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Wiesz, McDaniel and Hansen win while Ollar repeats at MRP; Yuba City Scrap and Steel Ice Cream Nite next By Bob Burbach |
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Marysville CA - August 10, 2008 --- Paul and Kathy Hawes hosted a spectacular race program on a hooked up Marysville Raceway surface Saturday. Winged Sprint Car race winner Colfax’s Colby Wiesz commented in victory lane… “yeah, this was good. They’ve done a lot with this place”, referring to promoter Hawes’ superior track preparation lately. This was the third consecutive week that MRP has produced a lightning fast surface that allowed great racing action in all four divisions. The MRP Mini Stocks brought their unique brand of fendered feature competition up first. Second row starting Jamey Ollar of Marysville won the race after a fierce battle through traffic with point leader Joel Giusti. The race ran non-stop. Giusti popped into the early lead as Ollar had to force his way through a couple of quick fights to find second. Pole sitter Damian Merritt was tough, but had to let Ollar go. Starting deep in the pack, Misty Castleberry started her race-long grind to the front that finally resulted in a noteworthy third place finish. Castleberry came into the night’s race second in points to Giusti. Castleberry’s drive to the front was even more impressive as it was obvious that the 95 car was having motor problems all night. Up front though, the seesaw battle between the two leaders was mesmerizing. Knots of lapped cars were a constant as the leaders wound their way around the track. Near half way Ollar camped on the point leader’s tail and followed him through. Then Ollar decided it was time to go. He got a great run off of two and pulled even with Giusti. Using lapped traffic as a pick Ollar got some distance on Giusti as the race closed in on the checkered flag. But, with two left, Ollar was blocked by a side-by-side tussle in front of him. Giusti closed rapidly and was camped on Ollar’s rear deck as the white banner was displayed. Giusti could not get by as Ollar worked the traffic perfectly taking any clear lane away from Giusti. It was Ollar’s second straight victory, and his second consecutive sweep of the MRP Mini Stock program. Castle berry was third and Merritt held on to fourth. But, a complete race round up would be incomplete without mentioning Blane Baker’s ride to an unfortunate DNF. Baker was a factor all race long and, for a time, was the only one doing any passing. A tip of the hat to Baker. Nathan Mayo also did a fair amount of passing coming from the rear of the field to a credible fifth place finish for the rookie star. The traveling SORA Sprint 100s were next and their feature was a thriller from start to finish. Front row starter Greg Hansen jumped into an impressive lead at the outset of this one. Point leader, Tim MacLaughlin was in the back, had some work to do and got right with the program as he carved his way through the field. Nick McColloch did the same and both cars were headed forward. But Hansen was quick…and he was just incredible in traffic. It didn’t look like he lifted all race long. This event also had a long green flag segment that brought it to the white flag. McColloch and MacLaughlin were right behind Hansen as the duo closed in on the leader. With his lead having evaporated, Hansen used lapped traffic to hinder the challenger’s progress. Then Jim Pfifer lost it in turn two and the yellow flashed on with but one circuit remaining. Hansen worked the restart to perfection and just nipped MacLaughlin and McColloch at the checkers as the crowd in the grandstand rose in unison. Fourth at the line was John Cardoni followed by newcomer Matt Beardslee. As a rookie contender, Beardslee had to start in the rear of each event and rushed to the front in both. While Cardoni’s last lap heroics got Beardslee at the line for fourth, Beardslee’s ride was most impressive. Perhaps this rookie deserves a seat. Cardoni deserves a word here as he came from dead last to fourth. The MRP Winged Sprint Cars were next up and this event featured almost everything one could ask for; blinding speed, two groove racing, a tough ride for the early leader, a monster wheelie AND, (almost most importantly) high drama where the point race was concerned. 2007 champion Jeremy Burt of Grass Valley rocketed into a big lead on lap one. It was short lived. Coming off of two, on lap two, Burt hooked up on the cushion and the car biked. When it settled he hammered the throttle and the well-prepared 2b hooked up and rocketed toward the sky as it slowly turned upside down in mid air. The field scrambled for a way by and everybody made it. Burt hit hard upside down and was limping after the wild ride. He was sidelined for the duration. Fellow front row starter Kevin Lovell inherited the lead with Tom Baker in second. Vastly improved Rick Kraushar was third, then Wiesz and Korey Lovell. Point leader Brent Dothage was next. Then, the adventure began. Wiesz started to pick off cars at will when Dothage made a move on Korey Lovell up the back chute for fifth. Lovell slammed down the pedal in an effort to thwart Dothage’s move and Lovell’s car jumped into a monster wheelie that he carried for some forty yards. The car settled down and, again leapt into the air in a second wheelie. The yellow flag was displayed almost in conjunction with the amazing aerobatics of Lovell’s 71. Lovell had damaged the car in his wild ride. He would have to stop. Dothage got the position, but Dothage’s closest rival in the point chase now had a golden opportunity to repair his car. The immediate yellow flag segment following the wheelie was a blessing for the Lovell team. Lovell’s crew went to work. He returned for the next green. Two quick subsequent slowdowns allowed Lovell to return to the pits to fine-tune the initial repairs. When the race went back into full-tilt boogie, Wiesz made short work of the leaders and flashed into a lead he would not relinquish. Wiesz simply took advantage of the low and high grooves offered to effortlessly slice through traffic. He was gone. Second running Kevin Lovell came to grief when his car simply stopped off of turn two. Brother Korey Lovell, however, with his chances of a fourth title fading, started to charge from the back. His arch rival Dothage had smoothly secured second getting past Kraushar, then Baker and then taking advantage of second running Kevin Lovell’s bad fortune. Korey Lovell shrugged off the adversity and slugged his way back to an impressive fifth place finish that kept the fan’s eyes glued to his car. He kept his championship hopes alive with his charge as the race came to its conclusion. Baker, who crushed the competitors in his heat stayed third in the end with his best ride. Kraushar was fourth. Two red flags and incidental yellows slowed the pace for a while, BUT this was a superb auto race that was dripping with championship drama throughout. In heat race action for the sprinters, two scary incidents provided the thrills. Oroville’s Heath Hall dug into the cushion in one and didn’t stop flipping for a while. Hall was rocked, but OK in the hairy ride. The other incident had Derek Dozier lose it and come to rest at the end of the backstretch facing traffic. Rookie Garry Burdick in his first ever sprint car race clipped Dozier and Dozier’s front wheel went over the crash wall. Local driver Burdick had an interesting debut evening at MRP. He was quick and straight in his inaugural ride. Problems in the feature prohibited him from finishing. The Mighty Modifieds brought the curtain down on their season at MRP with a fine field of cars and stars. It was, however a Ryan McDaniel benefit from the word go. McDaniel was uncatchable in the lead. Yuba City’s Duane Cleveland tried, but was not in the same league as the leader on this night. The most exciting moves came from Live Oak’s Matt Micheli. Micheli, who was impressive in his heat race, passed people all night long. It was a pleasure to see the veteran campaigner so quick all night. Micheli ran out of time as he started to reel in Cleveland near the end and the race ended that way, McDaniel, Cleveland, and Micheli. In heat race competition, Marysville’s Dustin Massey celebrated his up coming birthday by nearly flying out of the park. Massey was forced into the outside wall, got some air and flew into the catch fencing on the back chute. The fence did it’s job, contained the car, and Massey walked away. Next week the raceway will present the 8th Annual Yuba City Scrap and Steel ICE CREAM NIGHT. Former car owner Richard Lovell will once again bring thousands of servings of ice cream for the fans and competitors alike. EVERYBODY in the house gets FREE ICE CREAM. Last year it was seconds and thirds all around. The evening that will feature the MRP Winged Sprint Cars, the Wingless Warriors of the MRP Wingless Sprint Car Series the MRP Mini Stocks, the Nor Cal Dwarf Cars and the SLAM BANG return of the EXTREME BOMBERS!! This annual bash will bring us to the first ever NARC Stock Car Reunion on August 23. Remember, MRP is just a few miles from anywhere in the Yuba Sutter 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. |
