Fifty-Five and Counting for Wiesz
By: Troy Hennig
(Marysville, CA 4-5-15)…Colfax driver Colby Wiesz, a three-time Marysville Raceway track sprint car champion, picked up his 55th career main event win Saturday night. The 25-lap main event win didn’t come easy for Wiesz as he had to fend off a pesky Justin Sanders of Watsonville. Four other divisions including the Pro 4 Sprints, Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks and Dwarf Cars competed during the first point race of the season.
Twenty cars started the 25-lap sprint car main event. The opening lap was slowed when a five car pile-up occurred in turn one. On the ensuing restart it was Wiesz who jumped out the early lead. Even though Wiesz would go on to lead the entire 25 lap distance, the race up front was highly entertaining. Things got good at the midway point of the race when the leaders tried to negotiate slower cars on the race track. Wiesz used his patience and picked off the slower cars one at a time. Sanders continued to pressure Wiesz and joining the fight was Chico’s Kenny Allen. Unfortunately, Allen made a move to the outside of a slower car going into turn three and rode up and over a right rear wheel that sent him hard into the outside wall. Allen flipped a few times before coming to rest. The red flag was waived and field came to a stop so the safety workers could quickly check on the status of Allen. While Allen was shaken up a bit, he eventually walked off under his own power and waived to the crowd. The final eight laps were as good as it gets with Sanders trying everything he could to pass Wiesz. With two laps to go, Sanders pulled a big wheelie down the back straight. While it was impressive, the wheelie slowed his momentum and allowed Wiesz enough breathing room to lead the final lap with a comfortable lead. Top local drivers rounded out the top five at the finish. Yuba City’s Korey Lovell finished third. Marysville’s Courtney Dozier drove a great race to finish fourth. Grass Valley masher Jeremy Burt finished in the fifth spot.
Bud Walberg drove a flawless race to win the 12-lap B main event. Bobby Butler shadowed Walberg and finished second. William Fielding, Peter Paulson and Scott Clough rounded out the top five. All drivers in the top five transferred to the main event. Wiesz, Billy Wallace and Lovell each won their eight lap heat race. Allen started the night off by earning the fast time award in qualifying. Allen’s fast lap was recorded at 12.562. A total of 26 sprint cars entered the first point race.
Misty Castleberry didn’t lead the most laps of the Pro 4 Sprint main event; however, she led the most important one. Matt Beardslee led the first 10 laps of the feature event. In fact, at one point he had a two-second lead over Castleberry. Yet, Castleberry continued to close the gap lap after lap and by lap ten she moved to the inside of Beardslee and took the lead. The grandstand crowd lit up and rooted on their hometown hero. Castleberry would go on to win the 15-lap main event with ease. Castleberry also won the heat race for this division earlier in the night. Kelley Hicks finished in the third spot.
Local driver Brian Cooper won the 15-lap hobby stock main event over Todd Cooper and Brian Compton. Only four cars attended the hobby stock race.
The Mini Stock main event was exciting. In fact there was numerous door banging, debris falling off cars and on track confrontations that electrified the crowd. James Foster drove an aggressive race to get the win on the track, but, post-race the officials disqualified Foster for a rules violation. Even though he finished second on the track, Jimmy Ford was awarded with the win. Damian Merritt finished in the second spot. Kyle Davey ran a solid race to finish third. Kyle Cheney finished fourth and Shaun Merritt was fifth. Heat race number one winner was Erik Davey. Ford scored the win in heat two.
San Jose driver Shawn Jones is as good as they come. Jones can win in a wingless sprint and tonight he showed he can win in a Dwarf Car. Jones dominated the main event. After 20 laps of racing, Jones held a ridiculous advantage of over 10 seconds ahead of the runner up finisher Kevin Bender of Folsom. Jones lapped up to the fourth place finisher in the main event. Following Bender it was Scott Dahlgren and Chuck Conover. Mike Drake was credited with the fifth place finish but one complete lap behind the winner. Jones won the first heat race. Bender got the win in heat two.
Complete results can be found at www.mylaps.com/en/events/1119904.
Racing will resume in two weeks with point race #2 on April 18th.
More information can be found at www.marysvilleraceway.com
