|
Sean Becker Flips and Goes on to Wins in Chico
By: Troy Hennig
(Chico, CA 4-14-07)…After a disappointing mechanical problem that sidelined him from a possible victory last Friday night, Oroville's Sean Becker rebounded to lead all 20-laps and win the sprint car main event at Silver Dollar Speedway. Becker survived a red flag filled feature event and held off a charging Willie Croft to pocket the $2,000 win on GP Development night at the races. The Tom Fisher and Kyle Main owned JEI chassis #35m also survived something unusual in qualifying tonight. On his second lap of qualifying Becker hit a rut and flipped the car upside down. The win symbolizes the strength of the team to overcome a negative situation, stay positive and end up winning the main event later in the night. A total of 30 sprint car drivers raced during the Feather Falls Casino point race number three.
The original start of the sprint main event saw Colby Weisz get upside down on the front stretch. He was uninjured but unable to return. On the next attempt Becker led the field into turn one. Following Becker was Willie Croft and Jonathan Allard. Laps quickly added up in the first part of the main event. Becker entered slower traffic on lap six. On lap seven was when the trouble started. David Tarter got upside coming out of turn two. Behind him Johnny Gray rode up and over the right rear tire of Korey Lovell. Gray's situation looked like it was going to be nastier than it ended up. Gray landed on all fours but was done for the night. Lovell continued on the ensuing restart, however, the top right side of the top wing was crumpled up. Lovell ultimately ended up ninth at the end of the race.
The race resumed with Becker leading the field. Croft and Allard were still running second and third. Brad Sweet, driver of the GP Development #6, moved up to the fourth spot. Jason Statler was locked into the fifth spot. On lap eleven another red was needed when Andy Gregg flipped and collected Stephen Allard. Both of them flipped in unison. Both drivers were not injured. Gregg did restart with a damaged top wing and missing most of his front wing. Allard parked the Skip Jones owned #1m.
The next restart was troublesome for two Chico drivers. Coming out of turn four Matt Shelton and Brett Miller both flipped. Neither driver was able to continue. Up to that point not much had changed with the top five. Yet behind them many drivers had gained a ton of spots. Leading the charge was rookie driver Shane Golobic who started in the 18th spot and was running eighth. This is where he finished the main event. In his first start at Chico he passed the most cars during the main event. Not a bad start to his racing career at Silver Dollar Speedway. Chico's Robbie Whitchurch continued his steady performance and finished in the seventh spot. Whitchurch started the night in the 16th spot. Brandon Carey was also impressive. His first start at Chico yielded him a tenth place finish after he started 19th.
Up front Becker restarted with the lead and at times survived a strong push by Croft. Becker is usually untouchable when he is leading with an open track ahead of him. Tonight the car was set-up to perfection while the driver, who had battled the flu bug earlier in the week, drove bravely through a rough and tumble race track to get popular win. Croft finished second. Third place came down to a photo finish. Sweet dove under Allard for the advantage but the transponder scored Allard with the third place finish. Sweet was fourth and Statler, who debuted brand new t-shirts, finished fifth. Andy Forsberg finished in the sixth spot.
Sweet led all 12-laps to win the B main event. Johnny Gray, Brandon Carey and David Tarter all followed Sweet and transferred into the A main.
Matt Shelton won the first heat race of the night. Stephen Allard took home the victory in heat two. Willie Croft dominated heat race three. Jason Statler passed Andy Gregg on the last lap to win heat four.
Mitch Olson of Washington scored an impressive fast time award with a lap of 11.639.
END
Results – Chico, CA Silver Dollar Speedway
Fast Time: Mitch Olson – 11.639
Heat 1: Matt Shelton, Sean Becker, Brett Miller, Olson, Alissa Geving
Heat 2: Stephen Allard, Jonathan Allard, Kevin Sharrah, Korey Lovell, Robert Stice
Heat 3: Willie Croft, Shane Golobic, Robbie Whitchurch, Andy Forsberg, Brad Sweet
Heat 4: Jason Statler, Andy Gregg, Colby Weisz, Mark Workentine, Shawn Wright
B Main: Sweet, Johnny Gray, Brandon Carey, David Tarter, Tyler Spath, Geving, Dan Ochs, Stice, Wright, Dave James, Zack Mason, Mason Moore,
A Main: Becker, Croft, J. Allard, Sweet, Statler, Forsberg, Whitchurch, Golobic, Lovell, Carey, Olson, Gregg, Sharrah, Shelton, Miller
END
|
