who checked out from the field early in the feature, but brought out a caution on lap eight and exited to the pits with what he thought was a flat tire. Hogge returned to the track and proceeded to drive his way through the field and take back the lead on lap 18 that he would never relinquish. "I thought we had a flat tire early in the race and I figured I'd get it checked out since I still had time left," Hogge said. "But it turned out that it wasn't flat and knew I had to make up for it and just glad I was able to do so."

Results from the night can be found at http://www.usacracing.com and http://www.westernracer.com

Up next- The next scheduled event for the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will be Saturday night June 27 when the 1/3 mile clay oval hosts the annual Pombo/Sargent Classic. In competition during the night will be the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprints, Bandit Wingless 360's and the Western States Modifieds.

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Yorba Linda's Matt Mitchell led all 30 laps to pick up victory with the USAC/CRA Sprint Cars on Saturday night at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway. Photo by http://www.paultrevinoracingphotos.com

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Great write-up Gary, and good visiting with you as always. See you on the 27th.