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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Sam Fries Triumphs at Open
Wheel Round Up by Debbie Shipherd |
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Wingless Spec Sprints |
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Chowchilla, Ca. October 22...Sam Fries of Sacramento powered
his Sierra Towing sponsored Wingless Sprint to take the $1000.00
feature win in the 5th annual Open Wheel Round Up at Chowchilla Speedway on Saturday October 22. Fries finessed his way from a 7th starting spot to overtake front row starter David Goodwill of Napa on lap 26 of the 30 lap main, and was chased to the checkers by Goodwill, Concord's Billy Macedo, Jeff Kindt, and Dave Press. The last Wingless Spec Sprint show of the season brought together a mix of twenty-four veterans, rookies, and some drivers just new to the class. New additions to the ranks were JW Wilson of Biggs, who enjoyed his first racing experience after an eleven year break, Keith Cantrell of Madera who had finished putting a motor in on Friday night and just raced Saturday, and sixteen year old Quenton Sall from Campbell. In the field of twenty-four cars, nine of them were either rookie drivers or new drivers to this growing class. Friday night's action saw Delta Demolition's Bob Newberry of Oakley win the preliminary main in his first visit to Chowchilla in a Spec Sprint. The three heat races were won by Merced's Steven Williams, TBS's Scott Holloway of Oakley, and Jeff Kindt. Early Saturday afternoon, teams relaxed, bench raced, washed cars, or made repairs. With the BAD dwarf cars, BCRA midget lites, and super fours also on the program, it was great to see the camaradarie among all of the racers and the family atmosphere that a two day show provides. Missing on Saturday was veteran Daniel Gonderman of Antioch who had a stuck throttle in the heat race resulting in a flip and unfortunate damage to his car. Livermore's Doug Brewer endured his first flip and also suffered too much damage to compete, but he was there Saturday to watch and help. A few notable people were also in the pits on Saturday, and it was a special honor to meet Ken Takeuchi. Ken, a well known columnist for Racing Wheels and National Speed Sport News, was also the announcer at San Jose Speedway. He has a wealth of racing knowledge, great racing stories, and is an entertaining and enthusiastic fan. Gary "Hammerdown" Costa, the Interrogation columnist was there as well, and it was a privelege to visit with them both. During the hot lap session for the Wingless Sprint B main, it was discovered that a few teams had scratched and failed to notify the officials, so it was cancelled and the remaining cars were added to the lineup for the feature. Unfortunately, rookie Anthony Ryan's repairs to a broken slider weren't completed in time to take the green for the main, so he was unable to race. The 30 lap main began with Bob Newberry and David Goodwill on the front row and Scott Holloway and Steven Williams in row two. As the green flag flew, Antioch's Roy Fisher flipped in front of the flagstand, he was bruised and shaken, but all right. During the red Concord's Billy Macedo pitted and Keith Shipherd followed with a flat tire. Goodwill took the lead on the restart and several yellows followed for rookie spins as the pack dueled for positions. Macedo and Shipherd rejoined the field at the back as Goodwill led Newberry, Williams, Fries, and Holloway at the front. On lap 6 Cantrell lost his wheel which collected Shipherd and ended his night, and Jerry Cisco also pitted. Goodwill held the point at the restart and was tailed by Newberry, Williams and Fries. Fries spun a full 360 and deftly kept it going, only losing one spot to Jeff Kindt. Williams passed Newberry for the second spot and on lap 16,
Newberry stalled with a flooded carburetor. Goodwill again held the
point with Williams behind him, Fries now in in 3rd followed by
Kindt, Press, and a quickly advancing Macedo now in 6th. Williams
and Goodwill made contact on lap 26 as Williams attempted an inside
pass to take the lead, |
