Jesse Colwell has been one of the drivers that has raced on and off with us in 2017 at the Cycleland Speedway. In just eight starts this season Colwell has now collected five Main Event Victories. This week he made the move on the final lap of the race to pick up the thrilling victory.
The race began with a pair of young guns on the front row in Tanner Holmes and Dominic Tadiello. However, as they field crossed the start finish line to complete the first lap it was the Oroville Cycle #9W of Kyle Woodcock who had the race lead. Woodcock would show the way until Lap 10 when Casey Schmitz charged to the lead. Schmitz who had already set Fast Time and won the Trophy Dash looked poised to get the clean sweep of the night. On a restart though in the second half of the race he would lose the lead to Chase Hill who stole the lead coming down to a yellow flag. On the ensuing restart Schmitz would take the lead right back and pulled away. That is, until Jesse Colwell moved into the second position. Once Colwell got to second he began to reel in Schmitz lap after lap. With just two laps remaining in the race the yellow flag would fly once again. That set up a dramatic Green, White, Checkered restart. When the green went back in the air Schmitz and Colwell both headed straight for the top of the racetrack in turn one. Schmitz was able to put a small gap between himself and Colwell. Coming off of turn four though to take the white flag, Schmitz drifted wide just a bit and nearly caught a piece of the front straight wall. That broke his momentum enough the Colwell was close enough to throw a slider into turn number one. Schmitz would try to drive back around him on the back straightaway but didn’t have a good enough run. Instead he turned the car to the inside of the racetrack in turn three and threw the slider on Colwell. He had him cleared as Colwell crossed back underneath. It was a drag race from there to the finish line and Jesse Colwell had the momentum to get there first. Casey Schmitz would have to settle for a second-place finish in the Ed Brown Trucking #35. Chase Hill had a solid run again this week as he crossed the line in the third position. Points leader Landon Brooks kept his consistent season going with a fourth-place finish. While Brian McGahan Jr. picked up his first top five of the season in his first start of the season in the McGahan Trucking #8JR. Kyle Rasmussen was the Hard Charger of the Main Event as he started in the 18th position and crossed the finish line in the 10th position.
After 12 Points Races it is Landon Brooks who sits atop the standings. Brooks has now extended his points lead to 114 points over second place driver Kyle Woodcock. The #9 of Tyler Brown sits third in the points standings, 180 points out of the lead. Garrett Brown is fourth in the standings and is 190 points behind Brooks. Casey Schmitz now sits fifth in the standings, 240 points out of first.
Points Race #13 is on tap this Saturday night, July 22nd, 2017. Hot Laps for the Open cars are scheduled to hit the track at 5:30 PM. That will be followed immediately by Qualifying for all classes. For ticket information and/or directions to the racetrack please visit our website at www.cyclelandspeedway.com.
Points Race #12 Results
QUALIFYING: CASEY SCHMITZ – 10.946 (1)
HEAT RACES: TANNER HOLMES (1), DOMINIC TADIELLO (1)
TROPHY DASH: CASEY SCHMITZ (1)
MAIN EVENT: JESSE COLWELL (5)