By Bob Burbach
Marysville- Paul and Kathy Hawes’ Marysville Raceway Park will again host the amazingly popular Performance Auto Supply Winged Sprint Cars as the featured division this Saturday night. The MRP Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks and the Pro 4 Sprinters will also be on the program.
It looks like a good ol’ fashioned battle of champions is shaping up in the run for MRP’s Performance Auto Supply Winged Sprint Car division title. After 2 races the top 3 in points are all former MRP Winged Sprint Car Champs. Jeremy Burt, the 2007 MRP champ sits atop the standings by 4 markers over defending champ Billy Wallace. Both drivers hail from Grass Valley and both drivers are bad-fast at the MRP clay. Yuba City’s Korey Lovell, (MRP’s own “5-time”) is sitting 3rd in points after quick runs during the first two events.
All 3 drivers will be at MRP Saturday for round 3 of the 2012 MRP Super Season. Auburn’s Jimmy Steward has shown some remarkable speed this season and is parked in 4th position in points just ahead of Marysville’s Cort Dozier. Garry Burdick had motor problems during last week’s feature and he sits in 6th. “It just wouldn’t go.” Burdick said later of his red #22x.
All of the top 5 in points have a bit of a bump on 3-time champ Brent Dothage who was involved in a scary crash last week. Dothage was OK but was unable to compete in the feature and dropped in the standings. Dothage will be back and surely will be back in the hunt for the title soon.
The Performance Auto Supply Winged Sprint Cars had a rough night of it last Saturday as 4 of the volatile racers flipped hard during the event. Peter Paulson popped out of his racer at the scene and walked away as did Jeremy Phillips. Injured drivers Brandon Ternora and Joe Mafara have been released and are on the mend.
This Winged 360 Sprint Car show will be a Contingency Connection event. It is the 3rd Contingency Connection offering for the 2012 season in the Performance Auto Supply Winged Sprint Cars. Feature event bonus awards will be available to the winner with Contingency Connection sponsorship decals displayed by the winning driver. The bonuses will be awarded at the track. Winning racers in the Contingency Connection average some $1500 in Contingency Connection bonuses weekly this year. Contingency awards will be awarded to 50 racers throughout the season at MRP. Contingency Connection decals that must be carried by the winning car are available at Marysville Raceway Park at each event.
The Pro 4 Sprints will be racing at MRP Saturday night as well. It looks like Wingless Warrior Sprint Car Star Jeremy Hawes will climb into the “Flyin’ Ford” Pro 4 once again for Saturday’s event. Hawes has had considerable success in the #01. The 2-time winner of the Sherm Toller Memorial sprint car race will have Joel Giusti, defending champ Tim Maclaughlin and Misty Castleberry for company among others. It should be a good one.
Misty Castleberry is also at the top of the point sheet once again as round 3 of the MRP Mini Stock season will be presented Saturday. Damian Merritt, who fought hard last week for the victory is in 2nd position in the points. Rookie contender and the big surprise so far this season is Travis Carter. Not only is he quick, but he is in 4th position in the points behind Erik Davey, who led many of the early laps last week. It was unclear at this writing whether championship contender Shaun Merritt, who had a tough crash last week, will be back in the saddle Saturday. His #77m was beat up pretty badly in that hard ride. Even with his tough luck, he resides in 5th place in the points.
Point leader Jeremy Hammons leads the point standings in the slam-bang Hobby Stocks. Round 4 is Saturday and Hammons has won 2 in a row. Gentleman Jim Waller has crept into 2nd in points, just 1 ahead of Kyle Cheney.
Wicked fast open wheel thrills and a slam-bang offering of high energy stock car action makes “MRP…the place to be” once again this Saturday.
Pit gate opens at 3PM. Grandstands open at 5PM. Hot Laps at 5.30. 1st race after hot laps.
Don’t forget to monitor our facebook page during the week; we’d love to hear from you. Updates are constantly being forwarded to the page on race night.
IMPORTANT: 2012 minor releases must be signed by parents for all minors entering the pits.