From The Grandstand

by Ron Rodda
June 14, 2006

Lincoln, CA…Regular Friday night racing returned to Chico after two weeks of altered schedules arranged to fit the annual Silver Dollar Fair. Mild weather conditions greeted 28 winged sprints, 30 nonwing spec sprints, 12 modifieds, and 14 pure stocks before a smaller than usual gathering of fans. Maybe they somehow knew how lousy the track conditions would be come main event time and stayed home.

As he usually does, Jonathan Allard set quick time at 11.714, taking full advantage of his pill draw giving him first shot at the clocks. The four heats had some interesting racing for the final transfer spot and when completed, 7 of the fastest 10 had secured their invitation to the 25 lap headline event. One driver not in action was Robert Ballou as a new engine was missing along the delivery pipeline and the team was saving their other engine for the Golden State race the next night. Ballou used home schooling to finish high school and will run some nonwing shows in the Midwest after Knoxville.


Morrie Williams field cars for Dennis Moore (L) and Jonathan Allard (R)

A six inversion put Sean Becker on the pole again for a Friday night point show at Chico with Shain Matthews alongside. By main event time, the track had deteriorated into a dry, slick piece with more dust in the air than I can ever remember seeing at Chico. I have seen the place rutty, glazed over, and all other versions of a dirt track, but I don’t know if I have ever seen the place dustier than the second Friday in June.

Becker led with J. Allard taking 2nd from Matthews on lap 3, using the bottom of turn 4. J. Allard then retired with no brakes and the first of 7 tedious yellows appeared. As if some sort of planned pattern, yellows appeared every two laps from 10 through 18, making a fairly uninteresting race tedious to boot.

With J. Allard’s dropping out, Matthews was back in 2nd with Stephen Allard, brother of Jonathan, now 3rd. On lap 18 S. Allard took 2nd along the backstretch and Dennis Moore Jr. nabbed 3rd a lap later, using the bottom on turn 1 for the move. S. Allard ran the top of turns 3 and 4 to build up momentum and drive past Becker as the 23rd lap finished to take the win. Becker held for 2nd and Moore was 3rd.

The spec sprints ran four draw heats and then inverted 16 for their main off of the heat finishes. Chico is drawing the largest nonwing spec fields of any track as drivers accumulate points between there and Placerville with the top 20 earning an invite to run the Wednesday night pre-Gold Cup show in September. With a strong field and heavy inversion, a great main could have appeared with a decent track, although Billy Wallace certainly won’t complain about any dust.
 
Tony Richards won the spec sprint main last week at Marysville

Taylor Simas led the first 13 laps off of the pole before Wallace beat him to the bottom of turn 1 and made the winning pass. Bob Newberry, the point leader in the class, was 2nd over Simas. Newberry has been very steady with 2 wins and a top five every race to build a decent point lead over the other 52 spec sprints that have raced this year at Chico. The Wallace, Newberry, and Simas parade after 20 laps brought the show to a conclusion just before curfew. While the spec sprint fields at Chico have been excellent and their racing usually very good, I wonder if the division will ever learn to be efficient for heat races. The mains seem to be no problem, but every week the spec drivers are tardy getting ready for heats.

With a softball tournament just an extra base hit away from Silver Dollar the same weekend, Saturday options were limited and I took advantage of the chance to spend some time at Cycleland Speedway, just 15 minutes south of the playing field. With well over 100 winged outlaw karts each week, a full show of multi-division racing serves drivers age 6 and up on the sixth mile track. Outlaw kart racing is very much a family activity and a high percentage of the drivers are young enough that their major pit crew members also answer to mom and dad when paged.

  Kyle Larson’s pit crew are parents Mike and Janet along
with Sean Shepperd (far left)

One veteran of the series, although not yet 14 years old until late July, is Kyle Larson from Elk Grove. In his 9th year of racing winged karts, Larson has collected 123 wins along with 9 track or series titles in his Parker Store and QRC Factory Karts sponsored entry. One of many kart drivers who will move onto midgets or sprints, Larson has achieved success at a younger age than seen before in the competitive kart circuit.

Next weekend will be his debut at Manzanita when he climbs into the midget that won the 2005 Belleville Nationals with Jerry Coons at the wheel. The Spike chassis with Esslinger engine is owned by Clarence Reddick and sports sponsorship from Broken Bow Records, Parker Store, MotoWear, JW Web Design, A1A Performance Muffler, Rossi Auto Body, NorthStar Concrete Pumping, and Mophead Graphix.. Kyle will be racing on the third mile at Manzy while sprints appear on the half.

The 1K Clarence Reddick owned midget is being prepared for Kyle Larson's debut

Both Kyle and Tyler Reddick, a 10 year old son of car owner Clarence, impressed onlookers in mid-April with both young stars got track time in the midget at Manzanita. Tyler moved into the adult dominated 500cc open division at the age of 9 and both boys are examples of how the outlaw kart scene produces drivers for the larger sized open wheel divisions.

The list of sprint car drivers that have many laps in outlaw winged karts includes such stars as Roger Crockett, Jonathan and Stephan Allard, Sean Becker, Brad Sweet, Kyle Hirst, Robert Ballou, and on and on. It seems as half or more of the sprint field at Chico each Friday is filled with former and even current winged kart veterans.


Kyle Larson leads a heat race at Cycleland

From Cycleland I went to Marysville for exactly opposite track conditions of the night prior. A tacky and dust free surface all night made for one of the fastest tracks I have seen at the smallish quarter mile for 17 winged 360s, 16 sprint 100s, 21 ministocks, 10 stock cars, and 15 BCRA midget lites. An improved efficiency rating accompanied the upscale track conditions and by 8:35 all heats were done. There were still the realignment issues slowing the mains, but a much earlier finish for the evening was appreciated.

Jesse Harmon led the first 13 laps of the midget lite (mini-sprint) main before Jeff Griffin got around him for the win. Jeff’s brother, Greg, had taken a lite main earlier this year at Chico but Greg flipped in turn 3 after one lap this night. When I have seen the midget lites this year they have run an efficient program with good racing action, making them an excellent open wheel support division.

The winged 360 main was a zero inversion and fast time, Mike Wasina Jr., used his 11.785 qualifying effort to full advantage. Wasina took over the lead when Brent Dothage broke a rear end, and won ahead of Cortney Dozier and Brandon Dozier. Cortney is the uncle to Brandon as the long time Marysville racing name continues to provide thrills at the quarter mile.

While the track conditions were a sharp contrast between Friday and Saturday, one common denominator between the pair of nights was excellent announcing. Troy Hennig at Chico and Ron Albright at Marysville always provide all the detailed information that any crowd could want and do so with a professional style.