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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Brett Miller wins dash & scores career best GSC finish with runner-up at 26th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – July 27, 2009…So far this season Chico, CA's Brett Miller had put together a pair of solid efforts in two starts with the Golden State Challenge Series and that trend continued this past weekend at the Silver Dollar Speedway, which was highlighted by a second place finish on Saturday night after leading the first 13 laps in the main event at the 26th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson.
The runner-up marked Miller's best career Golden State Challenge King of California Series finish and was also his second podium of the season with the traveling 410 sprint car tour. "This is really awesome to come out here and finish second tonight with GSC," said Miller, who also finished third at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial this year. "We would have liked to win, but to come out here and run this good with such a great field on hand is pretty special for this whole team."
Miller, who turned 20 years-old on Tuesday of this past week, kicked off the double-header Golden State Challenge Series weekend on Friday at Silver Dollar Speedway by moving through the field in the main event to finish eighth after starting from the 15th position.
The Care Free Pools Racing team then came back for Saturday's Tribute to Gary Patterson looking for more good things after the successful end to the opening night and Miller was able to time-in 13th fastest out of the 31 car field to begin the evening. It set him up to start from the inside of the second row in the opening heat race and he would spend the majority of the 10 lap contest hounding leader Brent Kaeding, before settling for a second place finish at the stripe.
Miller then got a great draw for the dash to put the Wolfe Electric, Platinum Powder Coating, Christopher Bean Coffee Company No. 1x on the outside of the front row for the six lap event. At the waving of the green flag the "Catfish" blasted into the lead ahead of pole sitter and former SDS track champ Jason York and he would never look back to bring home his first ever Golden State Challenge 410 Series dash victory. "The guys have been giving me great cars all year and it's a really cool feeling to win the dash tonight," Miller said on the front-stretch. "It's been a good season so far for us and hopefully we can get a good finish in the feature."
With the dash win Miller earned the pole position for the 26th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson main event and when the green lights came on he would charge out into the lead in the first set of corners, but the red flag would come out immediately for an incident involving outside front row starter Colby Copeland and GSC point leader Tyler Walker. When things got straightened out Miller would once again get the jump on the field moving ahead of new outside front row starter Kyle Hirst.
Early on in the feature Miller had his way with things as he pulled away from the field to a sizable advantage, doing a great job even with a number of early restarts following a few cautions and a pair of reds. The Brian Cannon tuned Care Free Custom Graphics, Al's Concrete, JP's Paint & Body Maxim was on a rail during the first half of the race with Miller locked down to the bottom side of the speedway. A caution period on lap 13 set up yet another restart however, and Hirst was able to take advantage as he got a run into turn one and when Miller missed the exit of turn two slightly it was all the Loomis driver needed to slide under into the top spot.
Miller would then go on and run the remainder of the race comfortably in second holding off a hard charging Tyler Walker over the closing laps to score a career best GSC finish of second at the checkered flag. "The car was really good tonight and I want to congratulate Kyle on doing a great job because we've been friends and racing each other for a long time," Miller said. "This stuff is so much a mental game and after Kyle got me on the restart I kind of started to miss my marks a bit, but it was a lot of fun and a great experience to sit out front and lead the race for that long with these guys."
Miller was also appreciative of everyone who supports the Care Free Pools No. 1x sprinter. "I have to thank my grandparents, my whole family, Brian, Dave, Fudd, Colin, all our sponsors and everyone who helps out on this team," said the former GSC Rookie of the Year. "The season I ran with Golden State full-time was the most fun I've had and to run second with them tonight is pretty amazing and I'll definitely remember this one. Hopefully we can come back here next Friday and put this car in victory lane."
More info on Brett Miller and Care Free Pools Racing can be acquired by visiting http://www.brettmillerracing.net
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Chico's Brett Miller scored a career best Golden State Challenge Series finish of second on Saturday night during the 26th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson at the Silver Dollar Speedway. The 20 year-old driver will return to action this Friday night at SDS in what will be the 17th Feather Falls Casino point race of the season. Photo by http://www.graphxdesigns.com
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