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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USAC CHAMPIONSHIP HEATS UP AS ENSIGN
WINS MCCREARY CLASSIC
SACRAMENTO,
CALIFORNIA (August 7, 2011) – After a pair of second place finishes in 2011, Sebastopol’s Geoff
Ensign finally found his way atop the USAC Western Classic Racing Series
podium, winning Saturday night’s “Mike McCreary Classic” at Placerville
Speedway. Ensign defended a strong
challenge from Roseville teenager Colby Copeland in the
closing laps to take the $2,000 win.
With the
win, Ensign made up more ground on points leader Tony Hunt as the series will
return to pavement later this month in Irwindale. Hunt was involved in a four car restart
accident on lap 18 but recovered to finish 12th.
Scott Hall
led the 22 car field to green but Ensign, from fourth, quickly took the reigns
of the feature to lead lap one.
“We knew
the track would slick off so we hooked it up to get off the corner,” Ensign
said. “The first lap was a little tricky
coming outside second row but I knew those guys would overdrive turn one.”
The first
stoppage of the race came on lap three when Placerville’s James Sweeney flipped
in turn one while dirt points contender Shauna Hogg of Fair Oaks hit the tire
on the inside. Hogg was able to continue
on but Sweeney was done.
Copeland
began attacking Ensign from the cushion in turns three and four but Ensign
maintained the lead. Chico’s Jason York began to mount a
challenge as he moved into fourth, but on lap seven he was eliminated when he
tagged the wall in turn four.
On the
restart, Copeland continued to challenge Ensign, finally taking the lead by a
nose on lap 11. Ensign fought back and
took the lead back from lap 12. Matt
Sherman spun out on lap 13 to bring out the caution, and on the restart
Copeland, Kody Swanson, and local favorite C.J. Humphreys all went to work on
the top.
Humphreys
brought the fans to their feet as he charged from ninth to fifth before jumping
the cushion in turn one to spin on lap 18.
Coming back to green, the single file field stacked up in turn four with
Tom Baker, Hunt, Placerville’s Jimmy Trulli, and Lafayette’s Todd Miller tangled up.
Hall and
Swanson engaged in a battle for third while Humphreys began another bid to the
front on the cushion. Humphreys powered
through the entire field to fifth place before spinning again on lap 25. The race stayed green costing Humphreys a top-ten
finish.
On the
white flag lap, Copeland drove deep into turn three to mount one last challenge
on Ensign, but Ensign hung on in a drag race to the finish line. Swanson, who won the Wayne Sue Classic on
Friday night, came home third with Hall fourth and Reno’s Mark Tabor, Jr. the top-five.
Heat races
on the night went to Joe Stornetta, Sherman, Sweeney, and Marc Mackay. The Kaeding Performance Awards on the night
worth $50 went to Miller and Ensign. The
12 lap semi was won by Baker.
Ensign and
Hunt will resume their points duel for the overall championship in Irwindale on
August 27.
“This is my
first commitment to a points race and its definitely a lot more stressful,”
Ensign said. “You have to think and be
patient. So far with this Ted
Finkenbinder car we’ve been up front every time and that helps.”
More
information on the USAC Western Classic Racing Series is available on Facebook
at keywords “USAC Western Classic Racing Series”. The United States Auto Club is online at www.usacracing.com
The USAC
Western Classic Racing Series is brought to you by: Amsoil, Hoosier Tires West,
and Kaeding Performance.
www.stevenblakesley.com
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USAC
WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT RACE RESULTS: August 6, 2011 – Placerville, California –
Placerville Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jason York,
25, York-11.887; 2. Kody Swanson, 69, Kaiser-11.899; 3. Geoff Ensign, 3F,
Finkenbinder-11.930; 4. Scott Pierovich, 14, Pierson-11.997; 5. Colby Copeland,
24c, Copeland-12.055; 6. Scott Hall, 56x, Santiago-12.065; 7. Mark Tabor Jr.,
38N, Tabor-12.132; 8. David Johnson, 33, Johnson-12.191; 9. Marty Hawkins, 3m,
Hawkins-12.288; 10. Tony Hunt, 56, Phulps-12.351; 11. C.J Humphreys, 85,
Humphreys-12.375; 12. Todd Miller Jr., 96, Miller-12.494; 13. Jimmy Trulli,
33T, Trulli-12.560; 14. Tim Barber, 3T, Finkenbinder-12.566; 15. James Sweeney,
20J, Sweeney-12.574; 16. Tom Baker, 3B, Baker-12.586; 17. Richard Brace Jr.,
21J, Brace-12.592; 18. Kirk Simpson, 84, Simpson-12.593; 19. Shauna Hogg, 5,
Hogg-12.692; 20. Scott Lynch, 25x, Lynch-12.742; 21. Joe Stornetta, 6,
Stornetta-12.851; 22. Matt Sherman, 00z, Sherman-12.974; 23. Gordon Rodgers,
94, Dusin-13.015; 24. Jerry Kobza, 93, Kobza-13.126; 25. Tim Sherman, 1x,
Sherman-13.622; 26. Don Emory, 50,
Emory-13.675; 27. Jeff Shurley, 50s, Beck-13.696; 28. Marc Mackay, 86,
Mackay-13.741.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1.
Stornetta, 2. Copeland, 3. York, 4. Trulli, 5. T.Sherman, 6. Hawkins, 7. Brace.
NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1.
M.Sherman, 2. Hall, 3. K.Swanson, 4. Hunt, 5. Emory, 6. Barber, 7. Simpson. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1.
Sweeney, 2. Humphreys, 3. Ensign, 4. Tabor, 5. Rodgers, 6. Hogg, 7. Shurley. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1.
Mackay, 2. Johnson, 3. Pierovich, 4. Kobza, 5. Miller, 6. Baker, 7. Lynch. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Baker, 2.
Brace, 3. Hogg, 4. Miller, 5. Simpson, 6. Rodgers, 7. Emory, 8. Shurley, 9.
Lynch, 10. T.Sherman, 11. Barber. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Geoff
Ensign, 2. Colby Copeland, 3. Kody Swanson, 4. Scott Hall, 5. Mark Tabor Jr.,
6. Scott Pierovich, 7. Richard Brace Jr., 8. Jerry Kobza, 9. Shauna Hogg, 10.
Jimmy Trulli, 11. Don Emory, 12. Tony Hunt, 13. David Johnson, 14. C.J.
Humphreys, 15.Jeff Shurley, 16. Joe Stornetta, 17. Matt Sherman, 18. Tom Baker, 19. Todd Miller Jr., 20. Marc Mackay,
21. Jason York, 22. James Sweeney. NT
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**Sweeney flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Ensign.
NEW WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT POINTS: 1-Hunt-489; 2-Ensign-481; 3-Hogg-416;
4-Pierovich-386; 5-Barber-364; 6-Kobza-286; 7-Audra Sasselli-245; 8-Cody
Gerhardt-222; 9-Luis Ramos III-204; 10-Tim Skoglund-197.
NEXT WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT RACE: August 27 – Irwindale, CA - Toyota Speedway
at Irwindale
www.stevenblakesley.com
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