Familiar Faces Find Fine Finishes on Western Auto Body Night
PETALUMA, CA, Aug 24 – A breezy and clear evening found a smooth and fast racetrack on Petaluma Speedway’s Western Auto Body Night. Doing double duty in both Pit Stop USA Sprint Car divisions, Drew Lynskey copped fast time honors in the winged 360 class besting the 14-car field with a quick 12.650. Visiting Jake Morgan and Jeff Griffin captured the preliminary heat races. The main event fired off with the top two point’s competitors Alissa Geving and Bradley Terrell starting on the front row. Terrell blasted away to the early advantage however, the red flag came out for Chris Magoon who catapulted very high over Lynskey and landed upside down. Magoon fortunately walked away unscathed though his helmet was severely damaged from his wing supports. When racing returned to green it was Terrell over Geving and Jake Haulot. A second red flag condition occurred for a flipping Brett Rollag who overturned in turn one. Rollag also walked away uninjured. Lap six saw visiting Steve Jaquith loop in turn four collecting Marissa Polizzi. Several more single car spins continued to stall the action until Polizzi was involved in an accident with a wayward push vehicle necessitating yet another stoppage. After 35 minutes with 20 laps completed it was point leader Terrell garnering the win over Geving, Haulot, Shawn Arriaga, and Morgan.
The Pit Stop USA Spec Sprints saw Geoff Ensign and veteran Bob Newberry garner the preliminary heats. The feature saw Scotty Dupont scamper to a half-dozen car lead through the first five circuits over Ensign, Joe Stornetta, Brett Barney, and Terry Schank Jr. Lap 7 found Schank Jr. and Barney collide with both cars overturning. Both drivers were okay. Returning to action saw the running order Dupont, Ensign, Stornetta, Scott Hall, and Drew Lynskey. Exiting turn two on the 13th lap saw Dupont slip up and Ensign push-to-pass. Contact between the two saw Dupont pirouette into the air, land backwards, and suddenly right his way and impressively rejoin the field without drawing a caution. Lap 20 saw Hall make a nice pass to third. On the 23 lap rookie John Clark spun setting up a two-lap shootout. At the finish it was Ensign holding off a last lap slide job attempt by Stornetta. Third was Hall over Lynskey, and Sparky Howard.
The Carr Racing Chassis IMCA Modifieds saw Mark Haas and defending track champion Michael Paul Jr. cop heat races. The feature saw Hall streak to the lead only to see Michael Paul Sr. loop for caution. Then on lap two it was Haas spinning in turn four collecting Chris Sieweke. Lap 3 saw Chris Compton with the lead over Michelle Byron, Paul Jr., Oreste Gonnella, and Brian Azevedo. Lap 6 saw Paul Jr. make a brilliant outside move to the lead as Gonnella followed to the runner up position. Lap 10 found Byron and Gonnella both spin in turn one without drawing a caution. Lap 15 found Paul Jr. with a comfortable lead and the only competitor in the top five who had not yet spun. Smooth sailing for the next 10 circuits earned Paul Jr. the win over Azevedo, Gonnella, Sieweke, and Joel Myers.
A 17-car field Lumberjack Super Stock field saw veteran’s Dave Byron and Steve Studebaker net the eight lap heat races. Point leader Mike Learn started on the pole and led the first couple of laps over Studebaker and Byron. Byron and Learn then collided sending Learn reeling back to fifth and propelling Shawn McCoy to second. No caution saw Studebaker stretch to a big lead as Learn fought back. The caution Learn needed came on lap 17 when Mark Ohlinger tagged the turn two wall. Lap 17 saw Learn in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Studebaker grapple past and capture his fifth win of the season over Studebaker, David Spriggs, Gary Adams, and Paul Hanley.
The Mini Stock division saw several cars with mechanical gremlins not be able to make the call for the feature. Eden McCormick battled the first five laps with point’s leader Josh Williams, and super-rookie Pete Langley. McCormick began to stretch his lead out and then unbelievably spun by himself on lap 10. On the restart McCormick wasted no time wresting the lead away from Langely and at the checkers it was McCormick, Langley, Williams, Danny Naron, and Hanna Langley.
Petaluma Speedway is dark this weekend Aug 31st but will return to action Saturday Night September 7th with the Pit Stop USA Spec Sprints, Carr Racing Chassis IMCA Modifieds, Lumberjack Restaurant Super Stocks, a Dwarf Car Divisions. For more information please go to www.petaluma-speedway.com.
