By Bill Sullivan for Chicko Motorsports
CHICO, CA (5-13-11) – Two time Petaluma Speedway champion and former Civil War Series Rookie of the Year Alissa Geving of Penngrove, California continued her quest towards the 2011 Hoosier Racing Tires Civil War Series Championship last Friday night with stellar run in the third round of 14 race series.
The battle field was one of Geving’s favorite tracks on the tour, the famed quarter-mile Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico where she has had several top runs in both 410 cubic inch and 360 cubic inch sprint cars in her racing career. Friday night, Geving added another notch in the successful run at Chico column as she powered her #3x Chicko Motorsports/A.R.T Sprint car to a top five finish among Northern Calfornia’s best 360 drivers.
“I love racing at Chico whenever I can and I love being back with the Civil War Series, when I get both of them together it makes for a really good night,” said Geving. “I have to give my whole team credit tonight, they had this new A.R.T Sprint Car set up perfectly and I had the easy job out there. The track was dry slick from the wind and I’m not used to that but the car was perfect for it.”
In qualifying, Geving timed in with the sixth fastest lap of the night out of the 35 cars that entered Friday’s event. He lap time was a 12:321 just a few one hundredths of a second out of the top five placements.
In her 10-lap qualifying heat race, Geving put on one of the most entertaining performances in the field as she started midway in the pack and drove her #3x sprint car like an all American bad ass in an attempt to score a top four finish. After making a hard charging takeover of Fresno’s Shawn Wright for the fourth position, Geving was on her way to a transfer into the 30-lap A-feature until the final laps of the race when she slipped over the cushion of turns three and four and spun off the track. She recovered back to the sixth position and was more than ready for the upcoming semi-feature where she would surely qualify for the money race.
“I probably should have settled in to fourth place in the heat race but I knew they were coming up fast behind me trying to get in the transfer,” said Geving. “It was fast up on the cushion but whenever you run up there you always run the risk of slipping off that edge and that’s exactly what I did. The car was so great I was able to get back up sixth and was ready for the B main.”
In the B feature, Geving started the 12-lap affair in third, lining up on the inside of the second row behind the front row of Mike Henry and Nicole Miller. After overtaking Miller for the bridesmaid position, Geving chased Henry for the majority of the race. The two raced side by side on several occasions and at the finish line Geving finished in second place to secure her starting position in the 30-lap a feature.
When the field took to the track for the A Feature, Geving started in the ninth position. Over the 30 laps that followed with very view caution periods, she carefully sliced and diced her way through the field to work her way to the front. As the checkered flag waved, Geving crossed the line in the fifth position behind two time champion Sean Becker, John Michael Bunch, Andy Forsberg and Herman Klein.
Friday night’s success in Chico kept Geving in the top five positions in the point standings. Currently she is fifth in the standings, just 20-points behind the leader. The series will return to Chico on Sunday, May 29 for the fourth round of the 2011 campaign. This Saturday, Geving will return to her home track of Petaluma Speedway for the second event in the 2011 All Pro Sprint Car Series.
Geving carries the sponsorship of Tillett Tool of Santa Rosa along with the online superstore Pit Stop USA that is based in Petaluma, A1A Performance of Santa Rosa, Napa’s Matt Cordeiro Enterprises and Auto Repairs Unlimited. Associate sponsors include Golden Gate Meat Company North, K&N Filters, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, R2C, Napa Auto Parts, Flowmaster Mufflers, Allstar Performance, Santa Rosa Auto Parts, Simpson Racing Products, 21st Century Health Club, , Pro Shocks, ALC Machine and JW Web Design.
To learn more about Alissa Geving visit her official website at www.chick-o-motorsports.com. Chicko Motorsports can also be found on facebook. .