by Troy Hennig
CHICO, CA – JULY 22, 2011…Charlie Sheen might of coined the phrase “winning” but Auburn sprint car star Andy Forsberg is taking that phrase to a whole new level. Forsberg and victory lane are becoming quite the reoccurring theme around Northern California this year. Tonight, he led all 25-laps to win the Open 360 Showdown at Silver Dollar Speedway. It was his fourth win of the year at Chico and his ninth feature win of 2011. With the win, Forsberg is now tied with Tim Crawley and Danny Smith for the most sprint car wins in the Nation. “It feels good to put the red Forsberg family car #92 in victory lane here tonight,” said Forsberg. “I’ve got to thank Scott and Steve Van Den Broeke for letting us use this kick ass ASCS motor. It’s an honor to be with them and support Autism Awareness.” A total of 22 winged 360 sprint cars competed during the nights racing action.
Tyler Wolf started the night off by turning the fastest lap in qualifying at a 12:358. It is worth noting that Wolf has now turned the fastest lap in qualifying for the third week in a row. One of these weeks he is going to end up in victory lane.
Orland driver Reyna Krueger led all 8 laps to win the first heat race. Cody Lamar dominated the second heat race win by nearly four seconds. Gary Burdick won the third heat race.
Sean Becker finished sixth in his heat race so he had to run the B main event tonight. He led all 12-laps to pick up the win. Jeff Griffin made a rare Chico start this year and finished second. Jim Richardson brought his #8 car home in the third position.
Forsberg and Menne started on the front row. The first two attempts at getting one lap complete were haltered because of accidents. The first one occurred when RC Smith and Cody Lamar tangled in turn two on the original start. The wreck also caught up Colby Wiesz who ultimately suffered too much rear end damage and was done for the night. Once the race got going it was a non-stop affair. It’s not often you see a winged sprint car race go green to checkered without a yellow in the main event but that’s exactly how this one played out tonight.
Forsberg led Menne into the first turn. Menne shadowed Forsberg for the first 14 laps of the main event. Menne is one of those quiet super stars of our sport. You never quite know when he is going to show up but when he does, he is always a factor in the main event. Up to this point, however, Forsberg had stretched out to a decent advantage over the second place car of Menne. On lap 14 is when Brett Miller emerged as the contender. Coming off last Friday nights win, Miller looked confident as he not only passed Menne but began to reel in Forsberg. On lap 16 Sean Becker made it a three car race when he slid under Menne for the third spot.
Forsberg was marred in slower traffic on lap 19. Miller continued to close and the race got real heated on lap 22. Miller dove to the inside of Forsberg in turn one. Forsberg held his line and the momentum out of turn two and down the back stretch. On the ensuing lap Forsberg made the move of the night to get around a slower car. Once he sacked up and made the move he held a insurmountable lead over Miller on the white flag lap. The real battle was for second as Becker raced side by side with Miller. As Forsberg crossed the line it was Miller narrowly beating Becker across for second. Jeremy Burt proved to be exciting once again tonight and finished in the fourth spot. Menne rebounded to finish in the fifth spot. It was a solid top five that produced great action on the track. It’s a tribute to the entire 20 car starting field that the race went 25-laps non stop.