Last weekend was the busiest of the year so far in Northern California. Almost every track and series had races going on. Here is a report from Handy Racing Promotions on the California Civil War Series and Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car events at Placerville Speedway.
PLACERVILLE, CA (4-30-11) – The 2011 Fast and Furious Dirt Track Racing Season began to live up to its name Saturday night at Placerville Speedway in a very big way. Last night brought the biggest race of the season to the 46 year old quarter mile dirt track and along with it came its largest crowd, one which was standing room only early into the night.
When the checkered flag waved, veteran driver Stephen Allard of Chico took home a hard earned $2000 victory Saturday night in a race that kept the fans back and forth from being on the edge of their seats or on their feet from start to finish. Allard was aboard the #77f Sprint Car fielded by Finely Farms for Saturday’s event. He shared the glory in victory lane with Mason Myers of Browns Valley, winner of the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car Division.
“I can’t thank this team enough for giving me the opportunity to drive for them,” said Allard. “We’re not really sure what the future plans are at this point but they have given me a really good race car and I’m glad I was able to give them a win here tonight and good race for all of these fans that came out to watch us.”
The Hoosier Tires Civil War Race Series is a 14 race campaign that takes place at six well known California race tracks from the sierra foothills to wine country and the California coastline. The series boasts overall car counts and competition that is second to none as drivers compete for more that $250,000 over the year and a $40,000 championship fund that will pay $10,000 to the champion alone this year, the highest in the history of the series.
A total of 35 cars formed the roster in Saturday’s winged sprint car division Saturday night. In qualifying Allard turned an 10:949 to earn the fifth fastest lap of the night. Shawn Wright of Lodi was the fast qualifier of the night with a 10:813 second lap.
After winning the first heat race of the evening, an eight car inversion resulted in Allard starting on the outside of row four for the 30-lap feature event. When the green flag waved he quickly set his sights on the top three position as Herman Klein of Sacramento took the early lead off the outside of the front row and went to battle with Visalia’s Steven Tiner who started third. Pole sitter Greg De Caires of Elk Grove suffered a drive train failure at the waving of the green flag and veered into the infield to avoid an incident.
After chasing him for six laps, Tiner took the lead from Klein in turns one and two while Allard was still back in the fifth position. As the front runners raced their way into lapped traffic. On lap eight Allard advanced in the fourth position before overtaking Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst for third and then moving into second place over Klein on lap 14.
Once in the bridesmaid position, Allard searched for a faster line than Tiner on the dry slick race track as the two leaders broke away from the pack in lapped traffic. With 22 laps down, Allard dove to the inside of turns one and two and took the lead. He was nearly crashed out of the top spot moments later when he was struck by the lapped car of David Silveria on the back stretch. While Allard was able to maintain his line, Silveria climbed the backstretch wall and rolled over along with Shane Golobic who rolled over violently trying to avoid the incident.
The red flag worked in the favor of Tiner and put his #94 back on the pole for the restart with eight laps to go. Once the green flag waved Tiner and Allard went to battle once again both fighting for the low line of the track. On lap 27, Allard went to the high side of turns three and four and muscled his way outside of Tiner, taking the lead as they approached the front stretch. At the checkered flag Allard was followed by Tiner and Klein. Antelopes Sean Becker finished in fourth with Elk Grove’s Nicole Miller rounding out the top five.
“When that red flag came out I knew it wasn’t going to help us,” said Allard. “I was lucky I wasn’t part of it. I knew Steven (Tiner) would be tough to pass the second time without any traffic in front of us. Down low is where the moisture was but luckily I found something in three and four. I can’t thank my crew enough tonight, they gave me a great car for this track.”
Although he was happy with a podium finish Saturday, Tiner was disappointed with the end result as he wanted to give his team a win. He explained the adversities he was faced with late in the race that led to the end result.
“I’m happy to finish where we did, anytime you run second in one of these races you did well but I think we had the car to win tonight,” said Tiner. “The power steering started going out there in those final laps and it took everything I had to stay up there. I though we had second chance with that red flag but he was really fast once he went up top. I just really wanted a win for these guys, they deserve it working so hard on this car for me.”
In the Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car feature, Mason Myers of Browns Valley led all 20 laps of a caution flag flogged feature event. The feature event saw its share of crashes from start to finish that Myers was lucky to avoid. The biggest one of the night involved multiple cars in the opening turn and completely blocked the track requiring every two truck in attendance to clean up.
In the end, Myers went to victory lane for the very first time in his career at the conclusion of the race. He was chased across the line by his brother Cody Myers. DJ Johnson of Stockton finished in third followed by Johnny Reeves of Elverta and Matt Streeter of Galt. A total of 23 wingless cars were in competition Saturday night.
Racing returns to Placerville Speedway this Saturday night with championship point racing for 360 sprint cars, limited late models, pure stocks and dwarf cars. The 2011 racing season at Placerville is presented by Red Hawk Casino, Hoosier Racing Tires, Riebes Auto Parts Pepsi and Coors Light. Associate partners include the Mountain Democrat, Arnolds for Awards, Windfall Classifieds, Carls’ Jr, the Paint Spot, Dunn Consulting, Minute Man Press, Roger Miller Concrete and ADCO Driveline. For complete results of Saturday’s race visit www.placervillespeedway.com.
The grandstands at Placerville Speedway will open up once again at 5 p.m. on Saturday night. Qualifying begins at 6:30 p.m. followed by heat races at 7. Adult tickets will be $13, Juniors and Seniors will be $11, Children $6. Those five and under will be admitted for free. All seating at Placerville Speedway is first come-first serve at 5 p.m. Learn more about Saturday’s event at www.placervillespeedway.com. It’s all happening at Placerville Speedway, where more than one million fans have entertained with fast and furious dirt track racing all summer long since 1965.
Media Release from Handy Racing Promotions Inc.
All photos courtesy of Donna Peter from Race Photos by Donna.