By Robert Haugh
Starting from the pole position and never looking back, Fresno’s David Prickett cruised his Neverlift Motorsports/David Prickett Racing Wunderbar/Press Box/Prickett’s Distributing/Manitowoc #15 Spike/Van Dyne to a wire-to-wire 25-lap victory in the Thursday, September 8 BCRA/USAC-Western States Midget feature at the fabled ¼-mile Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, CA.
“It’s been a long time coming and we’ve worked real hard for this. I gotta thank my mom and dad for helping me get this whole thing started and my wife for allowing me to travel so much. They say the first one is the hardest and I look forward to getting some more,” stated a jubilant Prickett.
Following Prickett to the checkers were Ventura’s Cory Kruseman in the Kruseman #21k Spike/Esslinger, Fremont’s Shane Golobic in Doug Bock’s #26 Spike/Esslinger, Galt’s Matt Streeter in the T&T Trucking, Delta Demolition #14 JR Spike/Fontana and Oklahoma’s Michelle Decker in the McQueen Racing #7m Spike/Esslinger rounding out the Top five. Fans were on their feet as the checkers flew as Decker narrowly edged out sixth-place Cody Swanson in the Kirk Swanson #71 Edmunds/Van Dyne by just three one hundredths of a second for the fifth place finish.
Bakersfield’s Shannon McQueen in the McQueen Racing #7 Spike/Esslinger, Pleasanton’s Pete Davis aboard his Hothead Engine Heaters/Power Up Concrete/Special Things Sheet Metal #00 Stealth/Esslinger and two-time BCRA champion and current 2011 BCRA championship points leader “Young Lion” Nick Foster, Jr. of San Jose aboard the Jim Fowler Zero-Zero Motorsports Windows Unlimited Beast/Esslinger rounded out the cars crossing the checkers at the completion of the curfew and incident-shortened feature. Quinton Crye of nearby Gridley rounded out the Top 10 in his #15q Spike/Ford after crashing late in the feature.
Previous Silver Dollar BCRA winner and recent victor at Calistoga Speedway Jonathan Henry placed 11th after dropping out on Lap 18 after climbing as high as sixth from his 16th starting position in Ken Graundstat’s #88 Ellis/Fontana.
Multiple incidents in the feature saw flips by Vacaville’s Rick Holbrook in Peggy Holbrook’s #6 Stealth/RRE Chevy EcoTec and Chico’s Dillon Silverman aboard the Ram Racing #4a Spike/RRE Chevy EcoTec, plus a number of multiple-car tangle ups. Davis tipped it over to unfurl the final caution around Lap 19, after which “Conehead” aka “Mr. Excitement” Prickett pulled away to the win over Kruseman by over one second.
Multiple cars had mechanical gremlins prior the green flag unfurling in the feature, with Sacramento’s Tom Doherty in his #66 Walker Racing/Bay Muffler Stealth/Esslinger, Carson City, Nevada’s J.R. Williams in his #74 Stealth/RRE Chevy EcoTec, and Anaheim’s Jake Swanson aboard the his #05 Stealth/Honda all either failing to start or complete a lap. Seven-time BCRA champion, “Ageless Wonder” Floyd Alvis was among those with early mechanical issues, dropping out after one lap in his #18a Stealth/Chevy.
Butte Valley’s Travis Haugh, who won two features at Silver Dollar Speedway in 2010 in a spec Midget series pilot program dropped out after a Lap 2 red flag with electrical gremlins in grandfather Rich’s #5h Maxim/Gaerte.
Hawaiian visitor Larry Peterson struggled all evening in the Dave & Wendy Thurston TNT Racesports #17 TCR/Gaerte after being involved in a multiple-car pile-up in Heat 3 that sidelined fellow Thurston teammate and open-wheel racing legend Jimmy Sill of Elverta in Thurston’s #17t Spike/Esslinger. That same incident sidelined Angwin’s Britton Bock in his #67 Spike/Esslinger, Gary Consano in Floyd Alvis’ #83 Stealth/Brayton Buick mount and Michael Snider in Lauren Snider’s #2k Beast/Mopar.
Heat wins went to Cody Swanson over Kruseman, Decker and Silverman in Heat 1, Jake Swanson over Golobic, Foster and Connor Kassik (from eighth) in the Neverlift Motorsports #15n TCR/Van Dyne in Heat 2 and McQueen over Prickett, Crye and Peterson in Heat 3.
McQueen recorded the fastest lap of the evening, a 14.221 time in her Heat race, over one tenth of a second quicker than her own Silver Dollar Speedway track record set earlier this year.
Qualifications for the Midgets were cancelled due to time parameters causes by rolling blackouts which shunted the track’s lights for over a half hour. Midget Heats were lined up via pill draw with the Top two from each Heat being inverted for the Main event.
SUMMARY
FEATURE (25 laps, start position in parentheses)
1. David Prickett (1), 2. Cory Kruseman (2), 3. Shane Golobic (3), 4. Matt Streeter (20), 5. Michelle Decker (7), 6. Cody Swanson (6), 7. Shannon McQueen (4), 8. Pete Davis (13), 9. Nick Foster, Jr. (8), 10. Quinton Crye (19), 11. Johnathan Henry (16), 12. Connor Kassik (11), 13. Larry Peterson (9), 14. Dillon Silverman (10), 15. Travis Haugh (14), 16. Rick Holbrook (19), 17. Floyd Alvis (17), 18. Jake Swanson (5), 19. J.R. Williams (18), 20. Tom Doherty (16).
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Prickett.
HEAT 1: (8 laps) 1. Cody Swanson (#71 Swanson), 2. Cory Kruseman (#21k Kruseman), 3. Michelle Decker (#7m McQueen) 4. Dillon Silverman (#4a RAM), 5. Pete Davis (#00 Davis), 6. Johnathon Henry (#88 Graunstadt), 7. Rick Holbrook (#6 Holbrook), 8. Matt Streeter (#14jr Streeter).
HEAT 2: (8 laps) 1. Jake Swanson (#05 Swanson), 2. Shane Golobic (#26 Bock), 3. Nick Foster (#1 Foster), 4. Connor Kassik (#15n Neverlift), 5. Travis Haugh (#5H Haugh), 6. Floyd Alvis (#18a Alvis), 7. Tom Dougherty (#66 Dougherty), 8. J.R. Williams (#74 Williams).
HEAT 3: (8 laps) 1. Shannon McQueen (#7 McQueen), 2. David Prickett (#15 Neverlift), 3. Quinton Crye (#15q Crye), 4. Larry Peterson (#17 Peterson), 5. Britton Bock (#67 Bock), 6. Jimmy Sills (#17T Sills), 7. Gary Consano (#83 Alvis), 7. Michael Snider (#2k Snider).
EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS NOT SANCTIONED BY ANY ORGANIZATION. THE VIEWS ARE OF THE AUTHOR ONLY.