Sanders Continues Hot Streak at Marysville
(Marysville, CA) July 11, 2015…Watsonville’s Justin Sanders picked up his fifth winged 360 sprint car main event win this year Saturday night at Marysville Raceway. To put his season in perspective, Sanders has started 10 main events at Marysville this year and won five of them. The previous night, Sanders won a 30-lap main event at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. With the two wins this weekend, Sanders now has amassed 10 feature wins in 2015.
Tonight’s win could have been the toughest of the season for Sanders. Chico’s Kenny Allen and Rio Linda’s Cody Lamar started on the front row of the 25-lap feature event. Lamar jumped out to the early lead and looked strong. In fact, Lamar was posting the fastest laps of the race. However, on lap 12, a right rear wheel malfunction would cause him to stop on the track. Lamar and crew fixed the issue but during the final 13 laps he could only muster a charge back to a tenth place finish.
Lamar’s misfortune gave Allen the lead. Once the race restarted it was clear Allen had the car to beat. He extended his lead over now second place running Sanders, by a good four car-lengths. With five laps to go, the leaders began to encounter slower traffic. As with most sprint car main events, the lapped cars can dictate the outcome. On lap 23 Allen was bottled up behind two slower cars. In a split second decision, Allen regrettably picked the wrong racing line going into turn one. Sanders darted to the bottom and went underneath Allen exiting turn two. This was all Sanders needed. Sanders cruised around the speedway the final lap and a half to capture the impressive win. “We weren’t as good as the #7k or #9L tonight,” said Sanders. “But that’s racing and sometimes it better to be a little bit lucky than good.” Allen finished second.
Lost in the shuffle was another strong performance by Jeremy Burt. While Burt has been held out of victory lane this season, it’s just a matter of time before the #2b parks his car in victory lane. Eighth place starting Brad Bumgarner drove up to s fourth place finish. Reno’s Mike Monahan finished in the fifth spot.
Chico’s Brad Bumgarner and Yuba City’s Kevin Lovell each won their eight lap heat race.
For the second time in 2015, Kenny Allen picked up the fast time award during sprint car qualifying. His quick lap was recorded at 12.854.
A total of 16 winged sprint cars entered tonight’s point race.
The 20-lap Pro 4 Sprint main event saw Browns Valley champion driver Misty Castleberry start in the third spot but before the field came by to complete lap two, she was in the lead. Castleberry went on to cruise to her fourth win of the season in this division and take over sole possession of the points lead. Following her across the line was Matt Beardslee of Antelope. Beardslee was tied with Castleberry for the point lead going into the night’s event. He will leave just a few points behind. Tim McLaughlin of Colusa finished in the third spot. Castleberry picked up the first heat race win while McLaughlin dominated heat two.
Kyle Davey controlled the mini stock division all night. Davey turned the fastest lap in warm ups. He then went on to dominate the eight lap heat race. Davey started on the front row of the 20-lap main event and led every lap to get the decisive win. Davey should be commended for his accomplishments tonight. James Foster was involved with Jimmy Ford in a lap one spin. Foster regrouped and drove his way back to a second place finish. Shaun Merritt held down the third place spot at the checkered flag.
Only three cars showed up for the street stock race. However, the three drivers put on a whale of a show. Steve Hammett won the eight lap street stock heat race. At times, all three drivers had a chance to win. The 15-lap main event produced a dramatic finish when leader Phillip Shelby bobbled in turn two that ultimately allowed Chris Warner to pass him with only two laps to go. Warner went on to win the main event. Hammett was also able to sneak by Shelby for the second spot.
Point race number ten will take place this Saturday night, July 18th.
More information can be found on line at www.marysvilleraceway.com
