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| Press Release |
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Packed house sees Wiesz, Wallace, Horn, Law and Hanson win. |
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Marysville CA - June 21, 2009 --- The MRP Winged Sprint Cars, the Browns Valley RV Wingless Sprint Cars, the MRP Super Stocks and Mini Stocks performed in advance of the Prime Time Pizza Extreme Bomber finale at Paul and Kathy Hawes’ Marysville Raceway Park Saturday. The largest crowd in recent memory squeezed into the sparkling clean facility for the remarkable 5-division program. 99 entries flooded the pit area. Colby Wiesz won the Winged Sprint Car main event in convincing style. Billy Wallace made it 2 out of 3 in feature event appearances in the Browns Valley RV Wingless Sprint Cars. “Wild “ Willie Horn grabbed his 3rd straight MRP Super Stock feature from the back. Howard Law won the MRP Mini Stock closer. Barry Hanson led wire to wire in the incredibly wild and destructive Extreme Bomber finale that brought down the curtain on the night’s activities. In main event racing, the Browns Valley RV Wingless Sprint Cars feature were the first up and again, the race changed the entire complexion of the championship point race. Wallace was on the button from the start and was leading by lap 2 from his 3rd starting slot. He was unchallenged thereafter. Behind him a wholesale war was going on as the 6 cars behind Wallace were knotted in a struggle for position. Championship contenders Cody Myers and Cort Dozier got to the front right away as Tony Richards began to claw his way forward. It all came unglued for Myers as a broken axle put the charger on the sidelines early on. As the race drew to it’s conclusion, Dozier had secured 2nd and Richards finally got to 3rd. A 2-lap shootout at the end gave Richards a chance at point leader Dozier. As the white flag flew Wallace was gone, but Richards shadowed Dozier. As the pair approached turn 3 on the final circuit, Richards gave it everything he had…so did Dozier. Dozier almost parked his car in the cushion. Richards with a full head of steam had a chance. But, he too had lost it a little. Dozier recovered and went on to 2nd place, but Richards slid to a halt in 4 without making contact. Scott Hall also lost the handle but collected Tyler Wolf in the process, crashing into the infield. Richard’s miscue cost him dearly in the points as Dozier’s 2nd place finish, together with Myers misfortune, will help Dozier stretch his point lead in the division. Bret Youngman, Brian Southers and Doug Butterfield came across the line in 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively after the melee in turn 4. Myers, Wallace and wicked fast newcomer Dave Johnson won the heat races. The Pro Super Stocks were next up. The new rules that allow aerodynamic body panels and wings are beginning to have the desired effect. ½ the field sported sprint car wings and the father/son Horn team had left plexi-glass “side panels”. In the case of one “Wild” Willie Horn, everything worked out just fine. The ageless veteran started 8th and clawed his way to the front by ½ way. During that segment some of the pre-race favorites self-destructed in front of him. Fast guys like Ray Trimble and Tommy Arbogast had early race mechanical problems as others had trouble hooking up the surface. Horn was brilliant as he soldiered his way through the flying parts and pieces. He was rock steady and won by a wide margin. Cory Hall came under the checkers a distant 2nd followed by Horn’s son Michael and Brent Hall, brother of Cory. 3-time MRP Winged Sprint Car champion, Wiesz dominated the feature event after a short, but spectacular high-speed duel with fellow front row starter Jeremy Burt. Burt lost the handle in turn 1 on lap 2, spun out, and Wiesz was never challenged again. An entertaining slugfest went on behind Wiesz as Brent Dothage nursed an injured car around in 2nd place. Apparently Dothage suffered a suspension failure early on. He was fast enough, however to stay in 2nd but the field remained bottled up behind him. Some wild antics created a number of incidental yellows that kept everyone artificially close to the highflying Wiesz. Korey Lovell, as well as Burt would not finish the grueling contest. Lovell also experienced suspension failure after an early race crash sent him to the rear. Burt was caught up in someone else’s mess later on and retired near mid-race. A resurgent, spectacular Brandon Dozier again turned in the most remarkable ride of the race. Dozier spun out of the lead group on lap 8. He then restarted in 18th and charged all the way up into 4th place before a bobble cost him a position late in the race. He finished 5th behind Cort Dozier and Tony Silvera. Heat race winners were Brandon Dozier, newcomer Nick Boxwell and Dothage. Wiesz won the B main after a flat tire in his heat race prevented a transfer from the heat race. With Burt and Lovell not finishing, Dothage got a big bump in his championship point lead. Cort Dozier also benefited from that situation. It will be interesting to see how the points will shake out when the event becomes official at the close of business Tuesday. Wallace, in the Browns Valley wingless sprint car main and Dothage’s run in the MRP Winged Sprint Car main got them the Contingency Connection bonus. They are members of the association. The race winner can receive up to $1250 in award certificates good for products from Contingency Connection sponsors. In addition to our cash purse prize money, MRP gets contingency vouchers and certificates for our winged and wingless sprint cars. The way it works is that Contingency Connection has signed up over 200 sponsors nationwide who contribute merchandise vouchers each race to the winner. The only catch is that drivers must be sporting the decal of that sponsor to earn the bonus. The vouchers can be saved and traded in for larger ticket items. The bonus is a healthy addition to the weekly $1000 cash prize promoter Hawes already pays to the winner of MRP winged sprint car main events and the $1000 he pays to the Browns Valley wingless sprint car feature winners. You must be a member of the association to be eligible, but you can become a member at any event throughout the year. Howard Law beat early race leader Shawn Merritt to the line on a mid race caution and never looked back as he won the MRP Mighty Mini Stock main event. Merritt had it his own way when a turn 2 incident brought out a yellow flag. Law stayed in the gas and beat Merritt to the line by a nose. Law had secured the lead with the “heads-up” move. After that it was “all she wrote” for the others. Law was uncatchable. Misty Castleberry drove a smooth, calculated race to 2nd after a spirited duel with Merritt. Point leader James Foster had an adventure in this one. Foster got caught up in a mess early on and had to restart in the rear. Foster charged back through the field in a stirring drive that got him back up to 4th at the finish. Foster, Jason Clayton and Scott Kames got heat race victories. Eric Davey won the B main. According to information received by this observer, Barry Hanson emerged as the winner of the entertaining, chaotic, crash filled Prime Time Pizza Extreme Bomber finale. 24 cars started the metal crunching mayhem. With parts and pieces littering the Marysville oval, flaming, smoking and badly crunched cars charged through the entire distance. The fans were on their feet cheering on cars that often endured bone crunching hits and some who even found driving in reverse was the quick way around; turning rear wheel drive cars into front wheel drive cars…kinda. It was a great way to close off an exciting night of competition. Hundreds of gifts were given away to youngsters in attendance at MRP’s annual KIDZ NITE. MRP and people on each side of the fence donated the gifts. Drivers wandered the grandstands giving away T-shirts and racing memorabilia. It was great seeing the interaction between participants and the enormous throng of spectators. Next week the mighty Winged Sprint Cars will be back to headline the program with the Brown’s Valley RV Wingless Sprints. The Pro 4 Sprints will return. The Nor Cal Dwarf Cars and the special SUDS 4 Cylinders will round out the ambitious 5-division card. The spectator gates open at 5PM with hot laps and qualifying at 6PM. This Saturday the races will start promptly after qualifying. The pit gate opens at 3PM. 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. |
