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Chadwick Score Opening Night Win at Silver Cup

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Photo by Steven Cox [sprintcarphotos.com][/caption]CHICO, CA (3-9-12) - Oakley, CA hot shoe Kellen Chadwick triumphed on opening night of the Silver Cup Race of Champions at Chico. Chadwick dominated the dirt modified main event and won the 20-lap race. Even though he dominated the race, action behind was as fierce as any Silver Cup in years past. Ryan McDaniel was a force early in the race until problems sidelined him. His father Randy McDaniel was also up front for a good portion of the race until he drifted back and ultimately finished eighth. Another top competitor who had problems was Richard Papenhausen. The former track champion was officially scored in the 15th spot. Up front it was all about Chadwick. What made his main event win even more impressive was he had to get into the feature by winning the B main event. His smooth racing line and awesome horsepower lifted him to a full straightaway lead with five laps to go.

Jeff Olschowka's main event was a struggle at times but he persevered to a second place finish. During the first part of the race he was battling for the second spot. On one lap he got shuffled back to fifth. With five laps to go he mustered back through the field and passed Nick DeCarlo to secure the second spot. DeCarlo earned the third spot. Duane Clevelands night was somewhat like Olschowka's. At one point Cleveland roared up to run in the second spot. It was a big improvement from his ninth starting spot. At the midway point Cleveland looked like the closest challenger to Chadwick. However, Cleveland missed his line going into turn three late in the race and was passed by a few cars. He never was able to recover but did hold on for a fourth place finish. Shawn Natenstedt rounded out the top five after starting in the twelfth spot.

All in all, the dirt modified main event was the most action packed race we had of the night. Side-by-side racing and drivers making huge strides on the track made this race very entertaining. Even with Chadwick dominating, the racing behind him was second to none. It was also so nice to see 20 cars in a dirt modified main event at Chico. Props to the division for getting all 20 laps completed in a timely fashion and finishing before the dreaded 11 pm curfew set by the state of California.

Randy McDaniel started the evening by turning the quickest lap in qualifying. The lap was 16.454. Each car got one lap on the time clock because of the special Silver cup format.

Heat race winners included Shawn Natenstedt, Wade Kennemore, Jeff Olschowka and Ryan McDaniel. All heat races were eight laps in distance.

Full results including starting positions are all accounted for at www.silverdollarspeedway.com

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