Calistoga, CA — (October 27, 2012) –Sean Becker won the 75th anniversary event Saturday night at Calistoga Speedway that was marred by the tragic death of Tyler Wolf after a crash in the feature event.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Wolf family and the entire Northern California racing community.
CALISTOGA, CALIFORNIA (October 28, 2012) – Roseville’s Sean “The Shark” Becker led only the final lap to claim Saturday’s $15,000 to win “75th Anniversary Commemorative Race” at Calistoga Speedway in a night marred by a crash involving 2011 Silver Dollar Speedway champion Tyler Wolf of Redding.
The race celebrated Calistoga Speedway’s 75 years of racing history with one of the richest purses for Winged 360 Sprint Cars on the West Coast, attracting an all-star turnout of 39 entries to the half-mile dirt oval.
24 cars started the 30 lap feature with 16 year-old rookie Carson Macedo of Lemoore taking the lead from Becker to lead lap one. Racing was slowed on back-to-back cautions when Auburn’s Andy Forsberg suffered a flat tire and Sebastopol’s Bradley Terrell spun.
The red flag came out on lap three when Wolf made hard contact with the turn two wall and came to a stop just a few feet later. Wolf was transported to St. Helena Hospital where he succumbed to injuries shortly after the feature had concluded.
With heavy hearts and after grading the track at the point of impact, the green flag came back out with still 27 laps to go.
St. Helena’s Rico Abreu moved past Becker for the second position on the restart and challenged Macedo. Abreu went side-by-side with Macedo into turn one but Macedo maintained the top spot. The battling between the two allowed Becker to close in for a three car fight.
After a brief yellow on lap six for Chico’s Mason Moore stalling in turn four, the red flag came out again on a restart when Sacramento’s Herman Klein did a helicopter-like spin on his front tires in turn one.
Restart action included Placerville’s Andy Gregg getting overhauled by fast-time qualifier Jason Meyers of Clovis and Oregon’s Roger Crockett. The lead pack went single file until the caution on lap 12 for Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox slowing on the front stretch.
A back-and-forth battle for fourth continued on the restart with Tim Kaeding and Grass Valley’s Brad Sweet trading blows. By lap 19, Macedo, Abreu, and Becker hit lapped traffic and Abreu capitalized. On lap 21, Abreu swept by Macedo on the outside in turn two to take the lead.
Abreu pulled away to a straightaway advantage while Becker chased down Macedo. Sweet fell out of the race with engine problems on lap 24 but the contest stayed under green. After clearing Calistoga’s Mike Benson to put him a lap down, Becker drove up under Macedo to pass him for second on lap 27 in turn two.
Macedo’s Cinderella night ended on the next turn when a broken heim joint sent the Lemoore racer into the turn three wall and upside down. He was uninjured but out of the race.
Abreu got himself a great restart over Becker for the three lap shootout. At the white flag, Abreu had a five car length advantage but it quickly evaporated as the Abreu Vineyards entry starved for fuel. Becker charged past Abreu to the disbelief of the fans for the lead and the $15,000 victory. Kaeding and Meyers also worked past Abreu at the checkered flag with Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst rounding out the top-five.
“There were a lot of fast young kids up front. Carson did an excellent job,” Becker said. “Rico got him in lapped traffic and Rico was just lightning fast. It was very unfortunate for him because I know he had this race won.”
The $5,000 second place finish for Tim Kaeding gave him the 2012 Calistoga Speedway track championship unofficially. Heat race wins on the night went to Ocean Sprints champion Shane Golobic, Klein, Becker, and Cox. The 12 lap semi was won by Hirst. Fast-time went to 2011 World of Outlaws champion Meyers, with an 18.753 second lap.
“It’s been a long time coming for me and I wanted to win here so bad,” Becker said. “We finally did it tonight and I’m just overwhelmed right now! Dan Monhoff was born and raised here at Calistoga so he’s been coming to this track for a long time. We blew up a motor last week at Trophy Cup. We got some great help from Joe Vonschriltz loaning us a motor and we won the damn thing! I can’t believe it!”
“You know we just ran out of fuel. It started sputtering with a few to go and there was nothing we could do. It’s unfortunate but it happens to the best of us,” Abreu said. “They opened up the red early in the race and we topped the car off or we would have ran out on lap 20. Calistoga really put on a good race and this is really the best I’ve seen this track.”
October 27, 2012 75th Anniversary Commemorative Race Calistoga, California
QUALIFYING: 0 Jason Meyers 18.753
HEAT 1: 22k Shane Golobic
HEAT 2: 91 Herman Klein
HEAT 3: 35 Sean Becker
HEAT 4: 31c Justyn Cox
12 LAP SEMI: 57 Kyle Hirst
30 LAP FEATURE: 1) 35 Sean Becker, 2) 83 Tim Kaeding, 3) 0 Jason Meyers, 4) 89 Rico Abreu, 5) 57 Kyle Hirst, 6) 53 Andy Gregg, 7) 3c Stephen Allard, 8) 5h Logan Forler, 9) 29 Zach Zimmerly, 10) 11 Roger Crockett, 11) 92 Andy Forsberg, 12) 3 Craig Stidham, 13) 77 Mike Benson, 14) 22k Shane Golobic, 15) 43 Bradley Terrell, 16) 21x Carson Macedo, 17) 83t Brad Sweet, 18) 18 Greg Decaires, 19) 33t Jimmy Trulli, 20) 31c Justyn Cox, 21) 91 Herman Klein, 22) 22 Mason Moore, 23) 19 Tyler Wolf, 24) 5v Geoff Ensign
LAP LEADERS: 21x Carson Macedo 1-20, 89 Rico Abreu 21-29, 35 Sean Becker 30