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8
for Misty.
Wiesz, Simas, Peterson, Corso and Sarcomo also win
in 1st Rich Dozier 100.
Rain make up date for MRP Minis July
24.
by Bob Burbach
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Marysville
CA - July 11, 2010 --- Paul and Kathy Hawes
presented a thrilling, tightly run 6 division show
Saturday night a Marysville Raceway Park. Feature
event racing was outstanding in all 5 of the point
divisions offered. The MRP Extreme Bomber finale,
once again sent everyone home with a smile on their
faces. The 1st Richard Dozier 100 had everything
from almost scary side by side racing to multiple
car flips and crashes. Continuing her run to
possible racing history, Misty Castleberry won her
8th consecutive feature event in MRP’s own Mighty
Mini Stocks. Colby Wiesz took the MRP Winged Sprint
car feature. Point leader Taylor Simas grabbed a
victory in the Performance Auto Supply Wingless
Warrior Sprint Car Series. P. J. Petersen ran away
from the field in the Pro 4 finale. Brian Corso won
the BCRA Midget Lite feature as Armand Sarcomo
repeated in the MRP Extreme Bomber closer.
It was also announced by promoter Hawes that the
Mighty MRP Mini Stocks will make up their rained out
date of May 22nd on July 24th. As it happens, if
Castleberry is able to win next week, July 24th will
be the night that she has the opportunity to break
veteran Jerry Bartlett’s 14 year old record of 9
straight MRP feature event victories. This event
will also feature the return of the King of
California 410 Sprint Cars for the 1st time in 11
years to MRP. California’s premier traveling
sprint car series will bring all of their famous
stars and cars to MRP. Brent Kaeding, Kyle Larson
and point leader Jonathan Allard will be at MRP for
this important showdown.
First things first. Marysville Raceway Park’s own
“Blonde Bomshell” did it again Saturday night.
She started in the front row, but DIDN’T lead wire
to wire as one might expect. Fellow front row
starter Howard Law jumped into the early lead and a
race-long war for top spot began. Frankly, it looked
like Castleberry’s run to history might be over as
Law got 4 or 5 car lengths on Castleberry in the
early laps. Speaking of the early laps, a noisy, lap
1, 6 car crash on the front on the front stretch
eliminated Jeff Olschowka and Brent Hall, two shoes
that could have ended Castleberry’s streak. A
series of wicked crashes continued to pepper the
event as Law and Castleberry patiently waited to
resume their struggle.
When it finally got going, Castleberry shadowed Law
until Law’s tail stepped out off of 4 and
Castleberry got a run. The pair ran side by side as
the grandstand erupted. Castleberry got a nose past
Law and the finally the whole car. Law tucked into
2nd and threatened the rest of the way. As the white
banner flew Law made a banzai run into 3 in a
last-ditch effort to win the race. He tried a bump
and run. He loosened up the fleet 95, but
Castleberry kept it straight as Law spun to a stop.
She beat the field to the stripe as the crowd roared
its approval. Mike Merritt finished 2nd as half the
grandstand applauded Law’s valiant effort…the
other half cheering Castleberry’s march toward
history. Jimmy Ford was 3rd after he came from the
back in a brilliant drive after being involved in
the 1st lap crash. Castleberry and Law won the heats
and Law drew for the straight up start in the
feature.
The “Colfax Comet” Colby Wiesz picked up career
win #44 in a virtuoso drive during the MRP Winged
Sprint Car main event. The 4th starting Wiesz got to
2nd in the first few circuits and took off after
fellow 3-time champ Brent Dothage who had built a
straightaway lead from his front row starting spot.
When Wiesz got to Dothage the pair of champions
slugged it out hard as Wiesz tried high and low to
get by Dothage. If Wiesz headed for the bottom,
Dothage was there. If Wiesz went high Dothage went
high to hang on to the top spot. It was an uncanny
duel for a couple of laps, but, in the end Wiesz
feigned high, Dothage stayed high, but Wiesz cut for
the bottom in 2 and it was over from there. Kevin
Sharrah finished 3rd with Mike Monahan in 4th. This
race was also hampered by a 6-car crash on lap #1
that eliminated Reyna Krueger and Cort Dozier.
Krueger, Dothage and Devon Ostmeir collected heat
race wins.
A truly remarkable Performance Auto Supply Wingless
Warrior Sprint Car race captivated the crowd as
Taylor Simas fought his way to a brilliant feature
event victory. Simas and fellow hard charger Brian
Southers started in row 4 and started their march to
the front immediately as pole sitter Jeremy Hawes
bolted to an early lead. Simas got to 2nd right away
with Southers in tow.
When Simas got to Hawes it was really on a while. A
truly heart stopping duel ensued with Simas grabbing
the lead in turn 1 when Hawes bobbled down low.
Hawes retaliated with a daring move in 4 that had
the 2 spirited racers banging wheels from turn 4 to
turn 1. Wisps of tire smoke shot into the air as the
pair literally ran wheel to wheel. Simas eventually
secured the lead and Hawes would, in the end, not
finish.
With Hawes out of the picture, Southers threatened
Simas with desperate attempts. Meanwhile, Terry
Schank was tearing through the field with precision
from the back. Schank had to start in the back as
the red #1 needed a push start at the beginning of
the event. Schank was brilliant as he reeled in the
youngsters up front. The trio accordioned together
as Schank joined the fight at the front. In the
final 2 circuits Schank decided to go for it on the
high side. At times he would throw his car high and
wide in an attempt to get by Southers and Simas. As
the white banner flew Simas got into heavy lapped
traffic with Southers and Schank right behind. Off
of 4 to the checkers, Simas bounced off the lapped
car and Southers was screened by it as Schank
squeezed by into 2nd. This heart stopping finish was
a fitting tribute to the drivers who battled all
race long in this one. MRP’s tightest point battle
remained just that as Simas will bring a 5-point
lead to the next race. Simas and Southers won the
heats.
In the Pro 4 Sprint Car finale, P.J. Petersen simply
dominated. No one had anything for the high-flying
youngster as he pulled to a ½ lap lead with ease as
this race went quickly into the books. Petersen got
an early race challenge from Misty Castleberry who
was doing double-duty in this show, but Petersen
quickly dispensed that challenge and roared on to an
easy victory.
In the BCRA Midget Lite feature pole sitter Brian
Corso posted a wire to wire victory. The race was
punctuated by a vicious double flip in turn 1. Scott
Kinney and Dan Hillberg clipped each other as they
entered turn 1. Both cars popped into the air in an
agonizing series of gyrations. Kinney landed upside
down and Hillberg came to a stop on his wheels
toward turn 2. Both drivers were OK. Brad Hannum
caught Corso in the closing laps but could not get
by.
Amazingly enough Armand Sarcomo has a streak of his
own going on in the MRP EXTREME BOMBERS. Sarcomo
doubled up on his victory of 2 weeks ago after early
race leader L.A. Williams was taken into the wall in
turn 1 with 2 laps to go. 22 EXTREME Bombers started
and when the smoke, fire and dust had cleared, ½
that many were still running. This class continues
to be a monster good time and everyone in the
grandstands stands throughout the event.
Saturday night July 17th the MRP Winged Sprint Cars
will share top billing with MRP’s Performance Auto
Supply Wingless Warrior Sprint Car Series on Dairy
Queen of Yuba City’s Dilly Bar Nite. Everyone in
attendance will get a free dilly bar!! The MRP
Mighty Mini Stocks and the MRP Super Stocks will
also be presented as Misty Castleberry will, again
try to extend her win streak in the Mini Stock
portion of the show. The Pro 4 Sprint Cars will also
be on the spectacular 5 division card.
The pit gate opens at 3PM. The spectator gates will
open at 5 PM with Hot Laps at 6 PM. IMPORTANT: The
first race will start after hot laps at about 6:30.
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. |
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