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| Press Release |
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Jr. gets #1. Dothage, Hawes and
Sneep also score. Kidz Nite this Saturday. |
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(June 14, 2009 - Marysville, CA) The MRP Winged Sprint Cars, the Browns
Valley RV Wingless Sprint Cars, the Pro 4 Sprints and the BCRA Midget Lites
returned to Paul and Kathy Hawes’ Marysville Raceway Park Saturday for the
June Open Wheel Spectacular. Point Leader Brent Dothage took the checkers in the
featured Winged Sprint Car Class and Tim Sherman Jr. picked up a popular victory
in the Wingless Sprint Car main. Jeremy Hawes dominated in the Pro 4 Sprint Car
feature as did Jason Sneep in the BCRA capper. On a night when relentless
southern winds pounded the Marysville clay some of the most remarkable racing of
the season took place. The track slicked up, and everyone started to make
adjustments to hook up to the butter smooth surface. On numerous occasions fans
looked skyward to see if a full moon had popped out, but that was not the case.
The intense and sometimes slam bang action on the track was well managed by
officials and safety crews alike. The event was checkered at about 9:30.
In main event racing, the Browns Valley RV Wingless Sprint Cars feature was the first up and the first green flag changed the entire complexion of the point race as well as the race itself. The yellow flag was displayed for an incidental spin as the field completed lap 1. Leader Brett Youngman got off the gas and Cody Myers climbed the right rear of Youngman’s XX. Myers headed skyward as Tony Richards, Cort Dozier, Pat Couch and Brian Southers all piled into the melee. Richards got some air and bent the front end on his racer when it slammed to a stop on top of Youngman’s car. In addition, an incident while warming up for the event claimed Mason Myers. So, before a lap was scored all 4 top contenders in the season long point championship had been involved in incidents. Both Myers cars were eliminated, as was Richards. Point leader Dozier was able to restart as was Youngman, Couch and Southers. The new green had Sherman on the pole and that was going top be a problem for everyone else. Jr. slipped into the distance with ease. He was smooth and only a mistake would cost him his long awaited victory. He never made the mistake. With a veteran’s savvy Sherman negotiated the distance while keeping hard charging Jay Youngman at bay. Youngman presented Jr.’s most formidable challenge. Youngman faded when he tried an outside move that didn’t work. He stayed a credible 2nd for the entire distance. Amazingly enough, Brian Southers and a hard charging Dozier clawed their way into 3rd and 4th places when the checkers finally flew over the black 1jr. Their recovery and charge to the front was only overshadowed by Sherman’s sparkling performance. Point contender Johnny Reeves finished 5th. Sherman Jr. avoided injury in victory lane when an emotional Tim Sherman Sr. (dad) ran the distance of the front stretch and flew into the cockpit to hug his son. Jr said it best in an emotional scene that included a lot of tears when he said, “It’s a dream come true.” The fact of the matter is that Sherman was 2nd in points last year, without a victory. He endured a couple of vicious accidents and still soldiered through. He’d been knocking on the door for a while now and in this race he came flying through that door with a fine victory. Brent Dothage was probably the most surprised driver in the entire field when he finally pulled into victory lane in the MRP Winged Sprint Car main event. The entire event was an adventure. First off, Dothage was punted into the infield as the green flag flew on the initial start. Dothage saved it and went on only to find 4 racecars parked right in front of him when he got to the first turn. He avoided piling in and kept on going. Outside front row starter Cort Dozier, Paul Zimmerley, Mark Michelet and Gary Burdick all crashed together in turn 1 on lap 1. The restart put former champion Jeremy Burt outside Sean Martin, but Martin won the drag race into turn 1. Burt fell into 2nd as a knock down drag out battle ensued between Dothage and fellow 3-time champion Korey Lovell. It was an entertaining slugfest that Lovell finally won and he got into 3rd. Martin was gone. Burt couldn’t do a thing about it as Lovell had reeled in Burt with a few perfect laps. Dothage stayed a close 4th, but was, himself being pestered by a hard charging Mike Monahan and a resurgent Brandon Dozier. Finally Lovell was close enough to Burt to show Burt his front end with a wicked wheelie out of turn 2. Next time around Lovell got his best bite of the race out of turn 2 and went side by side with Burt into 3. It was on from there. Lovell climbed onto Burt’s left side as both cars spun wildly in front of the field. The crash took Monahan, Jimmy Steward and Burdick to the wall with them. Dothage squeezed between the wall and Burt and made it through by inches. The new restart had Burt’s night go from bad to worse as he got caught up in another crash that eliminated his #2B. Dothage used the next restart to set up race long leader Martin and grabbed the lead on the front chute as the race roared toward ½ way. Martin tried to respond, but Dothage was uncatchable to the end. Martin stayed 2nd with Brandon Dozier and Courtney Dozier in his wake. This was Dothage’s first win since forming his own team and he popped out of his car pumping his fist in the air. Dothage said he thought there might be trouble once Lovell got by him and challenged Burt. Lovell was really fast during that part of the race pulling spectacular crowd-pleasing wheelies. Sherman’s and Dothage’s run got them the Contingency Connection bonus this week amounting to some $1250 in contingency awards. In addition to our cash purse prize money, MRP 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 to be eligible, but you can become a member at any event throughout the year. In the Pro 4 feature, veteran sprint car racer Jeremy Hawes dominated a quickly run race. He jumped from his 2nd row starting spot and was leading after a nifty pass of Greg Hansen coming off of 4 on lap 1. After that, it was a race for 2nd as Hawes was hooked up and smokin’ fast all race long. Another strong performance from PJ Peterson kept his black #5 within shouting distance of the highflying Hawes for a while. But, Hawes was in a zone of his own. Peterson stayed 2nd at the checkers. Denmark Juan was 3rd followed by point leader Tim Maclaughlin and Chad Thompson. In 6th was wingless Tony Gaoiran. Gaioran’s night was a thriller from the opening bell. In his heat race Gaoiran left the park in turn 3, went end over end and tried to stuff his blue #4 into the cup on hole #3 of the adjacent miniature golf course. Well, he never made it past the catch fencing, but it was a thrilling ride for the former champ. He has a dubious distinction. Gaoiran is 2 for 2 in flips this year having made 2 appearances at MRP. He was OK after the remarkable ride. Jason Sneep rushed to the lead of the BCRA Midget Lite feature and was a ½ lap ahead when the checkers waved. Brian Corso was a distant 2nd. The Midget Lites wore wings tonight and unlike their exciting side-by-side performances earlier this year, this event was pretty much of a parade. As a fan of midget auto racing this observer would like to see the wings shelved in this class and let the drivers do the driving once again. See more on the BCRA at bcraracing.com. Next week one of the great annual events at MRP takes shape. It’s Kids Night! All kids 12 and under are admitted to the races for free! It’ll be a great time for all. It’s also Father’s Day weekend, so include MRP in your plans for Father’s Day. Some outrageous slam-bang action would be just what the doctor ordered for dad. The return of the EXTREME BOMBERS will put a cap on some monster fast, high-speed action at the Yuba Sutter areas only professional sports venue. The mighty Winged Sprint Cars will headline the program with the Brown’s Valley RV Wingless Sprints. The Pro 4 Sprints will return and the Nor Cal Dwarf Cars 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. 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. |
