By Bob Burbach
Marysville- Billy Wallace padded his point lead by leading wire to wire in the Performance Auto Supply Winged Sprint Car feature at Marysville Raceway Park Saturday Night. It was H&H Trenching’s Kids Nite at the raceway. Joel Giusti got his 4th win in a row in the Pro 4 Sprint Car feature as Mark Hill and Corey Hall took home the hardware in the fendered divisions.
The fine field of sprinters charged through 4 heat races and when the preliminaries were over point leader Billy Wallace had the pole for the feature. Rapidly rising star, rookie William Fielding lined up next to Wallace and actually beat Wallace into turn 1 on the original start. But, 2 restarts later after minor spins Wallace was lined up at the head of the field and motored away with ease.
Behind Wallace there were a series of outstanding battles surrounding the MRP oval. The best dual went on for nearly the entire duration of the race between Oregon star Vern Wheeler and 2007 MRP champ Jeremy Burt. The battle raged until the final 2 circuits when Wheeler finally cleared Burt and flashed by 5th running Brandon Dozier for a remarkable 4th. Fielding dropped into 2nd at the start and stayed there, as did 3rd starting Brent Dothage.
The race was red flagged early as Heath Hall got a wheel on the back chute and flipped end over end from the middle of the straightaway to the top of the track in turn 3. It was one of the most spectacular rides of the last 5 years. Hall was the quickest car in hot laps and a real threat Saturday night. Hall quickly got out of the battered machine and walked from the scene of the accident to the pits under his own power.
Winner Wallace’s car owner Mark Moore lost his father this past week and his championship point-leading car featured wings painted black and unnumbered for the evening’s events. An emotional Moore addressed the fans after the event.
Wallace, Jeremy Phillips, Jamie Phillips and Fielding posted heat race wins.
Mark Hill made it 2 in a row in the MRP Mini Stock feature event. Hill rushed to an early lead and was simply never really challenged. Hill has really stepped up his program over the last few weeks. Champion Misty Castleberry charged hard, but simply was not able to reel in the fleet #8 and finished 2nd in the very quickly run event.
A grinding crash in turn 2 eliminated 3 competitors with one big bang. Derik Gallier, Scotty Kames and Johnna Hensen ended their nights in this one. Rising star Alan Furuta had one of his best nights with a fine 3rd place finish just ahead of Howard Law.
Joel Giusti picked up where he left off last week and easily distanced himself from 3-time champ Tim Maclaughlin in the Pro 4 main event. Giusti now has his eye on the championship ring as he continues to close in rapidly on the top spot now held by Maclaughlin. This one went into the books quickly as well but the race was not without its high points.
The reigning champion of the division, P. J. Petersen started last in the field and had carved his way into 3rd when a timely yellow flag with 2 to go increased his chances of getting to the high flying Giusti. But as the racing fates would have it Petersen pulled off with a mechanical malady that put a period on a fine come from behind charge. Matt Beardsley turned in a notable performance grabbing 3rd.
The MRP Super Stock Car finale was a thriller. Early on, champion Corey Hall got to the front after a brief battle with Willie Horn. Perennial favorite Ray Trimble got to 2nd and tried without success to reel in the champ. But, in mid-pack, Brent Hall started a charge that brought him to 3rd place as the laps started to run out. With 2 to go, Trimble’s car stumbled and lost power. Brent Hall flashed by as Trimble dropped through the field.
Corey Hall cruised under the checkers in front of brother Brent, as Horn was able to hang on to 4th. An infrequent appearance by veteran Robert Mull turned into a competitive 4th place finish.
Ryan Winter was the winner of the Nor Cal Dwarf Car feature. For more on that race go to www.dwarfworld.com.
MRP will be dark over the 4th of July weekend returning on July 11th when the roaring Performance Auto Supply Winged Sprint Cars will return for another round in the season long championship battle. The MRP Super Stocks will also return with the Pro 4 Sprinters. The 3rd appearance of the Nor Cal Dwarf Cars will also be presented with the BCRA Midget Lites.
The Pit Gate opens at 3pm. The front gates open at 5pm with racing at 6.30pm.