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Third Annual Pacific Sprint Cup Tonight
Point leader, race champion David Robinson Jr. headlines field

CHICO, CA - With more than a month off from sanctioned competition, the Hoosier Racing Tires California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series is set to return to action tonight right here at Silver Dollar Speedway for the third annual "Pacific Sprint Cup Invitational." This special week night event will officially open the 46th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions which consists of four big days of racing on the 1/4 mile semi-banked track located on the Chico fairground.

The Hoosier Tires California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series is a traveling series which consists of 13 different events at five different California tracks including Placerville, Petaluma, Antioch and Marysville speedways in addition to Chico. This latest event will be the 11th round of competition on this competitive campaign that caters to 360 cubic inch powered sprint cars and is an invitational event, open only to the top 32-drivers in the current series point standings. In the 10 events that have taken place in the Civil War campaign thus far, a total of 114 different drivers representing all four of the western states have participated in the series in at least one event. Those drivers who have followed the series on a somewhat regular basis and currently rank 32nd or better in the championship point standings will form the roster for tonight's event sponsored by Hoosier Tires, Pepsi and Coors Light which boasts a $15,000 purse with $3000 going to the winner of the 30-lap feature event.

Pacific Sprint Cup; Robinson is defending '98 race champion.

Topping the entry list will be current Civil War point leader David Robinson Jr. of Sacramento. Not only does Robinson top the point ladder entering the biggest event on the Civil War circuit, the 1998 Placerville Speedway titlist is the defending race winner as well after he became just the second driver to be named the Pacific Sprint Cup Champion last year. Craig Smith of San Jose won the inaugural Pacific Sprint Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway back in 1997.

As he returns to defend his event title, Robinson too will focus on maintaining his healthy point lead in the series which now standings at 52 digits over Concord driver Damion Gardner. In the 10 events that have taken place in the Civil War series so far, Robinson has used consistency as the key to launching himself through the point standings in the early half of the season with ten top ten finishes and seven top five's, backed by his two latest feature victories in Civil War events at Placerville and Antioch.

Much like Robinson, Gardner too has been consistent in the way of top finishes with six top tens and five top five outings. The former Dwarf Car champion from Concord is the only other competitor in the series with two-feature wins one of which took place at Chico over Memorial Day weekend, the second at Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville. The two top runners will be joined by Andy Forsberg of Auburn who ranks third in the series point standings, four-points behind Gardner with seven top ten finishes and three top five placements. Billy Wallace of Grass Valley ranks fourth overall and trails Forsberg by 21-digits. Wallace, who won the June 16 Civil War race at Chico, holds off Foothill Farms driver Scooter Lambert by nine points. Bryan Bullard of Sloughouse, a previous victor at Silver Dollar in regular Friday night 410 sprint car action ranks sixth in the championship point standings ahead of Rio Linda's Mike Wasina Jr., Chad Riolo of Roseville, Mike Benson of Calistoga and Kyle Schild of Sacramento.

Additional drivers who rank among the top 32-point runners who are expected to be contenders in this $15,000 event include Mike Henry of Fair Oaks who sits 14th overall and won the first Chico based Civil War event this season as well as defending series champion Roger Crockett of Rio Linda who currently ranks 24th with several season no shows but has had much success on Silver Dollar clay during regular season Friday night action.

Joining the Pacific Sprint cars for the second consecutive year will be the California "IMCA" style dirt modifieds in the second annual "Dirt Modified Cup" this event also is an invitational, open to the top 22-drivers in the Silver Dollar Speedway point standings. The event, sponsored by Coors Light and Pepsi, concludes the 1999 track championship campaign for the division and awards $800 to the winner of the feature event.

All seating for the Pacific Sprint and Dirt Modified Cup events is general admission, no advance ticket sales will take place. The front gates of the speedway will open at 5 p.m. Wednesday night and tickets will go on sale at that time with Adult tickets priced at $15, juniors $10 and Children $3. Qualifying will begin at 6:30 followed by the first heat race at 7:30.

On Thursday night, the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Sprint Car tour will begin it's three-day visit to the north state oval with the first of two preliminary qualifying events for the 46th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions. Thursday's event will feature the first half of near 100 car field that is expected compete over the next-three days, drawing competitors from all parts of the country to join the likes of top drivers like Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Johnny Herrera, Danny Lasoski, Jac Haudenschild and many more to each make an attempt to earn a piece of the $110,000 purse for this event, the largest dirt-track race in California racing history.

On Friday night the second half of the Gold Cup contingent will take to the Silver Dollar oval for the second and final night of preliminary action. Both Thursday and Friday programs will be complete race cards with qualifying, heat races, semi-main events and feature events all of which award accumulative points which are used to establish the line-up positions for Saturday's big Gold Cup finale which will consist of main-events for all who competed on Thursday and Friday. In addition to the big 40-lap A-feature which posts $20,000 to the winner, Saturday's program will include a B, C, D, E and possibly an F main event depending on the total car count.

While all seating is general admission for the Wednesday night Pacific Sprint Cup, Thursday, Friday and Saturday night events are all reserved seating. Three day tickets and single day tickets are currently on sale through the office of John Padjen Motorsports at (916) 969-7484 or can be purchased online at www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com

Gold Cup Daily News
Published daily during the annual Gold Cup Race of Champions in Chico, CA
Published by John Padjen Motorsports
Design and Production - Bill Sullivan
Assistants/Contributors - Troy Hennig, Dennis Gage, Richard Day, WoO
Photographs supplied by Aron Jones, JohnPadjenMotorsports.com

All of the material published in this newsletter is protected under copyright law and may not be reprinted without written permission from the office of John Padjen Motorsports.