|
Sanders is Crowned Champion of the 1st
Annual Pumpkin Cup
The Chowchilla Speedway was 'Spook'tacular on the 1st Annual
Pumpkin CUP. This final event of the 2009 season was full of action
like winged sprint car races, non winged sprint car races, stock car
races, a pumpkin crash destruction derby, and a special hayride and
trick or treat for the kids through the pit area at the speedway.
Justin Sanders became the 1st Champion of the Chowtown Pumpkin
Cup by going toe to toe with Zach Zimmerly and Darren Howard for
most of the Halloween night. It all started in the heat races as
Sanders won the first heat by a mere six inches over Darren Howard,
then in the second heat race it was Zimmerly over Eric "HotRod"
Humphreys by just a couple of feet!
The green flag flew for the thirty lap Pumpkin Cup main event and the
tight action the fans enjoyed in the heat races carried right into the
main event as Zimmerly and Sanders swapped the lead several
times over the first five circuits around the very fast racing surface.
Sanders moved way up to the cushion in turns three and four and
moved to the bottom of turns one and two and was able to pull out to
a nice led for several laps, but Zimmerly was able to stay within ten
cars lengths and once they caught traffic Zimmerly made a great
move to regain the top spot and then he moved to the high side and
took control of the race. Several times Howard pulled right up on then
leaders when they where side by side, but he was never able to grab
the lead.
While the fans enjoyed this great battle for the lead Humphreys, Ricky
Wright, Anthony Simone and Andy Ferris where locked in a battle for
fourth through seventh positions, in fact you could have thrown a
blanket over them for most of the race they were running so close to
each other.
With just fives laps remaining and Zimmerly with a five car lead
Anthony Simone showed the fans why he has been one of the most
exciting drivers for several decades. Simone moved past two cars on
the high side to take the third position and was right on the back
bumper of Sanders when he spun his car on the exit of turn four. This
happened right in front of ten race cars behind him, but he never
stopped doing three complete 360's and ended up pointing the right
direction in the middle of the pack! Simone drove back up to fourth
by the end of the race.
One lap after the Simone spectacular Mark Barroso spun his car
bringing out the caution flag setting up a green, white, checkered
finish. During the caution Zimmerly had to exit the track for a flat tire
giving control of the race back to Sanders. Now the only question
was could Sanders hold off the low grove charge of Howard? When
the green flew the group of sprinters flew into turn one and came out
of turn two with Sanders in front and Eric Humphreys on the back
bumper of Howard. Sanders took the win and completed one
fantastic night of racing in the 1st annual Pumpkin Cup!
The Spec Sprint class presented some of the best racing of the
weekend showing some real class with their high speed sideways
style. Terry Schank, that's Schank with an SC and everyone new it by
the end of the weekend because he won the qualifier on Friday night
and then drew the number one pill giving him the pole for the money
show on Saturday night. He never looked back when the green flag
flew as he put on a driving clinic never missing a mark in his perfect
drive to victory lane.
The crowd of cars behind Schank provided plenty of hair raising
passes and two and three wide racing for the fans to yell about.
When the checkers flew it was Schank followed by Tommy Laliberte,
Devon Ostheimer, Ryan Bernal, and David Press for the top five.
Chris Kootnz won the "B" main followed by Jerry Cisco and Brandon
Burd for the top three.
In the Hobby Stock event Tim Clark won the Friday qualifier and was
chased by several very fast races cars throughout the event, cars
driven by drivers named Camperud, Nelson, Fast, Weaver, Laquaci,
Roe and Dean.
On Saturday night several drivers drove through the "B" main to get
into the "A" main, and two of those drivers made great drives to get
to the front of the pack in the money race, those drivers were Bubba
Nelson and Fred Ryland.
Ryland drove all the way to the front of the pack from the back and
was fighting for the lead when he spun his car leaving him deep in the
pack again from where he could not make it back to the front. Tim
Clark and Kyle Camperud where the strong cars of the field, but
Clark was to strong for Camperud as he claimed the 1st annual
Pumpkin Cup victory. Bubba Nelson drove all the way from the back
to the front to finish third, Nick Silva spun on lap one, almost went a
lap down but he was saved by a yellow flag, and then he drove his
way back to a great fourth place finish.
Mike Stockton had an eventful race that actually began before the
engines were fired as he lost his steering wheel right on front of the
crowd, yes I said steering wheel! It took six officials and one police
officer to solve the missing steering wheel mystery. Merced County
Sheriff Deputy and head safety official at the Chowchilla Speedway
Jimmy Johnson put his training to work as he performed a flawless
five minute investigation that produced the missing steering wheel. It
was placed in the top of the roll cage by one of his Stockton's crew
members. Johnson performed well in front of some of the top brass in
the Valley as Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer, Merced County Sheriff
Mark Pazin, Chowchilla Mayor Justin White, and Chowchilla Fire
Chief Harry Turner were all in the grandstands for the first annual
Pumpkin Cup, the scariest show on dirt!
After all of this Stockton drove to a fifth place finish in the race, and
as one fan put it, all we were missing was someone dressed as
Shaggy and Scooby for that bit of entertainment!
On the fans side of the program more than fifty people entered the
costume contest and one very well dressed Snow White won a pair
of season passes for the 2010 season! Snow White was helped by a
very gracious but scary Fast Rat creature!
After the costume contest the hayride trailer pulled up to the start
finish line and a very full load of kids where taken to the pits by Roy
Hart for one of the most unique Trick or Treats a child could ever go
on. Once in the pits the trailer load of little ghosts and goblins were
unloaded and they went race car pit to pit in a very special Trick or
Treat. On the way back to the grandstands the kids went for a lap
around the race track on the hayride!
"The entire race season was a lot of fun and last three weeks were
great, we had the 1st annual Pacific Dirt Nationals with drivers from
all over the Country, the 3rd annual Pumpkin Smash at Madera
Speedway, and then the 1st Annual Pumpkin Cup at Chowchilla
Speedway, what a great way to finish off a great year. I saw so many
smiling faces over the last three weeks, this is why we do what we
do" Kenny Shepherd.
The night ended with a Pumpkin Smashing Destruction Derby, then
the lights were turned out on the 2009 racing season.
For more information go to www.racechowchilla.com
Saturday night main event race results;
Wright One 360 Winged Sprints
1-Justin Sanders
2-Darren Howard
3-Eric Humphreys
4-Anthony Simone
5-Ricky Wright
6-Zach Zimmerly
7-Andy Ferris
8-Roen Shaw
9-Albert Pombo
10-Mike Mouahan
11-Mark Barroso
12-Garrett Ishii
13-Steve Jauith
14-Johnathon Logan
15-Pete Murphy
16-Adam Frithsmith
17-Dave Knott
Spec Sprints
1-Terry Schank
2-Tommy Laliberte
3-Devon Ostheimer
4-Ryan Bernal
5-Dave Press
6-Tom Dupont
7-Scotty Dupont
8-Kieth Shipherd
9-Jerry Sisco
10-Josh Jacobo
11-Rick Sharp
12-Christian Hickman
13-Kris Koontz
14-Doug Grandbois
15-Janna Spear
16-Brandon Burd
17-Brandon Gandy
Hobby Stock Open
1-Tim Clark
2-Kyle Camperud
3-Bubba Nelson
4-Nick Silva
5-Mike Stockton
6-Danny Roe
7-Rich Altrimarano
8-Fred Ryland
9-Robbie Laquaci
10-Jarod Fast
11-Marshall Weaver
12-Jeremiah Vanscoy
13-Lester Beaver
14-Nattie Perry
15-Tim Dean
16-Paul DeLuca
17-Gene Haney
18-Shane Hausman
19-Dale McDowell
"ARE YOU PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN
|
