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See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
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Brad Sweet Wins on July 4th at
Chico |
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(Chico, CA 7-4-08)...Brad Sweet returned to his home state of California and won
the 25-lap 410 winged sprint car main event at Silver Dollar Speedway on July
4th. Sweet, now residing in Indiana and driving for Kasey Kahne Racing with USAC,
grew up in Northern California and came home this weekend to not only visit with
family and friends but also to drive the Rod Tiner / Shark Racing Engines #83.
Sweet didn't become the leader until lap 24 when Jonathan Allard, leader of the
race, was caught up in an accident that happened right in front of him. Allard
was going through turns three and four on his way to a victory when three cars
crashed in front of him. With nowhere to go, Allard was collected in the
accident. Sweet, running second, was able to avoid the carnage and inherit the
lead. On the ensuing restart, Sweet held off Bud Kaeding for the final two laps
to get the win. Sweet started the main event in the seventh spot and drove his
heart out to in position for the win. “I was wide open going through turns
three and four,” said Sweet. “I'm not sure if I had ever ran that hard in a
main event at Chico before. It definitely wore me out near the end of the
race.” He later added, “That was a fun track to race tonight and it felt
good to get Rod Tiner a win.”
It was Bud Kaeding who took the whole shot and led the first few laps of the winged sprint car main event. Kaeding started on the outside of row one and beat pole sitter Mason Moore into turn one. Jonathan Allard was quick to race his way into second. Kyle Hirst was also making moves and found himself in the third spot on lap 10. Following Hirst was Brad Sweet who moved into fourth on lap 11. Kaeding soon encountered slower cars and this is when Allard made his move. Allard passed Kaeding while the two were engaged in heavy traffic. Once Allard cleared the traffic he opened up a decent size lead over Kaeding. At the half way point of the race is when Sweet started to make his charge. Sweet found the cushion in turns three and four to his liking. He was able to pass Hirst and then size up Kaeding for second on lap 22. At that point it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Allard was going to win. Even with Sweet closing in a the end the laps were running out. Allard received the white flag and held the lead heading down the back straight. Going into turn three a freak thing happened. A three car pile up in turn four blocked the track. Allard had committed where he had set the car and was unable to avoid the wreck. He slammed into Jason York, one of the cars involved, and came to a stop. He was quickly jumped out of the car because of a brief fire that erupted. Allard was frustrated. He was a little more than a 100 feet from getting to the checkered flag. His misfortune turned into Sweet's favor. Sweet restarted the race as the leader and went on to lead the final two laps for the win. Kaeding finished second followed by Brandon Carey. The third place car, Carey, was the dark horse of the night. He qualified third and was in the eleven second bracket. He transferred to the main event through his heat race. During the main event he held off the likes of Brent Kaeding, Sean Becker and Shane Golobic to score the top three finish. Jonathan Allard earned his fourth fast time award this year by turning a 11.757. Sweet not only won the feature event but he lead all 12 laps to win the semi-main event. Dan Simpson, Kyle Larson, and Jason York also transferred from the semi-main into the feature. Andy Forsberg, Myles Bishop, Matt Shelton and Shane Golobic each won their eight lap heat race. A total of 34 winged sprint cars attended the Friday night Feather Falls Casino point championship race. Chico Volkswagen driver Mark Abouzeid continued his hot streak by winning the dirt modified main event. Abouzeid now has three main event wins on the Friday night series and five all together this year at Chico. Earlier in the year he swept both nights of the Silver Cup. Richard Papenhausen was the early leader of the main event. Papenhausen had built up a full straight away lead over Abouzeid about half way through the race and seemed unbeatable. However, Papenhausen began to struggle getting through slower traffic and within two laps Abouzeid was on his bumper. Abouzeid made his move and it worked to perfection as he split Papenhausen and a slower car. Once Abouzeid took the lead he lived up to his nickname “The Rocket Man” and he was gone. Abouzeid led the final few laps and recorded the popular win. Michael Paul Jr. passed Papenhausen late in the race for the second spot. Papenhausen came home in the third spot. Abouzeid and Paul Jr. were the winners in heat race action. The 20-lap wingless main event turned into a marathon of nasty wrecks which prolonged the race to over an hour in length. The first start saw Willis Horn Jr. flip wildly into the turn four wall. He emerged from the wreck alert but was kept on the ground for precautionary reasons. An ambulance was dispatched from the local Enloe Hospital and he was taken their for observation. On the next restart Cody Myers flipped off of turn one and over the fence that separates the race track and the fairgrounds. He quickly emerged from the damaged race car and walked away. A single file third restart was needed to get some laps complete. Justin Funkhouser started in the top spot and lead the first few laps. Funkhouser was in control of the race until he got upside down in turn two. He walked away but was frustrated at his bad turn of events. This gave the lead to Cort Dozier and he went on to win the race. Dozier was followed by Tony Richards and Phillip Shelby. Joshua Tucker came across s in fourth but had been second for most of the race until he slid off the back straight late in the race. Jimmy Pettit was charging through the field and finished fifth. He originally started in the fifteenth spot. Outdoing Pettit was Mitch Miller and Taylor Simas. Simas started nineteenth and finished seventh. Miller started eighteenth and finished sixth. Beau Judge won the eight lap semi-main event. Mason Myers won the first heat race. Joshua Tucker won heat two and Justin Reinolds won the third heat. Full results can be found at www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com |
