By Gary Thomas
Stockton, CA – August 27, 2017…
RCM Design photo
It marked the second win of the season for both drivers and came during the penultimate weekend of the year for the Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards.
Eliason’s win on opening night at the Placerville Speedway also marked the third time this season that car owner Rod Tiner has tasted victory with the tour. Eliason himself captured the Antioch Speedway opener in April, while Chico’s Jonathan Allard also won in Antioch on June 17. Friday’s victory was worth a solid $4500 courtesy of extra money from Elk Grove Ford and the $500 Kyle Larson Racing Bonus.
The 40-lapper on Friday started out with Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox jumping into the lead and proceeded to click off the first 20-laps non-stop while doing a great job through heavy lapped traffic. A yellow at halfway allowed everyone to regroup and regather themselves for the finish. After going back green Cox continued to lead, but Eliason began to step up his challenges and eventually sliced his way into the top spot once traffic came back into play.
With the race winding down Shane Golobic overtook Cox and tried his hardest to track down Eliason, but had to settle for the runner up spot as the Rod Tiner Racing No. 83sa crossed under the checkered flag by 0.871 seconds margin of victory.
Roseville’s Colby Copeland had a strong outing aboard the F&F Racing X1JR and made a late pass of Cox to earn a podium finish. It marked the second podium effort of the year for Copeland. Cox and current Placerville point leader Steven Tiner rounded out the top-five.
Current Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards point leader Kyle Hirst charged from 15th to sixth and earned the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award in the feature. The remainder of the top-10 was comprised of Hanford’s DJ Netto, Placerville’s Jimmy Trulli, Placerville’s Andy Gregg and Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett. Cox earned the Metal Works fastest lap in the feature award.
The night’s Finley Farms B-main went to Andy Gregg, while the RacePartsTrader.com Dash was claimed by Justyn Cox.
All Star Performance heat one was picked off by Shane Golobic. A.R.T. Speed Equipment heat two went to Colby Copeland. BR Motorsports heat three was won by Justyn Cox and King Racing Products heat four was captured by DJ Netto. For the first time this season Rio Linda’s Cody Lamar set the LRB Inc./ ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust fast time with a lap of 10.791 around the quarter-mile. A total of 31-cars were on hand for round 11 on Friday.
Saturday’s Salute to LeRoy Van Conett at the Stockton Dirt Track then saw Watsonville’s Justin Sanders make a cameo appearance in the Rod Tiner Racing machine. The past Ocean Speedway champ won the RacePartsTrader.com Dash and took the lead at the waving of the green flag in the 35-lap feature.
All eyes early on however, were placed on Kyle Hirst who put on a thrilling charge from the 13th starting spot. The 29-year-old found the high-side to his liking and rocketed around the field, picking off cars one by one.
By lap 11 Hirst carved his way around Sanders to take the lead, with Shane Golobic also right there in the mix. Sanders attempted to drive back underneath Hirst on lap 14, but got sideways and spun a complete 360. He kept the engine lit but ultimately dropped to 12th. With the track taking rubber more and more due to the high day-time temps it made passing opportunities limited as the race wore on.
Hirst was in search of his first tour win this season, but with just under 10-laps remaining got caught up behind a lapped car and that’s all Golobic needed to drive under and assume the top-spot. The reigning Trophy Cup champion went on to dominate the rest of the race to take home his second career Stockton Dirt Track victory and his second SCCT win in the last three races aboard the Keith Day Trucking No. 22 sprinter.
Golobic also earned the Metal Works Fastest Lap Award. Hirst ended up in the runner up spot to tally his ninth podium in 12 races and for the second night in a row went home with the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award. Penngrove’s Buddy Kofoid made a late pass to claim the final spot on the podium, with Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto and Hollister’s Ryan Bernal completing the top-five. The top-10 was rounded out by Roseville’s Willie Croft, Andy Gregg, Justyn Cox, Justin Sanders and Escalon’s Cody Hodgson.
The Finley Farms B-main was won by Kyle Hirst, with the RacePartsTrader.com Dash going to Justin Sanders.
All Star Performance heat one was picked off by Cody Hodgson. A.R.T. Speed Equipment heat two went to Buddy Kofoid. BR Motorsports heat three was won by Mason Moore and King Racing Products heat four was captured by Justyn Cox. Shane Golobic started the evening by earning his SCCT leading third LRB Inc./ ADCO Driveline and Custom Exhaust fast time award by cutting a 13.689 around the Stockton 4/10 mile clay oval. A 34-car field signed into the pits for the penultimate event of the season on Saturday.
The Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards will now have some time off before championship night takes place back at the Stockton Dirt Track on Saturday November 4. The evening of action will be in conjunction with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Racing Series and honors the late great Gary Patterson. Tickets are available at www.stocktondirttrack.com
More information on the Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards can be found at our official website www.sprintcarchallengetour.com – Be sure to also like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sprintcarchallengetour and follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/360SCCT for the latest breaking news regarding SCCT.