CHICO, CA (9-8-05) - Following a disappointing performance in the Harvest Classic at Calistoga Speedway last weekend, Craig Dollansky’s VMAC/Karavan team built a brand new car for the 2005 Gold Cup Race of Champions. The extra effort while on the road between the Napa wine country and Chico paid off as Dollansky lived up to his nickname of the “crowd pleaser” and dominated the 30-lap preliminary feature event at Silver Dollar Speedway Thursday night.

TOP 10 RESULTS Gold Cup - Preliminary Race #1 FINISH DRIVER START 1. Craig Dolansky (1) 2. Tim Shaffer (6) 3. Jason Meyers (4) 4. Donny Schatz (8) 5. Brooke Tatnell (3) 6. Paul McMahan (10) 7. Roger Crockett (5) 8. Jason Statler (7) 9. Shane Stewart (12) 10. Brent Kaeding (13) Complete Results | Qualifying

TOP 10 CUMULATIVE POINTS Gold Cup - Race of Champions RANK DRIVER POINTS 1. Steve Kinser 547 2. Craig Dollansky 544 3. Tim Shaffer 541 4. Jason Solwold 532 5. Jac Haudenschild 529 6. Daryn Pittman 528 7. Jason Meyers 528 8. Donny Schatz 520 9. Brooke Tatnell 515 10. Roger Crockett 511 Complete Lineups/Points

A total of 43 cars entered the first of two preliminary nights of competition. Dollansky started the evening in successful fashion, posting a new single lap record at Silver Dollar Speedway. Dollansky turned an 11:281, topping the previous record of 11:307 posted by Chico’s own Jonathan Allard earlier this race season.

After his top qualifying effort, Dollansky finished third in the first heat race of the evening and went on to earn the pole position in the feature event with a victory in the first Stacker 2 Dash of the night. Tim Kaeding of San Jose won the second dash aboard the Roth Motorsports/Beef Packers #83 to earn the outside front row position for the start of the 30-lap feature event.

With the drop of the green flag, Dollansky jumped ahead of Kaeding in the first turn and never looked back for much of the next 29-laps. As early as the second lap a noteworthy caution delayed the event when defending Gold Cup Champion Donny Schatz spun off the fourth turn and dropped from eighth to 24th in the line up with the ensuing restart.

Once restarted, Dollansky was chased by Kaeding who mirrored Dollansky’s low line driving style in an effort to gain ground on the leader who was two to three car lengths ahead. Jason Myers held the third spot in the early laps of the race with Tim Shaffer in pursuit in the fourth position.

With six laps complete, Shaffer went to the high side and passed both Meyers and Kaeding in nearly the same move just as Dollanksy entered lapped traffic. Kaeding remained within striking distance until the 12th lap when he spun off the third turn to draw a yellow flag. Kaeding restarted the event from the rear of the field and would drop out of the event on the 16th lap when he slid into the front stretch wall exiting the fourth turn.

In the final laps, Dollansky held off the charges of the fast moving Shaffer to the finish line while Meyers finished third respectively. Finishing in the fourth position was Shatz. After falling back to the 24th position with his opening lap spin, Shatz was by far one of the fastest, most well performing cars in the field Thursday night, rallying back to a top four finish and passing 24 cars to get there and secure a healthy starting spot in Saturday’s feature event line ups.

Despite driving with a broken right hand, Brooke Tatnell finished in fifth place. Local favorite Paul McMahan finished in the sixth position ahead of Roger Crockett, Jason Statler, Shane Stewart and Brent Kaeding.

In heat racing on Thursday victories went to Meyers, Schatz, Statler and Kaeding. The C feature was claimed by Brett Miller while the B feature was won by Dennis Moore Jr. who held of Brent Kaeding, Matt Shelton and Danny Ochs to the line, all four drivers transferred into the feature event.

In the A-feature, the highest finishing 360 powered sprint car in the field was that of Placerville’s Jimmy Trulli. Trulli finished 15th to pick up bonus funds for the effort. Brent Doothage of Lower Lake was the second highest finishing 360 in the field, placing 17th just ahead of Livermore’s Chuck Gurney Jr.