8.23.19 Silver Dollar Speedway Results
Chico, CA (Aug 23, 2019) …. Fifty-nine racecars competed during the final Friday night point race of 2019 at Silver Dollar Speedway. Tonight, has been long known as Pepsi Night because each main event winner takes home a gigantic 6ft. trophy that was originally started by a sponsorship from Pepsi.
Sean Becker won the winged 360 sprint car driving title. Andy Forsberg Racing captured the owners title. Matt Micheli won both the Street Stock and IMCA Sport Mod championship. Kyle Allen earned his second career Hobby Stock title.
Sean Becker captured the 30-lap main event and in doing so, he also won his seventh sprint car driving title at Silver Dollar Speedway. This title now puts him in a tie with Shane Scott for the most all-time sprint car championships at Chico. The win was also his 66th of his career at his home track.
The feature event for the sprint cars was as good as it gets. All kinds of passing, major slide jobs and numerous cars going forward on a beautifully prepared track. Brad Bumgarner led the opening lap. On lap two Chase Majdic took over the top spot. Majdic went on to lead the next twelve laps. Becker started eighth but methodically worked his way into second on lap 11. Just past the halfway point, Becker moved around Majdic for the lead. A few laps later, Majdic looked to have a mechanical problem and spun out in turn two. By lap 18, Andy Gregg had rocketed into third. He has looked good the last two weekends in Chico. Another driver who had a solid night was Kalib Henry. He was up on the steering wheel tonight and moving towards the front. Henry got to second but was never able to challenge for the lead.
The last seven laps of the race, Bumgarner and Andy Forsberg put on a slide job clinic. Also, in the mix was Blake Carrick and Kyle Offill. Up front it was all about Becker as he cruised to his third win in the last four starts. Henry was second. Third went to Gregg. Bumgarner and Forsberg rounded out the top five. Brad Bumgarner won the first heat race. Chase Majdic dominated heat two. Andy Gregg won the eight-lap dash. Kalib Henry turned a 12.848 to earn the nights fastest time in qualifying.
Matt Micheli needed to just take the green flag of the Street Stock main event and the championship was his. But, in true Micheli fashion, he wanted the win. Micheli led the early part of the 20-lap race. Lap five saw Gary Newman and Brent Lawrence make contact. Newman stopped and Lawrence exited to the pit area. As the race progressed you could tell that Richard Brace Jr. was just as fast as Micheli. Brace shadowed Micheli lap after lap. With about six to go, Brace saw the top as his only way around him. Brace jumped up on the fonz and drove around Micheli for the lead. On lap 17, Corey Hall passed Micheli for second. Hall had started seventh. Brace Jr. was able to hold a half-second lead over Hall at the finish line. Hall was second. Micheli finished third to earn the championship. Phil Marino was fourth. Steve Studebaker was fifth. Corey Hall won the first heat race. Richard Brace Jr. won heat two. Richard Workman had an unfortunate accident on lap five when he clipped the foam blocks coming out of turn two and flipped violently. He stayed in car as they towed it off. Workman said he was fine.
Kyle Allen had won eight in a row at Chico. Because he had dominated, an on-line bounty started to gain traction. If someone else could be Allen, they would receive $600 extra bucks tonight. But if Allen won, he got the bonus money. In the end, the streak came to a dramatic end. Zach Lindgren was able to hold off Allen by less than a car length at the finish. The crowd loved it. Allen even nudged Lindgren in the left side quarter panel going into turn three. Allen had elected not to run a heat race. So, this would put him dead last, starting 15th, in the main event. It was fun to watch him charge up through the field and make the dramatic last lap pass for the win and $600 extra dollars. Phil Indihar lead the opening laps. Soon Lindgren and Keith Ross would move into the top two spots. On lap 12, contact between the two, caused the inside front left tire of Ross to go flat but he never gave up. He would finish third. Shannon Collins went from 10th to fourth in a great final night at Chico for him. Indihar rounded out the top five. Ross won the opening heat race. Maurice Merrill won heat two.
Phil Marino led the first 10 laps of the sport mod main event. Lap five saw Bubba Nelson, running in the second spot, check up to not get into the back end of Marino. This caused Todd Cooper to hit into Nelson and come to a stop. Coopers night was done. His brother Brian also exited on this lap. Five laps later, Nelson was able to get around Marino. On lap 15 Tyler Rodgers made his presence known. Rodgers drove by Nelson to take the lead. Nelson drifted back to third. This moved Phillip Shelby into second. Shelby chased Rodgers and then the white flag waived, Rodgers opened the bottom and Shelby took advantage. Going into turn three, Shelby drove hard, and his momentum carried him up the track. Rodgers predicted this, hit his brakes, made a sharp left-hand turn and diamonded off turn four. It was the winning move. He beat Shelby back to the line. It was an incredible finish. Matt Micheli finished sixth, but it was good enough to win his second championship of the night. Phil Marino won heat race one. Jimmy Ford took a nasty spill in turn one. Ford and his car were beat up but he will live to driver another day. Todd Cooper dominated the second heat race.