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Friday night marks the return of racing to the famed Silver Dollar Speedway with Points Race Number One. Four divisions are to be run with the 410 Sprint Cars, Dirt Modifieds, Street Stocks, and the Mini Stocks all returning to the speedway. The Mini Stock division has been added to the list of Championships up for grabs at the speedway this season.
410 Sprints- I believe we will see the car counts for this division pick back up some this year. A few of the Drivers returning to run for the track championship are Chico drivers Brad Bumgarner in the Bumgarner Motorsports #88 car looking sharp as usual. Kevin Sharrah returns to the speedway after taking a year off. He will have his hands full this year not only with a steering wheel but he and his wife welcomed a baby to their family last month. We all wish Kevin the best of luck. Jason York will be back this year as well with new sponsor Chico Motorsports on the car. Look for Jason at the top of the podium at some point this year. Other drivers include defending champ Tyler Wolf out of Redding, along with Robbie Whitchurch out of Chico, Sacramento driver Sean Becker, Auburn's Andy Forsberg, and Paradise driver John Michael Bunch. Along with many more.
Dirt Modifieds- The dirt modifieds had a HUGE showing at the Silver Cup this year. Upwards of 30 cars made the trip out to Silver Dollar from all over the west coast. Last years battle for the championship was all Mark Abouzeid and Richard Papenhousen. Look for those two to be at the top of the charts this year along with many other drivers such as Ryan and Randy Mcdaniel, Duane Cleveland, Oreste Gonella, Jeff Olshowka Kevin Pendergrass, and Michael Matthews. Keep your eye on this division this year for the racing will be intense.
Street Stocks- Defending Champion Kevin Lesch will return this season piloting the Chico VW #27 Machine. He will look to hold off the hard charging Kevin Ward out of Paradise in the brand new Guy Bean Racing number 52 car. Ward comes into 2012 looking for nothing less than a championship. He has been a fixture in the street stock division for many years in Chico and really stepped it up last season with Two wins and a runner up finish in the championship chase. Phil Marino looks to get back on top of his game after a season of misfortune in 2011. Marino was fast all year but mechanical failure after mechanical failure kept sending the 28 car to the pit area week after week. Other returning drivers include Mike Slightom, Richard Workman, Bill Hall, Gary Newman, and Shawn Smith.
Mini Stocks- Many of the Mini Stock drivers from surrounding areas will be towing into Silver Dollar this year to run for a championship. Misty Castleberry out of Brownsville, Ca. is one fast lady. She proved to be hard to beat even with eveyone gunning for her in the few races in chico last year. Other drivers highlighted in this division will be Kyle Cheney out of Yuba City, Joel Giusti, and Shawn Merrit.
Two other divisions will also be running for track championships at Silver Dollar in 2012. The Limited Late Model Division and the popular Wingless Sprint Cars will make their season debut on Friday April 20th for Points Race #2.
Limited Late Models- The 2011 season saw them run on Seven occasions with David Larabee picking up the championship without winning a race! Matt Michelli, Jerry Bartlett, and Tom Arbogast each won Two events, and George Magenheimer picked up One. We hope to see this division grow this year for it is some action packed fender banging racing that we all love to see.
Wingless Sprint Cars- 2011 belonged to Terry Schank Jr. He picked up 3 wins at the famed 1/4 mile en route to the championship. Other drivers who picked up wins in 2011 include BJ Martin (twice), Ryan Bernal, Taylor Simas, Jimmy Sills (twice), Rowdy McClenon, Alex Schutte, and Brian Southers. As you can see any driver can win on any occasion in this division. There were 8 different winners in 12 nights of racing for this division, that is how close the racing is.
There will be many other divisions making appearances at the Speedway this year including the World of Outlaws, Joe Hunt Wingless Sprint Cars, USAC Midgets, Dwarf Cars, Hobby Stocks, Economy Sprints, Vintage Hardtops, ASCS National 360 Sprint Cars, Golden State King of The West 410 Sprint Cars, California Sprint Civil War 360's, and the USAC Western Classic Racing Series.
Come on out and support our local dirt track.
-Elijah Jones
Silver Dollar Speedway Fan For Life!
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