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Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
Brett Miller charges from 17th to 8th with Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series Saturday night at SDS
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – July 6, 2009…Returning to Golden State Challenge Series competition for the first time since May Chico, CA's Brett Miller carved his way through the pack and used a late surge to get up to the eighth position and score the hard-charger award in the main event on Saturday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway.
The night of racing was the second time this year that Miller had moved through the pack on a rubber-down surface at the Chico bullring, after also putting on a charge from 19th to fourth at the annual Silver Cup in March. "This was a good run tonight and I'm happy with getting a top 10 after starting a ways back in the main event," Miller said. "I just focused on trying to save my tires the best I could to see if we could make a run at the end and thankfully it worked out great and made up some spots right towards the finish."
A total of 27 cars showed up for the special 4th of July show at the Silver Dollar Speedway on Saturday and it marked Miller's second start of the season with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series. In May the 19 year-old put on a strong charge from the rear of the field at the prestigious Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial to finish third in the main event following an opening lap spin. The result was his best ever finish with the traveling tour and he looked for more of the same this past Saturday.
Early in the evening however, qualifying didn't go how Miller would have liked as his fastest lap put the Care Free Pools, Platinum Powder Coating, Wolfe Electric No. 1x 19th fastest in the field. Starting seventh in the heat race he tried hard to make movement, but even with the track being drier than normal for the heats, passing chances were still tough to come by and a sixth place finish left him one out of the transfer, forcing him to run the b-main. After making adjustments in the pit area Miller started in the second row of the semi and rode the rim of the quarter-mile to a second place finish, which transferred him into the feature.
By main event time the track had become very slick, but started to take rubber after just a few laps making tire wear become a big factor in the later stages. The 2007 GSC Rookie of the Year lined-up on the inside of the ninth row in the 30 lap contest and spent much of it running the same line as everyone else, but at the same time trying to be as easy as possible on his tires. Following a long green flag run the yellow lights came on during the 18th lap and the "Catfish" sat 13th in the rundown.
The final 12 laps of the main event then saw Miller make some nice moves to execute passes of drivers such as Evan Suggs, Sean Becker and Andy Forsberg to maneuver his way through the pack and cross under the checkered flag in the eighth position aboard the Live Energy Drink, Simpson Race Products, Northwest Pool Plastering, JP's Paint & Body No. 1x sprinter. "I want to thank this team for giving me another great car and it was my crew chief Brian Cannon's birthday so it's nice to get a good run for him," Miller commented. "We didn't get qualified as well as we have been this season, but definitely made up for it in the feature."
Miller was also in action on Friday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway and it saw him time-in sixth fastest overall in qualifying, before missing the transfer by one in the heat race and then dominating the semi for victory to move into the A-main. The youngster started 10th on the grid and was flying on the hooked-up surface to get up to sixth in just a handful of laps, but was forced to pit after clipping a spun car in turns three and four on lap seven. He was able to restart at the rear and get back up to 10th by the finish to cap the evening of competition.
The next scheduled event for Brett Miller will be this Friday's Feather Falls Casino 410 point race at Silver Dollar, which is sponsored by Withrow's Motorsports and JP's Paint & Body Works. Going into the night he ranks seventh in the SDS standings and will be searching to put the Care Free Pools Racing Maxim into victory lane for the first time this season.
More news and info on Chico, CA's Brett Miller can be found at the http://www.brettmillerracing.net
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Former Golden State Challenge 410 Series Rookie of the Year Brett Miller was the hard-charger in the main event on Saturday night with a run from 17th to 8th at the Silver Dollar Speedway. Photo by http://www.graphxdesigns.com
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