By Gary Thomas
Petaluma, CA…On several occasions in the past young Joel Myers Jr. had been close to victory lane and on Saturday night at his home track, that moment finally came. The 16-year-old persevered through several restarts and accepted the checkered flag for his first career Sprint Car triumph at the $5,000-to-win SCCT sanctioned Adobe Cup in Petaluma.
The Sebastopol racer has been one of the more consistent forces in the Golden State over the last couple months and became the 10th different driver to win with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards in 2022.
“It’s a great feeling to get my first win in front of the hometown fans at Petaluma Speedway tonight,” commented the driver of the All About Fire Protection/ Hi-Plains Building Division No. 46jr. “I have a lot of friends and family here as well so that makes it even more special. I want to thank my dad, my family and everyone that supports this team. Willie Kahne has been a huge help with his knowledge and has completely transformed our operation over the Summer. I’ll remember this one for a long time.”
At the waving of the Scott Erwin green flag in the 35-lapper, it was Myers who jumped into the lead ahead of High Sierra Industries Dash winner Tim Kaeding. The first seven laps proved to be the most exciting of the race, as Ryan Robinson made it a three car tussle up front. The trio had fans on the edge of their seats as they battled through heavy duty lapped traffic inches apart, only to have it come to a halt when things got too close for comfort off turn four.
Contact ensued and ultimately resulted in the lapped car of Colby Fox getting on his side and Kaeding making heavy contact into the front stretch wall. Luckily both drivers emerged okay but were done for the night. After this lapped traffic was hard to come by as several yellows and a pair of red flags slowed the flow. Each time traffic approached Robinson would close rapidly and appear to have a shot at the leader, only to have the amber lights flash on at every opportunity.
Myers hit his marks on each restart and with three laps remaining kicked it into overdrive, pulling away from the field to accept the checkered flag for the $5,000 win. Aromas driver Justin Sanders worked his way forward to tally a runner up finish at the conclusion aboard the Farmers Brewing/ Mittry Construction No. 2x mount, while Roseville’s Sean Becker charged from 12th to third at the helm of the Monhoff Racing/ M&M Structures No. 35 machine.
Fremont’s Shane Golobic earned the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award with a drive from 20th to fourth, with Windsor’s John Clark rounding out the top-five, claiming a career best Sprint Car Challenge Tour finish. Completing the top-10 were 15th starter Tony Gomes of Modesto, Penngrove’s Colby Johnson, 17th starter Burt Foland Jr. of Campbell, Robinson and Sebastopol’s Bradley Terrell.
Current SCCT point leader Andy Forsberg got upside down while running third in the feature and was officially scored 12th. His nearest rival in the points Ryan Robinson had been running second but slowed over the waning laps, dropping to ninth at the conclusion.
Oakley’s Dylan Bloomfield won the B-main, with heat race triumphs going to Andy Forsberg, Seth Standley, Joel Myers Jr. and Colby Johnson. San Jose’s Tim Kaeding began the evening by scoring the Bianchi Farms Fast Time Award with a lap of 13.115 around the 3/8 mile clay oval. A total of 28 cars competed at the 14th round of the SCCT season.
The Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards is right back in action this coming Friday September 30th at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. The ninth annual Tyler Wolf Memorial launches the two-night Fall Nationals weekend.
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SCCT 360 Sprint Car Results – Adobe Cup at Petaluma Speedway 28 Entries
A Feature 35 Laps
1. 46JR-Joel Myers[2]; 2. 2X-Justin Sanders[7]; 3. 35-Sean Becker[12]; 4. 17W-Shane Golobic[20]; 5. 12J-John Clark[13]; 6. 75-Tony Gomes[15]; 7. 38-Colby Johnson[6]; 8. 4-Burt Foland Jr[17]; 9. 14W-Ryan Robinson[3]; 10. 43-Bradley Terrell[10]; 11. 9L-Luke Hayes[8]; 12. 92-Andy Forsberg[5]; 13. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[21]; 14. 7V-Wyatt VanLare[18]; 15. 61-Travis Labat[19]; 16. 5V-Landon Brooks[16]; 17. 25S-Seth Standley[4]; 18. 9-Peter Paulson[11]; 19. 1F-DJ Freitas[14]; 20. 42X-Tim Kaeding[1]; 21. 75S-Bill Smith[22]; 22. 99-Wayne Katen[23]; 23. 18C-Colby Fox[24]; 24. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[9]
B Feature 12 Laps
1. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[1]; 2. 75S-Bill Smith[2]; 3. 99-Wayne Katen[3]; 4. 18C-Colby Fox[4]; 5. 7H-Jake Haulot[7]; 6. 7DJ-Dryver Dothage[6]; 7. 3-Bill Cornwell[5]
Dash 6 Laps
1. 42X-Tim Kaeding[4]; 2. 46JR-Joel Myers[2]; 3. 14W-Ryan Robinson[1]; 4. 25S-Seth Standley[3]; 5. 92-Andy Forsberg[8]; 6. 38-Colby Johnson[6]; 7. 2X-Justin Sanders[5]; 8. 9L-Luke Hayes[7]
Tiner-Hirst Ent. Heat 1 10 Laps
1. 92-Andy Forsberg[4]; 2. 14W-Ryan Robinson[1]; 3. 43-Bradley Terrell[2]; 4. 5V-Landon Brooks[3]; 5. 17W-Shane Golobic[5]; 6. 18C-Colby Fox[6]
BR Motorsports Heat 2 10 Laps
1. 25S-Seth Standley[2]; 2. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez[1]; 3. 2X-Justin Sanders[4]; 4. 75-Tony Gomes[6]; 5. 4-Burt Foland Jr[5]; 6. 33-Dylan Bloomfield[3]; 7. 7DJ-Dryver Dothage[7]
King Racing Products Heat 3 10 Laps
1. 46JR-Joel Myers[3]; 2. 9L-Luke Hayes[1]; 3. 35-Sean Becker[5]; 4. 12J-John Clark[2]; 5. 61-Travis Labat[7]; 6. 99-Wayne Katen[6]; 7. 1-Chance Grasty[4]
A.R.T. Speed Equipment Heat 4 10 Laps
1. 38-Colby Johnson[1]; 2. 42X-Tim Kaeding[4]; 3. 9-Peter Paulson[2]; 4. 1F-DJ Freitas[3]; 5. 7V-Wyatt VanLare[7]; 6. 75S-Bill Smith[5]
Qualifying 1
1. 92-Andy Forsberg, 00:13.461[3]; 2. 14W-Ryan Robinson, 00:13.494[6]; 3. 43-Bradley Terrell, 00:13.577[7]; 4. 5V-Landon Brooks, 00:13.747[5]; 5. 17W-Shane Golobic, 00:13.846[2]; 6. 18C-Colby Fox, 00:14.091[4]; 7. 3-Bill Cornwell, 00:15.037[1]
Qualifying 2
1. 2X-Justin Sanders, 00:13.160[2]; 2. 83SA-Isaiah Vasquez, 00:13.292[3]; 3. 25S-Seth Standley, 00:13.428[1]; 4. 33-Dylan Bloomfield, 00:13.491[4]; 5. 4-Burt Foland Jr, 00:13.584[6]; 6. 75-Tony Gomes, 00:13.733[7]; 7. 7DJ-Dryver Dothage, 00:14.162[5]
Qualifying 3
1. 1-Chance Grasty, 00:13.119[7]; 2. 9L-Luke Hayes, 00:13.197[3]; 3. 12J-John Clark, 00:13.203[6]; 4. 46JR-Joel Myers, 00:13.324[4]; 5. 35-Sean Becker, 00:13.722[1]; 6. 99-Wayne Katen, 00:13.783[5]; 7. 61-Travis Labat, 00:13.791[2]
Qualifying 4
1. 42X-Tim Kaeding, 00:13.115[7]; 2. 38-Colby Johnson, 00:13.494[2]; 3. 9-Peter Paulson, 00:13.595[3]; 4. 1F-DJ Freitas, 00:13.614[1]; 5. 75S-Bill Smith, 00:13.628[4]; 6. 7H-Jake Haulot, 00:13.641[6]; 7. 7V-Wyatt VanLare, 00:13.699[5]