6/9/2018
Silver Dollar Speedway
Win No. 52 and Counting for Andy Forsberg
Silver Dollar Speedway
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Forsberg Gets Win No. 52 at Chico
Chico, CA (June 8, 2018) …. Andy Forsberg is like a fine wine, he keeps getting better with age. The soon to be 42-year-old, led all 25-laps to pick up his fourth win of the year at Silver Dollar Speedway and 52nd overall for his Hall of Fame career. Sean Becker looked like the Sean Becker of old and charged to a second-place finish. Two of the best top five sprint car drivers of all-time at Chico, put on a good show for the final 15 laps. The two ran the ragged edge each lap in a true sprint car race. Thanks to AKB and Cherry St. Mini Storage, Forsberg won $2,000.
While the veterans showed the way up front it was good to see some of the youngsters like Jake Wheeler, Kalib Henry and Michael Ing round out the top five finishes. In fact, Ing should be commended for his comeback after spinning off the track earlier in the event. Speaking of spins, the main event was plagued by nearly 10 caution flags and one roll over. Numerous drivers had trouble navigating the slick racing surface. The toughest break of all could have happed to Mason Moore. Moore, second in points, started on the outside of row one. Going into the first turn he began to spin and then was clipped by DJ Freitas. Moore had frame damage and did not resume. Justyn Cox was the lone red flag when he flipped going into turn one. While his car was wrecked and wouldn’t continue, it was good to see Cox emerge from the car and walk away.
Forsberg started the night off by turning the fastest lap in qualifying at an 11.980. Cox dominated the 12-lap semi-main event. The race was marred by a scary flip that saw Wyatt Brown get some serious air and landing hard in turn three. D.J. Freitas won the first heat race. Michael Kofoid won heat two. Kirt Organ grabbed the win his heat three. Kyle Offill was solid in winning heat four.
Kyle Allen showed his championship form and won his second Hobby Stock main event of the season. Allen passed Jeremy Langenderfer just around the half way point of the 20-lap main event. Allen was able to narrowly hold off Langenderfer the final laps. Langenderfer still had a great night and will continue to hold onto his championship point lead. Paul Stevens made a rare start and charged up to a third-place finish. It was fun to watch Stevens and Shannon Collins battle for that third-place spot. Collins was able to finish fourth. Mel Byers finished fifth. Langenderfer won the lone eight lap heat race.
Welcome back Phillip Shelby. The champion driver made his first appearance in 2018 on a Friday night a memorable one as he won the 20-lap IMCA Sport Mod main event. Point leader Brian Cooper had a rough night. On lap two Cooper’s car bicycled in turn four almost to the point of rolling over. He managed to keep the car on all four but then made the right-hand turn to the pits and was done for the night. Like the sprint car feature, this race was marred by numerous yellows. Andrew Peckham was involved in an earlier spin but battled back to a second-place finish. Damian Merritt continued his robust performance in 2018 with a third-place finish. Phil Marino came home in fourth. Mike Ficklin rounded out the top five. Ficklin and Keith Brown each won their heat race.
Phil Marino dominated the Street Stock main event. The three-time track champion made it look easy. Matt Micheli worked his way into a second-place finish. Point leader Corey Hall scored a third-place finish. Teammates Clinton Earl and Leif Berglund rounded out the top five. Only seven cars showed up tonight. Hall captured the lone eight lap heat race.
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