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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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Interrogation
by Gary "Hammerdown" Costa |
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| A Visit To Marysville Raceway Park! |
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Marysville Raceway Park – Last Saturday, (June 14th)
we loaded up the truck, and stuck a $100 worth of fuel into
the pickup and made our first trek to the new 1/4-mile
Marysville Raceway Park. After arriving one can quickly see lots
of nice improvements allover the speedway as well the facility
itself. Paul and Kathy Hawes are doing a fantastic job in my
opinion, and are also working hard to get rid of the tracks
past reputation.
-Feature
Winner “The Madman” Mike Monahan! We are very lucky to have Paul and Kathy
doing what they are doing for the speedway. Love the joint or
hate the place, you can’t take anything away from these fine
folks who are pouring their heart and soul into MRP. Not to
mention some major money. Fellow racing enthusiast and best friend,
Lance Jennings from the well known Scrafan.com website would
meet me there. He came up from his Los Angeles area home, and
was at Chico the previous evening, enjoying some winged and
non-wing Sprint car racing. Lance is not only a great friend,
but an honest to goodness true to the sport fan, who loves our
sport. I always cherish the time that I’m able to visit with
another hardcore Sprint car fanatic like myself. As I was making the usual pit stroll, I
got a surprise when I ran into my buddy and Sprint car masher,
Steven Tiner. Steven now rests his head in Fresno. I’m
really glad that this gasser is back in California doing his
thing.
-Steven
Tiner Getting’ ready! I was also happy to see my buddy
“Bean” who has been wrenching on Lovell Bros. Sprint cars
for many, many seasons. For those of you that don’t know
“Bean”, you’ve got to take a trip down to Korey
Lovell’s trailer after a race and visit with this guy.
He’s another guy that I like to be around, as his love,
dedication and passion for our sport will no doubt rub off on
you. He is a class act all the way. I had many people ask me, “What are you
doing here?” Hell, if it’s got dirt on it, I don’t care
where I go. I don’t follow just one series or go to one
track. I go to different tracks and follow them all. I have no
set schedule, so I never know where I’m going to end up. I
love making new friends at different tracks and meeting
different drivers from different clubs.
-Brent
Dothage is ALWAYS hard on the gas! The warm evening got started with Mike
Wasina, Jr. setting quick time over the 17-car-field. What I really liked was that there was no
wasting time for the heat races. Instead of having 5-6 car
heat races to drag out the program, we went right into
2-strong and entertaining winged Sprint car heat races. They
were won by Korey Lovell and Troy DeGaton. The Spec-Sprints would also have 17-cars
pull through the gates as well. And again, we, the fans would
witness 2-strong heat races. Josh Tucker and Tony Richards
would win their heats respectively. As the sun baked the race track, and the
support classes would have their turns on the speedway, the
track soon became a one groove bottom deal. Now, that’s not
a slap at MRP. I just as you have seen the ‘best’ tracks
turn this way.
-Spec-Sprint
main event winner Tony Richards! In front of the packed grandstand’s,
Nevada’s veteran shoe-Mike Monahan lead the whole way. He
did what he was supposed to do. He hit all of his marks and
stayed out of trouble. Congrats to a guy that has been at this
for a very, very long time, and who also has seen and done it
all. It’s guys like him that keep this deal that we love so
much going. The Spec-Sprint main event was last on
the card. Tony Richards dogged John Anderson the whole way.
Richards finally got under Anderson to bring home the win.
Also in the main event, Josh Vieira
took a vicious series of high-spiraling barell rolls. He was
hard on the gas, and was going to make an outside move.
However, the car on the inside drifted up into his path and he
hopped a wheel, launching him into the hot Marysville sky.
-A
picture of Josh Vieira’s car before the flip! He would have
kept flipping, but the car hit head on into the top of the
k-rail. He was shaken, but thankfully he was able to walk away
from the incident. The front of the car was completely
destroyed. At the end of the night, we followed Korey
Lovell’s lead in getting the battered car into the trailer. I am extremely
excited about the improvements at MRP. I look for bigger and
better things from Paul and Kathy Hawes on the horizon, as
their dedication is already showing. If you haven’t been out
there yet, I suggest you check it out. I know that I will be
back. Check out the MRP website http://www.marysvilleracewaypark.com/
or call the speedway (530) 743-1327 *****All
photos courtesy Lance Jennings |
