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Sprint winners Gregg and Aton ride cushion to victory |
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Marysville CA - May 24, 2009 --- The MRP Winged Sprint Cars and the Browns Valley RV Wingless Sprint Cars returned to Paul and Kathy Hawes’ Marysville Raceway Park Saturday and a couple of high riding, hammer down jockeys picked up stirring main event victories in both of the featured sprint car main events. Andy Gregg took the checkers in the MRP Winged Sprint Car Series event and Bill Aton emerged as the winner after the Browns Valley RV Wingless Sprint Car Series war. Misty Castleberry was smooth as silk all night long, and when the dust had settled she had gathered the first place prize in the Marysville Mini Stock main event. All 3 events were thrillers. The Prime Time Pizza EXTREME BOMBERS again brought the curtain down on the proceedings. A full field of 91 entrants again swelled the MRP pit area. The Browns Valley RV Wingless Sprint Car Series was the first feature event called to the line. Newcomer Rick Sharp and Mason Myers made up the 1st row. Myers was quick on the gas and jumped into an early lead as the field poured into the first turn. 3rd starting Anton slipped into 2nd with Jeremy Hawes falling into line in 3rd. Tony Richards parked in behind Hawes and battle was on. Myers went to the top right away and got a few lengths on the others. Then Aton went to school on Myers and leaned his quick #26 on the cushion and started to gain ground on Myers. Richards got by Hawes with an inside run and Hawes got him right back moments later. Richards again tried Hawes a couple of laps later and was able to make the move into 3rd stick. On lap 5 Aton feigned high and shot down low and surprised Myers with a clever inside pass. Myers stayed high and started to turn some of the quickest laps of the race as he stayed glued to Aton. On the 8th circuit Josh Vieira was challenging for 7th and lost the handle as he headed into turn 1. As Vieira slid to a halt James Castleberry caught a wheel and did a quick series of flips coming to rest on his wheels near the wall. Castleberry was Ok. The new green provided some of the best wingless sprint car racing this observer has seen in a long time. Myers went back to the top and flew by Aton with a monster run off of turn 4. Richards also slipped by Aton, but only for a few hundred feet. Anton went back up to the cushion, eclipsed Richards and reeled in Myers again. All three of these talented racers were slugging it out…big time. As the race flew into its final laps Myers went low in 3 and that’s all Anton needed and he roared around Myers on the high side. Richards also got by Myers, but then Myers went back to the top and retook 2nd from Richards. The slicing and dicing among this trio is impossible to describe in this article. It was that good! Anton stayed on the cushion to the end taking away Myers’ line and took the checkers 1st with Myers, Richards and a fast closing Bryan Southers in tow. A late race charge on the high side by Jimmy Trulli garnered him a fine 5th in his first ever ride in a wingless car at MRP. At this writing, the Brown’s Valley RV sponsored Wingless Warrior Sprint Car Series remains the highest paying weekly wingless spec sprint win in California. Richards, newcomer Dave Press and Johnny Reeves took the very competitive heat race victories. The MRP Mighty Minis were next up and it too was a crowd pleaser with an unusual twist at the end. Howard Law jumped out to a substantial lead after an early race tussle with opening night winner Jason Clayton. Law systematically pulled away from Clayton as Castleberry and a fast closing Brent Hall provided the thrills. Hall got by Castleberry and engaged Clayton in an entertaining duel. Law was gone and Hall slipped by Clayton with a nice move on Clayton after a restart. But, Clayton tried to respond and both cars hooked bumpers. The stayed together the length of the back chute and finally spun and crashed into the 4th turn wall some time later. Both cars were out of contention for the win as Castleberry secured 2nd. The final laps went into the books with Law running away from Castleberry, James Foster and Joel Giusti. Law’s potent 00 did not, however, pass the post race technical inspection and he was disqualified giving Castleberry her first victory of the year. Jimmy Ford, Castleberry and Hall won the heat races. The MRP Winged Sprint Car Series was next. Pole sitter Colby Wiesz jumped out to the lead at the outset. 3rd starting Gregg followed him through into 2nd right away. On any other night Wiesz starting in the front would spell disaster for the rest of the field. But Gregg had other ideas. The heat race battle between the two should have given the fans an indication as to what was coming in the main event. Gregg reeled in Wiesz in the final laps of their heat and lost the handle going for the lead on the last lap. But, the stage was set for this main event duel. As the feature unfolded, Gregg camped on Wiesz’s tail and followed the 3-time champ for 3 circuits. Uncharacteristically, Wiesz stayed low through turns 3 and 4 on lap 4 and Gregg got the message. Next time around Gregg’s right rear was buried into the cushion in 3 and he got a tremendous run off of 4. Gregg squeezed his 16x between Wiesz and the wall up the front chute and made the pass stick. Gregg would never be headed, though Wiesz went back up top and stayed close until the end. Gregg never again gave up the high line and Wiesz couldn’t do anything about Gregg. A vicious, high-speed tumble on the front stretch took Burt Foland out of the chase at ½ way. He was OK after a couple of quiet, anxious moments. It was all Gregg from there. Gregg was better in traffic, but in the end he was mired in traffic on the last lap and that allowed Wiesz to close rapidly. But, Wiesz settled for 2nd followed by MRP Winged Sprint Car Champions Jeremy Burt, Korey Lovell and Mike Monahan. Monahan’s race was a particularly notable adventure. Monahan had to earn his way into the feature through the B main, which he won. He started 5th in the main, but went backwards until there were about 6 laps remaining. MRP’s resident “Madman” had backtracked to as low as 11th in the 20-car field. Then he found the high side in turn 3. Monahan mounted a truly entertaining charge back through the field in the final laps to secure his hard fought 5th place finish. A stellar field of cars was on hand. Winner Gregg, in his victory lane interview, noted that it was fun running at MRP again and commented how amazed he was about the size of the appreciative crowd. It truly was a great night on many levels. Brandon Ternora, Wiesz and Heath Hall grabbed heat race honors. Burt’s run to 3rd got him the Contingency Connection bonus this week amounting to some $1250 in contingency awards. Winner Gregg and runner-up Wiesz are not members of the association. In addition to our cash purse prize money, our track gets $150,000 worth of contingency dollars for our winged and wingless sprint cars annually. The way it works is that Contingency Connection has signed up over 200 sponsors nationwide (including Exxon/Mobil 1) 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 Browns Valley RV Wingless feature race has every decal on his car, he could receive some $1250 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 $1000 he pays to the Browns Valley wingless sprint car feature winners. You must be a member of the association, but you can become a member at any event throughout the year. 22 Prime Time Pizza EXTREME BOMBERS crashed and burned their way to another mind-boggling conclusion leaving everyone watching shaking their heads in disbelief. It was all great fun and after the smoke cleared the winner disappeared into the pits…and never came back out! Next week the MRP Winged Sprint Cars will be the featured attraction at the 2009 edition of MRP’s signature spring event: The Mel Hall Memorial Race. This event will draw the best Winged 360 sprint cars in the west. The spectacular Western States Modifieds are also on the program. The spectator gates open at 5PM with hot laps and qualifying at 6PM. This Saturday the races will start promptly after qualifying and a tribute to Mel Hall. Get there early, the grandstand fills quickly for this one. 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. |
