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Photo by Joe Martinez http://picasaweb.google.com/jmart16164?pli=1
Mike Henry holds off late charge from Evan Suggs to score GLR Investments vs. Civil War Series main event at Ocean Speedway Friday night
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – September 25, 2009…After having a tremendous duel with Oroville's Sean Becker in traffic over the first half of the race Sacramento, CA's Mike Henry then held off a fast closing Evan Suggs over the final laps to claim Friday night's GLR vs. Civil War Sprint Car Series main event at the Ocean Speedway.
The victory marked Henry's second triumph of the California Sprint Car Civil War Series season and came aboard the Rudy & Bev Warrington owned No. 18 sprint car. "It feels great to get another win and to do it with this kind of field on hand is pretty special," Henry said. "I have to thank my car owner's for giving me the chance to be here and hopefully we can do this again tommorow in Placerville."
The 30-lap GLR vs. Civil War main event started out with Henry blasting into the lead from the pole position. Early on however, defending Civil War Series champion and current point leader Sean Becker began to show his muscle as he got under outside front row starter Evan Suggs on lap two to race into the runner-up spot. "The Shark" then closed in on Henry and as the pair entered traffic they were nose-to-tail while navigating their way through the lappers on the well prepared Ocean Speedway surface.
With Henry dealing with heavy duty lapped traffic Becker got the opportunity he needed on lap nine and drove his Scott Miller Racing, Robinson Engineering No. 2sb machine to the bottom of the speedway and into the top-spot. Henry didn't go away however, and continued to stay glued to the rear of Becker's mount as the pair continued to put on a great show for the fans weaving in and out of traffic. Henry, a former two-time Civil War Series champion, then got a great run on the leader during the 15th circuit and carved his way to the bottom side of turn four to slide underneath Becker and re-claim the lead of the race.
The exciting battle between the pair didn't stop there as Becker would get his "elbows-up" and charge back around Henry in turn four the very next lap to move his way back into the lead. It didn't last long though as Becker appeared to get into the first and second corners a little too hot and rear-end began to come around, which resulted in him spinning to a stop and having to go to the rear of the field. After 16 entertaining non-stop laps the top-10 cars on the speedway were Henry, Suggs, Salinas' Ronnie Day, Elk Grove's Bobby McMahan, Loomis' Kyle Hirst, Placerville's Andy Gregg, Campbell's Brent Kaeding, Pleasanton's Brad Furr, Vacaville's Joey Magaruh and Princeton's Mason Moore.
When the green lights came back on Henry pulled away from the field with ease, but the racing behind him heated-up as the competitors filling out the top-10 began to dice it up for position. The driver on the move was two-time & defending Ocean Speedway champion Brent Kaeding as he charged by Gregg, Hirst and McMahan to get up into the fourth position by the time a red flag appeared on lap 23 for Salinas' Keith Day, who had got upside down in turn four.
On the ensuing restart Henry once again got a great jump, but after a lap or so Suggs began to rip around the high-side of turns one and two, while Henry stayed to the bottom and it allowed the Scotts Valley driver to close in and look to make it a battle for the lead as the laps wound down. Just as soon as Suggs looked to make something happen with traffic looming ahead, the yellow lights would flash on for Becker, who had spun off the third and fourth corners with only four laps remaining in the race.
When the green flag waved for the final time with 26-laps complete Henry continued his great restarts as he got some needed breathing room between himself and Suggs. The Sacramento driver then continued to run the bottom of turns one and two with Suggs charging around the high-side, while both drivers utilized the cushion in the third and fourth corners. With the white flag in the air Suggs was well within striking distance and got a strong run down the back-stretch, but Henry ran a perfect final set of corners as both drivers ran the same line and was able to hold off the local driver by about a car length at the checkered to pick up the victory.
For Henry it continued his strong season since joining the Warrington No. 18 mount and marked his fifth top-five finish in 10 Civil War Series starts this year. The two-time series champ also set a new Ocean Speedway 360 track-record to begin the evening and a third place finish in his heat race was the only thing keeping him from a clean-sweep on a night that saw a strong 41-car field on hand.
By finishing second at the stripe Suggs earned his third runner-up result of the GLR Investments 360 Series season behind the wheel of his Suggs Racing, Lucas Oil Products No. 33e. It also marked his career best finish in a Civil War Series main event and put a cap on a solid night that also saw him qualify second fastest in the field and finish third in his heat race. Crossing the line in third and tying his best finish of the GLR Series season was 2000 King of California Ronnie Day, who looked very strong aboard the Werbach Motorsports, Los Gatos Construction Company No. 20 sprinter.
Also looking very impressive during the night was 2009 Silver Dollar Speedway 410 champion Bobby McMahan, who finished a solid fourth at the helm of the Brian Sperry wrenched Racing for the Troops No. 26b machine. Rounding out the top-five and making a great late race charge was current GLR Investments point leader Tommy Tarlton of Easton. The driver of the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Tarlton & Son Inc. No. 21 started 20th on the grid and even despite losing a handful of spots with around four or five laps to go, was still able to carve his way forward and beat out Kaeding at the line for a top-five spot. Completing the top-10 was Kaeding, Kyle Hirst, 17th starter Brett Rollag of Rohnert Park, Brad Furr and Mason Moore.
The GLR Investments 360 Series will now take a week off, before resuming action with back-to-back events to conclude the season on October 9 and 16. The California Sprint Car Civil War Series will make the haul to the Placerville Speedway tonight to put a cap on the '09 season. Oroville's Sean Becker will be officially crowned as a two-time Civil War Series champion on the front stretch following the main event.
Results from last night's event are available at http://www.oceanspeedway.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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