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First-ever wins for Ricky Wright Jr. and Devon Ostheimer at Petaluma Speedway by Harlan Osborne |
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MAY 16, 2009 --- Ricky Wright Jr. has been there a couple of times before, so close to winning that losing becomes a disappointment, while young Devon Ostheimer has enjoyed nothing but second place finishes in two previous races at Petaluma Speedway. Neither driver wanted to wait too long, after all, for the 17-year-old Wright, and the barely 15-year-old Ostheimer, the future is now. The two youngsters, both well beyond their ages in driving talent, and both from Morgan Hill, cracked the victory barrier in their respective divisions for the first time last Saturday night, Wright in the winged 360 Sprint Cars and Ostheimer in the Wingless Sprints. Wright, the veteran of the two having finished third in the 2008 All-Pro Series championship point standings, was particularly elated since both he and Ostheimer came up through the ranks driving micro sprints. “Devon, he’s my sidekick, it’s special that we both got our first wins on the same night. I’m pretty stoked right now,” said Wright. Wright was also pretty stoked on the three-eighths-mile adobe race track where he started the 18-car 25-lap feature in the front row. Following a pin-ball start that shuffled the back of the pack, and a four-lap pursuit of pole-sitter Norm Johns, Wright took charge. After nine laps he was into lapped traffic, which didn’t deter him or runner-up Brett Rollag, who hotly pursued the leader with Alissa Geving, Klint Simpson, and Bradley Terrell giving chase. Fast-qualifier Rollag continued to pressure Wright until Lap 14 when the Rohnert Park driver took the high side around Wright into the lead. Unfortunately for Rollag, just as he was taking command Ivan Worden and Roberto Kirby tangled in Turn 3 with Kirby going upside down. The crash negated the lead change and when the race restarted Wright held off the determined charge by Rollag the rest of the way, crossing the finish line less than one-half second ahead of his rival. On their heels was Geving, heat winner Terrell, Simpson, 18th starting Jake Haulot, Nick Ringo Jr., Michael Forslund, and Johns. “I got lucky, the red came out just when I needed it. Last week we had one taken away from us, and tonight we had one given to us,” said Wright, recalling the previous race when, after leading for 19 laps he caught a rut and dropped from contention. Despite the strong finishes in his first two Petaluma Speedway starts Ostheimer faced a formidable task in the 22-car Wingless Sprint feature. Lining up next to him in the front row was veteran racer Terry Schank Jr., a winner the previous night in Chico, and Petaluma’s opening night winner in April. As expected, Schank jumped into the lead at the starting green followed by Ostheimer, heat winners Jason McIntosh and Billy Aton, and Ryan Bernal. By lap 10 Aton and Bernal had climbed into the third and fourth spots but Schank and Ostheimer weren’t yielding to anyone. A Lap 13 spin by Matt Streeter tightened the ranks for a restart with Schank again holding the top spot until Lap 15 when, unexpectedly, he rolled to stop, the victim of a broken shock absorber. With 10 laps remaining Ostheimer took charge over Aton and Bernal, both previous winners on the Petaluma clay, and despite his tender age and lack of experience the youngster held them off to capture his first-ever sprint car triumph. “We ran the cushion up top then diamond-chopped on the bottom,” said Ostheimer, sounding like a seasoned veteran. “Later we got up on the cushion to avoid the ruts and then we started to leave them.” Rounding out the finish behind Ostheimer, Aton, and Bernal were Tommy LaLiberte, Arvo Backholm, David Press, Lucas Nerlove, and 14th starting Zak Lynskey. Not to be overshadowed by their open-wheeled counterparts, the Dirt Modifieds, fielding 16 cars for their feature, put on a dazzling display of high-speed finesse as defending track champion Michael Paul Jr., threading through lapped traffic outlasted the dogged pursuit of Brian Azevedo to capture his 23rd career win and first of the season. The only time the intense battle between heat winners, which started on lap 3, let up was for a Lap 14 yellow flag and just three other starters, Joel Myers, Rick Rogers, and Jerry Roy Jr., avoided being lapped. An interesting finish to the Mini Stock feature created a shuffling of the point standings when defending division champion Larry Drew, who was leading the points race at the start of the night and appeared headed for a third-place finish in the 20-lap feature, was penalized for rough driving on the final lap and dropped to last among the 10 starters. The victory went to Kenny Drew, his second in four starts this year, who took charge after his brother Michael Drew, who led the first 10 laps, suddenly broke. When the official point standings are issued later in the week it’s expected that Kenny Drew will be the new points leader by a single point over Larry Drew, with Michael Drew just five points behind them. Finishing behind the winner were rookie John Veeninga, heat winner Paddy Bobby, Erica Reid, George Nielson, Kimberly Hartman, and Tiffany Dehnert. 360 SPRINT CARS Fast time—Brett Rollag 13.075. Heat 1—Roberto Kirby; Adrien Betournay; Rollag; Norm Johns; Brandon Davis; Marty Hawkins; Keith Collins; Michael Forslund; Ivan Worden. Heat 2—Bradley Terrell; Klint Simpson; Alissa Geving; Ricky Wright Jr.; Todd Miller; Nick Ringo Jr.; Bryan Hair; Jon Kirby; Jake Haulot. Main—Wright; Rollag; Geving; Terrell; Simpson; Haulot; Ringo; Forslund; Johns; Miller; Worden; Hair; J. Kirby; Collins; Hawkins; Betournay; Davis; R. Kirby. WINGLESS SPRINTS Heat 1—Billy Aton; Ryan Bernal; Tommy LaLiberte; Lucas Nerlove; Rick Sharp; Amanda Alves; Dusty Barton. Heat 2—Matt Streeter; Terry Schank; Arvo Backholm; David Press; Zak Lynskey; Geoff Ensign; Scotty DuPont. Heat 3—Jason McIntosh; Devon Ostheimer; Rob Johnson; Frank Addiego; Gary Deemer; Alan Clark; Dave Ellis; Brandon Pollack. Main—Ostheimer; Aton; Bernal; LaLiberte; Backholm; Press; Nerlove; Lynskey; Sharp; Deemer; DuPont; Mike Mossi; Clark; Alves; Barton; Ensign; Johnson; Streeter; Pollack; Schank; McIntosh; Addiego. DIRT MODIFIED Heat 1—Heat 1—Michael Paul Jr.; Michael Paul Sr.; Chris Sieweke; Jerry Roy Jr.; Will Fryckman; Rick Rogers. Heat 2—Joel Myers; Rick Karnes; Ron Dickerson; Mark Haas; Freddy Blue. Heat 3—Brian Azevedo; Ron Palombino; Norman Beck; Oreste Gonella; Paul Anderson. Main—Paul Jr.; Azevedo; Myers; Rogers; Roy; Palombino; Karnes; Blue; Anderson; Haas; Gonella; Sieweke; Fryckman; Dickerson; Beck; Paul Sr. MINI STOCK Heat 1—Paddy Bobby; Erica Reid; Kimberly Hartman; John Veeninga; Annie Stahr; Stan Devore. Heat 2—Kenny Drew; Larry Drew; Michael Drew; George Nielson; Tiffany Dehnert. Main—K. Drew; Veeninga; Bobby; Reid; Nielson; Hartman; Dehnert; M. Drew; Stahr; L. Drew; Devore DNS. |
