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360 winged sprint cars
Petaluma Speedway 6/30/7
21 cars - 20 cars timed in as the #57 of Mitch Pyle broke in hot laps and did not return for qualifying or heats.
Weather: comfortable (needed only a sweatshirt)
Notables not at track: #20 Mike Henry, #2b Brent Dothage, #03 Richard Baily, and #10k Roberto Kirby
Top 10 qualifiers - position, time, car #, name
1. 12,78, #4, Adam McCarthy 2. 13.03, #43, Bradley Terrel 3. 13.10, #3x, Alissa Geving 4. 13.23, #19, Art McCarthy 5. 13.25, #3,Bill Cornwell 6. 13.28, #29, Cameron Mendes 7. 13.31, #35jr, Ricky Wright 8. 13.33, #6c. Jeff Parady 9. 13.38, #56, Shawn Arriaga 10. 13.40, #48k, Kirk Simpson
With only 20 cars to grid for heats, the promoter decided to run 4 heats. Why is anyone's guess. Perahps to keep carnage to a minimum and get everyone to the A? NO explanation of format given, so it was impossible to know the heats purpose and how the A-Main line up would be determined This is very frustrating for a fan. Sorry about not having this info.
Heat 1 - 6 cars - 8 laps - finish, car #, name, (starting spot)
1. #14, Scott Merrel(1) 2. #56, Arriage(4) 3. #4, Adam McCarthy(6) 4. #7, Nick Ringo(2) 5. #29, Mendes(3) 6. #3, Cornwell(5) - Merrel bolted to the lead from his inside row 1 starting spot. #56 of Arriaga was up to 2nd on lap 2 as Ringo begins to fade. The #4 of McCarthy grabs 3rd at flagstand on lap 3. The #29 of Mendes and The #7 of Ringo battle the rest of the way for 4th with Ringo prevailing. The #3 of Cornwell settled for 6th.
Heat 2 - 5 cars - 8 laps - finish, car#, name, (starting spot)
1. #31, Jason Newton(1) 2. #11d, Jeff Delte(3) 3. #48k, Simpson(4) 4. #43, Terrel(5) 5. #19b, Bobby McCarthy - The #31 of Newton jumped to the lead at the start and was never seriously threatened. The #11D of Delte pressures the #19b of Bobby McCarthy and grabs 2nd with an inside move in turn 1on lap 3. The #43 of Terrel and the #48k of Simpson wage a spirited battle for 4th. They both catch the #19b on the final lap. Simpson grabs 3rd at the flagstand with the white flag waving and Terrel passes the #19b in final turn (4) to grab the 4th spot.
Heat 3 - 5 cars - 8 laps - finish, car #, name (starting spot)
1, #96, Arvo Backholm(1) 2. #3x, Geving(4) 3. #2L, Mike Learn(2) 4. #35jr, Wright(3) 5. #7jr, Bob Bloom (5) - Once again the pole cars takes the lead at the waving of the green and into turns 1 and 2. Stays in order for 4 laps until the #3x of Geving gets a good bite coming out of turn 2 and shoots past the #2L of Learn down the backstretch. and begins to chase Backholm. A final last turn effort to pass by Geving comes up just short as Backholm holds on to the win.
Heat 4 - 4 cars - 8 laps - finish, car#, name (starting spot)
1. #19, Art McCarthy (4) 2. #25b, Dustin Baxter(2) 3. #6c, Parady(3) 4. #33, Jason Macintosh(1) - This one was all Art McCarthy as he took 2nd on lap 3 with a turn 2 outside move around the #25b of Baxter and then the lead from the #33 of Macintoah on lap 7 with the same move in the same turn. Macintosh then stops in turn 4 as the race is yellow checkered. The #6c of Parady was also on the move early in the race, but got sideways in turn 4 on lap 3 after also passing Baxter and dropped to the rear of the field.
They ran a trophy dash with the #19 of Art McCarthy, the #3x of Geving, the #43 of Terrel, and the #4 of Adam McCarthy. Basically a single file affair as the #19 romped to grab the hardware.
A-Main - 20 cars, 25 laps - finish, car#, name, (starting spot)
1. #4, Adam McCarthy(4) 2. #3x, Geving(2) 3. #19, Art McCarthy(1) 4. #48k, Simpson(9) 5. #56, Arriaga(8) 6. #6c, Parady(7) 7. #35jr, Wright(6) 8. #29, Mendez(18) 9. #96, Backholm(14) 10. #14, Merrel(12) 11. #25b, Baxter(11) 12. #2L, Learn(10) 13. #7jr(Bloom(20) 14. #11D, Delte(5) 15. #43, Terrel(3) 16. #19b, McCarthy(19) 17. #7, Ringo(16) 18. #3, Cornwell(17) 19. #31, Newton(13) 20. #33, Macintosh(15) - Good, fast paced race as the track crew worked before the main and watered and graded the track. There was drying of the track in turns 2 and 3, but the work eliminated the dry spots and made for some spirited, high speed racing. At the drop of the green the #4 of McCarthy was clearly the one on the move early as he used the high side of 1&2 to pass 2 cars and grab 2nd place behind his father. Yellow on lap 3 for the #31 of Newton who slowed in turn 4 and then stopped on the front stretch. He would restart. The fortunate benedficairy of the yellow was the #11d of Delte who did a wild wheel stand coming out of turn 4 and had lost several spots. Restart is 19,4,3x,43,35jr.,6c,11d,56,48k,14,25b,96,2L,29,3,7,189b,7jr.,and 31.
Restart saw no changes as the #33 of Macintosh went to the pits on lap 5. Lap 6 saw the leader (#19) enter heavy lapped traffic. The #4 of McCarthy took this opportunity to make what would turn out to be the winning move grabbing the lead with a lap 7 high side pass in turn 2. The #3x of Geving is now pressuring the #19 and make the pass for 2nd on lap 10 with a low side move in turn 4. The #7 of Ringo goes to the infield on lap 14. Lap 15 sees a yellow for the #3 of Cornwell who bangs the frontstretch wall and comes to a stop high in turn 2. Ringo takes this opportunity to rejoin the race at the rear. Restart sees the #4 of McCarthy jump out to a good size lead. #7 back to the infield on lap 21 as there is action all over the track. The #43 of Terrel loses a left rear wheel on lap 23 going down the backstretch and gives up what was unitl then a strong 4th place showing. The #11d of Delte goes to the pits during the yellow and is finished for the night. Restart sees Adam McCarthy never threatened and he takes an emotional victory. Art McCarthy, Sr passed away the previous week and both McCarthy's were overcome with emotion in victory lane.
Hard Charger was the #29 of Mendes who improved 10 spots from his 18th starting.
Good run by the youngster Aliisa Geving in the #3x who held on to her 2nd starting spot and did her best to try and chase McCarthy down. She got close in traffic several times, buy McCarthy was able to answer all challenges.. I like the new white paint scheme much better. Also, good run for another rookie the #35jr of Ricky Wright. Started 6th andwas able to weave through traffic and hold on to a 7th place showing. Kirk Simpson in the #48k seems to have solved his recent motor woes and had his best tun of 2007 at Petaluma.
Next points race for the 360's is June 14th. Civil War visits June 21 with another 360 weekly points race June 28.
Michael Paul, Jr. won the dirt modified race and Dean DeVolder grahbed an entertaining street stock win.
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