Wide Open Wednesday Night Recap
Early Shark Week at Marysville
(Marysville, CA 7/29/20)…August 9th to 16th is this years Shark Week on the Discovery channel. Celebrities scheduled to appear during that upcoming week include Mike Tyson, Will Smith and Shaq. Yet, one local celebrity also needs an invite. Sean Becker, the Shark, won the 25-lap winged 360 sprint car main event during Wednesday nights Wide Open event. Chico’s Michael Ing, fresh off his fast time award, started on the pole and led the early laps of the main event. Ing, who post-race admitted he heard the theme song from the movie Jaws, then saw Becker drive by him for the lead. From there on out, it was all about Becker. He did survive Blake Carrick, who passed Becker on a restart, but it was nullified because of a yellow. Becker held off Carrick the final few laps to win by less than a second. Tanner Carrick finished third. Ing was fourth and Steel Powell charged to a fifth-place finish in his first start for Standley racing. The blood thirsty Becker said in victory lane that he credited his win to all those laps he swims in the ocean to stay in shape.
Jay Norton held off Ryan McDaniel to win the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature. These two battled laps after laps. McDaniel had a few opportunities to sneak by underneath Norton but did the right thing in not creating contact that could have led to Norton spinning out. Rod Oliver finished third. Dan Brown Jr. moved up to finish fourth. Jeff Olschowka rounded out the top five.
What an incredible drive that Justin Funkhouser put in on Wednesday night. His first win of the year was spectacular. Timothy Allerdings continues to be right there in the hunt. Allerdings finished second. Todd Cooper had an adventure tonight. He led the first part of the race and then spun on his own in turn one. He battled back to a third-place finish. Cooper has a never give up desire. Jimmy Ford drove a smart race and finished fourth. With that finish he continues as the point leader. Mike Merritt rounded out the top five.
Jim Brookshire was in the third spot on the white flag lap of the Hobby Stock feature. As he came around turn four, he had to of seen race leader Maurice Merrill spun to a stop in turn four. Just ahead of him Jacob Johnson crossed the line first. However, officials decided that Johnson was too eager on the back bumper of Merrill and was penalized for rough driving. Brookshire benefitted the most and was declared the winner. It had to be a disappointing finish for Merrill who looked to get his first win. In my opinion, it was also nice to see the young Johnson go to social media and apologize for his misjudgment on that final turn. We, as human beings only grow if we learn from our mistakes. We all need to adjust, recognize who we are and then move on as a better person. Rick Etchieson finished second. Jesse Van Roekel held off Chris for third. Solid as a rock competitor Shannon Collins finished fifth.
https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1786972
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