With five points races now in the books at the Cycleland Speedway we are well underway with our Championship season. In each class we have seen some thrilling battles, exciting finishes, and already have great point battles brewing across the board. We are in for an exciting summer of racing yet again.
In the Box Stock Class last Saturday night, Samuel Harper stole the show in his #08H machine. He started 17th and worked his way into the race lead by Lap 14. Once he got out front he drove away from the field to pick up the victory by more than three seconds over second place finisher Jake Nuxoll. Tyler Carlson made a rare appearance at the Cycleland Speedway in his #3T kart and he made it a good one as he finished off the Box Stock podium with a third place effort.
The 250 Intermediate Main Event was dominated by Suisun City’s Chance Grasty in his Factory QRC #1 entry. Grasty now has two wins in as many starts this season at Cycleland. He led the final 12 laps of Saturday’s Main Event to score the victory. Tater Reich had another great night behind the wheel of his Tri-C Machine #3T as he wheeled it to a 2nd place finish. The podium was concluded with the #2B of Eric Botelho in the third position.
In Open Main Event action we finally saw the #57 of Daniel Whitley break back into Victory Lane with his first win of the season. Whitley has struggled to find his stride early in the year but kept plugging away and making adjustments each week. It paid off as he led the entire second half of the race commandingly to get the victory. Dawson Hammes extended his podium streak to three in a row as he scored another second place finish. The Marysville, CA native is knocking on the door of that first Open Win and it’s only a matter of time before he gets one. Tyler Seavey completed the podium finishers with a third place effort in his Amber Norman Racing #91 kart. Seavey had to come from the rear of the field after fouling a spark plug early in the race. They got it changed and got him back into the race where he was then able to charge through the field.
The Open Intermediate Main Event saw a first time Cycleland Speedway Winner as Kyler Garner scored her first career victory in the Open Intermediate Class. It was a great race that saw Drake Standley dominate the first half. Unfortunately for Standley a mechanical failure under yellow would end his night prematurely. That handed the race lead over to Garner and she never relinquished it as she held off a hard charging Tanner Pettit to score the victory. Pettit had a shot at her on the final lap but got into the wall just enough in Turn One to hurt his momentum down the back stretch. Tyler Matheny finally got the good result that he has been looking for all season with a third place finish. He has had flashes of speed so far this year but has been plagued by mechanical gremlins. It looks as though they got those figured out and will be a factor for the rest of the summer.
The Sportsman Class has had some thrilling battles so far this season and that was again the case on Saturday night. In the first half of the race we saw Shawn Fogarty lead the way as he led from Lap 1-11. He gave up the lead to a hard charging John Michael Bunch. Bunch has been the spark that the Sportsman Class needed this year as he already has two wins in just three starts so far. Greg Yannazzo came out of “Retirement” to compete in the Sportsman Class again and did very well, coming home in the second position in his #H20 kart. The podium was completed by the #68B of Jojo Owens who has been Mr. Consistency so far in 2019.
We are in store for more great action this weekend during Points Race #6. The drivers and teams are ready to go and we will have to wait and see what happens next!
Elijah Jones
Jones Media Relations