By Bill Sullivan/ Sullivan Images Media
PETALUMA, CA (7-9-11) – A skill that any professional athlete must posses if they are serious about their career is the ability to put a set back behind them and do whatever it takes to get back into the game. Penngrove’s Alissa Geving clearly illustrated she possess such abilities this weekend as she rallied back to championship form in the Hoosier Racing Tires California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series.
Behind the wheel of her Chicko Motorsports #3x ART sprint car that carries the title sponsorship of Tillett Tool, A1A Performance Muffler and Pit Stop USA, Geving drove her way to two top five finishes in as many days at two different race tracks. The stellar performances launched Geving back into the top five of the series point standings in one weekend alone after slipping back to the seventh position following a tough break one week ago at Placerville Speedway.
“I knew coming into this weekend we had a good opportunity to make up some lost points,” said Geving. “This Chicko Motorsports team always does well at both of these tracks so I was confident we could come together and do what we had to do to get back in the game. We had two great nights and I couldn’t be any happier right now.”
After failing to transfer into the A feature last week in round seven of the Civil War Series at Placerville Speedway, Geving kept her chin up as the campaign entered its first double header of the year this weekend. On Friday night the Civil War Series competitors traveled to Ocean Speedway at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds to face the Taco Bravo Sprint Car Series on the quarter mile. Just 24 hours later the tour traveled north to Petaluma Speedway for the ninth segment of the tour.
On Friday night, Geving was one of the few Civil War Series regulars who managed a top finish up against the competitive Ocean Sprints contingent. She started her evening off with a 16th place in qualifying. Geving’s fast lap was a 12:026 that was just 0.334 seconds off of the fast time pace for the night.
In her heat race at Ocean, the 19-year-old Santa Rosa Junior College student maintained her third place starting position from the green flag to the checkered. The third place finish secured her starting spot in the 30-lap feature event later in the program and prevented her from needing to compete in a grueling B-feature.
In the money race, Geving started on the outside of the front row and quickly found herself in the mix of Ocean Speedway’s top runners that soon began to dominate the event over the drivers of the Civil War campaign. This event was co-sanctioned race offering both Civil War Series points and Ocean Speedway points for the weekly Taco Bravo Series.
Geving raced wheel to wheel with the top five drivers in the event, including eventual winner Tim Kaeding as well as Kyle Larson, Rico Abreu and veteran Tommy Tarlton. When the checkered flag waved Geving was the highest finishing Civil War driver of the night with her fifth place finish. With the impressive run, Geving advanced from seventh place in the point standings to fifth.
On Saturday night, it was back to the homeland for Geving as she returned to the likes of Petaluma Speedway. Located on the Sonoma-Marin County Fairground, Petaluma’s 3/8 mile oval is where Geving began her sprint car racing career and went on to win two track championships there. If any track was best suited for a location to make up lost ground in the Civil War point standings, Petaluma is it for Geving.
Although she leads the weekly point standings at Petaluma, it had been several weeks since Geving has stomped the throttle of her ART sprint car on her home clay. A series of special events that fairgrounds combined with an onslaught of Civil War races elsewhere have kept sprint car racing sparse during the last four weeks.
Much like she always does, Geving showed no signs of cobwebs as she returned to the track where she once sat in the standings as a youngster and watched her father drive to numerous wins. In qualifying, she turned the second fastest lap of the night with a 13:698 second lap, just 0.150 seconds off of the fast qualifier. Geving’s recorded top speed during the qualifying run was 98.555 miles per hour.,
Following the strong qualifying in run, Geving started sixth in the second heat race of the evening. During the 10-lap affair she insured a starting position in the 30-lap feature by muscling her way into the fourth position prior to the checkered flag, once again avoiding the need to compete in any additional qualifying events.
Before a large crowd in the stands of her home track, Geving took to the track for the feature event in the seventh place starting position. When the green flag waved polesitter Andy Forsberg charged into the lead while Geving set her sights on the top five. Lapped traffic became a factor for the front runners as early as the fourth lap and remained an ongoing challenge throughout the night. Slicing and dicing her way through the slower cars, Geving stayed within striking distance of the front runners, working her way up to the fourth position.
In the late laps of the race, Chad Compton worked his way around Geving for the fourth position for just one lap. Upon the pass, Geving quickly rallied back past Compton and two dueled in grand fashion for the final laps of the race. Forsberg picked up the win over Shane Golobic and Kyle Hirst while Geving capped the weekend off in fourth place ahead of Compton.
With her second top five finish of the weekend, Geving advanced into the fourth position in the championship point standings. She sits 56-points out of the lead now with four top five finishes, five top tens and two heat race wins to her name. The Civil War Series will return to Petaluma Speedway in two weeks on July 23rd for round 10 of the tour. Geving will return to the speedway this coming Saturday as she defends her current point lead in the Petaluma Speedway All Pro Series.
Alissa Geving carries the sponsorship of Tillett Tool of Santa Rosa along with the online superstore Pit Stop USA that is based in Petaluma and Napa’s Matt Cordeiro Enterprises a and Auto Repairs Unlimited with A1A Performance of Santa Rosa. 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.