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Last
lap charge to victory for Hawes “Double Nationals” closest sprint car finish ever by Bob Burbach |
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September 17, 2006... Jeremy Hawes took his “Flyin’ Ford
to victory Saturday night in the closest finish ever seen in sprint car racing
at Twin Cities Speedway. The first Annual Hunt Wingless Sprint Car “Double
Nationals” was a thriller from start to finish.
The race started with a multi-car skirmish on the back chute of
the first lap. Front row starters Charlie Marrs of Marysville, and Rio
Linda’s Rick Eversult were slugging it out as they approached mid-way on the
back chute. The pair touched and the sparks flew as both cars started to spin
wildly out of control in front of the entire pack. Second row starter Mark
Hill clipped Eversult as he slid across the track. Hill’s car shot up into
the black night air and flipped end for end. He landed in the infield on the
entrance to turn three. Hill sat
for a moment, composed himself and climbed from his battered #8. Yuba City’s
Hill and Marrs were eliminated from the race and Eversult went to the rear of
the field for the restart.
The new line up had Charles Williams and
five-time feature event winner Tony Richards on the front row. Richards jumped
to an early, healthy lead in the twenty-five lapper. He would lead for 24 9/10
laps. Behind Richards a war was raging between Williams, Jay Youngman, Randy
Lathrop, Ryan Mc Daniels and Jeremy Hawes. A long green flag segment allowed
Richards to pull a straightaway lead as the five warriors just behind pounded
on each other for position.
The track was in such good shape that
both the cushion and the bottom could be used with equal success. As the race
neared ¾ distance Mc Daniel parked on Williams’ tail for second. As the
pair exited turn two Mc Daniel bumped Williams. Williams twirled to a stop and
was pounding the steering wheel in frustration. It had been Williams’ best
run to date. Mc Daniel was penalized two spots for getting into Williams’
#19w. Mc Daniel lost his steering shortly after a restart and crashed into the
third turn barrier ending his run to the front.
The race restarted with a handful of
laps remaining. Youngman shadowed Richards with Hawes an aggressive third.
With three to go Hawes slammed the “Flyin’ Ford” into the first turn
cushion and rocketed by Youngman on the high side out of two. He stayed there
and went after Richards. Hawes closed the gap in a hurry and challenged
Richards on the low side as the pair tossed their racers into turn one on the
final circuit. Richards held Hawes at bay and Hawes looked high in three on
the last lap. His car lurched forward as he got the bite up high. Hawes
transitioned off of turn four on the inside with an enormous run as the pair
dueled side-by-side heading for the checkers. Hawes nipped Richards at the
line as the crowd screamed its approval. It was the closest finish in the
history of sprint car racing at Twin Cities Speedway. Starter Tim Dillon
called it Hawes and the video replays found him to be correct. The victory was
by less than one-tenth of a second and was likely closer than that (ed. Note.
That is the closest figure available using the video stop action.). Youngman
was third and Jimmy Steward finished in fourth after a fine run from the back.
The jubilant Hawes took three “cool
off” laps at about 100 MPH each. He pounded the side of his car’s hood and
had his fist in the air after his great charge to the victory. It was Hawes’
second victory in as many starts at the lightning fast quarter mile.
Sutter’s Joel Giusti scored a
wire-to-wire win in the companion TCS MiniStock feature event. 2006 TCS
champion Giusti was pressed the entire distance by first, Phillip Shelby and
then on the last lap by Marysville’s James Foster.
Shelby’s pursuit of Giusti during the
middle stages of the event was great. Giusti was up to the task however and
Shelby created his own yellow flag by sheering his car’s nosepiece off on
Giusti’s spinning left rear. Shelby was put in the rear.
Foster tried a clean inside move coming
off of four for the checkers, but fell a car length short at the finish.
Shelby charged back to a nice third in the final standings.
Tony Gaioran of Livermore secured his
third SORA Sprint 100 championship with a sweep of the program. It was Tony
G’s 15th main event victory at TCS in SORA competition.
Jeff Scott scored a sweep of the events
in the BCRA Midget Lites. Scott was unchallenged as he scored straightaway
victories in both his heat race and the feature.
Don’t miss the 11th annual
West Coast Dwarf Car Nationals September 28th, 29th and
30th at TCS. Thursday September 30th is an open practice
beginning at 5 PM. All drivers in all dirt track divisions are invited to
participate. The evening will be capped by the third annual “King of the
Hill” challenge for Dwarf Cars. On Friday the Dwarf cars will hold
preliminary events and the SORA Sprint 100’s will join the festivities. The
TCS Stock Cars will also have a post-season event on that night.
On Saturday the Dwarf Cars will run 6
Main Events, the Fast Dash and the 30 lap National Final. The TCS MiniStocks
will also put on a full program as an extra-added attraction. There will be
nearly 100 cars in the pits on all three nights. Gates Open at 5PM
with racing getting underway at 6PM.
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