Troy Hennig
(Chico, CA 7-31-15)…He wasn’t even supposed to be here. Fresno’s Koen Shaw was given an ultimatum by his girlfriend; either go on a date to a drive in movie theater on Friday night with her or go race with his family in Chico. She left it up to Shaw.
Twenty-four hours later Shaw pulled into victory lane for the first time in his sprint car career. He held off two of the greatest Chico drivers of all-time in Chico’s Jonathan Allard and Roseville’s Sean Becker. As Shaw climbed from the family owned #88k once he was in victory lane he was immediately was tackled on the front stretch by his younger brother Kyler, fellow competitor Justin Sanders and Shaw’s father. “She is happy for me but sad she couldn’t be here in person,” said Shaw. “But I am making up for it because Monday we are going to see a Dodgers game. I think that’s a fair trade to let me race tonight.”
Shaw became the fifth first time winner at Silver Dollar Speedway in 2015. The other four first timers include Colby Copeland, Tanner Thorson, Seth Bergman and Craig Stidham.
A healthy field of 24 sprint cars lined the pit are for a non-point winged 360 show. Auburn’s Andy Forsberg was the last car to qualify and turned the fastest lap of the night at 12.533. Heat race wins were won by Jonathan Allard, Stephen Ingraham and Korey Lovell. With the high car count, a B main event was needed. Chico’s Brad Bumgarner led all the laps to win the B main. He was followed Cody Lamar, Jim Richardson, D.J. Freitas and Eddy Lewis.
Starting outside the front row, Shaw beat Lovell into turn one and took the lead. The track was narrow and fast. Passing was going to be tough tonight. To Shaw’s credit he was in the right spot at the right times. Shaw navigated a few back markers until a yellow was needed on lap seven when Andy Forsberg got connected to Eddy Lewis’ back bumper. The two stopped and Forsberg went to the pits and was done for the night. Allard was able to get around Lovell and mount a serious charge on Shaw for the lead. Shaw continued to benefit from yellow flags. This allowed him to not have to deal with lapped traffic. Yet, Shaw still had to fend off the fastest driver this season, Allard, for the remainder of the event. With two laps to go, Jim Richardson and Michael Ing spun in turn two. This stoppage played in Allard’s favor because at that time, Shaw had built up a big lead. Allard had one last attempt to pass Shaw. On consecutive laps Allard dove to the bottom and tried to slide up in front of Shaw. Allard was never able to fully clear Shaw and had to let off the accelerator. Shaw powered down the back stretch for the final time and cruised around turn three and four seeing the checkered flag waiving in the air. At 23-years-old, he had accomplished a life-long dream. He was the first sprint car driver to the checkered flag during a main event. Allard came home second. Becker finished third. Kirt Organ was impressive all night and finished a solid fourth. Lovell did a nice job to remain in the fifth spot at the finish.
Jared Flower won the exciting mini stock main event. Pete Langley had won the heat race and seemed to be the driver to beat but a mechanical issue forced him off the track early in the event. Flower, who had spun, came back to take the lead on a daring three wide pass and never looked back. Damian Merritt came home in second and Nick Vidovich was third.
Brandon Powell picked up his fifth main event of the season in seven starts during the economy sprint car main event. Powell was terrific and also won the eight lap heat race. Both Ron Wyman and Wyatt Brown each finished second and third in the heat race and main event.
Clinton Earl picked up his first street stock main event win tonight. Earl was spectacular in victory. Eddie Hammett started seventh and moved up to second. Chris Warner was battling for the lead until contact with Earl damaged his car and he had to go to the pit is to replace a tire. He came back to finish tenth. Mike Slightom and Brent Lawrence each won their eight lap heat race.
Rob Waldrop won the California Hardtop race. Waldrop is from Oakley. Placerville’s Jason Armstrong was second followed by West Sacramento’s Ron Rezz.
Winged 410 Sprint Car Feature
1. 88K – Koen Shaw
2. 3C – Jonathan Allard
3. 75 – Sean Becker
4. 5 – Kirt Organ
5. 71L – Korey Lovell
6. 9L – Cody Lamar
7. 88 – Brad Bumgarner
8. 21X – Colby Wiesz
9. 92SH – Kyler Shaw
10. 55X – Bud Walberg
11. 93 – Stephen Ingraham
12. 74 – Micheal Cunnignham
13. 49 – Mike Monahan
14. 21 – Michael Ing
15. 8 – Jim Richardson
16. 27 – Justin Sanders
17. 9 – D.J. Freitas
18. 42 – Chase Majdic
19. 7X – Eddy Lewis
20. 92 – Andy Forsberg
Economy Sprint Car Feature:
1. 15 – Brandon Powell
2. 5 – Ron Wyman
3. 2 – Wyatt Brown
4. 9MM – Shawna Overton
5. 86 – Chad Thompson