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Lambert scores second Civil War season victory in 1999 Pacific Sprint Cup
by Bill Sullivan

Wednesday, September 15 Results
CSCCWS Sprints Dirt Modifieds

Chico, CA (9-15-99) - Since his first series victory early in the season at Petaluma, Scooter Lambert of Foothill Farms, California had somewhat returned to a dry spell status in the way of victories. That all changed, however, Wednesday night when Lambert put all of his "should have been" victories behind him and took the gold in the 1999 Hoosier Racing Tires, California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series Pacific Sprint Cup at John Padjen's Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California.

"This is a big win for us, a real big win, " said Lambert, who's last victory came during the third round of Civil War competition at Petaluma. "The middle part of the year has just been terrible for us. We've had one problem after another and I think we finally got everything back together. This is definitely a step in the right direction again." After finishing third in his heat race, Lambert started the 30-lap feature event in the third position on the inside of the second row behind polesitter Mike Monahan of Sparks, Nevada and Damion Gardner of Concord. At the waving of the green flag, it was Monahan who took command of the 20-car field as he powered ahead of Gardner to take the point entering the first set of turns.

Although Monahan wasted little time in working his way to a healthy lead, Lambert began to close in on the leader shortly after the waving of the green. After passing Gardner on the opening lap, Lambert began closing in on the leader as early as the third circuit. On the seventh circuit, lapped traffic became a factor which allow Lambert to decrease the gap between he and Monahan even more so and permitted fourth place starter Roger Crockett of Rio Linda to advance into the hunt as well as he muscled his way into the third position on the ninth lap.

On the 13th lap the first yellow flag of the event came out when Marc Zieske of Oroville stalled on the back stretch. On the ensuing restart, Lambert stayed within inches of Monahan's rear bumper for the entire opening lap before moving to the low side of the fourth turn where he hugged the infield berm and slid up beneath Monahan to steal the lead.

Once Lambert made his successful pass, he wasted no time whatsoever in distancing himself from the field as Monahan, Crockett and Gardner dueled for the next three positions. Following a restart on the 15th lap, Gardner overtook Monahan for the second position and Crockett followed suit, moving in front of Monahan for the third position on the back stretch of the same lap, however, as a yellow flag came out for a stalled Kyle Schild on the high side of turn two, Crockett's efforts fell short as the restart placed him back into the fourth position.

When the green flag came out again it was immediately followed by a red when Bryan Bullard and Craig Dilliard tangled in the first and second turn. The incident sent both drivers upside down with little damage, permitting both to return to the grid for the restart which then saw Gardner lose control in the fourth turn and slide sideways in front of oncoming traffic. While the incident saw Gardner escape with no damage, the ensuing traffic jam sent Billy Wallace of Grass Valley upside down against the turn four wall. After replacing his top wing and a drive link, Wallace returned for the remaining nine-laps which saw Lambert continue to dominate the front position while Monahan, Crockett and Jim Vanlare of Windsor dueled for the next three positions. On the second to last lap, Crockett moved into the second position but with only one lap remaining, had far too little time to close in on Lambert's healthy lead. At the finish line Lambert picked up the $3000 win followed by Crockett, Monahan, VanLare, Mike Wasina Jr. and series point leader David Robinson Jr. of Sacramento who started 10th.

"I had a stumble in the motor at the lower rpm's and as long as I caught him (Monahan) just right I was able to keep pushing him in the corner," said Lambert. "Finally I was able to pressure him to point where he slid up a little bit and I caught him just right and got by him."

In preliminary action on Wednesday, heat race victories went to Mike Benson, Colby Weisz, Rich Tiner and Marc Zieske. The B-main event was won by VanLare who was followed into the feature by Kevin Lovell, Bobby McMahan and Ron McBride. During qualifying, Roger Crockett set a new track record with a 12:081 second lap to earn the Al's Grading and Paving fast time award.

The California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series will continue next Saturday night for the 12th round of competiton at Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville followed by the series finale at Placerville Speedway on October 2.

Randy McDaniel and Matt Micheli Both Winners at Silver Dollar
by Troy Hennig

Wednesday, September 15 Results
CSCCWS Sprints Dirt Modifieds

Chico, CA (9-15-99) - lt was an emotional time at Silver Dollar Speedway during the dirt modified main event on Wednesday night during the second annual Dirt Modified Cup. The winner of the main event. Randy McDaniel, had been sidelined for most of the season with a life threatening broken neck that took three months to heal. Racing was not even an option one month ago, until the doctors gave him clearance to put back on his racing suit and mix it up on the track with some of his racing friends. And mix it up was what he did. In only his third race back, McDaniel showed his championship poise and won the 20-lap invitational main event. Only the top 22 in Silver Dollar Speedway points were able to race. However, it was also a victory for Matt Micheli, who by finishing fourth capturing his first driving championship at Silver Dollar Speedway. This race coincided with the Pacific Sprint Cup and preludes the 46th annual Gold Cup Race of Champions.

McDaniel started on the pole position for the event with Fred Jenson on the outside. McDaniel took control of the race early on and was only slowed by two yellow flags. On lap one. Scan Becker missed turn one and slid off of the raceway and Corey Kilmer's night came to an end with mechanical problems. The race resumed on lap six with McDaniel leading followed by Dustin Jenks and Jenson. The race ran caution free until lap 14 when Richard Brace Jr. came to a stop on the front straight. Brace would drive off to the pits with a flat tire and he was joined by Bud Walberg who also had the same problem. The man on the move was Richard Papenhausen. He had started fifth but soon found himself in second place with six laps left. The two top cars began to battle it out for the top spot on the speedway. With one lap remaining, McDaniel and Papenhausen where bumper to bumper. As the two headed down the back straight and into turn three, McDaniel drifted up the track allowing Papenhausen a shot on the bottom. Coming out of turn four, Papenhausen had a slight edge on the bottom grove, however, it was McDaniel who had the high side momentum and powered by Papenhausen to take the checkered flag first. McDaniel's margin on victory was less than a tenth of a second making it the closest finish that the dirt modifieds had all season long. Jenks finished third followed by Micheli and Jenson. At the start of the race, Micheli bad a thirteen point lead of Joey Hubbaid, but during an earlier heat race, Hubbard had exploded a motor and was done for the night, giving the championship to Micheli.

Three heat races were needed as it was Bud Walberg winning heat numt)er one. Dustin Jenks won heat number two and Richard Brace Jr. won an exciting heat number three.

Qualifying was highlighted by a new track record. The existing one was held by Randy McDaniel at a 16.113. An incredible amount of 14 drivers timed in below the 16-second barrier and was finally capped off by Matt Micheli who turned a 15.205, nearly a full second faster than the old track record.

Adding to the emotion after the race was the fact that Matt's father. Ken Micheli, was also a Silver Dollar Speedway Champion and the became one of the few father and sons who own championships at Silver Dollar.