7.4.14 California Lightning Sprints Results
2012 California Lightning Sprint Car champion Bobby Michnowicz dominated the action and swept the California Light Sprint Car portion of the show setting fast qualifying time, winning his heat and his series leading fifth main event of the 2014 before a huge, festive holiday crowd at Perris Auto Speedway on July 4th. While Michnowicz won the 20-lapper by a wide margin, the gap in the championship chase continued to shrink as Damon Arnett has reduced Jeff Dyer’s lead to a mere 20 points heading into the August 2nd race in Placerville.
Dyer, a United States Army sergeant from Fort Irwin, was stationed on the front tow with rookie Jeremy Queener of Torrance for the start of the main event. Dyer got the jump when Kevin Winters threw the green flag, but Michnowicz may have gotten the best start of any driver in the field. He passed six cars by the end of the first circuit and was only trailing leader Dyer as they slid into turn two on the second lap.
Dyer’s teammate, Alex Grigoreas of Upland, advanced to third on an early race restart and set his aim on the lead duo. The race was only Grigoreas’ third of the year. He was leading the main late in the season opener at El Centro when a brush with a lapped car saw him break a chain and relegated him to a 14th place finish. At the second race of the year at The PAS, he made contact with a car that spun in front of him and flipped causing heavy damage to his car that kept him out of action until last Friday.
Needless to say, Grigoreas needed to have some good luck and it seemed to be headed his way when much to the delight of the massive crowd, he by blew both Michnowicz and leader Dyer like they were tied to the crashwall for the lead. Not only did the former SCRA Sprint Car driver blow by them, but he drove away from them as well. However, the event was only 25% over and there was still a lot of racing to go.
Michnowicz, who resides in Lomita, passed Dyer for the second place spot on lap six and immediately began to inch closer to leader Grigoreas. A couple laps later, Arnett took Dyer for third. That allowed him to creep a little closer to Dyer in the fight for the championship.
By the end of the ninth circuit, Michnowicz had closed to within striking distance of Grigoreas. Catching the wily veteran was one thing, but getting past him would be a whole different story. That is, unless Grigoreas early season bad luck were to rear its ugly head again. It did and just like El Centro, lapped cars were involved and so was a broken chain! Sweeping around a lapped car coming off turn two on the 12th circuit, Grigoreas bobbled and that was all Michnowicz needed. He quickly steered his white #12m TshirtsBy Timeless/Power Performance/Rosson Racing/Fabozi Metal Works /Kawasaki to the inside and took the lead. And, paying back the favor, he easily drove away to a commanding lead just as Grigoreas did to him and Dyer a few laps earlier.
While it became apparent that bar mechanical failure Michnowicz was going to take his series leading fifth checkered flag of the 2014 campaign, Grigoreas seemed to have second in the bag, but on lap 16 his car quickly slowed and he coasted into the pits with another broken chain!
There was no stopping veteran Michnowicz and he cruised the rest of the way for a convincing win. Arnett ran his streak of podium finishes to three by finishing second and Queener took third on the same track where he won a Street Stock championship nearly a decade ago. Dyer took the fourth place spot. Anaheim Hills’ driver Guy Maresch, making his first appearance in months, came all the way from his 17th place starting spot to finish an impressive fifth and to be the race’s “Hard Charger.”
Earlier in the night Michnowicz began his domination of the holiday show when he topped the 17-car field in qualifying with a lap of 17:986. He and Dyer won the two heat races.
Dyer will take his narrow point lead over Arnett into the next race at Placerville, a track neither has raced on before, on August 2nd. Michnowicz is third in points with 16-year-old rookie Corey Hoover of Corona fourth and Murrieta’s Zach Zauss is fifth. Hoover still leads the Rookie of the Year standings over Cori Andrews of Murrieta and Queener. Andrews trails Hoover by 27-points and Queener is just 8-points behind her in third.
The California Lightning Sprint Car Series would like to thank series sponsors Performance by Rosson Racing, T Shirts by Timeless, Cold Fire West, Circle Track Performance, Extreme Mufflers, Racing Optics, Saldana Race Products, Keizer Wheels, Sander Engineering, Christian Stover Foundation, Hoosier Racing Tires, Drake Incorporated and DK Machine. If you or your company would like to become part of the California Lightning Series for the 2014 season, please call Bobby Michnowicz at: (310) 320-5569.
To keep up with the CLS on line, please visit the web site at: http://www.calightningsprints.com/index.html
You can also follow on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/calightning.sprints?fref=ts
Perris Main Event (with starting positions): 1. Bobby Michnowicz (8th), 2. Damon Arnett (7th), 3. Jeremy Queener (1st), 4. Jeff
Dyer (2nd), 5. Guy Maresch (17th), 6. Dan Hillberg (12th), 7. Zach Zauss (10th), 8. Dale Gamer (3rd), 9. Corey Hoover (11th). 10. Cori Andrews (9th) , 11. James Helling (14th), 12. James Squire III (4th), 13. Jim Squire (15th), 14. Alex Grigoreas 5th), 15. Jarrett Kreaner (6th), 16. Mike Kotlinski (13th), 17. Race Liberante (18th), 18. Tom Downing (16th)
California Lightning Sprint Car Series Pont Standings
1. Jeff Dyer – Fort Irwin – 1578
2. Damon Arnett – San Diego – 1558
3. Bobby Michnowicz – Lomita – 1481
4. Corey Hoover – Corona – 1393
5. Zach Zauss – Murrieta – 1374
6 Cori Andrews – Murrieta – `1366
7. Jeremy Queener – Torrance – 1358
8. Stephen Limon – Corona – 1293
9. Dale Gamer – Anaheim – 1269
10. Dan Hillberg – Placentia – 1045
2014 California Lightning Sprint Car Series Schedule
March 8: Imperial Fairgrounds Raceway – El Centro, CA – Bobby Michnowicz
March 15: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA (Sokola Shootout) – Jeff Dyer
March 29: Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, CA – Dakota Albright
April 5: Ventura Raceway – Ventura, CA – Stephen Limon
April 19: Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, CA – Dan Hillberg
May 3: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA – Bobby Michnowicz
May 10: Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, CA – Bobby Michnowicz
May 24: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA (Salute To Indy) – Cori Andrews
June 14: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA – Bobby Michnowicz
July 4: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA (Firecracker) – Bobby Michnowicz
August 2: Placerville Speedway – Placerville, CA
August 16: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA (California Racers Hall of Fame Night)
September 13: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA (Glenn Howard Classic)
September 27: *Bakersfield Speedway – Bakersfield, CA
October 18: *Ventura Raceway – Ventura, CA
November 7: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA (Oval Nationals)
November 8: Perris Auto Speedway – Perris, CA (Oval Nationals)
November 15: Imperial Fairgrounds Raceway – El Centro, CA
* = Co-Sanctioned Event With BCRA Midget Lites.
This schedule is subject to change.
CALIFORNIA LIGHTNING SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONS
1994 Tony Everhart, 1995 Gary Sexton, 1996 Rob Sczymczak, 1997 Jon Rahe, 1998 Chris Rahe, 1999 Brent Sexton, 2000 Greg Bragg, 2001 Greg Bragg, 2002 Greg Bragg, 2003 David Cardey, 2004 Keith Janca, 2005 Johnny Bates, 2006 Donny Gansen, 2007 Shane Rossen, 2008 Brent Sexton, 2009 Stuart Hielschier Sr., 2010 Jarrett Kramer, 2011 Tim Brown, 2012 Bobby Michnowicz, 2013 Stephen Limon