From The Grandstand

by Ron Rodda
June 11, 2007



Lincoln, CA-Silver Dollar Speedway takes the Friday off following Memorial Day Weekend, so June 8th brought a return to the high banked quarter mile in Chico for a point show with 27 sprints, 8 modifieds, and 10 pure stocks on hand. The midget lites of BCRA were originally on the schedule but the sanctioning group cancelled due to concerns over their car count.



A sloppy track led to much slower than usual qualifying efforts and the 13.120 posted by Dan Menne is a long way from the 11.555 by Brad Sweet some weeks ago, the quickest point show lap this year. A gradually quickening track got fast at just the wrong time, as the 25 lap main event took the green. What followed was a rather uninteresting race as cars sped around Silver Dollar on a surface more conducive to hot laps than passing.



After three heats moved the top 5 forward and a quintet were added from the B main, an inversion of 8 put Robert Stice, in a 360, and Robbie Whitchurch on the front row. Stice led 3 laps with his 50 cubes smaller noisemaker obviously singing well, until Jonathan Allard got around him using the high side coming out of turn 2. Once in the lead, Allard led the last 22 laps without any significant pressure to claim his 4th Chico point race win to accompany a Mini Gold Cup GSC win on the same clay.





Jeff Griffin's new ride made a first time Chico start



Johnny Gray took 2nd from Stice on lap 12 and Brett Miller moved the undersized powered Stice one spot lower with a last lap, last turn pass on the bottom to claim3rd. Stice's 4th is an excellent finish for the 360 world considering he was surrounded by 410s being stomped on by veteran drivers.



Jeff Griffin was making his Chico sprint debut in his 4th time in a 410, having gone through a school plus raced Memorial Day weekend with Golden State. Griffin did not make the main but showed that will come soon with his effort on the quarter. Griffin was the 2006 BCRA midget lite champion, posting many wins in the downsized version of a sprint, sometimes running sans wing with that group.



Korey Lovell had a new car for the night and a heat race incident heavily damaged if not wasted the friendly driver's ride. It was a particularly hard crash on the front side that launched Lovell into the catch fence before sending him off into a flat spin, luckily all of which he walked away from. This tough deal plus another one that befell the Placerville point leader the following night shows how difficult things can go in racing.



Saturday was another chance to enjoy All American Speedway's early start time to catch 3 legend heats, 3 dashes, and a fun SRS main in Roseville before heading up the hill to Placerville. The paved oval just a dozen minutes from home had 25 legends, nearly 30 modifieds, 18 bombers, and about a dozen mini stocks, plus a full field of the rent to race 4 cylinder modifieds.





Richard Brace Jr. was back in action at Placerville

All American publishes a detailed time schedule and was 30 minutes ahead when I departed so they seem to have a handle running a prompt show. Finishing before 10 pm has been common, a good thing considering their residential location making it the closest to houses track in the state. The crowd was still very small when my 5:30 departure came, but the track has a history of late arriving crowds so hopefully it filled in as I traversed highway 50 eastward. Next Saturday will be a complete show for me at Roseville with late models headlining that night.



Placerville had 24 winged 360 sprints, 14 BCRA midget lites, 15 pure stocks, and a dozen pro stocks and a strong crowd on a perfect evening of weather. They also had an excellent main for sprints, once it was allowed to take the track after what seemed a very generous time allowance for the fendered divisions to run their 20 laps.



Andy Forsberg, not having the best of seasons of late, surprised even himself with a quick time of 10.639, but did not muster a top five in his heat and got to win the B main to line up 5th behind the inversion. Colby Wiesz and Scott Russell had the front row with Greg DeCaires and point leader, C. J. Humphreys one row behind.



Wiesz was attempting to accomplish something which I will guess has never been done, win consecutive 360 races at Marysville, Chico, and Placerville. Wiesz took Civil War events at the first two venues last weekend and, for a while, looked to complete the trio of wins in just a nine day stretch.



After a first try spin created a turn 2 jumble, Wiesz took the lead on the multi-groove foothill quarter with Humphreys and DeCaires following. Forsberg got 3rd on lap 6, running the top of turn 4 and gained 2nd a lap later by using the top edge of the track coming out of turn 2.



Some great racing followed as the top 3 put on a wonderful show trading lines around Placerville's completely useable surface with Wiesz continuing to lead by a very small margin. Forsberg, never shy about running the top, was using the upper echelons of the clay, but would switch to the bottom when Wiesz moved up. A great show ended on lap 18 when Forsberg got off the top of turn 2, spun a 360, and kept going several spots back.




This is the viewing spot that makes Placerville particularly neat



With his race ending a bit later when he slid off the top of turn 4, it was now DeCaires with the shot at ending Wiesz's plan to win. DeCaires made his winning pass to lead the last 7 laps, using the bottom on turns 3 and 4 to earn the win. Wiesz went off the top of turn 3 with a trio of laps left to lose his 2nd place spot, and it became Jimmy Trulli and Ricky Wondergem to fill the podium. Noteworthy also was Kyle Larson's 4th place finish after the rookie restarted in 18th on lap five.



It was one of the more entertaining mains I have seen at Placerville, made possible by racy track conditions and a bevy of talented drivers to duel with each other. Incoming point leader, C. J. Humphreys, was victimized by very questionable decision making when a car that should not have been on the track put him out of the race and many dollars out of his wallet to fix the car.



With just 4 laps scored, a car was involved in a 2nd yellow. The radio system acknowledged that fact, the car was given the black flag repeatedly, but stayed on the track. Instead of taking a brief moment to get the car into the pits, the race was allowed to go green and a couple of laps later the same car caused the accident in turn one that put Humphreys on the tow truck. I cannot believe that the pro and pure stocks were given all the track time they received for their 20 lap mains, but another minute to get a car off of the track that should not be on the clay during the sprint main was too much?



Placerville is quiet next weekend but returns to action in a big way on the 23rd, hosting both the very popular Civil War series and the BCRA midgets for a huge night. Hopefully track conditions will match what we had this night.