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Marysville
CA - June 1, 2008 --- The 9th Mel Hall Memorial Race will be the one everyone remembers. Grass Valley’s Billy Wallace passed “High Flyin’” Herman Klein of Sacramento at the line and won the Winged Sprint Car feature by .013 seconds. James Gillaspie of Olivehurst won the Open 4 feature as Jeff Olshowka added a Hall Memorial trophy to the case in the MRP Street Stock main. Brian Southers of Sutter led wire to wire in the Wingless Sprint Car feature holding off repeated challenges from championship point leader John Anderson.
86 quality racecars flooded the pits and a large, appreciative crowd shouldered into Paul and Kathy Hawes sparkling speed plant. The two Sprint Car classes needed B mains to decide the starting fields. The large contingent of racers and spectators paid tribute to Hall in a moving ceremony to kick off the night’s activities. Long time associate of the Halls, Sherm Toller, of Grass Valley, hosted the proceedings.
The MRP Winged Sprint Cars were the featured division and they did not disappoint. Four highly competitive heat races going virtually caution free seeded the first 16 positions. Point contender and 3 time champion Korey Lovell of Yuba City had to race into the feature by winning the B main after missing the cut in the heat races. He got his time back and was seeded behind the inversion for the start. The star-studded field did not include Derek Dozier who holds 4th position in the MRP season points. He didn’t get out of the B.
The early laps of the feature were wild after an aborted start that wiped out the front end on Jim Richardson’s black hot rod. Herman Klein aboard Dale Wondergem’s well prepared 91 shot into the lead with Marysville’s Brandon Dozier in hot pursuit. It became clear right away that Klein was the man to beat. There was a knot of racers from 3rd on back that were having a great tussle on a track that, once again, provided high and low groove racing. The Wallace Family 6 was on the move right away darting high and low and about the only car that showed the same kind of speed as Klein.
A mid race yellow flag segment for a minor problem proved fatal for Brandon Dozier’s chances. Dozier pulled out of line (while 2nd) and parked the Performance Auto Supply 95. The ailment was unknown at this writing.
The new green erased Klein’s lead and the blast of action to the checkers was on. The 20-lap distance created an urgency not seen in other major races. You have to be up on the wheel right away in this, the highest paying 20 lap winged 360 feature presented on the west coast. Wallace was up to the task. He flew into 2nd, went to the bottom and started to close on Klein. With 3 to go it looked like Klein had it made, but lapped traffic was ahead and Wallace was coming. After the race Wallace said to this observer that he… “thought the race would be won on the top…it was smooth and fast up there and I can’t believe we won it on the bottom.”
Klein’s brave ride around the rim was paying dividends until the very end when starter Robin Davies threw the white banner. With one to go Klein, as had been the case all night, headed for the top and Wallace dove to the bottom. Wallace made up a lot of real estate in 1 and 2. Klein whistled into 3 on the high side, just behind some lapped traffic. Wallace pinched his yellow racer right on the bottom. If Klein was affected by the traffic, it was not noticeable, but Wallace hooked up on the very bottom and the pair came off of 4 side by side. In a furious blur of speed they crossed the line in what appeared to be a dead heat in front of standing, cheering fans. The scorers, Barbara Eversult and Loree Toller called it Wallace. Looking at the video, it was impossible to come up with an answer. Whoever was going to win was going to be decided by the computer. Race officials consulted the computer and proved the scorers right. The margin of victory was an inch or two and .013 of a second. Wallace got the nod. Wallace pocketed $2300 for his spectacular 5-mile ride. That’s $460 per mile. $300 in cash was donated to the winner by a fan that, as noted by this observer, had to leave before the race was concluded. This observer will provide a DVD of this great race to that fan, on the house. Here’s tip of the straw hat to a true race fan that attends every week and prefers to remain anonymous in his generosity. Infield announcer Toller in victory lane presented the $300 in cash to Wallace personally.
Klein was 2nd with Mark Tabor Sr. 3rd followed by Korey Lovell and Colby Wiesz. Lovell was the first under the checkers as a track member, however. He received some $1100 in contingency awards in addition to 4th place money in the rich Hall Memorial.
In the MRP Wingless Sprint Car feature Southers, the Sutter High School Jr., went wire to wire from his front row starting spot. The 16 year old held off repeated challenges from MRP point leader John Anderson. Anderson found 2nd quickly and pressured Souther to the checkers. Sacramento’s Anderson passed Southers at about ½ way but, the pass was negated by a quick incidental yellow. Southers got the wake-up call and masterfully completed the race in the lead. Paradise’s Mason Meyers charged to a great 3rd place finish passing cars, high and low all night long. Tim Sherman Jr. and Jeremy Hawes settled for 4th and 5th respectively. Tony Richards quest for a 5th cosecutive feature win was a tough one. Richards was in the mix running in the top 5 for most of the race. He nearly flipped on a couple of occasions trying for win #5. Richards faded to 15th at the end in what appeared to be a hurt racecar.
Yuba City’s Jeff Olschowka out-dueled fellow front row starter Lisa Shelby and went on to win the MRP Street Stock portion of the show. Olschowka worked all week to get his car into shape for this prestigious event after a vicious wreck at another track last week. But the “Oh, Man” had his hands full early on. Shelby jumped into the early lead with Olschowka glued to the fleet 88. Lap after lap in the early going Olschowka looked low, but the steadily improving Shelby was up to the task. The race was shaping up to be a thriller. Shelby opened the door on a couple occasions in the first 5 laps but Olschowka couldn’t get by. “I tried to give her plenty of room,” Olschowka said later when talking about his looks to the inside. Finally, on lap 8, Shelby slipped and slid wide enough for Olschowka to get on by. The race for the lead was history after that. A torrid battle was on for 3rd through 5th. Robert Mull, point leader Bill Knoop and Corey Hall were in lock step and slugging it out as the lead duo motored on. Mull kept Knoop at bay securing 3rd with Hall finally placing 5th.
James Gillaspie used a great deal of finesse to keep the lead while being challenged by much faster cars to get his 1st win in the Open 4s. The event was close from start to finish. Gillaspie bolted into an early lead with Oregon’s Tyler Jenson nearly attached to his rear spoiler. An early race crash and flip by Eric Jones on the back chute created a lengthy red flag period. Jones was OK, but he did a lot of damage to the backstretch boards.
The new green brought a resumption of the battle between Gillaspie and Jensen. Gillaspie won the good luck nod in this one as a pass for the lead, by Jensen, was negated by another yellow flag incident. The race was plagued by slowdowns in the early going.
Another new green provided fans with an entertaining battle up front as Jensen’s teammate Tracy Bradley made it a 3 car dice. Coming off of 4 Jensen tried the high side and had a run on Gillaspie. Jensen was pinched up next to the wall on Gillaspie’s ¼ panel. Jensen lost it in front of the entire field at the starting line and slid to a stop, blocking the track. The approaching cars darted everywhere to avoid the inevitable crash. Orland’s Olin Crane hit Jensen a ton as others banged and slid to a stop.
With promoter Hawes pointing to his wristwatch the race went green. Gillaspie did not put a wheel wrong from that point forward. Gillaspie held his line and took away any challenger’s lines in a virtuoso drive to the checkers. It was Gillaspie’s best performance, ever.
Josh Tucker of Willows won the wingless sprint car B main. Heat race winners were Colby Wiesz, Brent Dothage, Mark Tabor Jr. of Reno and Heath Hall of Oroville in the winged sprints; Cort Dozier of Marysville, Tim Sherman Jr. of Rocklin and Buddy Olschowka of Yuba City in the wingless sprints; Shelby and Olschowka in the street stocks; and Jensen and Tracy Bradley, both of Medford, Ore., and Marty Plump of Anderson, Ore., in the open 4 Cylinders.
MRP will be dark next week. Promoter Hawes said continued physical improvements to the facility would be in progress over the next 2 weeks. A new look is anticipated when MRP turns the lights on June 14th. A solid 5-division show will kick off the balance of the 2008 season. The Winged Sprinters will return with the Wingless Sprinters also on the card. Fendered action will be provided by the incredible MRP Street Stocks. The Nor Cal Dwarf Cars will bring their side-by-side racing action to MRP again. The Sprint 600s will round out the show.
Pit gates always open at 3 with the grandstands opening at 5. Practice and hot laps start at 6 with qualifying and racing to follow. Put www.marysvilleracewaypark.com on your “favorites” button on you computer. Watch this site for press releases, updates and complete results.
$300,000 in contingency rewards ongoing through 2008:
Remember, our racing program will get $150,000 worth of contingency dollars for our winged and wingless sprint cars. The way it works is that Contingency Connection has signed up 181 sponsors nationwide who contribute products or merchandise each race to the winner. The only catch is that drivers must be sporting the decal of that sponsor to earn the bonus. If a driver who wins the MRP Winged or Wingless feature race has every decal on his car, he could receive some $1150 in products or merchandise. The vouchers can be saved and traded in for larger ticket items. The bonus is a healthy addition to the weekly $1,000 promoter Hawes already pays to the winner of MRP winged sprint car main events and the $750 he pays to MRP wingless sprint car feature winners.
In addition to the $150,000 Contingency Connection is providing during the regular season, the program also has earmarked another $150,000 toward a year-end bonus for the top two drivers as well as four other "at-large" drivers whom the promoters believe are deserving of some added cash.
Note: Please make this observer aware of any names that are misspelled or incorrect. 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.
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