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Shelby takes Battle Royal Great Stock Car feature stirs crowd Monahan, Klein and Bailey also triumph by Bob Burbach |
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Marysville, CA - July 23, 2005...Young charger Phillip Shelby of Yuba City and Chris Paquette of Live Oak put on a spectacular display of driving skill in a great Riebes Racing Series Stock Car Series main event Saturday night at Twin Cities Speedway. Defending champion, Mike Monahan made it three in a row in the Riebes Racing Series Pacific Sprint Cars. Sacramento’s Herman Klein topped Yuba City’s Korey Lovell in a close Wingless Warrior Hunt Magneto Speedway Sprint Car feature. In the Riebes Racing Series Stock car feature Shelby and Paquette literally had the fans on their feet as the pair dueled side by side in the last laps of the main event. The vocal crowd roared its approval several times during the event. With but a handful of laps left it appeared that Paquette had the upper hand considering Shelby’s eventful evening. Early on in the race Shelby endured a series of setbacks that included some tank slapping and wheel banging on the front stretch that cost the eventual winner valuable track position. The track was hooked up and fast providing an awesome display of dirt track slicing and dicing. Shelby began to head back toward the front. Paquette cut through lapped traffic with precision as the show came to its conclusion. Shelby showed leader Paquette a fender and Paquette responded putting a car length or two between them. Then Shelby got up on the wheel and turned a couple of perfect laps to close the gap. With a nifty move out of turn two Shelby got side by side with Paquette and led by a nose in three. Paquette responded and got a nose past Shelby moments later. With four to go Shelby got by for good and secured another feature event victory.
The points will be posted early in the week and Shelby likely will reassume the lead over Andy Aust. Point leader Aust of Marysville had a dismal main event and finally retired with mechanical problems. Paquette’s impressive evening will probably move him up in the standings as well. Kenny Robinson continued to make a notable late season run at the title with his third place finish. Tudor’s Brad Magenheimer finished fourth with Robert Mull returning to the stock car wars for a solid fifth place finish. A tip of this observers hat to Tim Dillon and Greg Kearns for providing a spectacular racing surface for the main events. A bit bumpy early on, this track was hooked up and monster fast with multiple grooves by feature time….and it was 104 degrees when qualifying kicked off the festivities. From the fan’s side of the fence, I don’t think there’s ever been a better track for feature events, regardless of the time of year. Several fans approached my position on the perch complimenting the track preparation. Track announcer Ron Albright was moved to mention the quality conditions of the track over the PA system and the crowd agreed with an aggressive applause. Great racing action with few yellow flags was the result. In other action, Sacramento’s Herman Klein zipped past Korey Lovell with two to go in the Hunt Magneto Speedway Sprint Car Series to complete a two-day sweep of the class. Klein also won at Chico the night before in the same Rick Eversult owned ride. Lovell’s first ride in a wingless sprint car was impressive. Not only did he come within two laps of winning, he also won his heat race by a wide margin. By lap ten, the race for the lead was a half lap ahead of the rest of the field. After a few early race cautions much of this one went caution free. By feature time the track was lightning fast and a number of the wingless warriors were able to wheelie out of turn two. Lovell seemed to have this one in the bag when a caution flag for James Castleberry brought out a yellow with two to go. The new green saw Lovell bobble just a bit in turn two and Klein shot by. Klein led the remainder of the event. Point leader Steve Stein finished in sixth place, three spots ahead of Jeremy Hawes, his closest rival in the point race. Hawes missed his heat race being too ill to be at the track where the air temperatures were into triple digits. Hawes was treated with fluids and showed up for the feature. Hawes had to start scratch in the field, his car driven in the heat by Korey Lovell’s brother Kevin. Kevin was also fast in his first ever wingless ride bringing the Hawes mount home in second in the heat. Hawes charged desperately through the field in a heroic drive. Hawes took his car to the pits late in the race with an unknown ailment. Brent Youngman of Grass Valley Finished in third and Chargin’ Charlie Marrs garnered fourth ahead of Auburn’s Jimmy Steward. Marrs’ late season charge should land him in sixth place when the points are released later this week. What makes this notable is that Marrs has missed two events entirely and has flipped out of a couple more. Yuba City’s Mark Hill got everyone’s attention as the final heat race came to its conclusion. Hill got over a right rear at the flag stand and flew into the warm night air toward turn one. Airborne, Hill’s wingless sprinter soared over the banking and twisted into the crash wall in a spectacular cloud of dust and debris. Hill gathered his thoughts and popped out of the top of his racer as help arrived. The Riebes Racing Series Pacific Sprint Car Series championship is turning into a thriller. The “Madman” Mike Monahan is really on the move. How about this, three victories in the last four races…and second in that one…and three in a row. When the month began the chase for the championship was a two horse race. Now it’s three and it’s close to neck and neck. When the points are awarded later this week Monahan should be just twenty-six points away from securing the lead in the standings. Monahan won again Saturday night completing a solid sweep of the month’s point races. He won them all. With five races to go anything is possible. Korey Lovell knows better than anyone. Doing double duty, Korey had the winged show in the bag and Monahan at bay when a minor yellow flag slowed the action with five laps remaining. Lovell had a nearly half lap lead on the others during a long green flag segment that ended with this yellow. As the cars circulated the track it became apparent that Lovell had a problem. Lovell’s right front tire was going flat. The three-time champ rocketed into the work area and solved the problem, but had to restart tenth behind all other lead-lap cars. Sparks Nevada’s resident hot-shoe made the most of the gift and clicked off the last five laps beating a hard charging Colby Wiesz and Cort Dozier to the flag. Once again Wiesz came from deep in the field to finish in second mirroring his come-from-behind victory in the most recent Civil War race here at TCS. Dozier’s third place was a season best and he also roared to a convincing heat race victory. Troy Degaton timed in second quick and parlayed that into a nice fourth place finish. Sophomore driving sensation Brandon Dozier claimed fifth. Reno’s Mark Tabor was sixth and quick qualifier Kevin Lovell was sixth. Point leader Brent Dothage of Clearlake had a tough night. Dothage experienced mechanical failure in his rocket-like 2b racer during warm-ups. He went ride hunting and found owner/driver Jim Marsh of Live Oak willing to give up the seat. Dothage wound up tenth in the final standings and will likely maintain a slim advantage in the standings. With five races to go this has turned into a real shootout at the top. The BCRA Midget Lites were the traveling group hosted by TCS. Richard Bailey won a wire-to-wire victory. Bailey’s victory came after his scary end for end tumble here three weeks ago. That crash nearly tore the car in half. Bailey’s triumphant return seemed an easy win from his front row starting spot. Go to bcraracing.com for more BCRA information. The BCRA full Midgets and the Lites will be at TCS next Saturday night. The Wingless Warriors of the Hunt Magneto Speedway Sprint Cars will return, as will the TCS Mini Stocks. Gates open at 5 with the first race scheduled for 7PM. Call 530.742.9222 or the business office at 530.675.2050 for more information. Visit the website at twincitiesspeedway.net for all of the latest updates and scheduling. |
