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Photos by Johns Racing Photos
Brett Miller gasses it up for solid Chico/Petaluma weekend
By Gary Thomas
June 10, 2007...17 year-old Brett Miller followed up a tough outing last weekend with some of his best racing of the season this past Friday and Saturday night’s. The Chico driver graduated from high school on Thursday evening before running a pair of events at two tracks where he’s seen success at in his young career. Getting the #1 engine back from the builder helped out this week and the crew gave Brett a great car both night’s as he scored a pair of solid runs.
On Friday night Silver Dollar Speedway held a 410 point race for the first time in three weeks with Ashley Furniture Stores being the night’s presenting sponsor. Brett and the team looked forward to getting back to the home track to put all the experience they’ve gained over the last few weeks to test. The evening started out well for Brett as he qualified fifth quickest aboard the Care Free Pools, Platinum Powder Coating, A1A Performance Muffler, Aspire Home No. 1x. A fifth place finish in his heat race put him into the 25 lap feature where he started from the fifth position.
"The Catfish" made some nice moves in the main event and was able to nip Robert Stice at the line to give the Care Free Custom Graphics, Jandy Pools, JP’s Paint & Body Maxim a third place finish. It was Brett’s best finish at Chico since winning earlier this year and was a great points night for the team.
On Saturday Brett and Care Free Pools Racing made the drive down to Petaluma Speedway to compete with the Golden State Challenge Series. Last time in Petaluma Brett qualified second quickest in the field and finish in sixth place during the feature. This time around it went just as good and the youngster began the night by qualifying in the top eight which set him up with a second row starting spot in his heat race. Brett was up to second when a caution came out on lap one and on the restart Brett powered around leader Mark Workentine to take over the top spot. A caution came out on lap four and it saw defending King of California Jonathan Allard sitting in second. As the green flag came back out Brett continued to lead and held off the very strong challenge from Allard as the laps wound down. Coming to the white flag, however, Allard was able to get bite down low off turn four and got under Brett to take the lead. "The Catfish" remained poised and brought home a second place finish aboard the River City Pools, The Country Craftsman, RPM Racing Engines, BR Motorsports No. 1x.
Brett drew the #2 pill for the dash and sat on the front row of a GSC dash for the first time in his career. As the field came down for the green flag in the six lap contest Brett got the wheels up in the air lost a few spots as a couple cars were able to get by. When the checkered flag flew he brought home a sixth place finish to set him up with a row three starting spot in the feature.
The 30 lap main event saw Brett run solidly in the top 10 the whole way as the track was very hooked up and fast. When the final caution of the race happened on lap 23, Brett was sitting in the seventh position. The 17 year-old got his elbows up and on lap 25 he drove around veteran Willie Croft to take over the sixth position. The next time around Brett was blocked by a lap car and Croft was able to get around him.
As the laps ticked off Brett was still in seventh and when leader Brent Kaeding had a motor go south, he was able to get by the 12-time champ and finished the race with a nice sixth place finish. It was great weekend and the whole team was happy to rebound from last weekend with a pair of solid outings.
Brett and the Care Free Pools team will be back in action on Monday night with the Golden State Challenge Series at the Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford, Oregon. It will be Brett’s first night of action at the 1/3 mile track and he’ll look to carry the momentum from last weekend into the state or Oregon. Right now it looks like Brett will have the opportunity to drive for another team at the Calistoga Speedway this coming Saturday night as the Civil War 360 Series makes its way into the beautiful ½ mile track. Being able to run Calistoga on Saturday will give Brett a better chance at bringing home the track championship as most of the other 410 teams will be in Washington running the Dirt Cup.
For all the latest happenings with Brett Miller and Care Free Pools Racing log onto http://www.brettmillerracing.net
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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