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Johnson and Nieman Roll into Victory Lane

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Photo by Steven Cox [sprintcarphotos.com][/caption]CHICO, CA (3-9-12) - Stockton's Dave Johnson and Quincy's Craig Nieman were victorious on opening night of the Silver Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Dollar Speedway Friday night. Johnson was the class of the field in the wingless sprint cars while Nieman dominated the street stock main event. Both drivers had a comfortable lead during their 15-lap main events.

I light field of eight street stocks showed up for the first night. A total of 12 wingless sprints showed up for their race. Johnson came from the fourth row to take the lead early in the race. Geoff Ensign started on the pole but was not able to hold off the charging Johnson. Fellow front row started Bret Barney drifted back to a sixth place finish. Napa's Joe Stornetta made the biggest leap from his 11th place starting spot to finish third. Brandon Enos had a hot flash experience on the track. Angelique Bell spun in turn three and Enos rammed into her parked car and flipped upside down. When the safety workers turned the car back on all four a fire erupted in the engine compartment. Enos quickly unbuckled and jumped from the burning car. The safety crew was quickly on the scene to begin with and put the fire out right away.

Johnson won the second heat race giving him a clean sweep of the night. Brett Youngman won the first eight lap heat race.

Nieman led all the main event laps from his pole position starting spot. Phil Marino was to his outside but was not able to get the lead. A few laps later Marino stopped on the track in turn four to bring out a yellow. He was able to get the car going again but exited to the pit area and did not return. Also stopping in turn four was Bill Patterson. Once the race restarted there were only five cars on the track. Nieman quickly pulled away and won the race without much drama. Chris Warner finished in the second spot while Shawn Smith finished third. Nieman clean swept the night by winning the only street stock heat race of the night.

Full results and starting spots available online at www.silverdollarspeedway.com

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