Merritt, Johnson, Warner and Forsberg All Winners
Marysville Raceway
Phone: (530) 350-7275
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Forsberg Dominates Fast Cars and Freedom Event
Marysville, CA (July 3, 2018) – A record breaking crowd witnessed an all-time classic at the Marysville Raceway Tuesday night, July 3rd. The special Fast Cars and Freedom event produced on and off-track fireworks that thrilled the capacity crowd.
Darren Johnson captured his third win in a row during the 15-lap Crate Sprint feature event. Johnson dominated the event that was cut short because of yellows and a lengthy red flag. Chad Thompson flipped down the front stretch on lap nine but was uninjured. Chasing Johnson all race long was Cameron Haney. The talented driver came up short and finished second. Third place went to Mike Sayre, mister consistency. Sayre continues to produce strong finishes. Fourth went to Jaylon Deas while Jerry Douglas came home fifth.
Scott Savell led the opening lap of the IMCA Sport Mod feature. Two early cautions slowed the event. On lap two, Keith Brown moved to the top spot. On lap four Damian Merritt made a charge to the inside of Brown, while this was happening, Phillip Shelby drove to the top and passed both Merritt and Brown for the lead. On the ensuing lap, Brown got turned sideways and spun backwards down the back stretch to bring out a yellow. Howard Law’s night ended on lap six when he pulled into the infield. Two laps later Brown stopped in turn one as did Jimmy Ford in turn four. Both drivers would not continue. Debris off Scott Savell’s car nullified the restart on lap seven. Damian Merritt was the new leader because a lap prior he passed Shelby for the lead. Geoff Ensign worked his way into third on the lap seven restart. Up front Merritt was untouchable. He led the final 13 laps with ease to pick up his second win of the year. Ensign finished second. Austin Manzella came home in the third spot. A great finish for Manzella. Savell survived for a fourth-place finish. Hunter Merritt rounded out the top five.
The 25-lap sprint car main event featured 20 cars. On the original start, pole sitter Kenny Allen was docked by the officials for starting too early. This bumped him back to row two on the restart. This moved Billy Wallace to the front row where he joined Michael Ing. On the second attempt, Allen shot to the bottom of the track and drove up into Ing. It was later reported that Allen had no brakes, and this is what led to the accident. Unfortunately, a melee of cars was caught up in the accident including Kyle Hirst, Jeremy Hawes, Peter Paulson and Ryan Souza. The race continued with Billy Wallace leading the first few laps. Mike Monahan was second and Andy Forsberg moving into third. On lap seven Forsberg moved ahead of Monahan for second. Three laps later he drove around Wallace for the lead. Wallace stayed in the second spot until lap 20 when an engine failure sent the No. 6w to the infield. This moved Monahan back to second. Mason Moore ran in the third spot and did an excellent job in holding off Tanner Carrick for the remainder of the event. Allen drifted back to fifth. A late race caution occurred on lap 23. Yet, Forsberg was not going to be denied and led the final two laps with ease. It was his eighth win of 2018. Wallace, Ing and Moore were all winners during the heat race competition. John Carney started the night off by turning the fastest lap in qualifying at a 12.970. Peter Paulson won the nights B main event. A total of 23-winged sprint cars was on hand.
Richard Vander Ploeg led the first nine laps of the Super Stock main event. On lap nine, a mechanically failure sidelined the No. 00 from continuing. James Castleberry also had some cosmetic damage to his car but kept going. Chris Warner emerged as the leader. Warner went on to lead the final six laps with ease. Second spot went to Brent Lawrence. For Lawrence it was a roller coaster of an event. On lap two he was last but by lap 11 he was back to second. Castleberry finished in the third spot. Leroy Perry was the final car running and finished fourth. Rod Oliver won the heat race. Oliver pulled off early in the main event with problems.
Full results can be found at https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1554356
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