California Civil War Twin Cities Speedway 99-03-20

Grass Valley's Hall scores Hoosier Tires Civil War opener at Marysville

by Bill Sullivan

MARYSVILLE,CA 3-20-99 -The 1999 Hoosier Tires California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series opened in grand fashion Saturday, March 20 at the new Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville. The event was the first in the 13-race Civil War campaign, which travels to five different California tracks between now and October.

In front of a record capacity crowd which packed the nearly complete improved bleachers at Twin Cities, two time track champion Mark Hall of Grass Valley muscled his six cylinder powered John Boy to the front of the eight cylinder dominated field to score his personal first season victory as well as the season opening Civil War victory.

After finishing second in heat race competition, Hall took to the starting grid for the 30-lap Hoosier Tires A-feature in the third position. Starting on the inside of the second row behind pole sitter Ricky Wondergem of Grass Valley and Fair Oaks resident Alan Bradway, Hall began working his way towards the point early in the event, passing Wondergem in the second and third turns on the opening circuit and setting his sights on race leader Bradway just as the first yellow flag of the evening came out for Kyle Schild of Sacramento who drifted off of the third turn and collided with the safety fence.

When green flag racing resumed, Bradway led the field as he powered his brand new 1999 John Boy ahead of the 20-car field with Hall following close behind. Traveling down the backstretch Hall attempted to close in on Bradway only to pull his front wheels off the track surface and allow both Young and defending series Champion Roger Crockett to muscle into the second and third positions while Hall worked to tame his ill handling Mel's Transmission sponsored machine which had fallen as far back as fourth in the incident. During the same lap a multi-car melee broke out in turns three and four sending Oakdale's Craig Dilliard upside down to draw the first red flag of 1999 Civil War season. Dilliard was uninjured in the incident which worked to Hall's advantage, allowing his crew to make adjustments during the caution period and placing him back into second place for the restart due to the fact that an official lap hadn't been recorded.

Following the restart, Bradway continued to maintain the front position while Hall desperately attempted to close the gap between the leader and himself. With ten circuits now complete, lapped traffic began working in Hall's favor as it slowed Bradway considerably and only inches separately the two front runners. Well aware of Hall's presence, Bradway attempted to maintain a low-line through the third and fourth turns to prevent Hall from slipping beneath him but suffered a push which sent him to the high side of turn four and allowed Hall to slide into the lead.

"We were a little out of shape early on, the first race is always a tough one as far as set up goes," said Hall. "We got some lucky breaks here tonight though. During the red flag we were able to add weight to the front of the car the keep the front wheels down and then a matter of different circumstances helped us get to the front.."

Once he had worked his way passed Bradway the road to victory was far from over for Hall as Bradway stayed close behind and several of last season's top runners muscled their way into the top five including Crockett, Young and David Robinson Jr. of Sacramento. On the 21st lap the second red flag of the evening came out when Mike Monahan of Reno went upside down in turn two.

The second and final red flag caution period of the evening again played into the hands of Hall who was nearly out of fuel prior to the break in the action.

"I think luck played a big role here tonight," said Hall. "First we had a red to adjust the weight and then we had a second one just as we were almost out of fuel so it's safe to say we were more lucky than we were good tonight."

Once green flag racing resumed, Hall distanced himself by several car lengths as Bradway and Crockett dueled for the bridesmaid position. In the final turn of the final lap Crockett made an inside move on Bradway to steal second place just a few feet from the finish line.

"We had great finish considering In had to come up from ninth place," said Crockett. "The track made for some interesting racing here tonight and there was a lot of passing going on right up to the end."

Despite Crockett passing him near the line, Bradway was elated with this third place finish as he celebrated with his longtime family friends Mark Hall and the Crockett family.

"The first race of the year it always takes you awhile to get going good," said Bradway. "But it's and honor to be here with these two drivers tonight. When Mark Hall and I were kids we sold programs together at Grass Valley and I feel like I've known Roger since before he was born back when I raced with his dad. This is a great way to tart the season off and my congrats go out the Hall's and the Crockett's tonight."

In preliminary action on Saturday, the fast time honors went to Dilliard who clocked an 11:489 on the quarter-mile. Heat race victories were earned by Billy Wallace, Colby Weisz, Ricky Wondergem and Rich Tiner. Bobby McMahan won the C-main and Dilliard was the winner of the B-feature.

The next Civil War event is scheduled for April 24 at Petaluma Speedway before Placerville Speedway will host the campaign on May 1. Championship point standings following Saturday's opener will be released early next week. For additional information on the Civil War series log on to www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com where you'll find up to the minute results and information on this exciting California race series.

RACE RESULTS CALIFORNIA SPRINT CAR CIVIL WAR RACE SERIES SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1999 - TWIN CITIES SPEEDWAY, MARYSVILLE

FAST QUALIFIERS: Craig Dilliard - 11:489; Scooter Lambert-11:494; Roger Crockett-11:537

HEAT 1: Billy Wallace; Jim Richardsen; Kyle Schild; Marc Zieske; Craig Dilliard.

HEAT 2: Colby Weisz; Jeff Young; Alan Bradway; Mike Benson; Dennis Binstock.

HEAT 3: Ricky Wondergem; Ron McBride; Mike Monahan; Roger Crockett; Korey Lovell.

HEAT 4: Rich Tiner; Mark Hall; Todd Bammer; Andy Forseberg; Bryan Bullard

C-MAIN: Bobby McMahan; Steve Fehrman; Randy Mello; Kevin Lovell; Dave Angus. B-MAIN: Craig Dilliard; Scooter Lambert; David Robinson Jr.; Chad Riolo; Brent Dothage.

A-MAIN: Hall; Crockett; Bradway; Young; Robinson; Riolo; Lambert; Wallace; Forseberg; Benson; Tiner; Richardsen; Zieski; Bammer; Monahan; Schild; Weisz; McBride; Wondergem; Dilliard.

1999 CALIFORNIA SPRINT CAR CIVIL WAR RACE SERIES ROSTER The following drivers are those that have participated in the California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series following 1 of 13 series events.

CAR NO. DRIVER HOMETOWN 1B DAVE ANGUS PLACERVILLE 1C SCOOTER LAMBERT FOOTHILL FARMS 2M RANDY MELLO CONCORD 2U MIKE PARSONS CROCKETT 2B BRENT DOTHAGE SACRAMENTO 03 ROB JOHNSON SANTA ROSA 3F BOBBY MCMAHAN RIO LINDA 4D DAVID ROBINSON JR. SACRAMENTO 5 BRYAN BULLARD SLOUGHOUSE 6W BILLY WALLACE GRASS VALLEY 7D SHANE SCOTT CHICO 7W MIKE WASINA JR. RIO LINDA 8R JIM RICHARDSEN GRAEAGLE FALLS 10Z MARC ZIESKI OROVILLE 11 ROGER CROCKETT RIO LINDA 15 PAT HARVEY GRASS VALLEY 16 KYLE SCHILD SACRAMENTO 17 JEFF YOUNG ROSEVILLE 17R CHAD RIOLO ROSEVILLE 18 TODD BAMMER SAN LEANDRO 18X BEAU PERKINS GERBER 20W DANIEL WATSON COLFAX 21N COLBY WEISZ COLFAX 23F GERROLD HOPPING ROSEVILLE 24 DAMION GARDNER CONCORD 30 STEVE FEHRMAN SACRAMENTO 36N RON TABOR RENO, NV 38N MARK TABOR JR. RENO, NV 38 SHAWN SCHMITZ VACAVILLE 47B JOHN BUCCETTELLO PITTSBURG 49 MIKE MONAHAN RENO, NV 54 MARK HALL GRASS VALLEY 71 KOREY LOVELL YUBA CITY 72 JEFF HALLIEB GRASS VALLEY 72S GRAIG DILLIARD OAKDALE 74 RON MCBRIDE SACRAMENTO 77 MIKE BENSON CALISTOGA 80N ALAN BRADWAY FAIR OAKS 81 KEVIN LOVELL YUBA CITY 82 DENNIS BINSTOCK NAPA 83 RICH TINER ELVERTA 87 TIM SHERMAN SACRAMENTO 91 RICKY WONDERGEM GRASS VALLEY 92 ANDY FORSBERG AUBURN 98 DAVE MASTERS NAPA 98W STEVE WATTS SACRAMENTO