(PETERSEN MEDIA-Chico, CA)- Matt Peterson made a late race pass on Wednesday night to score his first career sprint car win, as the Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster kicked off the 2014 Gold Cup Race of Champions in exciting fashion.
With 39 fire-breathing 360’s checked into the pit area for the Wednesday night show, it was Steven Tiner and Andy Forsberg leading the field to green.
With Forsberg getting out to the early lead, Tiner stayed in the hunt as the rest of the field fought hard for position behind the lead duo, on what was an extremely slicked off surface.
The race’s first stoppage came on the sixth lap, and laps seven and nine also saw stoppages, and during the string of restarts, Mason Moore was able to take advantage as he climbed from sixth to second when the action resumed, and began pressuring Forsberg for the top spot.
Taking a shot at Forsberg on the 10th lap, Moore’s hometown crowd rose to their feet, and on the 11th lap he was able to make a pass stick, much to their delight, as he began motoring away from the field, as he set a torrid pace.
As Moore stretched out his lead, Matt Peterson and Rico Abreu began working their way through the field, as the laps clicked down. Peterson was able to work his way past Bud Kaeding around the halfway point, before getting by Forsberg on the 22nd lap to take over the second position.
With the caution waiving on the 23rd lap, the field was bunched back up with Moore out front. When the green light’s flickered, Moore got off to a good start as he worked in the rubber, but Peterson had found something a lane above the rubber that was working, as he had a head of steam down the backstretch, and stayed glued to Moore.
On lap 25, disaster nearly struck for the lead duo, as Peterson tried to get under Moore in turns three and four, but contact ensued getting both cars out of shape, however they were able to quickly straighten out and drive away, and behind them cars took evasive action to avoid them, and shuffled the field a bit.
Back up front, Moore would lead the 26th lap, but on the 27th lap, Peterson would make a daring move in turns three and four, as he was able to drive around Moore, and take the lead as the field completed the 28th lap.
Over the final two laps, Peterson was flawless, as he went on to pick up his first ever win aboard a winged sprint car, and was very animated in victory lane.
“This is just such an awesome feeling, and I can’t thank my family, crew, and sponsors enough for continuing to give me a great car,” a jubilant Peterson said in victory lane. “I always said that I would win my first Civil War race in Chico, and I did it!”
After leading 16 laps, Mason Moore would cross the stripe in the second spot, and was dejected in his post race comments.
“I found the rubber, and honestly didn’t think that anyone would drive around us,” Moore said. “We had a great car, one that was good enough to win, but unfortunately the driver just wasn’t aggressive enough. Congrats to Matt Peterson and his entire team.”
After leading the first 11 markers, Andy Forsberg would slip back to fifth spot during the late laps, but would rebound to round out the podium.
“I am an old timer and a throttle masher, so these slick tracks always seem to give me trouble,” Forsberg said. “Those kids (Peterson and Moore), were too good for me tonight. Huge thanks to my guys for working their butt’s off.”
Chasing the top three across the line was Rico Abreu in fourth, Bud Kaeding in fifth, Kyle Hirst in sixth, Shane Golobic in seventh, Greg DeCaires in eighth, Sean Becker in ninth, and Steven Tiner rounding out the Top-10.
Early in the night, Rico Abreu kicked the night off by setting the standard in time trials, with an 11.881 second lap.
In four Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster heat races, wins went to Steven Tiner, Matt Peterson, Bud Kaeding, and Justin Sanders with Steven Tiner winning the dash, and earning the right to start on the pole.
In C Main action, Clayton Snow and Justyn Cox took advantage of their front row starting positions, and they walked away from the field, to finish first and second, and transfer to the night’s B Main event.
In B Main action Willie Croft was dominant as he rode the rim to victory, but behind him the action for the other five transfer positions was hard fought with Sean Becker, John Michael-Bunch, Colby Copeland, Andy Gregg, and Carl Drovild moving on.
The Civil War Sprint Car Series would like to thank Flowmaster, BR Motorsports, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Brodix, ButlerBuilt, CRV Carbon Solutions, Design 500, Dirt Solution, Taco Bravo, Hansen Machine, Frankland Racing Supply, Fuel Safe, Hoosier, Joe Hunt Magnetos, Kaeding Performance, King Racing Products, KSE Power Steering Products, Pit Stop USA, MPD, All Pro, RCM Design, Rod End Supply, Racing Optics, SRP, VSR, and Weld Racing for their support.
ON TAP: The action packed Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster will be back in action for stop No. 10 of the season on Saturday, September 20th,
WINNERS: Winners in the 2014 California Sprint Car Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster… Andy Gregg- 1 (Marysville Raceway Park on March 15th), DJ Netto-1 (Marysville Raceway Park on May 24th), Shane Golobic-1 (Silver Dollar Speedway on May 25th), Andy Forsberg- 1 (Placerville Speedway on May 31st), Mason Moore (Petaluma Speedway on July 5th), Brad Furr (Ocean Speedway on July 11th), Greg DeCaires (Placerville Speedway on August 9th), Rico Abreu (Ocean Speedway on August 23rd), Matt Peterson (Silver Dollar Speedway on September 3rd)
STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster, and find complete results and point standings by clicking over to www.racepmg.com, ‘Liking’ www.facebook.com/civilwarsprints, or following us on twitter at www.twitter.com/civilwarsprints.
CIVIL WAR SERIES PRESENTED BY FLOWMASTER- Founded in 1991 as the North-South Series, the Civil War Sprint Car Series was born in 1993 giving 360 Sprint Cars in California a sanctioning body. What started as just a handful of races at three different tracks has evolved into quite the series. In 2014, the Civil War Sprint Car Series will host 14 events at 8 different tracks around California.