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September 5th - Calistoga Speedway Sebastopol's Geoff Ensign was having himself a great weekend. On Friday night at Petaluma, he finished second to a car that looked like it was more Terminator than Sprint Car in the Wingless Run What Ya Brung Shootout. On Saturday night at Calistoga vs. the USAC Wingless 410 Sprint Cars, he put his 360 on the second row of the main event. Sunday would be a little tougher, but in the end, Ensign and the Heavy Metal Racing/Able Maintenance/Nor Cal Transmission #5 would come out the other end feeling great about their weekend. Riding the wave of passing 14 cars the night before all while giving away roughly 100 horsepower, Ensign again strapped the helmet on and laid down a nearly perfect qualifying lap. Ensign would time in 4th overall in his "little engine that could", a time that would handicap him in his heat race, but a time to be proud of for sure when racing against certified superstars of wingless racing. Starting near the tail of his heat race, Ensign found himself dicing for position inandamongst names like Kruseman and Clayton for the fifth and final transfer spot to the main event. Positions swapped multiple times between the three and a fourth car, Jeff Griffin was also on the scene, waiting to pounce. Coming out of turn 4 to the checkers, Ensign had the transfer spot to himself until Clayton hit the rear nerf, sending Ensign sideways and off to the B Main.

The B Main Event was uneventful, as Ensign started on the pole and finished second, earning a chance to start behind the inversion in the main event or 9th overall.

It was clear early that tire wear was an issue for everyone involved and Ensign would be riding it out as opposed to charging through the field, but despite that, Ensign had cemented himself in the field, not going forward, but not going backwards either. He was a legitimate contender as cars started falling by the wayside when tire wear became an issue. Fate had other things in mind though for the newly turned 21 year old, as again, he and Clayton got together, sending Ensign to the pits for repairs to the front end. The crew spun wrenches and changed tires, but missed the restart and had to wait until the next yellow, two laps later. Out of contention for the podium or a top 5, Ensign returned to the fray in hopes of winning the raging battle of attrition based around tire wear. Again, fate had other ideas as Ensign hauled the #5 into turn one where a car, then two, then three had spun in front of him. Ensign dodged like a football running back, but clipped a spinning car with his right rear and again, he headed for the pits for repairs. This time, there was minimal damage to the Ensign ride, and again, he was pushed back into competition. A few laps later, another yellow came out and USAC officials, missing it the first time, black flagged Ensign for multiple trips to the pitlane under yellow and his night was done. Officially, Ensign would finish 15th.

Afterwards, Ensign was not disappointed at all in his three races in three days excursion. A second, 11th and top 360, and a 4th quick qualifying 15th vs. the best wingless drivers around in an inferior car will do that to you. What does Ensign do for an encore? We'll see this Wednesday night when Ensign makes it four races in six days as the Heavy Metal crew heads to Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway for the Civil War 360 Invitational, this time on even terms with the rest of the field.

Ron Lingron - Heavy Metal Racing

Geoff Ensign can be contacted via Facebook (search Geoff Ensign) or email at [email protected].

PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.RACEIMAGES.NET