By Troy Hennig
CHICO, CALIFORNIA (April 15, 2013) – It does not get much better than this night when it comes to Wells Fargo Championship point racing at the Silver Dollar Speedway. This Friday night, April 19th, the speedway will host the 6th Annual Bill Brownell Memorial presented by Shane Scott and Withrows Motorsports. The emphasis will fall on the 410 winged sprint cars as Scott and Withrow has increased the winner’s share to $2,500. “I am happy to continue the tradition of this race and allow our racing community to remember my good friend Bill Brownell,” said Scott.
Joining the winged sprint cars are the dirt modifieds, economy sprints, hobby stocks and the Perma-Zyme Wingless sprint car series. Pit gate will open at 4pm while the front grandstand gate will open at 6pm. Adult general admission is $13.00, juniors to seniors $11.00 and children ages 6 to 11 are $6.00. Kids five and under are free. As always, parking is free.
As we embark on the 6th Annual Bill Brownell Memorial it should be noted that the defending winner of the event is no longer with us. Redding’s Tyler Wolf won last year’s 25-lap event. Wolf held off a charging Rico Abreu during the exciting main event. To recap the event, go to you tube and search for Mike Doyle’s race video. On opening night we paid tribute to Wolf and we will continue to recognize him all year because of the Tyler Wolf fast time award. Another interesting fact is that there has not been a repeat winner during the five year history of the event. The inaugural winner was Princeton’s Mason Moore. The following year was won by Kyle Hirst. The 2010 winner was Sean Becker. Up to that point, all three winners had ties to Cycleland Speedway. Fort Jones driver Dan Menne won the 2011 edition of the race.
Bill Brownell was one of the founding fathers of Cycleland Speedway. The facility sits right off Highway 99 just south of Chico. The track is noted for the Outlaw Karts and has produced some of the top sprint car drivers in California. Names like Sean Becker, Brad Sweet and Kyle Larson all began at a young age at Cycleland. If we listed all the drivers today that started at this special place we would need two more pages. “Bill loved Cycleland and he especially rooted for the kids that came out of the go-karts and into the sprint cars,” said long-time friend and co-sponsor of the night Shane Scott. “It’s only fitting that we keep his name and the tradition of this race alive.”
The IMCA dirt modifieds are set to make their first point’s race of the year. It will be interesting to see if the car counts will increase because of the IMCA sanctioning that the Silver Dollar Speedway has instituted this year. The Hobby Stocks are also making their first appearance of the year.
The PERMA-ZYME wingless sprint car series will be led by co-point leaders Rowdy McClenon and Ron Laplant. Taylor Nelson, Dustin Thompson and Raymond Benekowski are also in the top five of points. Doug Emory leads the charge of the economy sprints.
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