(captainblowdri file photo)
It was Friday night, day three of the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Chico, CA. So far, the action on the race track has mimicked the local temperature. On Friday the local temperature was more than twenty degress hotter than, Monday, the day that I arrived in this small northern California hamlet. The afternoon temperature soared on up into the triple digits, around 102!
Notwithstanding the fact that I have been able to spend some good quality time with an old Eastern Air Lines/United Airlines buddy, Tim Donohue, I have also been the loyal sidekick of two very good racing friends, Dan and Bernie Clapp. However, my main objective in Chico was to observe, enjoy, and inhale some very close, fast, competitive sprint car racing.
Day number three of the 2011 Gold Cup Race of Champions has given me a glimpse of just what I have been waiting to see in Chico. After a brief delay, while the grounds crew rearranged and re-groomed the racing surface, the action began.
Paul McMahan had lady luck on his side as he picked up his fourth victory of the 2011 season at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. With a challenging racing surface, the Elk Grove, Calif. native made the best of his pole position starting spot to lead all 25 laps, wall -to-wall. The starting spot was by virtue of his win in the night’s dash. McMahan started the dash thanks to a drawing of six, which placed him on the front row.
“To get a win here in front of (team co-owners) Dennis and Teresa Roth is huge for this team,” said McMahan. “The dash draw really helped us and it meant we got to start up front which was key. The track started taking rubber early on (in the night) and they worked it a little bit after time trials. For the feature, it still had a lot of rubber so I was trying to be patient as I worked my way around here. I knew Jason (Meyers) would give me a run for my money near the end and I had to keep him at bay. Great win tonight but we want to be golden tomorrow night.”
Here is the results from Friday night’s feature:
A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 83-Paul McMahan[1][$8,000]; 2. 14-Jason Meyers[4][$4,000]; 3. 121-Shane Golobic[2][$2,500]; 4. 63-Chad Kemenah[3][$2,200]; 5. O-Jonathan Allard[10][$2,100]; 6. 57-Jac Haudenschild[8][$2,000]; 7. 11-Steve Kinser[9][$1,800]; 8. 99-Kyle Larson[5][$1,600]; 9. 1-Sammy Swindell[15][$1,500]; 10. 5H-Mason Moore[14][$1,300]; 11. 55-Trey Starks[18][$1,200]; 12. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[11][$1,100]; 13. 83JR-Tim Kaeding[17][$1,000]; 14. 33E-Evan Suggs[22][$700]; 15. 7S-Jason Sides[19][$600]; 16. 25-Jason York[20][$600]; 17. 6-Kraig Kinser[24][$600]; 18. 9-Brad Sweet[6][$600]; 19. 1X-Andy Gregg[16][$600]; 20. 44W-Austen Wheatley[21][$600]; 21. 7-Craig Dollansky[13][$600]; 22. 2-Kyle Hirst[23][$600]; 23. 17-Justin Sanders[7][$600]; 24. 15-Donny Schatz[12][$600]
Listed below are the results of the heat races:
Heat 1 – (10 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 11-Steve Kinser[1] ; 2. 83-Paul McMahan[2] ; 3. 17-Justin Sanders[4] ; 4. 2-Kyle Hirst[7] ; 5. 19-Tyler Wolf[9] ; 6. 29-Justyn Cox[8] ; 7. 11VS-John Michael Bunch[10] ; 8. OO-Jason Statler[5] ; 9. 5H-Mason Moore[3] ; 10. 15X-Pat Harvey Jr.[11] ; 11. 24C-Colby Copeland[6]
Heat 2 – (10 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 57-Jac Haudenschild[2] ; 2. 14-Jason Meyers[4] ; 3. 6-Kraig Kinser[7] ; 4. 1-Sammy Swindell[3] ; 5. 89-Rico Abreu[8] ; 6. 2F-Brad Furr[9] ; 7. 26M-Sean McMahan[11] ; 8. 21-Mike Henry[1] ; 9. 92-Kerry Madsen[6] ; 10. 7Y-Clayton Snow[10] ; 11. 44W-Austen Wheatley[5]
Heat 3 – (10 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 9-Brad Sweet[4] ; 2. 121-Shane Golobic[3] ; 3. 55-Trey Starks[2] ; 4. 25-Jason York[1] ; 5. 28-Ian Madsen[7] ; 6. 21M-Peter Murphy[9] ; 7. 25M-Bobby McMahan[8] ; 8. 88-Brad Bumgarner[5] ; 9. 3F-Geoff Ensign[6] ; 10. 28X-Billy Strange[11] ; 11. 11MD-Mathew Davis[10]
Heat 4 – (10 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. 15-Donny Schatz[1] ; 2. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[5] ; 3. 63-Chad Kemenah[4] ; 4. 1X-Andy Gregg[3] ; 5. 11C-Roger Crockett[8] ; 6. 5D-Jason Solwold[7] ; 7. 7S-Jason Sides[2] ; 8. 3C-Cody Lamar[6] ; 9. 6C-Jeff Paraday[10] ; 10. 92N-Andy Forsburg[9]
Heat 5 – (10 Laps – Top 4 finishers transfer to the A-feature)
1. O-Jonathan Allard[1] ; 2. 99-Kyle Larson[2] ; 3. 83JR-Tim Kaeding[3] ; 4. 33E-Evan Suggs[6] ; 5. 91-Cody Darrah[5] ; 6. 19B-Bud Kaeding[8] ; 7. 7-Craig Dollansky[4] ; 8. 82-Robbie Whitchurch[10] ; 9. 6R-Bill Rose[9] ; 10. 64-Steve Tatterson[7]
With the end of the first night of action packed racing, the excitement builds for final night of the World of Outlaws, and the crowning of the Gold Cup Race of Champions!
THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SIGNING OFF: ROGER,WILCO, OVER, AND OUT!