From Troy Hennig
Chico, CA — (March 9, 2013) — Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett seems to excel at Silver Dollar Speedway in the month of March. For the third time in five years, Crockett bested a stout field of cars to win the final night of Silver Cup at Chico. It was Crockett’s 17th career sprint car win at Silver Dollar Speedway. With the win Crockett passed the legendary Dave Bradway Jr. for the 12th spot on the all-time wins list at Chico.
Tonight also marked a dramatic improvement in his finish from the previous night when he was the first car to pull off. “I am thankful they gave us a track to race on,” said Crockett referring to lasts night hooked up, bumpy race surface. Crockett definitely seems to excel at the slicker more technical tracks. Tonight was no exception. He raced his way into the lead while dealing with slower traffic and an impressive Mitch Olson.
Sacramento’s Justyn Cox led the 20 car starting field to the green flag. Cox went on to lead the first lap, yet, it was the veteran Greg DeCaires who stole the lead on lap two. Most of the top drivers started to settle on running the top groove the next 10 laps. On lap 15 Crockett really closed on DeCaires. On lap 18 Crockett set DeCaires up for a beautiful pass. Crockett led the 19th lap with the great move. On lap 20, the fifth place starting Mitch Olson passed both Chris Bell and DeCaires for the second spot. Bell got around DeCaires for third. Olson pressured Crockett the final five laps and the two engaged with slower traffic. Bell was equally impressive and was all over the top two. On lap 22, Andy Gregg moved into the fourth spot and also began to try to challenge for the lead. Up front Crockett continued to lead the way and the veteran in him used the slick surface to his advantage. Crockett went on to hold off the charging Olson at the finish line by 0.747. Olson held on to fend off the youngster Bell. Both Olson and Bell had terrific weekends. Each had finished in the top five both nights and showed their versatility as sprint car drivers with the two dramatic different surfaces. Gregg finished in a solid fourth place. DeCaires rounded out the top five.
Gregg won the 10-lap B main event. He was followed Iowa driver Chris Martin, Oregon’s Garen Linder and Fremont’s Shane Golobic. All four transferred to the main event.
Steven Tiner started the night off by turning the fastest lap of qualifying at a 13.289. Sean Becker won the first heat race. Willie Croft brought the #3c into victory lane after heat race two. Justyn Cox won the third heat while Colby Wiesz earned the top honors in heat four.
A total of 31 winged sprints entered the final night of Silver Cup racing. The next winged sprint car race at Silver Dollar Speedway takes place March 23 with the World of Outlaws Mini Gold Cup.