Two Nights of Racing This Weekend at Chico

silver dollar Speedway chico

By Troy Hennig

The 2010 Feather Falls Casino / Riebe’s Auto Parts / Hoosier Racing Tire / Coors Light / Pepsi season continues this Friday night, May 7, and features the 410 winged sprint cars, Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprints Shootout Series, Dirt Solution Late Models and the new American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) Midgets of the Northern California . All four divisions will attack the Silver Dollar Speedway located at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds.

The night is sponsored by ManCamp Motorsports and the Mootz family. ManCamp is giving away numerous prizes for the kids in attendance that night while the Mootz family has over 200 candy baggies to hand out to the children at the races. On top of the give-a-ways, both parties are putting up $250 to the sprint car fast time qualifier on Friday night only.

Fry’s Metals is once again helping out the Friday night purse. Fry’s Metal is adding an extra $1,000 to the overall purse on Friday night. The top three in the winged main event will receive extra money. Winners of the the other three divisions will also see extra money. Fry’s Metals will also be adding extra money in the Saturday night Dave Bradway Jr. event.

On Saturday night the speedway will host the 20th Annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial Golden State Challenge King of California Sprint Car Series. Also on hand will be our local street stock division. The main event win usually pays $3,000 for a Golden State event but there will be an extra $1,000 added to the winner courtesy of Handy Racing Promotions making it $4,000. Each lap of the main events will be sponsored once again this year. There is also a $500 hard charger award and a $500 fast time award courtesy of Dan Simpson and DES Inc. Scribners Plastics and HRP Wings are also involved with contingency awards. More prizes will be announced during the night of the race.

On Friday night the front grandstand gate opens at 6 pm. First race of the night scheduled for 7:30 pm. Adult general admission prices are $12.00. Juniors and seniors are $10.00. Children prices are $5.00. Sprint car 410 winged qualifying is slated to start at 7 pm.

Saturday night the front grandstand gate opens at 5 pm with sprint car qualifying slated to start at 6:30 pm. Adult general admission will be $17.00, juniors are $12.00 and children $5.00.

Free camping for the weekend is available at the fairgrounds courtesy of Handy Racing Promotions and the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds.

Oregon sprint car driver Roger Crockett leads the 410 winged sprint car point standings and is scheduled to race this Friday and Saturday night. So far in 2010, Crockett has won two of the three main events this season at Chico. Auburn’s Andy Forsberg will be on hand Friday night but has prior commitments and will race at Placerville on Saturday night. Chico’s Kevin Sharrah turned in an impressive performance last Friday and finds himself in the third point position. Of the top three, Sharrah is the only driver committed to run every Friday night point race. Last seasons rookie of the year Brad Bumgarner sits in the fourth spot after just missing a podium finish on opening night. Chico’s Mason Moore rounds out the top five. Moore is also committed to race Placerville on Saturday. Joining the mix for both nights is the current National ASCS Sprint Car point leader Shane Stewart. Stewart is also the defending champion of that series. He drives the Silva Motorsports/ROCKSTAR Energy Drink/A.R.T. #57.

Terry Schank Jr. leads an all-star cast of wingless drivers into racing action this Friday night. This will mark the first appearance of the inaugural Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprints Shootout Series at Chico. An early race was canceled because of bad weather conditions. After two races the top five in points are only separated by eight points. An impressive 36 different drivers have earned championship points this year. Marc Mackay and Ryan Bernal have won the two main events ran so far this year. Timmy Sherman Jr. sits in the second spot of the points while Orland masher Taylor Simas holds down the third spot. Grass Valley’s Billy Wallace is fourth and Johnny Reeves is fifth. Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Shootout Series Races are events held in cooperation with Silver Dollar Speedway, Placerville Speedway, Marysville Raceway Park. There will be a $5,000 Bonus Point Fund & the Top 32 that run 6 of the 12 races in the series qualifies for the Wednesday night portion of the Gold Cup – Race of Champions.

The Dirt Solution Late Model Series is set to return this Friday night. The series got off to a slow start this past Friday but the drivers who did stay and race still put on a show for the fans. Jerry Bartlett and Tom Arbogast lead this division with wins and appearances.

The new American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) Midgets of Northern California will debut his Friday at the speedway. Friday night marks the first of seven visits the ASCS Midgets will make to the Silver Dollar quarter-mile and one of 27 events throughout the year available to the tour with their combined schedule with the Bay Cities Racing Association. The division will share the spotlight with the winged 410 sprint cars and Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Sprint Car tour. Handy Racing Promotions Media Relations Bill Sullivan wrote an in depth article about this division of cars. It can be read by following this link; www.silverdollarspeedway.com/2010/news/04/20.php

Saturday night the world of 410 sprint car racing in California converges at Silver Dollar Speedway. The 20th Annual Dave Bradway Jr. event will feature the biggest one night purse for the King of California series. With the help from Dave and Diane Durica and the generous support of fans and business’, once again the 40-lap Feature event and the B main will have lap money for the top three. There will be a $500 bonus for fast time and $500 for the hard charger in the feature event. HoservilleCA will continue to be involved. They are supplying a right rear tire and a sleeve of tear-offs for the heat winners. Their will also be a trophy presented to the winning driver that they in turn, take into the grandstands and give to a young fan. Also, for the first time ever, Matt Durica has put together a Dave Bradway Jr. collectible program. Only 200 of these will be available for purchase. Other great prizes will be mentioned throughout the coming days before this great event.

Information about the Silver Dollar Speedway is available at www.silverdollarspeedway.com