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Forsberg, Papenhausen and Rogers Win Championships at Chico |
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(Chico, CA 8-22-08)...The final Friday night Feather Falls Casino point championship ended with a last lap pass for the main event win in the wingless division. It was a fitting way to conclude an exciting year of close racing. Winning that wingless main event was Keith Bloom Jr. It was his eighth win of the year and with the win he wrapped up the wingless championship even with one more race to go. Yet, while the wingless still have on more race, it marked the end of the year for the other three divisions. Auburn's Andy Forsberg won his second 410-sprint car championship at Silver Dollar. Forsberg finished fifth in the main event and won the title when Becker was involved in a late race wreck. Becker was behind by 10-points going into the main event so it was going to be a step challenge for Becker even before the accident ended his chances. Tim Kaeding won his third main event of the year. Colfax Champion Colby Wiesz took the early lead of the 25-lap sprint car main event. Wiesz held off fellow front row starter Sammy Swindell. Wiesz led the main event until lap 12 when Tim Kaeding drove by. Kaeding started in the third row and in typical fashion used the high scary side to make his moves around the other drivers. On lap 17 Tyler Walker moved into second spot. On the next lap the race took a dramatic turn for the worse. Walker was involved with a slower car that sent Walker around in turn two. The field was so tightly bunched that many of the top ten drivers were all crashing into one another trying to avoid Walker. Those involved included fifth place Jonathan Allard, sixth place Willie Croft, seventh place Sean Becker and eighth place Sammy Swindell. None of these cars returned to the race track after the accident. When Becker crashed it took him out of the championship chase. When the wreck was cleared Kaeding had a clear track ahead of him on the restart. He built up a big lead over second place Kyle Hirst and third place Colby Wiesz. That's the order the top three finished. Jason York finished in the fourth spot and Forsberg finished fifth to win the championship. “We came here tonight to get ready for Gold Cup,” said Kaeding. “I turn 30-years old next week and I'm kind of getting old for this sport. But it's was I love to do and hopefully will be able to do it for a long time.” Forsberg had a long interview and said, “Track championships are always nice to add to the resume. I have to thank Sean for having another great battle this year. It's hard to race against him because he is the most polite and respectful guy to race against. Sometimes it's easier if you race against guys you don't like and you really want to beat them. That's not the case with Sean.” He also teared up a little when talking about his father. “I've won championship's without my car owner's Keith and Diane. I've won championship's with my crew chief Brian Cannon. But I've never won a championship without my father. This championship is for my father who if he wasn't around I wouldn't be racing.” The Street Stock championship came down to three drivers. Going into the main event Scott Rogers lead Jeff Olschowka by two-points and Heather Bartlett by four points. The main event got off to a weird start when pole sitter Olschowka came out without his front hood on the car. The officials told him he must have it on to race. He was black flagged and went to the pits. The crew quickly put the hood on and he started near the rear of the field. Bartlett started outside front row and took the lead. As Bartlett led the race the real focus was between Rogers and Olschowka. As Olschowka raced back into the front, contact with him and Rogers resulted in Rogers getting shoved a little off the track. Four laps later Rogers caught back up to Olschowka and nudged Olschowka. Now it was Olschowka who slowed. Olschowka proceeded to limp around the race track. His championship dream was over. Billy Knoop took the lead away from Bartlett on lap nine. Knoop then led the next three laps until Bartlett passed him on lap 12. With three laps to go Bartlet held her line and won her third main of the year. She did all she could tonight by winning her heat race and main event. But in the end it was Rogers who did enough to win the championship. Rogers ended up finishing second after Knoop was disqualified in a post race inspection. It was Rogers second career track championship. “Thanks to everyone who helped me this year,” said Rogers in victory lane. “I'm not sure if I will come back and try to repeat as champion next year because it took all the money we had to do it this year.” Rogers summed up his year with a big, “Ford Rocks” into Gary Thomas' microphone. Bartlett added, “This year was the best competition this division has seen in years. It was a great season. I want to congratulate Scott on his championship.” Darin Ruley took the early lead of the dirt modified main event. Ruley is a consistent racer who is dedicated to racing at Silver Dollar Speedway. Ruley led the way until lap six when Mike Sohnrey moved by for the lead. Sohnrey only runs a select amount of races. While Sohnrey sped off to win his third main of the year, Ruley was hit from behind on lap nine. Ruley spun through the infield and ended up finishing a disappointing seventh. This moved up Richard Papenhausen to second. The Chico driver wrapped up his second track championship in a row. He said after the race, “You have to be consistent and run every week to win this championship,” said Papenhausen. “I really enjoy racing here and look forward to next season.” Up front it was all Sohnrey who checked out and won the main event. “I got a little lucky because I pushed the wrong pedal coming out of turn two,” said Sohnrey. “I thought I was done but lucky for me I was able to hold on and get the win.” Keith Bloom Jr. can add champion of the wingless division to his driving accomplishments. Tonight he enthralled the crowd with a last lap pass for the win. Coming out of turn four he passed Mason Myers and beat Myers to the checkered. It was an impressive run for the kid who know has eight main wins and tonight started in the sixth row. As exciting as the finish was my heart went out to Mason Myers. He had entered 26 John Padjen Motorsports events this year. Myers was still in search of his first win. Charlie Marrs led the first few laps of the main event. On lap three Myers officially took the lead away from Marrs. It was a spot he would hold until the final turn. R.C. Smith had an equally impressive race. He ran second most of the night until Bloom passed him on lap 15. Smith held on to finish third. Yet, on lap seven, Smith passed Myers at the start/finish line for a brief moment. When the pair came back around Myers took the lead back. Taylor Simas started ninth and moved his way into the fourth spot late in the race. It was the place he would finish. Rick Williams rounded out the top five. “It's been a really amazing year,” said Bloom Jr. The final race of their season is September 3, Wednesday night of Gold Cup. |
