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Silver Dollar Speedway
Story by Troy Hennig
July 23, 2010
Becker Goes From Upside Down to Victory Lane
The highs and lows of sprint car racing were displayed tonight at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. Oroville driver Sean Becker started the feature event upside down. He ended the race by standing in victory lane. Becker was caught up with Mark Hall on the original start of the 25-lap main event. Becker flipped over on his lid and the red was needed. Both drivers would restart at the rear of the field. Becker committed to the top and began to charge to the front. For the next 24 laps he put on a passing display.
Up front everyone was chasing Robbie Whitchurch. Whitchurch had the field covered and took the white flag as the leader. He held a comfortable lead but his night would end rolling through turn three. Whitchurch hit the white tire in turn three that separates the infield from the race track. It was just a simple error. His car came to a stop and the yellow was waived. Whitchurch sat helpless in turn four, less than 100 feet from the start finish line.
The restart of the race saw Becker as the new leader. On lap 21 he passed Brett Miller for second. Becker went on to lead the final two laps to collect the popular win. “My heart goes out to Robbie,” said Becker. “I've lost a lot of races on the last lap and I know what he's feeling. He continued by saying, “I am also really excited about what my team did tonight. To crash and then make repairs, and we barely made it back for the restart, it is a real testament to our never give up attitude. I need to thank all the other crew members who also helped out.”
Care Free Pools was the nights sponsor. Tonight they had teamed up with the Butte Humane Society. Many of the drivers brought their helmets into the grandstand before the main events started to collect money for the Butte Humane Society. Over $600 was raised because of the generosity of our good fans.
The main event took four attempts to finally get one lap completed. Becker and Hall started the race with their tangle. On the next attempt Andy Forsberg spun out in turn four and Robert Stice slid off turn three. Hall was involved in a wreck again on the third restart. Jeff Griffin and Dan Simpson were also involved. To get the first lap complete the officials decided to start the field in single file formation. This put Whitchurch up front by himself. Kevin Sharrah lined up in the second spot and Brett Miller third.
Whitchurch was the class of the field. He soon stretched his lead out to a full straightaway. Miller moved into the second spot but was being challenged by Tyler Wolf. Wolf took over the second spot on lap five. It was a spot he held until lap nine when Miller passed him back. Mason Moore was also hanging around. Moore on lap six moved into third but fell back to fourth on lap nine. Becker was on the charge. He moved into the fifth spot on lap nine and then moved around Moore on lap ten. On lap 15 Becker moved around Wolf for third. Becker and Miller battled for the second spot while also trying to navigate slower cars. Becker used a slower car to his advantage and on lap 21 moved around Miller for second. At this point the race was over.
Whitchurch had too sizable of a lead and only a mistake could allow Becker the chance at the lead. The mistake happened on the final lap when Whitchurch hit the white tire in turn three and spun around. The crowd did acknowledge Whitchurch with a nice round of applause as he was restarted and came by the front stretch. The final two laps were uneventful and Becker got his second win of the year. Miller came across second followed by Wolf. Brad Bumgarner finished in the fourth spot while Moore rounded out the top five. It was a good night for Bumgarner because he blistered the speedway in qualifying with a 11.405.
Heat race winners included Mark Hall and Tyler Wolf.
Complete results available at www.silverdollarspeedway.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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