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_Forsberg Wins Race but Allard Wins Championship_
by: Troy Hennig
(Chico, CA 08-24-07)...Auburn driver Andy Forsberg won the 20-lap 410
sprint car final points race of the season at Silver Dollar Speedway
Friday night in Chico. It was the second year in a row he has won the
final race of the year now known as the Coca Cola night. By winning the
race he secures the 6ft. Trophy that comes with the win. If he can win
the next year, he earns the right to keep the perpetual trophy forever.
His win also put $2500 in the team's pocket courtesy of Cherry St. Mini
Storage, Napa Auto Parts and John and Robbie Padjen. While all the
focus
was on Andy's win the real story of the night belonged to Chico's
Stephan Allard. He won his second track championship and cemented his
name as one of Chico's finest sprint car drivers. “It feels good to
win
the championship this year,” said Allard. “Skip Jones, my car
owner, and
Larry Shelton and Russell have provided me with a great race car all
year and I just need to thank all our sponsors who helped us as a team
achieve our goal.” The Allard name will now have three championships
at
Silver Dollar Speedway. Stephen in 1997, 2007 and Jonathan in 2002.
Forsberg took the lead of the 20 car sprint car main event. Yet, on the
first lap a three car pile up caused a compete restart. The next
attempt
saw Forsberg take the lead again. Mason Moore fell into the second spot
while Allard moved into the third position. The first part of the race
went 10 laps non-stop until Jason Statler stopped in turn four with a
flat tire. Also stopping on the front stretch was Eddy Lewis. The race
resumed with Allard now in second spot and Moore in third. A few laps
later it was Greg DeCaires moving around Moore and taking the third
spot. Moore finished in the fourth spot and added another top five
finish to his impressive resume. DeCaires won the B main event and
started in the seventh spot. Another driver on the move was Kyle Hirst.
He had set the fastest lap in qualifying but was too loud and needed to
qualify again. When he did so, he once again set the fastest and it did
stand but he would be penalized throughout the night because of being
too loud on the original qualifying attempt. Hirst started 11^th in the
main event but moved his way up to fifth and wound up finishing in that
spot.
Up front Forsberg continued to lead. He extended his lead over Allard
in
open track but on lap 16 Forsberg struggled getting around slower cars
which led a dramatic finish. Allard kept pushing the leader and on lap
18 was one car length behind. Forsberg used caution to get around the
slower cars and soon was in a race for the lead. On the final lap
Forsberg held strong and beat Allard to the line by less than a second.
It capped off a great year with a close finish that the fans seemed to
appreciate. “I knew he was coming and I was just hoping to get to the
checkered first,” said Forsberg. “I want to congratulate Stephen.
He
deserves this title and is a great race car driver.”
DeCaires won the 12-lap non stop B main event over Hirst. Andy Gregg
and
Robbie Whitchurch rounded out the top four cars who all transferred the
main event. At the finish Kyle Larson took a wild ride while battling
for the final transfer. Larson gave it everything he had to pass
Whitchurch but slid off the front stretch and slid all the way down the
front stretch wall to bring out the red. He was uninjured but the car
was beat up pretty bad.
Fast eddy Lewis won the first eight lap heat race. Rookie driver Zack
West earned the win in heat two. Colby Wiesz of Colfax won the third
heat. Kevin Sharrah passed Zack Mason on the high scary side in turn
one
to get the win in heat four.
A total of 32 cars competed during the final night of the Feather Falls
Casino point championship series. In all, 84 different drivers competed
throughout the 2007 point season.
Full results are up at www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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