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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Mason Moore concludes strong night with fifth place finish in Civil War Series feature at Petaluma Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Petaluma, CA – September 20, 2009…Making just his second start of the season at the Petaluma Speedway 18-year-old sprint car driver Mason Moore put together possibly his finest overall night of competition since returning to the seat and capped the evening with a fifth place finish in the main event with the California Sprint Car Civil War Series on Saturday.
The result tied Moore's career best finish at the sticky 3/8 mile clay oval, which ironically came in the same event last season, during what was also the night he made his debut driving the Steve Tuccelli/Alan Bradway owned F&F Racing No. x1 sprinter. "It feels good to get a top-five here in Petaluma and we were really fast right from the start of the night so I'll definitely take it," said Moore. "I have to thank Tooch, Alan and the whole team for giving me a great car as always and it was definitely a good confidence building night."
The event marked Moore's third appearance of the season with the California Sprint Car Civil War Series and a total of 32 cars signed in at the back-gate, in what was the penultimate weekend of racing for the touring 360 club. With the track surface starting out extremely greasy Moore utilized a late-draw in the qualifying order to cut a pair of great laps and place the Inventory Sales Company, Levin's Auto Supply, Red Line Oil No. x1 second fastest in the field.
Coming out for heat race action the surface remained very quick and would make it tough for drivers to transfer out of the third row, but Moore quickly got up on the wheel after a pair of false starts by the front row and settled into third, before making a beautiful move to get underneath Civil War point leader Sean Becker and bring home a strong runner-up finish at the checkered.
Unfortunately for Moore the big 10-pill was then drawn for the inversion and it stuck him back in the fifth row for the main event, but it was apparent early on that "Primetime" would make his way forward with the car being set-up to perfection for the lightning-fast surface. With a number of drivers fighting tight conditions Moore did a great job to be smooth and consistent, which gave him the chance to slice underneath drivers as they pushed up the track. After a number of laps the Princeton, CA driver maneuvered his way into the fifth position and spent much of the remainder trying to close in on fourth running Brad Bumgarner, while at the same time holding off the strong challenges of two-time track champion Alissa Geving.
With the white flag waving Moore looked to the inside of Bumgarner, but couldn't get the drive off the second corner and was forced to tuck back in behind and settle for fifth after 30-laps of racing. The finish was his third result of seventh or better in three starts at the Petaluma Speedway since joining the F&F Racing team last September. "At one point I thought I might have had a chance to get both Bumgarner and the third place finisher(Dave Lindt), but I thought better of it and didn't want to force the issue and take a chance at wrecking out," said Moore. "I seem to be getting more and more comfortable every week though and tonight I felt the best I have since getting back in the car."
Moore and the Friends & Family Racing team will now head for a double-header weekend to finish off the California Sprint Car Civil War Series season beginning with an event on Friday night at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. It will be the youngster's first career start at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds facility and he's looking forward to what should be a very entertaining night of racing. "I'm really excited for Watsonville on Friday because I've heard so many great things about it and can't wait to hit the track," he commented. "They have a pretty strong group of cars down there so it should be a good challenge to race a new track and run against some different drivers."
Then on Saturday night Moore will be in competition at the always action-packed Placerville Speedway for the 2009 Civil War Series finale, an event he finished fifth at last year. "It should be a great weekend and I'm definitley ready to get back to Placerville," said the 18-year-old, who finished off the Red Hawk Casino weekly season at the track with a pair of top-five finishes. "We've been really good in Placerville this year and it would be awesome if we could finish off the Civil War season with a win so we'll be giving it our best shot."
The front gate will open at 4:30pm on Friday night at the Ocean Speedway with adult tickets costing $15, kids 6-12 $9, seniors 65 and over $12 and kids five and under free. The Ocean Speedway is located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville. On Saturday night the front gate at the Placerville Speedway will open at 5pm with adult tickets being $15, juniors $10 and kids $5. The Placerville Speedway is located on the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville. For more on the events log onto http://www.oceanspeedway.com and http://www.placervillespeedway.com
For more news and information on Mason Moore and the Friends & Family Racing team please visit http://www.fnfracing.com
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Following his best finish of the Civil War season on Saturday night Princeton, CA's Mason Moore will travel to events in Watsonville and Placerville this coming weekend to finish off the '09 schedule for the traveling series. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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After making his Ocean Speedway debut this coming Friday night Mason Moore will then head for the Placerville Speedway on Saturday where he drove to a pair of top-five finishes to conclude the weekly year at the high-banked quarter-mile. Moore is pictured getting around the distinctive red-clay surface in hot laps earlier this year at the helm of the F&F Racing, Roseville Precision, A.R.T. Enterprise No. x1. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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