Young Claims ASCS Midget Feature at Silver Dollar Speedway

By Robert Haugh

Piloting his own #14 RAM Racing “Pink Lady” Stealth/RRE Chevy EcoTec, Shingle Springs’ Rick Young swept the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) Midget race at the legendary ¼-mile Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, CA on Saturday, July 3.

After almost spinning on an opening lap bobble that sent him to fifth place, Young rebounded by working his way from the back of the pack to score the feature win and sweeping the evening’s race action. Showing veteran prowess, Young had climbed back to second in only five laps by running both the low and high lines – passing several by squeezing under them as they slid up the slick track through Turn 2 coming to the backstretch.

Following Young to the checkers were Pole sitter J.R. Williams, the veteran driver from Carson City, Nevada claiming second in his #74 Spike/RRE Chevy EcoTec after leading the opening lap, San Jose’s Ryan Shupe in the #40 Bay Muffler Stealth/Ford taking third, Cameron Park’s Lonny Alton scoring fourth in Lana Alton’s #5a Stealth/Ford with Lodi’s Dan Jones taking fifth in his #75 Stinger/RRE Chevy EcoTec in his inaugural ASCS Midget start. Jones is a 50-year-old rookie, living his dream of competing in a Midget thanks to the support of the ASCS Midget series. Jones’ Midget was completed at 4 p.m. on raceday!

Wheeling his grandfather Rich’s #5h Maxim/Chevy, June 23 ASCS Midget race winner Travis Haugh of Butte Valley was seeking a second consecutive win after surging from his sixth starting spot to the lead on Lap 2. However, after leading laps 2 through 9, Haugh slowed as Young began closing in, with Haugh retiring with a broken left front shock on Lap 11. 18-year-old Haugh is the eldest of 1987 Silver Dollar Speedway 410 Sprint Car track Champion Rick Haugh’s two sons.

Elk Grove’s Tom Doherty had a rough evening in his #10 Bay Muffler Stealth/Ford – flipping on Lap 4 of the feature. Doherty repaired the car to return to the track to complete the final few laps of the feature.

Two-time ASCS Midget feature winner and ASCS Midgets Pacific region points leader Dillon Silverman, 18, of Chico was battling mechanical gremlins in Rick Young’s RAM Racing #12 Spike/RRE Chevy EcoTec, pulling off shortly after taking the green flag in the feature.

Young claimed the Heat race from the pole position over Alton, Doherty, Haugh, Shupe, Williams, Jones and Silverman.

Young’s win made him the fourth different winner in five ASCS Midget races at Silver Dollar in 2010 – with Haugh and Angwin’s Britton Bock each scoring a win and Silverman claiming the first two wins of the year.

The ASCS Midgets are Silver Dollar Speedway’s newest division, calling Silver Dollar Speedway their home track this year. The race was the seventh of nine scheduled visits the ASCS Midgets will make to the Silver Dollar quarter-mile in 2010, returning on Friday, July 23 and Friday, August 20. Two early races were rained out.

The ASCS Midgets are designed to one day become to Midget racing what the 360 has become to Sprint Car racing. While it may not be the fastest class of midget racing, the division provides 90 percent of the performance at nearly 50 percent of the cost to the competitor with most teams utilizing the new Chevrolet EcoTec racing engine developed by Southern California’s Revolution Racing Engines (RRE).

“The cost control nature of this class coupled with the regular races at the famed Silver Dollar Speedway will provide a foundation to build the ASCS Midget Division in Northern California,” says ASCS Pacific division Midget Director Young. “There are many outlaw kart and micro drivers in the area that now have an affordable alternative to Sprint Car racing and the best track in California to race at on a Friday night,” adds Young.

For more information on the budget-minded ASCS Midget Pacific division, contact Pacific region ASCS Midget Director Rick Young at (916) 717-3122. For more information on the RRE Chevy EcoTec Midget engine, visit www.revolutionracingengines.com or call (805) 238-3930. For more information on Silver Dollar Speedway, visit the track’s Web site at www.silverdollarspeedway.com