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PRESS RELEASE, HOOSIER RACING TIRES CIVIL WAR SERIES
FROM THE OFFICE OF JOHN PADJEN MOTORPORTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, FRIDAY, JULY 20 , 2007
MEDIA CONTACT: BILL SULLIVAN: [email protected]
GrassValley's Mark Hall leads Chico Civil War event from start to finish
Series now heads to PetalumaSpeedway tomorrow for ninth segment of 15 race campaign
By Bill Sullivan
John Padjen Motorsports
CHICO, CA – The Hoosier Racing Tires Civil War Sprint Car Series returned to action Friday night at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico for the first of two back to back events at two different California race tracks this weekend. Friday night marked the eighth round of the 15 race series that will head to Petaluma in less than 24 hours for round nine of competition on Saturday night.
Veteran driver Mark Hall of Grass Valley led every lap of Friday's 30-lap A-feature to post his first series victory of the year. With the victory, Hall became the seventh different driver to win a Civil War race in eight events this season to improve his seventh place position in the series point standings.
With the waving of the green flag on Friday night Hall took the lead off the outside of the front row over pole sitter Brett Rollag of Rohnert Park. As early as the second lap Hall distanced himself by nearly three car lengths over Rollag. With five laps complete the former Marysville track champion was already working his way into heavy lapped traffic.
With seven laps down the red flag waved when the lapped car of Stephen Allard drifted off of turn three and four and pulled back onto the racing surface in turn four directly in the path of Rollag who was racing in the second place. Rollag collided into Allard and flipped several times down the front stretch. A chain reaction ensued behind Rollag sending 17th place starter Mark Tabor Jr. and Chad Compton upside down as well. The incident drew a lengthy red flag but all drivers were uninjured in the incident.
Once the event saw the green flag again, Hall resumed his lead with fourth place starter Robbie Whitchurch of Chico in second place only to see the red flag again when Mike Henry of Sacramento went upside down when he was struck by Whitchurch in turn four. The incident caused a flat tire on Whitchurch's machine and sent Henry to the rear of the field as well after quick repairs.
On the second attempt at a restart Hall was being trailed by Andy Forsberg who started sixth. Forsberg took the high line in the first set of turns under green. Forsberg's error allowed Herman Klein of Sacramento and Placerville's Andy Gregg to take the second and third positions.
With 13 laps in the event Hall reached lapped traffic once again and began distancing himself from Klein just as the race under went caution again. The yellow flag flew when Jeff Delte climbed over the right rear tire of fourth place runner Greg DeCaires of Elk Grove and collided into the front stretch wall.
With a little more than half of the event to go, the restart saw Hall power ahead of Klein. While Andy Gregg and DeCaires battled ahead of Forsberg. With 21 laps into the event early crash victim Stephen Allard moved back into the top five. Allard rallied back from the 21st position and was closing in on Forsberg in traffic just as a final yellow flag flew on the 28th lap to pause the field.
On the restart of the event, Hall set the pace with two lapped cars between second place runner Herman Klein and himself. Andy Gregg restarted in the third position followed by DeCaires, Forsberg and Allard. Hall powered ahead of the field while Forsberg overtook DeCaires. Klein drove off the track surface to draw one final yellow flag and relinquish second place to Gregg for the restart.
On the restart, Hall powered ahead while Allard overtook Forsberg and closed in on Gregg on the white flag lap. At the checkered flag Hall picked up his first Civil War victory of the year followed by Gregg. Allard finished an impressive third place, recovering from his early race mishap. DeCaires finished in fourth followed by Wallace
"The crew did a great job, everything went our way," said Hall. "The track was a bit rough in places but it was still really racey. I knew Andy (Gregg) was back there, I didn't realize I had a good there a few times so I stayed on the gas hard the whole time. I just need to thank everyone that helps me do this each week."
For Gregg, Friday's finish was his second top two outing in two straight Civil War events. Gregg recently won the Civil War feature in Marysville two weeks ago, his first career win in California.
"The track was rough on us tonight," said Gregg. "But I think running up here on Friday nights has helped me a lot. If I hadn't been racing up here every week I probably would have been running in the back of this deal tonight. I knew Stephen Allard was going to make a run on that last lap. I've learned a lot about this track from that guy and he did everything he could ."
"I feel really bad for what I caused on the red with Brett Rollag tonight," said Allard, who was greeted by kudos from his hometown crowd. "I was just trying to get back on the racing surface and not cause a yellow flag, that was totally my fault. We got back in the race and we were able to do a good job though. I just did everything I could tonight. Andy Gregg really held his line out there tonight and I gave it my all but just couldn't get around him."
With 41 cars on hand Friday night, preliminary competition consisted of four ten lap heat races, a C-feature and a B-feature, all leading up to the 30-lap A-feature event worth $2000 to the winner.
In Friday's B-feature, Billy Wallace was the first driver to the checkered flag followed by DeCaires, Colby Wiesz, Jeff Delte and Chad Compton. James Sweeney of Placerville led every lap of the 10-lap C-feature Friday night to transfer in the 12-lap B-feature. Sweeney was followed across the line by Heath Hall, Josh Keheley and Dustin Baxter.
In heat race competition Mark Hall won the opening heat of the night and share the glory with heat race two winner Mark Tabor Jr., Mike Monahan and Jimmy Trulli. In qualifying, Forsberg posted the fastest lap with a 12:316. Forsberg was trailed by Herman Klein, Billy Wallace, Ricky Wondergem and Greg DeCaires.
The Civil War Series will now head to Petaluma Speedway tomorrow, July 21 for the ninth round of competition and the first appearance of the year on the 3/8 mile dirt oval. For additional information on the upcoming Civil War event and full results of tonights race, log on to www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com. For information on Petaluma Speedway check out www.petalumaspeedway.com.
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