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| Press Release |
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Lovell out-duels Monahan; Giusti, Emery and Stinson
also score By Bob Burbach |
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July 15, 2007 – Marysville, CA...Paul and Kathy Hawes presented an ambitious
and exciting 4 division program Saturday night that featured 4 new winners in
victory lane this season. Yuba City’s Korey Lovell, Sutter’s Joel Giusti,
Former Marysville High School football coach Neil Stinson and Doug Emery of
Glenn all captured first place prize money in their respective classes. Great
battles and a photo finish spiced the program on the Marysville Raceway Park ¼
mile. A 95 degree day and a stiff south wind created dry-slick conditions by feature time and would put a premium on driver skill as the Winged Pacific Sprint Cars lined up for their headliner. A “0” pill pull had the field starting straight up for starter Robin Davies green banner. Quick qualifier Mike Monahan was flanked Marysville’s Brandon Dozier as the field roared out of four to start the race. Monahan carried Dozier to the center of the track and buzzed his tires to a car length lead by turn 1. Dozier fell immediately into 2nd. 3rd starting Lovell stayed 3rd as the 1st lap was completed. Dozier slung it into turn 1 on lap 2 just a bit hard and spun to a stop giving 2nd to Lovell. The resulting restart set up a race long duel between Monahan and Lovell that had the crowd cheering at times. A lap 4 melee in turn 3 had Cort Dozier on his lid after contact with June 30 feature winner Geoff Duppman. Dozier was OK. Brandon Dozier, after his 2nd lap spin had spent the last 3 laps going from last to 4th in a really swift drive through traffic. Duppman restarted and lined up in last for the new restart. A long green flag segment followed with Lovell parked on Monahan’s tail. Lap after Lap the two MRP champions were glued together. As ¾ distance approached Lovell pulled along side and made good a pass for the lead. Rookie Rod Ramirez executed a spin in turn 1 that negated the move. At the new green Sacramento’s Rick Kraushar and Jeremy Burt touched wheels in turn 2 sending Kraushar into a bone jarring series of hard-hitting flips. Kraushar eventually walked away from the hard ride, but it took a while for safety personnel to extract him from the wreckage. Lovell stayed all over Monahan when the green flashed on once more. With 3 laps to go Lovell got an advantage on the outside running side by side with the leader through 3 and 4. Lovell crossed over as the pair drag raced up the front chute with engines at full song and the tires struggling for bite. Lovell had the inside at turn 1 and made good the pass for the lead. The final laps were uneventful as Monahan tried, but couldn’t get back by Lovell. Brandon Dozier and Duppman were 3rd and 4th at the checkers after passing their way into the top five after early race incidents put them at the rear. The full field of KKCY Country 103 Cup Mini Stocks raced fast and clean in a frantic feature race. The two top point contenders shared the front row as Giusti and Marysville’s James Foster brought the field to the green flag. Only a single point separated the two at the beginning of the night with Giusti on top. This would be a thriller. Giusti jumped into a lead he would never relinquish and go on to victory. But, it wasn’t as easy as that as first Foster, then Yuba City’s Lisa Shelby were all over the 2006 champion. Long green flag segments highlighted this spirited tussle for position. The battle for 4th and 5th was a great one all night as 2005 Mini Stock champion Kevin Sprague returned to fendered warfare after a year and a half absence. Sprague was the 2006 MRP rookie of the year in the Wingless Sprint Car division last year. Talented Blane Baker and Sprague raced all night long for position just behind the three leaders. The race was so filled with good races that it was hard to know where to look. Guisti led Foster, Shelby and Sprague across the line at the end when Baker faded in the last few laps allowing Mike Merritt and Floyd Youngblood 5th and 6th places respectively. What was the 3rd closest finish in the history of MRP turned, in the end, into a race decided by the technical inspectors. Sacramento’s John Anderson nipped Glenn’s Doug Emery by.028 seconds in a thrilling side by side finish at the checkers. But Anderson’s car was disqualified in post race inspection and the win went to Emery. The interesting twist here is that it was Emery’s first race at MRP. Emery was fast all night taking a pair of 2nds in both the Dash and his Heat race. Emery’s debut was overshadowed by the return of the Flyin’ Ford with Jeremy Hawes back at the controls. Hawes found the lead and disappointment in the curtain closer. The front row saw Anderson and point leader Pat Russum side by side at the green flag for the feature. Russum took a sizable lead up the backstretch as Hawes found 3rd behind Anderson at the conclusion of lap 1. Anderson and Hawes put on a terrific show and diced back and forth through the first 8 laps while Russum led by 8 or 10 car lengths. While Anderson and Hawes battled, Russum inched further ahead. An incidental yellow for a stalled racer bunched the field near ½ way. The new green saw Hawes get up on the wheel and quickly nip by Anderson. Hawes ate up the real estate between himself and Russum in 2 laps. Then, he roared past Russum 1 lap later on the front stretch to the screaming delight of the onlookers. It appeared that Russum’s string had been broken as Hawes started to move away. 2 laps later Hawes started a lazy slide in turn 1 and lost it. Russum hit Hawes and both were stopped when Wheatland’s Tim Barnes hammered the motionless 01 and wiped out Hawes front end. Russum and Barnes restarted. Hawes was through after a great drive to the front. Emery had raced his way to the front while the Hawes/Russum duel was in progress and inherited the lead after the crash. Anderson was parked on Emery’s tail for the rest of the race. As the pair came to the white flag Emery had a paper-thin lead. Emery faltered just a bit in turn 2 and Anderson was along side in a flash. Anderson had the inside line in turn 3 and it was then that Emery crossed over and gassed the red 14. Emery tried the inside as the pair flew to the flag. Anderson beat Emery to the line by.028 of a second in a dazzler of a finish. No one in the grandstand was sitting. It was that good. Anderson’s disqualification in post-race inspection put the Emery back on top with Tim Sherman Jr. 2nd and, amazingly, Tim Barnes in 3rd. Barnes great ride back to the front after the Hawes/Russum incident went virtually unnoticed with the fantastic race going on for the win. The Nor Cal Dwarf Cars were the hosted traveling group and local speedster Neil Stinson finally found victory lane in a stirring drive to the front. The last time Stinson saw MRP it was a sky-ground-sky-ground experience as he flipped his way out of that competition. This time Stinson systematically clawed his way to the front and, after a heart-pounding battle with “Hollywood” Kevin Bender, took the well-deserved checkers. Bender was going to be hard to catch as “Hollywood” pretty much had everyone covered on a night when a great slick track racer like Bender showed the way. Mike “Spanky” Grenert had an adventure as well. His to the back-to the front (eventually finishing 3rd) race was noteworthy. It was Stinson’s 1st home victory after years of trying. He’s won just about everywhere else on the traveling circuit but MRP which is situated about a mile from his place of business. Stinson is the former football coach at Marysville High School. Next week the “Wingless Warriors” Wingless Sprint Car Series will be back for a complete program of their heart-stopping wheel-to-wheel action. The Mighty KKCY Stock Cars and Mini Stocks will be back with their slam-bang form of all out action. The Extreme Bombers will be back with an outrages car-crunching event that will be the talk of the town, guaranteed. Pit gates always open at 3PM. 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. Put www.marysvilleracewaypark on your “favorites” button on you computer. Watch this site for press releases, updates and complete results. Note: Please make this observer aware of any names that are misspelled. The text is based on information we have at the time of its release. |
