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The Shelby’s brother and sister act win Stock Titles,
Cottrell Repeats in Dwarf Nationals
Wingless Nationals and Mini Sprint Nationals Next week
By
Bob
Burbach
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Marysville CA - September
29, 2007 --- What a weekend!!! After a wild, monsoon-like storm blasted through Paul and Kathy Hawes’ Marysville Raceway Park Friday night over 375 laps of racing action concluded the program on Saturday night. The 4 division program included nearly 100 Dwarf Cars as the WSDCA West Coast Dwarf Car Nationals were presented with the KKCY Mini and Street Stocks deciding their season long championships. The program included the SORA Sprint 100s as well.
Before the rains came, Friday night’s preliminary heat races for the KKCY Street Stock Cars flipped the leader board as Phillip Shelby surrendered 2 points to Heather Bartlett when the heat races were concluded. Bartlett took a single point advantage into the final feature of the season Saturday.
The Dwarf Car preliminary results that included 11 heat races and 2 feature events were completely wiped out by the storm. The WSDCA officials determined that only the 8 heat race winners in the pro series and the top 2 finishers in each of the senior heat races would move on to guaranteed starting positions in each division’s final events held on Saturday. Generally a series of Friday night main events determines the racers that will be locked into the National final.
That said, there were so many cars entered in Saturday’s racing program that haulers and trailers spilled out into the parking lot as the pits were literally filled to the brim. As the Friday night races concluded, promoter Hawes decided on an afternoon starting time on Saturday so all of the divisions could potentially get all of their laps in. Saturday’s program consisted of 15 heat races, a B-Main for the KKCY Mini Stocks (they ran a complete program and determined that championship) and 9 Main events.
In local racing action, the KKCY Street Stock Cars put their season to rest with one of the most nerve-wracking programs ever presented. Shelby went into the feature lined up 2 rows ahead of Bartlett and seemed to have a good shot at easily securing his second title in a row. Shelby has been a consistent winner all year bringing 5 victories into this final event. Bartlett had but one feature event win, but was a more consistent finisher than Shelby. As the racing fortunes would dictate, that statistic would have a major impact on the championship outcome.
The race itself was a runaway for Folsom’s Tom Tilford and Jason England. It was Tilford’s 2nd appearance at MRP this season and he’s taken to MRP like a duck takes to water. Tilford led Jason England and 1999 Champion Craig Eubanks in the first few circuits with Shelby and Bartlett finding 4th & 5th. Then Shelby started to move. The hard slick surface seemed to favor the 3 front-runners, but Shelby used a clean, smooth touch to slip by both Eubanks and England. Moments later, on lap 5, Shelby was sideways in turn 2 and the ensuing yellow flag sent Shelby to the rear. What was an easy drive was to become a desperation charge for the 2006 champion. Bartlett was the big winner in that episode as she moved up. Had the race ended there, she would have won the title. But, that’s why we run the laps. Drama with a capital “D” was on the horizon for both of the title contenders.
The new green saw Shelby dart in and out of traffic as he closed on Bartlett’s pink #99. Shelby was on a mission. As the field was headed onto the backstretch on lap 7 Wes Shermantine lost the handle and spun wildly out of control.The Citrus Heights rookie driver rocketed back across the track and surprised Yuba City’s Guy Bean who pitched his car to avoid Shermantine’s. Bartlett approached the situation and with nowhere to go, piled into the melee. Shelby slipped past and reassumed the point lead and 5th place. Now, Bartlett had to go to the rear. Bartlett made a quick pit stop to have her crew assess the situation and she returned to the race immediately, but in last place.
The noisy, anxious crowd was on their collective feet as the field took the new green. But, it was apparent that Bartlett had a problem. While she was able to pass cars early on in this new green flag segment, her car was pushing so badly out of turns 1 and 4 that one had to think she had sustained some damage in the backstretch crash. Despite her ill-handling car, she passed enough fellow racers to get right up behind Shelby in the last ½ of the race. Shelby stopped progressing as he got into 5th place. In fact he finished in 5th. But as Bartlett got to 6th her car got significantly worse and could not catch the front-runners. She faded rapidly but stayed 6th in the final laps as Tilford and England easily outdistanced the field at the checkers. As the race drew rapidly to it’s conclusion, England got by Tilford with a great move that iced the victory for the orange #77. With so many eyes on the championship title chase, it’s important to note that the race up front was a thriller in it’s own right. It was England’s 1st ever win at MRP, though he was fast qualifier 3 weeks ago.
MRP’s unusually glassy, hard slick surface favored the front runners as it was much like the surface they run on at their home track. The hundreds of laps of racing prior to the KKCY Street Stock main had taken its toll on the MRP clay.
As the event concluded, Bartlett’s 6th place finish coupled with Shelby’s 5th place finish put them in an exact deadlock in points. Each driver had accumulated the same number of points over the course of the entire season. The number of feature event victories was the tie-breaker and Shelby was crowned as the Champion. It was his 2nd title in a row. The Championship put a fitting cap on his career as an outstanding stock car driver. The perception is that Shelby will pilot Sprint Cars in the not too distant future.
Bartlett’s run for the title was noteworthy as it was her first season driving in the KKCY Street Stock class. Bartlett has championships in the Mini Stock class at another speedway. Coming into the event Heather’s dad, Jerry Bartlett was 3rd in points and had a mathematical chance at the title. In a conversation with Heather on Friday she told this observer that the 4 time champion would park his car for the weekend and let Shelby and daughter Heather fight it out on their own. He did not want to be a factor, apparently.
Coming into Saturday’s program Sutter’s Joel Giusti had to sweep the program to have any chance at catching point leader Lisa Shelby for the title in the KKCY Mini Stocks. The problem was that Shelby merely had to start the feature in order to clinch the title…and if not, she’d have to do poorly enough in her heat race to miss qualifying for the main that way…AND she’d have to finish 4th or worst in the B main, thus not qualifying at all for the A main.
Giusti did what he had to do and won his heat. Then Shelby won her heat. It was all over. The green flag on the feature event just put an exclamation point on what was a stirling, season long effort on Shelby’s part. She had overcome adversity and a disqualification. She had won, and won again. But, again and again she overcame adversity and in the end, won a well deserved title.
And the race? By Mini Stock standards it was kind of a ho-hummer. Giusti ran away and Gary Holsey put on one of his patented rides to the front. If Giusti bobbled, Holsey would have run him down. Giusti never bobbled. Lisa rode her spectacular looking #88 into an easy 4th behind James Foster. 5th place finisher Damian Merritt deserves notice here. He drove a hard and smooth race and was a contender in the end.
Las Vegas Dwarf Car superstar Ryan Cottrell was the story of the 12th annual West Coast Dwarf Car Nationals. Cottrell dominated…period. Some early race challenges were easily thwarted and Cottrell took his front row start and ran away from the competition. It was his second consecutive victory in the event.
Oregon’s Henry Corbin was just amazing as he traveled from the E main event all the way to the A. He passed so many cars that somewhere we lost count. While many more outstanding rides were taken in this 100 car extravaganza, Corbin’s tenacity, and Cottrell’s sheer speed and skill stand out.
For more on the entire West Coast Dwarf Car Nationals story watch this website in the near future or go to www.dwarfworld .com for links to other stories and complete data on the 12th running of this prestigious event.
An abbreviated SORA Sprint 100 feature event was won by Sacramento’s Mark Gibbs. The race was halted in the 6th lap due to curfew limitations. Promoter Hawes indicated he was going to rectify the situation with a gesture of good faith in the coming season. The S-100 feature was not a point race.
Next week the 1st Wingless Nationals will be staged at MRP. A 40-lap feature on Saurday will decide who picks up the $2000 1st place prize. Preliminary action begins Friday night. The 2007 Mini Sprint Nationals will also be presented with the Wingless Warriors. Insiders say that 40+ cars are headed this way from the Pacific Northwest to challenge California’s finest Mini Sprint Stars. The BCRA will be the host organization for this event.
Former Worlds of Outlaws star Darrell Hanestad has indicated his intention to travel to Marysville for the Wingless Sprint Car portion of the event as has dozens of others as this article goes to press. Watch the website daily for further info on this fantastic event.
Pit gates always open at 3PM. Spectator Gates Open at 5PM with racing getting underway at 7PM. Contact the promoters at 1.530.743.1327 or email as indicated on the home page. Put www.marysvilleracewaypark on your “favorites” button on you computer. Watch this site for press releases, updates and complete results.
Note: Please make this observer aware of any names that are misspelled. 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.
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