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| Golobic Wins at Petaluma’s “Run What You Brung“ Wingless 360 Race by Debbie Shipherd |
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Wingless Spec Sprints |
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Petaluma, CA - September 1, 2007.... SYoung Shane Golobic of Fremont won the twenty five lap, $2,500 to win feature at Petaluma Speedway on Saturday Sept.1 in his Gobolic Construction Sprinter with a late pass on Merced’ Steven Williams. Darrell Hanestad of Clayton earned the third spot and an extra bonus for the top finishing driver in a carbureted Spec Sprint. Rocklin’s Robert Ballou and Jason Macintosh of Santa Rosa rounded out the top five spots. Twenty one 360 Sprint teams gathered for Petaluma’s annual “Run What You Brung” race on Labor Day weekend, overcoming major traffic congestion with the Bay Bridge closure. Eleven of those teams were injected 360’s, a few of them visiting drivers. Rick Williams was driving the car owned by Dustin Baxter, Terry Shank was in Rob Johnson’s car and Robert Ballou drove the Mike Learn owned sprinter. Ten Wingless Spec Sprint teams supported the show, with several exchanging their two barrel carburetors for four barrels. Drivers pulled pills for their qualifying order, and Merced’s Steven Williams was the fast qualifier for the night, Pleasant Hill’s Keith Shipherd the fastest qualifying in a Spec Sprint. Four heat races ran and the top four finishers in each heat would use their qualifying times for the feature lineup. Heats were won by S & S’s Darrell Hanestad, A1A Performance Muffler’s Alissa Geving, Rocklin’s Robert Ballou, and Terry Shank of Santa Rosa. The top four qualifiers ran a quick trophy dash, with ITI Performance’s Davey Pombo of Kerman taking the win. The finishes in the dash lined up the first two rows of the feature. Cruising through the pits was a fun experience visiting with teams from Petaluma, meeting new drivers and seeing a good representation of Spec Sprint teams. Petaluma regular Shawn Arriaga was the new 360 track champion, young Alissa Geving is quite a local fan favorite and Foster City’s Dave Press was the Spec Sprint track champion with Petaluma running a limited schedule for the class this season. Press and many other teams are anticipating a good season in ’08 when the Spec Sprints will have a regular schedule of about ten races at Petaluma Speedway. The twenty five lap feature began with Pombo and Shank on the first row of an impressive field of cars on a well prepared, smooth and tacky track. Pombo powered into the lead at the green with Steven Williams moving into second followed by Shank, Golobic and Rick Williams. Action halted on lap three for Rick Williams when he flipped. He was OK, but done for the evening. On the restart fifth running Macintosh spun and Shank pitted with a flat, both restarted at the back of the field. Pombo skillfully continued his lead followed by Steven Williams, Golobic, Hanestad and Ballou. Williams challenged for the lead and made the pass on lap fourteen, but when a yellow flew for Lathrop on the same lap, he was again behind Pombo for the restart. A lap later a broken steering box put Pombo into the turn three wall and unfortunately ended his night. Steven Williams took the point with Golobic, Hanestad, Ballou and Geving close behind. As the laps wound down, traffic became a factor, and Golobic took full advantage on lap twenty three for the pass and took home the win. Steven Williams, Hanestad, Ballou, and Macintosh rounded out the top five. The top three finishing Spec Sprint teams were awarded extra bonuses; they were Darrell Hanestad (3rd), Keith Shipherd (8th), and David Hays (10th). For this special holiday race, promoter Jim Soares graciously treated all of the teams to free pizza, sodas or beer after the races. Special thanks to Jim and his hard working, patient officials who made this such a fun race. Petaluma will be hosting a Wingless Spec Sprint Open Show on Saturday, Sept. 29. For more information contact the track at (707)763-7223 or visit their website http://www.petaluma-speedway.com/ Drive safe, have fun and take care. Summary: Fast time: Steven Williams 14.69 Heat 1- Darrell Hanestad, Davey Pombo, Steven Williams, Don Emery, Dave Press Heat 2- Alissa Geving, Jim Richardson, Charlie Marrs, Shawn Arriaga, Rick Williams Heat 3- Robert Ballou, Jason Macintosh, Shane Golobic, David Hays, Randy Lathrop Heat 4- Terry Shank, Jerry Kobza, Keith Shipherd, Jack Clark, Billy Macedo Trophy Dash: Pombo, Shank, Steven Williams, Shane Golobic Main Event: Golobic, S.Williams, Hanestad, Ballou, Macintosh, Geving, Shank, Shipherd, Richardson, Hays, Press, Kobza, Emery, Clark, Pombo, Lathrop, R.Williams, Marrs, Arriaga(DNS), Macedo(DNS), Olschawka (DNS) |
