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| Press Release |
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Hooked up and smokin’ hot track at MRP Dozier, Knoop, Shelby and Russum take the loot by Bob Burbach |
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Marysville CA - April 28, 2007.... Any doubt about racetrack preparation
and the desire to do it well was erased Saturday night at Marysville Raceway
Park. Paul and Kathy Hawes presented an outstanding 4-division program. A hooked
up and lightning fast surface greeted the four primary divisions. Promoter Paul
Hawes’ track preparation was, simply, never better. A 94-degree day could have
killed the track. Instead, the fans were treated to more passing and thrilling
side-by-side racing during the feature events than they’ve seen at this
facility in a very long time. The hard-slick opening night track was a memory as
hammer down, ripping fast speeds were the norm all night long. Each of the four
feature events presented were long on thrills and presented in a well structured
format. The MRP Wingless Warriors were first out and a bizarre first lap pile up ensued when outside pole sitter Jerry Cisco collected a good portion of the field with a turn one miscue. The restart had Sacramento’s “Big Jake” Servin take the lead as the balance of the field fought it out behind him. Rick Eversult and Jimmy Steward made excellent moves toward the front and were in the thick of the battle early on. Enter Sacramento’s Pat Russum. Russum has only seen MRP on one other occasion and that was three weeks ago. Russum came into the night’s program 5th in the point standings after a nice ride on that night. Russum started the feature in 10th position and drove on the deep sticky cushion with a calculated skill and daring. Russum collected cars quickly and roared on by balancing his quick #7 on its right rear. He drove his car particularly deep into turn 1 lap after lap. Russum shot past Servin with a slick outside pass in turn three near ½ way and was never seriously challenged after that. The dicing and passing in this division was spectacular all race long. It was hard to know where to look at times. Two grooves were available and two grooves were being used. In mid-race action, Rick Eversult and Jimmy Steward collided and retired when Eversult’s car blew up and slowed drastically. Eversult tried to get to the pits but hit Steward in the process. The incident brought to a close one of the races more interesting tussles. A number of late race yellows and retirements brought point leader Mark Hill of Yuba City into third and his nearest rival in the point chase, Tim Sherman Jr., into second. A dash to the checkers had Russum pulling away. Pat Couch was scored 4th with early leader Servin in 5th. “Bad” Billy Knoop used lapped traffic to pull off a nifty pass of race leader Jerry Bartlett and went on to win the inaugural TCS Street Stock point race of the year. Heather Bartlett, Knoop and Jerry Bartlett were the players from the get-go with Jerry setting sail in the lead after the first few circuits. Knoop found second right away from his 6th starting spot and had the Bartletts around him right away. The expected challenge from Jeff Olschowka never materialized and MRP champion Phillip Shelby was locked in a big battle with Ray Benkowski for 4th. Jerry Bartlett was leaving Knoop at will during a long green flag segment. A few laps later, Jerry Bartlett quickly approached lapped traffic on the back chute. He was blocked by a much slower car and slowed dramatically. Knoop flashed on by. Jerry Bartlett then got back up on the wheel and charged after 1st place once again. Knoop was luckier with lapped traffic as was Heather Bartlett. Jerry Bartlett split traffic coming onto the front chute in an effort to make up lost time and was again mired in lapped cars. In the midst of this action, rookie driver Wes Shermantine rocketed toward the infield and flipped over one of the tractor tires that line the raceway bringing out a red flag. Shermantine was unhurt. Bartlett was black flagged from the event. Knoop lead the rest of the way with Heather Bartlett breathing down his neck. A last ditch effort in the final pair of laps by Heather Bartlett fell short and Knoop found the checkers. Shelby won the race for 3rd with Benkowski and a very competitive Guy Bean was in the 5th spot. Yuba City’s Lisa Shelby won a very entertaining and crash filled TCS MiniStock feature from the front row. Shelby’s slick looking #88 was simply out classing the field all race long. Shelby let it be known that she’s one of the real players in this year’s run to the title. Jamie Ollar finished 2nd after a spectacular drive to the front. Ollar who has had his share of dreadful luck picked off cars all night long in an outstanding run. Blane Baker of Yuba City had that same kind of run going and had passed his way from row four into 2nd. As luck would have it, his car deposited a piece of sheet metal onto the groove in turn two and was charged with a yellow flag. He went to the rear and charged back to 8th. 5th place finisher James Foster deserves a call here. Foster was involved in a skirmish early on that put this fast contender to the rear. He spent the entire event slicing his way into the top five. 2006 champion Joel Guisti came in a consistent 3rd with Mike Merritt in 4th. The Pacific Sprint Car feature brought down the curtain on the weekend’s festivities with a huge blast of thrills and spills. It was one of the most memorable events ever staged at the 39-year-old race plant. First off: for the 1st time in years both of the Wasinas, Mike Sr. and Jr. entered the race as drivers. Mike Sr. was the first ever Winged Pacific Sprint Car champion at MRP. He and son Mike Jr. won the title twice each in ensuing years. Mike Jr. timed in quickest and would eventually sit on the pole for the feature when a “0” inversion pill was pulled for the event. Amazingly enough, the eventual feature event winner was in his race shop putting in a new engine when qualifying was in session. Marysville’s Cort Dozier had an engine failure during opening warm ups, packed up the car, went to the shop and went to work. The team’s efforts paid off when they rolled the car out of the hauler after it’s return to the raceway and it lit right up…just in time for the feature. Dozier started dead last. That’s where the story begins. Wasina Jr. was the pole sitter as the winged cars lined up. San Jose’s Jeff Delte had never even seen MRP before tonight and he timed in 2nd. This put him beside Wasina for the first attempt at a start. Wasina out dragged Delte into turn one but a yellow flag relined the field for a second attempt. This time Wasina and Delte entered the starting box dead even when they hit the throttle. Delte and Wasina came together exiting four and Wasina popped sideways. Wasina’s #7 launched into the air and flipped from turn four to just past the starter’s stand. It was a noisy, eye opening flip right in front of the crowd. The field came to a quick halt and no other cars were involved in the melee. Delte motored on and stopped in four. After a few hushed moments, Wasina jumped from his battered racer and headed to an unplanned meeting with Delte, now parked and awaiting a restart. Race director Tim Sherman was unable to alter Wasina’s march to the Delte #11. Wasina gestured wildly when he arrived at Delta’s car. Cooler heads prevailed and the cars were pushed off to again start what would be one of the most thrilling auto races ever presented here. The new front row was 2004 champion, “The Madman”, Mike Monahan and Delte. Cort Dozier, once again lined up last. Monahan and Delte took the new green and both cars produced monster wheel stands in the opening laps, as did much of the rest of the field. Monahan was flying. Delte was using the high side to show Monahan his front wheels. He couldn’t quit slip by. On more than one occasion, the pair sailed into turn three wheel to wheel. Delte was getting great runs off of turn two. Monahan seemed to have the edge off of four. It was an honest to goodness heat-pounding super-fast sprint car race. Much of the crowd stood during the opening laps…it was that good. At the rear Cort Dozier with his new engine at full song was marching toward the front. Laps in the 12.4s were getting Dozier to the front in a hurry. But Monahan and Delte were as quick as the high flying Dozier. Near ½ way Delte got a great run on Monahan when the former champ checked up in turn one. Delte got the advantage and just nipped the “Madman” as they cranked ‘em sideways for three. This time it stuck and Delte took the lead. Delte put together about five wheel lifting qualifying laps to put a three car length lead on Monahan as the race roared toward ¾ distance. Cort Dozier was flying up from the back. A quick series of yellow flags for minor spins helped Cort Dozier close some valuable ground on the lead duo. A couple of timely retirements helped too. Cort Dozier was knocking on the door for 3rd. Son Derek was enjoying his best ride to date staying in the top five. Grass Valley’s Jeremy Burt was a fast, consistent 3rd. With three to go Delte closed rapidly on lapped traffic in the form of Sacramento’s Tom Baker. Delte was on Baker’s tail on the back chute when Baker’s radiator hose let go. Baker was being bathed in hot water and immediately hit the binders. Delte tagged the helpless #3t and stopped. His lead and race evaporated in a heartbeat…almost. Delte went to the back and restarted. With three to go it was Monahan, point leader Burt and Cort Dozier slugging it out for the lead. Then, Dozier was in 2nd and on Monahan . The last few laps were going to be spectacular. As quickly as the 19th lap began, the race was over for Burt and Monahan. Monahan and Dozier got together in turn one. As Monahan tried to catch the sliding #49 Burt slammed into it. The race was over for both. A new green-white checkered would decide it. Cort Dozier had come from last to 1st. It wasn’t over yet. During the slowdown for the Monahan-Burt crash, Derek Dozier stopped on the backstretch with mechanical problems. That brought Brad Bumgardner into 2nd. Delte had used the last lap of green to come to 5th and was in 3rd at the new green with the rash of untimely retirements. He had a shot at the win again. The last restart would have Cort Dozier pull away and take the victory in this amazing event. Bumgardner stayed 2nd. Delte was 3rd in the final rundown with Live Oak’s Jim Marsh a consistent 4th. Next week the Outlaw Karts will kick off the weekend on Friday night. On Saturday night, the MRP Wingless Sprint Cars, The MRP Street Stocks and the MRP MiniStocks will be on hand for complete programs. The Sprint 100s will also be on hand. Make our website (marysvilleracewaypark.com) one of your “favorites” on you computer. Watch this site for press releases and updates. Pit gates always open at 3PM. Pit meeting and pill draw are at 5PM. Spectator Gates Open at 5PM with racing getting underway at 7PM. Contact the promoters at 1.530.743.1327 or email as indicated on the home page. Note: Please make this observer aware of any names that are misspelled. The text is based on information we have at the time. |
