Diatte, Quilty and Sanders Each Pick up Opening Night Wins at Marysville

Diatte, Quilty and Sanders Each Pick up Opening Night Wins at Marysville
By: Troy Hennig
(Marysville, Ca) 9-21-18…A packed pit area that featured 74 competitors competed during night one of the Western States Dwarf Car Association Friday night Dwarf Car Nationals at Marysville Raceway. Fans were treated to lots of racing that featured numerous battles for the lead. The field was split into either a Pro, Veteran or Sportsman Division.
The Pro Division featured 40 drivers all vying for the 24 spots open in the 20-lap main event. With the field so competitive the four 10-lap heat races were going to be fierce. Drivers secured a starting spot in the A feature by finishing in the top four of their heat races. Other qualifiers included a six-lap C main and a 15-lap B main. Once the 24 drivers were qualified the race was led by Dustin Washburn for the first few laps. Yet, on lap three restart, Washburn started the race a bit slow, then charged into turn one and spun around. This moved Shawn Jones into the lead. The race was slowed by numerous cautions and didn’t get much of a rhythm throughout the event. However; there was plenty of drama and numerous drivers who started in the back and finished up front. On lap 13, then leader Shawn Jones, front end collapsed, and he came to a stop in turn four. Second place Jeremy Blackshere pulled to the infield and was done. This gave the lead to Ryan Diatte. Chasing Diatte was 14th place starting Danny Wagner. Joe Frock started 9th and raced his way into third. Mike Grenert started 19th and finished fourth. Anthony Pope went from 15th to fifth.
Brian Quilty led the final five laps to win the 20-lap Veteran Division main event. Quilty was able to pass Mike Corsaro, who had led the first 14 laps. Kevin Miraglio made a last lap pass to get second away from Corsaro at the finish line. Jeff Fitch, for most of the race, was battling for the lead. Later in the race he was passed by Miraglio and came home to finish fourth. Seventeenth starting Carroll Mendenhall was the hard charge of the race and finished fifth. This main event was the best of the evening and featured a ton of stars in the Dwarf Car ranks. Mike Reeder was fast all night and finished sixth. Dan Geil brought home the No. 99n to seventh.
Joe Sanders took the lead on lap 13 and went on to win the Sportsman Division main event. Shawn Whitney had led the first 12-laps. Whitney was also passed by Robert Johnson. Yet, the next lap, Whitney passed Johnson back and held on to finish in second. Sam Borland raced up to a third-place finish. Johnson ended up fourth. Tenth place starting Troy Stevenson Jr. finished fifth.
The top 10 finishers in the Pro and Veteran main events locked themselves into the Dash on Saturday night. The top six finishers from the Sportsman Division also were locked in.
Tomorrow nights finale will take place with front grandstands opening at 5 PM and racing to follow.
Full results can be found at https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1594998
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