8/4/2019
Silver Dollar Speedway
Offill Gets First Win; Allen 7th in a Row
Silver Dollar Speedway
Phone: (530) 350-7275
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kyle Offill Earns Hard Fought First Career Win at Chico
Chico, CA (Aug 2, 2019) …. It was an impressive performance turned in by rising sprint car star Kyle Offill of Tracy. As the current point leader of the winged 360 division, Offill held off Hall of Fame driver Sean Becker for three late race restarts to earn the win. In fact, Offill had to go into “overtime� to get the job done. Three consecutive times a yellow was needed after the white flag was waived. By rule, the race needed to end on consecutive laps. Hence, the race lasted 33 official laps instead of the normal 30-laps. This win will put him on the map when it comes to local Northern California racing. It is also a testament for his hard working crew, led by Jonathan Allard, who unfortunately had to miss the race but was filled in by veteran car guru Randy VanKeuren, and his parents, Keith and Kim, who are so positive and generous when it comes to the overall sport of sprint car racing.
Offill officially led all 33 laps, but Becker at one point passed Offill going into turn one while both were dealing with slower traffic. Offill didn’t flinch, regrouped, and passed Becker going down the back stretch. That lap showed Offill’s maturity behind the wheel at such a young age. The bigger test came at the end of the event. As the Offill raced out of turn four to collect the win, a yellow was waived when John Clark came to a stop. On the ensuing restart, Alex Fowler stopped in turn two. The final yellow was displayed when Jeremy Wilson sat backwards on the infield berm in turn three. Most of the time when you give Becker three attempts to pass you, he will figure it out. Not tonight, though. Offill survived the numerous late race cautions to hold off Becker and pick up his first career win at Chico. Hard charging Cole Macedo was third. Fast timer Andy Forsberg was fourth. Youngster Blake Carrick ripped the lip to come home fifth.
The Hobby Stock main event was perhaps the best race of the night. Kyle Allen went into the night with a six-race win streak. Things were looking good on lap 11 while he was battling with Jeremy Langenderfer for the lead. Yet, on lap 12, Allen and Langenderfer collided, resulting in both cars having flat tires. Both hustled to the pits, but only Allen remerged to race. Starting deep in the field, Allen was unable to work his way up fast enough to catch Zach Lindgren. The streak was over. However, as the cars were headed to complete lap 19, smoke began to blow out of the motor of Danny Lavonte’s car. He stopped near the front stretch and the yellow was waived. This bunched the cars back up for the final restart. Up to that point, Lindgren had too large of lead to be passed. As fate would have it, Allen passed both James West and Lindgren coming to the checkered flag and won the race. The streak continues. The crowd roared and rose on their feet in awe of what they just witnessed. Lindgren was second, West third. Jeremiah Creedon was fourth. Paul Newman was credited with fifth. Lindgren and Creedon each won their eight-lap heat race.
Matt Micheli won both the IMCA Sport Mod feature and the Street Stock feature. He led all 20-laps in each race. Micheli also leads the points in both divisions. As the year has progressed, so has Micheli’s march towards dual championships. Corey Hall was a challenger to Micheli in the street stock race, but a tire issue sidelined him on lap 14. Todd Cooper shadowed Micheli for 19-laps in the IMCA Sport mod feature but was never able to get close enough for any sort of a slider. Scott Savell was third in the IMCA Sport Mod feature. Followed by a great effort from Shawn Smith, good to see him back at the track, and Ethan Killingsworth. Ken Micheli was second in the Street Stock main event. Gary Newman was third.
Racing continues in two weeks with the annual running of the Tyler Wolf Memorial Aug 16th.
Full results are here https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1703234
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