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Photo by Graph X Designs
Opening lap contact slows Jason Statler at Chico
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA - August 24, 2007...Former King of California Jason Statler was poised to have a great run during Coca Cola Championship Night at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway, but an opening lap melee put a stop to any such hope. Jason’s first night back at Silver Dollar Speedway this month was used as a tune-up for the upcoming Gold Cup Race of Champions and prior to the main event contact there was some definite speed in the 00, which is a great sign of things to come.
A large field of thirty-two 410 winged sprint cars signed into the back gate for the final point race of the 2007 Feather Falls Casino point season at Silver Dollar Speedway. The track started off fairly greasy but came in and was pretty consistent throughout the qualifying session. Jason came out 21st in the order and cut a pair of great laps to put the DF Rios Construction, D & D Roofing, Kaeding Performance No. 00 solidly into the seventh spot in the qualifying run-down.
The Big Guy then earned a strong third place finish in the second heat race to set him up with an inside row three starting spot in the main event. The track was in good shape, but unfortunately the chances at a good run were dashed as the green flag waved off turn four. A car in the first couple rows popped a wheelie and came down in front of Ryan Kaplan who was starting directly in front of Jason. Kaplan’s car got sideways and bounced around which left Jason with nowhere to go. It resulted in Kaplan’s car nearly flipping and left the Double Zero machine with no front wing and a severely damaged top wing.
Jason was pulled into the work area to try and beat the wing out and was then pushed back onto the raceway for the restart, but the top wing damage made for serious handling issues throughout the 20 lap feature. The Big Guy hung on and brought home a 14th place finish aboard the Pheasant Run Shopping Center, YAK Graphics, Stephanie’s Custom Interiors, Weld Racing 00.
It was a tough way to end a promising night, but on the bright side the car has worked well the last couple times in Chico and with the Gold Cup creeping closer, that is always a good sign. The upcoming Gold Cup looks to be one of the best ever and just making the main event on Saturday night will be a certain accomplishment for the DF Rios Racing team. Last year’s Gold Cup saw Jason transfer through the B-main and charge from the 22nd to 11th in the 40 lap finale.
The next scheduled race for the Double Zero team will be this coming Friday at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway for another round of 360 sprint car action at the Santa Cruz County Fairground track. For more info on Jason Statler and Statler Racing log onto http://www.statlerracing.com
Pic by Steve Lamothe Racing Photos
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
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