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Stein holds off Hawes in thrilling National; New York Driver Harvey wins Mini Sprint gold Shelby Makes Sprint Car debut. By Bob Burbach |
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Marysville CA - October 7, 2007 --- 2005 Wingless Sprint Car champion Steve Stein of Davis held off a hard charging Jeremy Hawes in the final circuits to win the 1st annual Wingless Sprint Car Nationals at Marysville Raceway Park Saturday night. Milford New York’s Don Harvey led wire to wire in a star studded Mini Sprint National that was also presented by Paul and Kathy Hawes over the same weekend. The 2-day show featured many of California’s brightest stars in the wingless sprint division. Friday night showcased frantic heat races and a B main event that qualified the drivers into Saturday’s final events. Some of the combatants didn’t fare so well in Friday’s preliminary action. Shaun Tenora of Ewa Beach Hawaii was moving forward in his Wingless Sprinter as a 3rd or better finishing position in the heat races automatically transferred the driver into Saturday’s final. Ternora took a look at the high side in turn 3 while trying to pass the black #2 of Mike Martins. Ternora hit Martin’s right rear with his left front and the flyin’ Hawaiian did just that. Ternora’s car twirled into a dizzying series of flips that silenced the crowd. His crushed racer came to rest over the banking in turn 4. To everyone’s satisfaction, Ternora wobbled away from his battered racer. Shaken, but not hurt. Also in that event, Paradise racer Justin Funkhouser caught a wheel at the starter’s stand and barrel rolled his well manicured #5 up the chute and into the catch fencing off of turn 1. Funkhouser immediately jumped from his overturned machine and marched off to the pits; his national was done. Quick qualifier, Darrell Hanestad pulled for an 8 inversion in Saturday’s National final sending him to 8th starting position and placing Yuba City’s Mark Hill and 2004 MRP Wingless Sprint Car champion Chris Magoon of Antioch in the front row. With the Wingless Nationals preliminary races in the books the Mini Sprint National field put on a full program that sent the top 10 into Saturday’s National Mini Sprint final. The Mini Sprint field presented a truly national representation of drivers and even a few from Canada. One driver was here from Australia. BCRA’s Rick Holbrook flipped wildly in the final preliminary race for the Mini Sprints and quickly walked away. Friday’s events were run in swift fashion and the 50+ entrants received the final checkered flag just before 10 PM. Locally, the much-anticipated debut of 2007 Street Stock champion Phillip Shelby would have to wait a day as he fried his motor in hot laps while practicing in his wingless sprinter. This observer had the opportunity to talk to father Phil Shelby during the weekend and he confirmed that Phillip would be moving to Sprint Cars in 2007 and that 2007 Mini Stock champion Lisa Shelby would move into the Street Stock class next year. Saturday’s picture perfect fall weather greeted the racers for their championship final events. The Wingless Sprint Car B main turned into a thriller at its conclusion. The B main would determine the final starters in the National Final. The race was stretched out as the final laps were run. Then, Shelby (with a new motor) got comfortable in his new seat and started to go forward. It got great at the end as Shelby in an effort to clinch 2nd spot dove under Martins who had 2nd in the bag. Shelby took his car high into 3 and diamoned off of 4 and swept past the surprised Martins, taking 2nd by .006 of a second at the stripe. Not a bad intro to the class. Former champ Magoon and Hill led the field to the green flag in the Championship Final event in the 1st annual Wingless Sprint Car Nationals. Magoon jumped into the lead as Hill and 2005 MRP Champion Stein found 3rd in lap 1. Hill made a sweet move on Magoon in turn 3 the next time around and motored off to a 4 or 5 car length lead in the next few laps. Magoon came under fire from Stein and Hawaii’s Brandon Ternora. He was quickly relegated to 4th position as Stein and Ternora roared on by. On lap 5 Jeremy Hawes showed up behind Magoon and got by for 4th. The first of two quick yellow flag segments slowed the pace. Quick qualifier and pre-race favorite Darrell Hanestad was the subject of both slowdowns and he was out for the night. The new green provided some of the best racing of the year as Hill was able to keep Stein at bay. Brandon Ternora was an excellent 3rd as Hawes appeared to be unable to reel in the top runners as the race approached 10 laps of the scheduled 30. The ever patient Stein was slowly working his way in on Hill. Then as the race found the 10 lap mark Stein was by Hill in a flash as Hill left the inside open off of turn 4. Stein put a couple of car lengths between himself and Hill as Hawes started to find his rhythm and was all over Tenora for 3rd. 4th row starter, Santa Rosa’s Terry Shank, parked on Hawes’ tail as that duo eclipsed Ternora near ½ way. At the same time, Hill closed on Stein again. You could throw a blanket over the top 4 positions as this race got very good. Then a long green flag segment changed the complexion of this part of the event. This long green flag segment and the two leaders’ ability to get through lapped traffic put some real estate between Hill and Hawes (in 2nd and 3rd). With 9 to go an incidental yellow flag closed the field and gave Hawes and Shank the help they needed to stay close. At the new green, Hawes immediately got past Hill and closed rapidly on Stein. Hawes was the quickest car on the track now, and with a clear track ahead, the atmosphere was electric. As the race moved into it’s final 5 laps Hawes was steadily closing on Stein while Santa Rosa’s Dave Press started to come forward in a brilliant late race drive. Press, the 2007 Petaluma champion flew by Hill for 3rd and took out after the leaders. Press would run out of time and have to settle for 3rd in the end. Up front was another story as Hawes was lurking just a car length, or so, behind Stein as the pair raced toward starter Robin Davies checkered flag. Hawes got to Stein’s tail, but that’s as close as it would get as Stein simply didn’t make any mistakes that would have allowed the young charger an opening. Stein took the checkers and the $2000 first prize. The race was a thriller all the way and, as usual, Stein was gracious in victory lane. It is interesting to note that both Stein and Hawes were nursing some injuries that they received during the early part of the day. Stein slipped and fell while loading the car to come to Saturday’s final event. He landed on his left side nerf bar, but he hit it with his sternum and ribs. He confided to this observer early on that he really didn’t know if he could stand the pain during the event, but was going to see how he felt when he saddled up. Then Hawes had a practice injury to his left side rib cage when he tossed his car right to avoid a spinning car in turn 1. He said it knocked the wind out of him. He quickly recovered and went back out to practice. Almost immediately he was behind another spinning car. He reacted, missed the errant car, but flew off the track in turn 1 and hammered the concrete. Initially, the car was scratched from further competition and Hawes was KO’d by the impact. Both cars and drivers returned for the feature to post the thrilling 1-2 finish. The companion Mini Sprint National was a runaway for pole sitter Harvey. He led every lap and was never challenged. Harvey’s trip to California from New York for the National Series surely paid off. The race behind Harvey was a barn-burner as British Columbia’s Arron Fell, and Washington’s Brock Lemley sliced and diced their way to the front. Early on in the race Lemley flipped on a restart. He was relegated to the back for the restart and began a titanic drive to the front in his twisted and battered machine. Lemley got as high as 4th before a couple of late race passes dropped him to 6th. Still it was a ride worth watching. Fell got to 2nd in the late laps after his notable run to the front. His dice with Holmwood was a thriller and the end wasn’t decided until late in the race. Next week Paul and Kathy Hawes will bring down the curtain on the 2007 racing season with a spectacular crash ‘em’ up finale. The 1st annual “Extreme Bomber Regatta and Demolition” will be presented. It’s pretty simple and should be an absolute gas!!! Trailers and RV’s will be towed by the Extreme Bomber Stock Cars for 100 laps around the MRP ¼ mile. This observer learned that Winged Sprint Car standout Korey Lovell and arch nemesis Brandon Dozier will pilot cars with RV trailers attached. That alone will be worth the price of admission. This Spectacular event will head onto the track at 7PM. As a special added attraction, the MRP Street Stocks will host a program featruring heat races and a 20 lap feature event. This open, non-point paying event, is open to all competitors in this class from tracks all over California. Next year Paul and Kathy Hawes will be back to MRP celebrating the 40th year of continual operation. Look for many special events to be posted here in the near future. Don’t miss next Saturday night’s wild and wooly crash fest. 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. Complete finishes, stats and points become official and available at the close of business on Tuesday and will be posted to the web site. |
