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| Steve Pemberton Wins at
Chowchilla by Debbie Shipherd |
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Wingless Spec Sprints |
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Chowchilla, CA - Sept. 24...Steve Pemberton of Salinas
emerged the feature victor at Chowchilla Speedway on Saturday,
September 24, taking the win with a bold last lap pass on Napa's
David Goodwill who had swapped the lead several times with Tracy's
Danny Olmstead. Pole starter David Goodwill finished a close second,
followed by Morgan Hill's Rob Hammond, Steven Williams of Merced,
and Folsom's Jerry Kobza. It was a thrilling race to watch and a
fitting way to end the 2005 point season for the dual club shows at
Chowchilla's beautifully prepared 1/3 mile track. Twenty nine Wingless Sprints from the CSRA and NCMA clubs supported this race, and several new faces and new cars joined the racing action, among them: Cameron Beard from Atwater, Elk Grove's Shannon Newton, Campbell's Ken Fredenburg, Nathan Johnson from Corning, and "The Cisco Kid", Jerry Cisco from Rancho Cordova. With the SCRA injected 360 Sprints also on the card for the program, SCRA regulars Steven Williams and Danny Olmstead did double duty and raced in both divisions. Williams raced his own carbureted sprint, and Olmstead piloted the Rick Eversult owned car. Four 8 lap heat races ran, with the top four finishers from each heat transferring to the A main, and the top four from the B main completeing the 20 car feature field. Napa's David Goodwill took the first heat win from a pole start, followed by Pemberton, Hammond, Fredenburg, and Woodland's Gary Koster. Livermore's Doug Brewer won heat two followed by Jerry Kobza, Sacramento's Sam Fries, Larry Nelson, and Brentwood's Jimmy Lavell. Steven Williams took the heat three win followed closely to the checkers by Keith Shipherd, Sheldon's Billy Garcia, Steve Nelson, and Chico's Don Emery. Rookie Doug Gandy Jr. had a good run until he was flagged off for losing his muffler. Olmstead won the fourth heat and was chased by Nathan Johnson, Oakley's new driver Anthony Ryan, Cameron Beard, and Patrick Russum of Citrus Heights. The "Woodland Express" Gary Koster won the B main and Denny Burrell, Don Emery, and Ed Amador made the transfer spots. As the green flag unfurled for the 25 lap A main, Goodwill launched into the lead from a pole start with front row starter Doug Brewer, Olmstead, Williams, Pemberton, and Shipherd in close pursuit. A lap two yellow slowed the action and Williams pitted, but managed to return tailing the field on the lead lap. On the restart, Goodwill held the lead with Olmstead on his tail and Pemberton, Shipherd, and Hammond throttling close behind. By lap 8 the hard charging Williams had forged his way past a half dozen cars and was on the move. Up front, Olmstead challenged Goodwill repeatedly as the two swapped spots back and forth under and over each other through the corners. Pemberton, Shipherd and Hammond continued to run strong behind the dicing duo in the front. On lap 15 Shipherd slid high into turn 2 and stopped with a broken steering box for the second yellow, which ended his night. Olmstead led on the restart with Goodwill, Pemberton, Hammond, and Kobza in the top 5 spots, and Steven Williams amazingly up to 6th. Goodwill made another pass on Olmstead, and as Olmstead challenged, contact saw Olmstead spin on the front straight and his car was too damaged to continue. Goodwill again held the lead on the restart with Pemberton closing in, followed by Hammond, Kobza, and Williams. On the last lap as Goodwill took turn 3 high, Pemberton dove under for the pass and took the win. Goodwill, Hammond, Williams, and Kobza rouned out the top five spots. Veteran driver Gary Koster who won the B main finished a strong 10th, and only 3 cars dropped from the action with 2 of them due to mechanical problems. This was the final point race for both the CSRA and NCMA clubs. Kudos go to the unofficial champions, CSRA's Billy Garcia, and NCMA's Rob Hammond, as well as all the twenty nine Wingless Sprint teams who supported this last race for a season high Wingless Sprint car count at Chowchilla Speedway. Their spirit of cooperation and enthusiasm for the growth of this class is truly commendable. The teams thank Chowchilla for their warm hospitality and excellent track preparation, and a personal thanks to fellow journalists Gary Costa and his sons Ryan and Li'l Hammer and Glenn Hopper for their enjoyable company as well. For more exciting grass roots open wheeled racing the 5th Annual Chowchilla Open Wheel Round Up will be held on Friday October 21 and Saturday October 22. Until then, drive safe, have fun, and take care. Summary: Heat 1: David Goodwill, Steve Pemberton, Rob Hammond, Ken Fredenburg, Gary Koster, Scott Pierson, Ed Amador, Phil Peddlar Heat 2: Doug Brewer, Jerry Kobza, Sam Fries, Larry Nelson, Jimmy Lavell, Denny Burrell, Burt Siverling Heat 3: Steven Williams, Keith Shipherd, Billy Garcia, Steve Nelson, Don Emery, Shannon Newton, Doug Gandy, Jr. Heat 4: Danny Olmstead, Nathan Johnson, Anthony Ryan, Cameron Beard, Patrick Russum, Michael Zarevich, Jerry Cisco B Main: Gary Koster, Burrell, Don Emery, Amador, Russum, Lavell, Siverling, Gandy Jr...(more) A Main: Pemberton, Goodwill, Hammond, Williams, Kobza, Brewer, Garcia, Fredenburg, Fries, Koster, L. Nelson, Johnson, S.Nelson, Burrell, Amador, Don Emery, Beard, Olmstaed, Ryan, Shipherd |
