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Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
Mike Henry wins 2nd Civil War main event of season Friday in Watsonville and scores runner-up in Placerville on Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – September 27, 2009…Since returning to action in late-June former two-time Civil War champion Mike Henry has been one of the top drivers in the Northern California 360 sprint car scene and it continued this past weekend with the Sacramento veteran racing to a big victory on Friday night at the Ocean Speedway, followed by a close runner-up finish to Sean Becker on Saturday in Placerville.
For Henry Friday's GLR Investments vs. Civil War Series triumph started out with him setting a new Ocean Speedway 360 track record and it also marked his second win of the season. "It feels really 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 come out here and I pretty much just focused on hitting my marks during those final laps."
After clocking an 11.652 in qualifying to re-set the 360 track record at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds bullring Henry did a solid job in his heat race to get a great start and tally a third place finish to transfer into the main event. When the number zero pill was drawn for the inversion it then put him on the pole of the 30-lap contest and when the green flag waved he quickly jumped into the lead. Not too long after though Sean Becker, the now two-time and current Civil War champion, moved into the runner-up spot and closed in with traffic looming ahead.
As Henry was dealing with a scattering of lappers in front of him Becker took advantage and was able to slip underneath to take over the top spot in turn four on lap nine, but the Sacramento driver stayed close to the "Shark" and the pair ran nose-to-tail over the next six laps, until Henry returned the favor to carve his way back into the lead.
The exciting racing continued and on the following lap Becker would go to the high-side in turn four and drive back by to re-take the position, however, going into turns one and two he would uncharacteristically spin out and hand the point back to Henry. Having the lead once again Henry cruised along out front and withstood a late race charge from Evan Suggs to cross under the checkered and pick up his second victory since getting behind the wheel of the Rudy and Bev Warrington owned No. 18 sprinter.
On Saturday Henry then traveled to his home track of Placerville Speedway for the Civil War Series season finale and he opened the event by qualifying 11th fastest, before bringing home a runner-up in his heat race to move into the feature where he started from the outside of the fifth row. A number of cautions and reds plagued the 30-lapper, but as the race wound down the former Placerville 360 track champion had placed himself in the third position and would make it an exciting pair of final laps when a green-white-checkered restart came about.
With the green flag waving for the final time Henry ran the bottom of the speedway to perfection in turns one and two and was able to claim the runner-up spot from four-time Civil War champ Andy Forsberg. He then proceeded to close in fast on leader Sean Becker as the white flag was unveiled and made a desperate last turn charge using the low line, but came up just a bit short and was forced to settle for second at the stripe. "We had a great run and just wish we could have had some more traffic because this car was really good no matter where I put it," Henry said. "I have to congratulate Sean and his guys on the win and championship because they're as tough as they get out here."
At the conclusion of the California Sprint Car Civil War Series season Henry finds himself with a fifth place finish in the standings, even despite missing the first three events of the year. "We've had a really great go of things this season and not focusing on points has made it a lot more relaxed at the track and I've just been having fun and I think it's shown in our results," said Henry, who finished on the podium in six of his 11 Civil War Series starts this year. "Getting a pair of wins has been really awesome and we've even been in position to get more so that gives me a lot of confidence going into the Fall Nationals next week."
Henry will take to the Silver Dollar Speedway on Thursday's opening preliminary night at the 18th annual Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals looking to gain as many points as possible towards Saturday's starting line-ups. All the info on the $6,000 to win event can be found at http://www.silverdollarspeedway.com
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Sacramento's Mike Henry pictured in victory lane at the Ocean Speedway after winning Friday night's GLR Investments vs. Civil War Series main event. Henry also began the evening by besting a stellar 41-car field for fast time, which was good enough for a new 360 track record at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds quarter-mile. Photo by Joe Martinez http://picasaweb.google.com/jmart16164?pli=1
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