Ollar wins with last lap pass
Shelby and Russum dominate
By Bob Burbach

In the KKCY Street Stock Series Phillip Shelby pulled one of the all time monster moves on lap one. Shelby started 6^th in the field as the green flag flew. Shelby darted to the bottom and followed 5^th starting Jerry Bartlett into one. Shelby freight trained three cars and was 3^rd as the field headed up the back chute. Shelby stayed on the bottom and clicked off the next three cars and led coming off of four on lap one! It was a spectacular passing display and Shelby simply checked out after that. The 2006 champion finally found what had been missing this year and the rest of the field fought for 2^nd after lap one.

4^th starting Ray Benkowski dropped to 6^th in the early going and then started to claw his way back to the front. Benkowski became the show as he got back to 5^th in two more circuits and finally 4^th behind Jerry Bartlett who was parked behind a surprisingly quick, front row starter Guy Bean. Then Bartlett and Benkowski continued what has been a season long duel for position. It was another good one as Benkowski hounded the 3-time champion relentlessly. Bartlett was up to the task and kept the blue 25 at bay for a pair of laps. As the Bartlett-Benkowski battle approached Bean, Benkowski dove to the bottom in three. Benkowski used Bean as a pick and roared by both into 2^nd. Bartlett quickly recovered and slipped by Bean into 3^rd. Heather Bartlett eclipsed Bean shortly thereafter and found 4^th. Two long green flag segments completed the event. The yellow flag segment that split them gave Benkowski and Bartlett another shot at Shelby, but that was irrelevant. Shelby led easily to the checkers.

The defending champion endured a relentless oil leak and smoked a little bit all night long. Shelby was candid in victory lane when he said, "…we've finally figured something out…and we still cant find the oil leak." Oil leak or not, the victory combined with Heather Bartlett's 4^th place finish vaulted the defending champion into the unofficial point lead (all races are official at the close of business on Tuesday).

The KKCY Mini Stocks were next up and this one turned into a stellar, crowd-pleasing duel to the end. Early race action saw Eric Jones, Ollar and Marysville's James Foster in a tight knot fighting for the top spot. Yuba City's Blane Baker had the point lead coming into Saturday's race and he was passing his way to the front in the early going.

The Jones-Ollar-Foster slugfest included fender rubbing and heart stopping, 3-wide action at times. Baker was 4^th after awhile and began to close on the leaders as a quick series of yellow flags slowed the action.

In the latter part of the event a long green flag segment allowed lapped traffic into the mix. Foster was the best through traffic and pulled a five-car length lead. Another quick yellow allowed Ollar to close up and at the new green, he secured 1^st place. He began to pull out a lead. Baker found 3^rd as Jones had to pit for repairs. Then Baker began to really hook up. Baker got by Foster with 5 laps to go and closed rapidly on Ollar as they both, again picked up heavy lapped traffic. Foster retired to the pits with mechanical troubles with but a handful of laps left.

Then it was on. With tree to go Baker made a slick inside move and grabbed the top spot. He held it to the white flag. The pair encountered slow traffic as they approached turn three on the final lap. Ollar chose high, Baker chose low. Baker was hampered on the low side by a car that slid sideways in four. It appeared Baker had to lift for an instant. Ollar with a clear high side run stayed in the gas and his momentum was significant off of four. A lapped car split the battling duo as they headed to the flag. Ollar won by less than a car length in front of fans who were literally screaming at the finish.

Overshadowed by the war up front was the great drive to 3^rd place by Berry Creek's Floyd Youngblood. Youngblood continues to climb in the point standings with his best season ever. In post race inspection, Baker's car was not in compliance with the rules and he was disqualified from the event moving Youngblood into 2^nd followed by Suttter's Joel Giusti and a resurgent Robert Luster.

In the Wingless Warrior MRP Wingless Sprint Car feature Sacramento's Pat Russum won, yet again. An unprecedented accomplishment in any MRP sprint car series ever. It was his 6^th in a row. The race started off with Russum and his archrival for the title, Mark Hill side by side in row three. A great early race battle ensued between Sacramento's John Anderson and Tim Sherman Jr. Russum and Hill started to move and got to 3^rd and 4^th quickly as the leaders raced high and low on the perfectly manicured ¼ mile.

A quick yellow flag brought Russum and Hill right behind the lead duo. Sherman and Anderson renewed their fight at the new green, but Russum and Hill were now in the mix. The 30 lapper was near the 1/3 mark when Russum got by Anderson on the low side in turn four for 2^nd. Then a great high side pass of Sherman, by Russum was negated by another yellow flag shortly thereafter.

Russum made short work of Sherman at the new green bringing Hill along in tow. Russum pulled to a ¼ lap lead with a clear track ahead. That was the race…almost. With five laps left Russum took a weird line and bounced high in the air in turn 1. His right front suspension had started to break away. Hill started to close quickly, but Russum's ¼ lap lead was helpful. He needed every bit of the distance to nurse his crippled mount to the flag. He did just that and muscled the #7 to the flag. Hill was 2^nd and Sherman held on to an excellent 3^rd.

Once again, the Extreme Bomber race was an enormous crowd pleaser. At announcer Tim Gilbert's urging, the majority of the crowd stayed around to see the mechanical carnage and they were not disappointed. What again turned into a circular destruction derby was a hoot…with a twist. The participants had to race the wrong way on the track. The clockwise direction created a memorable sight as the racers punt, passed and kicked their way around the track. A number of the cars were piloted by unknown, reasonably crazy people. Others were piloted by serious sprint car racers and some by contenders for the mini-stock and stock car championships. Who was in what was sometimes unobtainable, and for the most part, those that rode with the drivers probably will need counseling…and soon. The promoter later explained to this observer that someone with the moniker of "Taco" had actually won. Mini Stock driver James Foster led for the most part until his car expired on the backstretch. A series of hits, spins and general mechanical mayhem occurred between the flags. Even after the checkers had flown. Pacific Sprint Car star Brandon Dozier actually jumped the banking on the infield Kart track AFTER the flag had flown. Other post-flag hits and spins kept the crowd yelling well after the scheduled end of the show.