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Marysville CA - June 15, 2008 --- 2004 MRP Winged Sprint Car champion Mike Monahan of Sparks Nevada won his feature in dominating fashion. Tony Richards grabbed his 5th feature win in the MRP Wingless Sprint Car main and rookie contender Lisa Shelby of Yuba City surprised everyone in the place with a .120 second victory in the closest MRP Street Stock feature race in history. Grass Valley’s Pat Weger continued his stranglehold on the competitors in the Nor Cal Dwarf Car Association with an easy win and Joe Stornetta of Napa won the 600 Lites feature, also in a walk.
Paul and Kathy Hawes’ Marysville Raceway Park showed off its new look with the grandstands finally secured in their new location. The view from the stands was “up close and personal”…an obvious success. 88 cars crowded the pits and another large crowd streamed into the arena to watch the show. The facility sparkled under the lights. The atmosphere was electric.
Everyone in the packed grandstands should have known that Saturday night was going to be Mike Monahan’s night. Dubbed, “The Madman” for his wild, aggressive style, the named seemed perfectly suited on this night. When Monahan appeared for his qualifying run he performed a 50-yard wheelie up the back chute before taking the initial green in his fleet #49.
Monahan started on the inside of row 2 in the feature but was leading as the field moved out of turn 2. Pole sitter and new point leader going into the feature, Brent Dothage got the jump on fellow front row starter Brandon Dozier at the green. But Dothage washed up to the top on the front chute under the green flag of starter Robin Davies. Monahan had a great run off of 4 and flashed by both front row starters. Monahan was gone. Dothage tried to stay with him but it was to no avail. Monahan endured a torturous series of yellows that kept eliminating his significant leads. At half way Dothage tried an inside move on a restart, but Monahan just got up on the wheel and sailed away to the checkers. Monahan’s victory was worth $2150 in purse and contingency awards. Sacramento’s Steven Tiner slipped by Dothage when Dothage tried his move and took a 10-year-old chassis to a fine second at the flag.
Third finishing Dothage will have the point lead when the event becomes official on Tuesday as Marysville’s Cort Dozier had another miserable night at the wheel. Coming into the event, Dozier had a single point lead on Dothage. Dothage made up a lot of ground in the point standings at the Hall Memorial last time out. Dothage, by finishing second in his heat jumped into the point lead by feature time. Cort Dozier was eliminated from the feature after being charged with two yellow flags.
John-Michael Bunch came in a fine fourth in his best-ever drive. Championship contender Korey Lovell battled his way into fifth place. Lovell’s drive was noteworthy as his car seemed pushy in the later laps and he brushed the front stretch wall on several occasions while wrestling with his #71.
The MRP Street Stock feature was a wild one. Surely no one could have predicted that Lisa Shelby would secure her first ever Stock Car victory after spinning out of the lead early on in the race. But, she did, and by .120 seconds as well, making this the closest finish ever in Street Stock racing here. Shelby jumped into an early lead after two aborted starts that caught up Jeff Olschowka in car bending wreck. The damage to Olschowka’s car would eventually create a DNF for the most prolific winner at the speedway this year. Generally, when Olschowka finishes he wins. He did not finish.
Shelby jumped into an early, big lead over fellow front row starter Robert Arruda. Then, inexplicably, Shelby lost it in turn one and completed a lazy slide that relegated her to the back of the pack. The setting was in place for what would become a storybook ending for the 2007 Mini Stock Champion. A series of incidental yellow flags and Shelby’s own reluctance to give up put her toward the front again with but a handful of laps remaining. She was fourth when point leader Bill Knoop and Corey Hall came to grief on the back chute while battling for second. Shelby was now second, waiting for the new green. It waved and Arruda was a solid leader when Olschowka’s left rear wheel flew off in spectacular fashion ending his night.
The final four laps were dramatic as Shelby pressured Arruda relentlessly. Shelby got a nose under Arruda off of four as the pair took the white flag. Arruda held the spot into one as Ray Benkowski grenaded his engine at the line. With an eye on the prize and heavy right foot Shelby inched up on Arruda as the race leaders got to three. Shelby hooked up on the inside as Arruda held his line. The 88 inched forward and pulled even with Arruda at the finish line! Shelby had won, literally “by a nose”. The crowd was on its collective feet. It was an honest to goodness thriller! Arruda put in his best finish ever in his smooth drive to second. Point leader Knoop recovered from his mid race mishap to take a great third after a stellar drive back to the front. Had the race up front been any less thrilling, Knoop’s drive may well have been the story. Robert Mull put together another fine finish (fourth) after being jostled around in a number of incidents. Nick Caughman of Suisun City was fifth.
Some of the drama associated with the MRP Wingless Sprint Car Series events was decided before the first heat was flagged off. Jeremy Hawes of Marysville broke a piston while lining up and the “Flyin’ Ford” was sidelined. Hawes who is second in points left the door wide open for John Anderson to pad his 24 point lead that he had coming into the event. Hawes was able to start and take a green flag only to pick up starting points in the feature.
The feature race provided a great race for the lead early on and a pair of flip over crashes that kept the air spiked with anticipation. Paradise’s Tony Richards beat Pole sitter Josh Tucker of Willows into the first turn. Third starting Anderson eclipsed Tucker on the backstretch and went side by side with Richard in turn four. Anderson had the lead at the conclusion of lap one and Richards camped on Anderson’s tail. Anderson who has been a notoriously good finisher at MRP seemed to have the bit between his teeth in this one. It’s one of the few times this year that the lead has been taken away from Richards. The move was a wake up call for Richards who recovered quickly and began to try to reel in Anderson. The lead duo was leaving the rest behind. However, rookie contender Philip Shelby started a challenge at the front that was impressive. He got by Tucker for fourth behind a determined Brandon Ternora running in third.
Then a serious crash in turn one threw Marysville’s Josh Vieira’s beautiful #3v into a dizzying series of flips in turn 1. Vieira and Buddy Olschowka were battling for position with Vieira on the outside. The video shows Vieira got a wheel and started a “left-side-over” series of flips; the toughest kind. The car also hammered the wall on its way down bringing Vieira to an abrupt stop. He was shaken, but got out under his own power.
The red flag was just what Richards needed. Eight laps after the new green Richards went side by side with Anderson in four and slipped on by. You could not put a piece of paper between the spinning wheels of the two speeding racecars as they poured on the power. It was that close. One lap later, while mired in traffic, Cort Dozier took a tumble in turn 4 bringing out another red flag. Dozier was OK after the rough ride.
Richards pass was good however, and he rode on to a convincing victory from that point forward. Richards’ winners share was $1850 in prize money and contingency awards for the 20 lap effort.
The Nor Cal dwarf car feature was simply dominated by front row starting Weger as was the 600 Lite feature by Sternora.
Heat race winners were Tucker and Richards in the wingless sprints, Lovell and Troy Degaton of Rio Linda in the winged sprints, Caughman in the street stocks, Brett Barstow of Ballico and Weger in the Nor Cal Dwarfs, and Christine Root of Fair Oaks in the 600 Lites.
Next week is the annual Merritt Family Kids Night. All kids under 12 are free when accompanied by an adult and hundreds of prizes will be available to the youngsters in attendance. The MRP Winged Sprint Cars, the Wingless Warriors of the MRP Wingless Sprint Car Series, The MRP Street Stocks and the MRP Mini Stocks will be featured. And, just for good measure, the SORA Sprint 100’s will make another appearance. This is the first time, in some time, that all 4 primary divisions will be presented on the same night. The point races are hot and the weather is predicted to be in the 85-degree range. So it will be a beautiful evening for racing.
MRP is just a few miles from anywhere in the Yuba Sutter or Sacramento area. Stay close to home, save your gas and experience Yuba-Sutter’s only professional sports series. Only at MRP.
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. You must be a member of the association, but you can buy a membership at any event throughout the year.
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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