CHICO, CA. (September 5, 2001) --Outlaw kart graduate Destiney Hays, an 18 year old from Oroville, made her first career feature win a major one as he won the 30 lap Pacific Sprint Car feature opening Silver Dollar Speedway's Gold Cup race week Wednesday night. Hays has turned heads all season with her performances on this Civil War Series, but tonight she grabbed the lead from veteran Jim Richardson on lap 3 and led the remainder of the 30 lapper. She had to fight off the late race challenges of former race winner Craig Smith from San Jose. Hays won $3,000, Smith $2,000, third place Richardson $1,500 and fourth place Chad Riolo $1,200. The race night also included the final point night for the track's dirt modifieds and Mike Sohnrey led the final 14 laps to win that 20 lapper. Sohnrey missed one race night during the point season, but he did capture the track's car owner championship. Charlie Marrs drove the Rich Dozier modified to the driver's track championship with a 7th place finish as the only driver who could catch him, veteran Ken Micheli, missed the feature with a broken transmission. Just a night after his brother Sean won the big outlaw kart feature at Cycleland, Daniel Becker was a strong second behind Sohnrey. Mark Abouzeid ran third over visitor Scott Busby and Matt Micheli, the two time defending track champion.
While this race is part of the point season for the Civil War Series, they limit the entry to the top 32 drivers in the point standings. Hays paced time trials with her 12.164 lap. That nipped the 12.258 that Richardson had turned earlier. Andy Forsberg ran a 12.325 lap and Reno's Mike Monahan had a 12.381 effort. The four heat races each used an invert 6 lineup advancing the top four finishers into the 30 lapper. Gary Morgan beat Mark Monico in heat 1 with Hays transferring with a fourth. Mark Mackay won heat 2 over Jeff Halleib. Mike Benson and Jim VanLare made heat 3 a North Bay sweep and Ricky Wondergem beat Mike Wasina Jr in heat 4. The final four feature slots were determined in a B Main where Craig Smith beat Mike Henry, Kyle Schild and Chad Riolo. Just missing the transfers were Mark Hall, Korey Lovell and Colby Weisz.
The inversion draw for the feature came up a four that placed Monahan and Forsberg in the front row ahead of Richardson and Hays. After a couple false starts, the officials elected to swap the rows putting Richardson and Hays into the front row. Richardson led the first two laps before he was passed by Hays. The race was redflagged on lap 4 as David Robinson Jr flipped. Slowing for the red flag, Forsberg and Henry tangled on the backstretch, sending Forsberg careening wildily into the infield where it hit a rescue vehicle. Everyone was able to make repairs and rejoin the race for the restart. Smith took third from Monahan on lap 6 and Riolo was fourth a lap later. Wasina climbed to fifth on lap 12 and the final yellow flag came on lap 16 when a slowing Monico was hit by Henry and Robinson. With 13 laps to run, Smith passed Richardson for second and he put heavy pressure on Hays in the closing rounds, but the teenaged girl was up to the challenges and drove forward to her win. The crowd roared their approval as she pulled into the victory circle. Smith ran second over Richardson, Riolo, Wasina, Johnny Rodriguez, Monahan, Schild and VanLare.
The dirt modified event was open to the top 22 in their season points, but only 18 cars showed. Dustin Jenks won the first heat over Busby and Damitz. Early in the race, pavement racer Ben Phillips spun and was clipped by both Busby and K Micheli. After his car was destroyed in Chowchilla on Sunday night, Papenhausen had to resurrect a car out of his back yard for the Wednesday night action, but he won the second heat over Becker and Sohnrey. With K Micheli not making the call for the 20 lap feature, Sohnrey's win was enough to move him past K Micheli into second in the final point standings. The lineup for the 20 lapper was an invert 6 off the heat race finishes. 72 year old Damitz led the first 6 laps of the feature. Sohnrey pushed high on lap 5 and briefly lost second to Busby, but he regained the spot on lap 6. Damitz, Sohnrey and Busby raced to a lap 6 yellow when Fred Jensen and Eddy Lewis tangled. When Jensen and Eli Zucker tangled for a lap 7 yellow flag, Damitz went high to avoid the tangle and Sohnrey found an inside route that netted him the lead for good. When Busby got too high in turn 4 on lap 10, D Becker and Abouzeid got by for the 3-4 slots. Papenhausen began to smoke on lap 13 and Becker took second from Damitz on lap 14. Abouzeid gained third on lap 14 and both Busby and M Micheli moved into the top five when Damitz slipped into the infield on lap 16. Sohnrey's win was his fifth of the season and he finished 1/4 lap in front of Becker. Abouzeid was third over Busby, M Micheli, Papenhausen, track champion Marrs, Damitz, Mike Compton Jr and Jenks.
The only remaining race date on the Silver Dollar Speedway schedule is the annual three day Pacific Sprint Special that is being held nearly one month earlier than normal this year on Oct 4-6.
Summary Dirt Modified Heat 1-Dustin Jenks, Scott Busby, Larry Damitz, Matt Micheli, Fred Jensen. Heat 2-Richard Papenhausen, Daniel Becker, Mike Sohnrey, Mark Abouzeid, Charlie Marrs. Main-Sohnrey, Becker, Abouzeid, Busby, M Micheli, Papenhausen, Marrs, Damitz, Mike Compton Jr, Jenks, Jensen, Boyd Murchison, Ben Phillips, Eddy Lewis, Jeremy Richey, Eli Zucker. Winged 360 Sprint Car Fast Time-Destiney Hays 12.164 Heat 1-Gary Morgan, Mark Monico, David Robinson Jr, Hays, Korey Lovell. Heat 2-Mark Mackay, Jeff Halleib, Johnny Rodriguez, Jim Richardson, Mark Hall. Heat 3-Mike Benson, Jim VanLare, Roger Crockett, Andy Forsberg, Mike Henry. Heat 4-Ricky Wondergem, Mike Wasina Jr, Ricky Williams, Mike Monahan, Chad Riolo. B Main-Craig Smith, Henry, Kyle Schild, Riolo, Hall, Lovell, Colby Weisz, Pat Harvey, Richard Brace Jr, Willie Croft. A Main-Hays, Smith, Richardson, Riolo, Wasina, Rodriguez, Monahan, Schild, VanLare, Halleib, Williams, Benson, Morgan, Forsberg, Crockett, Wondergem, Mackay, Monico, Henry, Robinson.
