10/6/2012
Sprint Source
Walt Branco Memorial Goes to Ensign
Give the kid some motivation and watch him go.
Ocean Speedway threw out the biggest purse of their 2012 Wingless Sprint Car season last night, and 23 year old Sebastopol resident Geoff Ensign, as they say in racing, was on kill. Knowing the big money was on the line, The Human Highlight Reel stepped up and walked away with the cash at the Walt Branco Memorial at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.
Drawing the outside second row for his heat, Ensign, driving the VanLare Steering Repair/Sparky’s Collision Repair #5v he’s put in victory lane locally in Petaluma three times in 2012, could muster no better than a drag race to the line 3rd in his heat race. After inversions were drawn, Ensign started in the fourth row next to teammate Sparky Howard in the second VSR/Sparky’s Collision Center #5d, 8th overall in the A Main event.
With cars mostly on the bottom throughout the night, Ensign commented he was going to the top during the main and winning this deal, a prophetic statement as it would turn out. As the green flag flew, Ensign moved forward as cars were scrambling for position. A red came out on lap 3 for a flipping car, and Ensign pulled up to the backstretch wall and told car owner Jim VanLare, “We’re good.” On the restart, Ensign would pick off a couple more cars and settle into 5th spot before a yellow slowed his progress and this is where Ensign put his money where his mouth was. Shooting to the “top”, which was about two cars above the racing groove, Ensign got a great run into turn one and shot around two cars, vaulting into third. His charge to the front temporarily stalled by another yellow, Ensign stayed true to his gameplan and shot around both second and first place cars and into the lead off of turn two…until the leader fought back on the inside as Ensign didn’t quite clear and there was some healthy “rubbing is racing” into turn 3 and 4. The longest green flag portion of the main event was upcoming as the two leaders became one for the next few laps before, on lap 13, Ensign squeezed his way underneath off of turn four and onto the point of the richest race of the season for spec sprints at Ocean Speedway in front of an appreciative crowd of onlookers. Ensign wouldn’t be headed and flashed under the checkers seven laps later as the winner of the Walt Branco Memorial race and adds his name to the list of winners, his 16th sprint car win in the last two years and 17th overall in his three year sprint car career.
“I gotta thank owners Jim and Annette VanLare for the continued confidence in me and winning this feels special. It’s a big race and because Jim threw a bunch of stuff at the car this morning, this feels even better that all that stuff he did worked. Seeing him excited for a win is awesome and I couldn’t have been there without those two. It’s a great way to close out 2012 with the VSR team.”
Ensign saddles up again tonight at Marysville Raceway Park in Dave Johnson’s #32 Johnson Machine Sprint Car for their season ender trying for two victories in two different cars in as many days.
To contact “The Human Highlight Reel”, you can find him on Facebook at Geoff Ensign Motorsports, on the web at www.ensignmotorsports.com, follow him on Twitter @ensignmotorspts or email him at geoffensign@rocketmail.com.
Submitted By: Ron Lingron