The Legacy of Justin Sanders Continues to Grow
Marysville, CA (August 22, 2015) – Watsonville’s Justin Sanders picked up his ninth win at Marysville Raceway on Saturday night by winning the 25-lap winged 360 sprint car feature event. Sanders won the previous night at Ocean Speedway that now gives him 17 wins for the season.
The winged 360 sprint car main event took three attempts before completing just one lap. Chico’s Kenny Allen led the first few laps and was poised to try and win his first career sprint car main event. Yet, once the leaders caught up to some slower cars, Cody Lamar closed in and tried to take the lead away from Allen. On lap 13 Lamar moved around Allen for the lead. However, just two laps later Lamar spun in turn one. As Lamar spun, Allen had nowhere to go and clipped Lamar. The top two cars were wrecked and went to the work area. Only Allen continued.
Low and behold, Sanders was the driver in third at this time. Sanders inherited the lead and would go on to lead the final nine laps with ease. Chico’s Brad Bumgarner had a solid race and finished in the second spot. Bumgarner has felt at home on the Marysville Raceway surface. Jeremy Burt continued his consistent year with a third place finish. It was nice to see Mike Monahan run well and finished in the fourth spot. Jeremy Hawes spent all week rebuilding a wrecked sprint car and finished in the fifth spot.
For the second week in a row Lamar bested the existing track record in qualifying. Last week Lamar lowered the time to a 12.161. Tonight, Lamar went 12.095. Burt, Bumgarner and Billy Wallace each won their eight lap heat race. A total of 23 winged sprint cars entered the nights racing event.
Jimmy Ford earned his second win of the year in the IMCA Sport Mods division. Even with the win, Ford still trails Howard Law by 21 points in the championship. Law currently has three wins this year. Todd Cooper looked to have the race won but spun in turn two late in the race. That gave the lead to Ford. Matt Magenheimer had a solid night of racing and finished second. Ford and Magenheimer were winners of each eight lap heat race.
Wyatt Brown had a break out weekend. On Friday night he won his first career economy sprint main event at Silver Dollar Speedway. Tonight he used the high line and drove by the top three to pick up the popular win. Brown should get credit for producing the best passing during any main event racing of the night. In fact, one driver comes to my mind when describing what Brown did tonight. That drivers name is Jac Haudenschild. Cameron Haney drove up nicely and finished in the second spot. Jeff Macedo was competitive all night and finished third. Brown won his heat race and so did Macedo.
The Pro 4 Sprints main event was shortened to just 12 laps after four of the seven starting cars ended up stopped in the infield. Tim MacLaughlin of Colusa was declared the winner. Craig Morrison of Carmichael was the only other driver on the lead lap. Matt Beardslee of Antelope spun on lap eleven and was credited with third. MacLaughlin won the eight lap heat race.
Local product Tyler Seavey won his first career BCRA midget main event. Seavey won the 25-lap feature race when he passed Frankie Guerrini III late in the event. Mitchell Faccinto started deep in the field and finished third. Brian Gard and Britton Bock finished fourth and fifth. The race itself was one of the best during the night. I am hoping the BCRA midgets can return for more events next season. Bock and Gard each won their respective heat races.
Results from tonight’s race can be found online at www.marysvilleraceway.com
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