It’s Déjà vu At 17th Annual Mel Hall Memorial
(PETERSEN MEDIA- Marysville, CA)- Often times they say it is better to be lucky then good. Saturday night at the Marysville Raceway in Marysville, CA, Andy Forsberg capitalized on Cory Eliason’s late misfortune and went on to claim his second consecutive Mel Hall Memorial victory.
Leading the field to green alongside Bradley Terrell, Cory Eliason would jump out to the early lead as he attacked the cushion that had built up around the Marysville Raceway on this night.
Setting a torrid pace out front, Eliason would quickly find the tail end of the field as Terrell, Forsberg, Shane Golobic, Justin Sanders, and Mason Moore flanked him. Able to avoid a couple of near incidents in traffic, the race’s first yellow flag would fly on the seventh lap, giving the lead pack a clear track.
When the race came back to life, Eliason would continue to run a strong race, but behind him Andy Forsberg would use the restart to work into the second spot as he went to work on the Kingsburg, CA driver. The action in back of the pack too would pick up as eighth row starters Colby Wiesz and Geoff Ensign found their way inside the Top-10 on the racy ¼ mile speedway.
A 13-lap green flag run would be spent in heavy traffic up front, as Eliason continued to keep the reigning series champion at bay, as he sliced his way through traffic.
On lap 20 the complexion of the race would change as the yellow flag flew for Cody Lamar. While under caution, Eliason’s right-rear tire would go flat and he would come to a stop with just 10-laps to go and hand the lead over the defending race winner, Andy Forsberg.
Just one lap later the race would be slowed again as fourth running Bradley Terrell came to a stop with front end damage, and as the field slowed down Ryan Robinson would get upside down while running in the seventh spot and bring out the red.
The final nine laps of the race would go non stop and it would be a hard fought battle up front between Forsberg and Fremont, CA driver, Shane Golobic. With Forsberg bobbling on the final lap, Golobic would close in on the leader, but in the final turn Golobic would bobble and Forsberg would get away and score his first series win of the 2016 season, and his second consecutive Mel Hall Memorial win.
“These races are just really cool to me to win,” Said Andy Forsberg referring to the Mel Hall Memorial. “We had a pretty good car all night and that is thanks to my guys, but we had a little bit of help late in the race, but we will definitely take it, and hopefully back it up at the Silver Dollar Fair Race.”
Golobic would hang on to the second spot with Jonathan Allard using a great late race push to finish in the third spot after gridding the field from the 12th starting position.
“After hurting our engine at the end of the heat, my team did an amazing job of getting a new one in the car,” Shane Golobic said. “We were able to make some good changes for the feature, and really go for it in the closing laps, but just came up a little short.”
After a tough start to the season, Jonathan Allard was pleased with his night as well. “We qualified in no mans land and ended up lining up 12th in the feature event, but Lee and Shane gave me a great car and we were able to have a good run,” Allard explained. “I am so proud of how fast these guys have gotten this team going in the right direction, and I am expecting us to continue to be up front.”
Mason Moore would finish in fourth, while Colby Wiesz would complete a strong run from his 15th starting spot to finish in the fifth spot and earn $100 for his Hard Charger efforts. Michael Ing finished sixth, Geoff Ensign seventh, while DJ Netto and Kyler Shaw would round out the Top-10.
All in all 39 cars would officially take time during time trials with Cody Lamar setting the standard and picking up the $100 bonus.
A team of sponsors stepped up with a ton of extra bonus money on this night and each heat winner also took home some extra cash, and those drivers were Michael Ing, Cory Eliason, Justin Sanders, and Bradley Terrell.
Rowdy McLennon won the night’s C Main as Colby Wiesz would win the nights B Main. Cody Lamar, Matt Peterson, Seth Nunes, DJ Freitas, and Jeremy Hawes would each earn transfer positions to the 30-lap feature event after all running in the Top-Six during the semi.
2016 Schedule
June 11th- Placerville Speedway
June 18th- Petaluma Speedway
July 15th- Ocean Speedway (Howard Kaeding Classic)
August 6th- Placerville Speedway (Mark Forni Classic)
August 20th- Ocean Speedway (Johnny Key Classic)
September 7th- Silver Dollar Speedway (Gold Cup)
September 17th- Marysville Raceway
September 24th- Petaluma Speedway
November 5th- Stockton Dirt Track (Tribute To GP)
ON TAP: The Civil War Series presented by Flowmaster will head to the Placervile Speedway on Saturday night June 11th.
WINNERS: Willie Croft (March 25th, Silver Dollar Speedway), Andy Forsberg (May 28th, Marysville Raceway)
STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster, and find complete results and point standings by clicking over to www.racepmg.com, ‘Liking’ www.facebook.com/civilwarsprints, or following us on twitter at www.twitter.com/civilwarsprints. For more information on Flowmaster, please visit www.flowmastermufflers.com.
CIVIL WAR SERIES PRESENTED BY FLOWMASTER- Founded in 1991 as the North-South Series, the Civil War Sprint Car Series was born in 1993 giving 360ci Sprint Cars in California a sanctioning body. What started as just a handful of races at three different tracks has evolved into quite the series. In 2016, the Civil War Sprint Car Series will host 12 events at 6 different tracks around California.
