From The Grandstand

by Ron Rodda
May 7, 2008


Lincoln, CA  A strictly regional series with a fairly compact footprint, the California Sprint Car Civil War is for winged 360 sprints that provides some of the best competition on the northern open wheel scene. While over the years the tracks participating have changed so some degree, the John Padjen Motorsports venues of Chico and Placerville have always been part of the agenda. This is natural since the same JP Motorsports owns the series as well.

When Kings Speedway in Hanford was involved some of the most intriguing events took place when the smaller but potent Rebel Cup series based in Hanford would tangle with the northern Civil War stars in an always interesting night of us versus them racing. While relatively few Rebel Cup teams ventured north to enter any Civil War show, a strong contingent of travelers would tow to the Hanford fairgrounds oval to duel with the locals.

As the 2005 event was cancelled, the year prior was the last time Kings Speedway hosted a Civil War night. Roger Crockett was fast time, driving the 2M car, a ride I cannot recall at all for the now Oregon based driver. With 43 cars taking times, the usual invert six, take four heats were full at the start of their ten lap distance.

Ronnie Day won the B main to start 5th in the main, apparently due to a four inversion being pulled, and Day was pursued to the finish line by Chuck Gurney, Jr. and Garrett Ishii. The majority of the drivers in that 2004 event still run Civil War nights, and 15th in the B main in Hanford went to David Robinson, Jr.

Four years later, Robinson resumed a racing career after two years off and has shown little if any signs of rust. Last Saturday at Placerville was another example of how the driver known as Powerfeed is comfortable and very fast at what is his home track. The 8th fast qualifying effort by Robinson proved to be beneficial when a six inversion meant an outside front row start.

Looking as fast as ever, Robinson had challenged for a win or led this year, but last Saturday's win in the Tribute to Al Hinds, once a promoter at the foothill located high-banked quarter, was his 1st this season which marked the resumption of his career. An absolute packed house was on hand.

Robinson led all 30 laps but had plenty of pressure from Colby Wiesz and Kyle Hirst. It was Hirst chasing the Foresthill resident until Wiesz grabbed 2nd on lap 9, a spot the Colfax driver held until an unfortunate mishap on lap 26. Wiesz was running the top of turn 4, looking for the momentum to challenge for the lead, when he jumped the cushion. Trying to not stall, when Wiesz turned to get off of the outer edge of the steep clay, the right side dug in just enough to cause a gentle tip over.

Towed to the pits, Wiesz's departure put Hirst back into 2nd and elevated Sean Becker to 3rd, a sequence that held unchanged for the final 4 laps. Wiesz returned for a 14th place finish in the entertaining, but drawn out event. Six yellows and four reds led to a lengthy main, an occurrence that is all too frequent at Placerville.

His 3 top five finishes in the first 3 events have put Robinson into the point lead, followed by Becker and defending champion, Andy Forsberg. The next race in the series is a very rare California Sunday race, this one being the annual Civil War race in Chico during the fair. Representing one of the best deals in short track racing, the May 25th show at Silver Dollar Speedway is free with fair admission.

Last year's co-rookies of the year in Civil War action, Kyle Larson and Mason Moore, both were taken out on lap 12, creating the unusual sight of both teenagers being towed at the same time. Larson has not raced as much this year and had a very lackluster qualifying time at Placerville to put himself behind from the start.

Larson had passed 14 cars already in the C and B mains to even make the A and was moving forward when the mishap put him many laps down. He did manage a 19th while Moore's excellent season took a bit of a hit with a 21st as he did not return following the wreck.

Moore won this year at Silver Dollar on April 11th and is 3rd in points at the Friday night track, 25 behind Andy Forsberg. Sean Becker is 2nd in the point chase at Chico that features a very strong field practically every week. Last week was another chapter in the nearly Golden State quality racing at Chico and Kyle Hirst became the first this year to win both a wing and nonwing main at the quarter.

With a GSC event at Quincy the following night, a couple more teams appeared at Chico and 31 winged 410s along with 22 nonwing spec sprints were assisted by 20 street stocks. An 8 inversion for the 25 lap main put Colby Copeland and Jason Statler on the front row. Statler became a father 3 days earlier and, while the thought of posting a win at Chico the same week was enticing, it was not quite to be.

When rookie star Copeland was a DNS, Hirst inherited the pole and led all the way, often building a strong lead along the way. Statler was 2nd until alp 10 when Tyler Walker ran the top of turn 4 to annex the spot. Tim Kaeding used the same clay to take 3rd on lap 18 and the Hirst-Walker-Kaeding podium trio was set.

The spec sprints use a finishing/passing point scenario and draw a pill to invert from zero to 8. A six inversion put Jeremy Wilson and Mason Meyers on the front row but it was Reyna Krueger who led a lap before Taylor Simas led the following 19 times to secure his first win this year in Chico. Billy Wallace drove the 5H entry to 2nd, using the bottom of turn 4 to take that spot on lap 8. Point leader Keith Bloom added another strong run to his resume by coming from 11th for a 3rd.

While I cannot find the web site, Orland Raceway plans to open at the end of May under a new promoter group. The track will be enlarged as previously reported, but perhaps not on quite of an accelerated schedule as originally thought. Orland races on Saturday and is about a half hour west of Chico.

George Hague was on hand at Chico and now is connected with the Dan Simpson race effort. Hague mentioned how Simpson purchased one way radios for the Golden State Challenge Series, a move that will let the traveling series run their shows even smoother than usual.

With superb weather again, excellent racing action, and good car counts, that leaves only the cost of getting there a thorn in the side of last weekend.