Jim Pettit II is champ of Top Dog Nationals
Written by Harlan Osborne    
With more than 40 of the top Dirt Modified drivers from Northern California, Nevada, and Oregon, many of them current and former track champions, along with five of the previous eight winners ready to challenge for the $3500 top prize, Petaluma Speedway hosted its ninth annual Top Dog Nationals last Saturday night. The twin 25-lap format, whittled down to the best 22 drivers, showcased a variety of driving skills and breaks, some lucky, some not, before Jim Pettit II of Prunedale, who led for all but one lap, emerged as Top Dog champion for 2008.
 
Despite starting first and finishing first the victory didn’t come easy for veteran racer Pettit, who is a past two-time Southwest Tour champion who spends most of his time on asphalt tracks. The first half of the race, punctuated by the inevitable crashes and yellow flags produced by over-eager drivers hungry to improve their positions, settled into an intense battle for second place between Petaluma track champion Michael Paul Jr. and Silver Dollar Speedway champ Richard Papenhausen of Chico. Trailing close behind were 2003 Top Dog winner Michael Paul Sr., Petaluma’s Brian Azevedo, B-main transfer Duane Cleveland, and Aaron Crowell.  
 
On the final lap before the break, Paul Jr. and Papenhausen, fighting as though the last lifeboat seat on the Titanic was on the line, charged out of Turn 4 rubbing together. Paul Jr. crossed the line in second place but Papenhausen came to grinding stop short of the line and dropped to 14th.
 
Pettit came out strong for the second segment with Paul Jr., Paul Sr., Cleveland, Azevedo, and B-main winner Randy McDaniel, who started 16th, in pursuit. Paul Sr. departed on Lap 34 and Paul Jr. suffering engine problems started to sink. By Lap 35 Papenhausen had climbed to third place and five laps later he was pressuring Pettitt for the lead. That’s when, according to Pettit he “went from riding to racing.”  Papenhausen took the lead with a bottom pass on Lap 42 but Pettit retaliated on the next lap and it looked like a race to the finish, but just one lap later Papenhausen sheered off a rear wheel, and along with it his chances for victory. The final surprise of the event came on the white flag lap when Tulare Thunderbowl champion Brian Cass, who started 10th, snatched second place, and its $1750 payoff, from McDaniel, who earned $1000 for third place. Rounding out the finish were Cleveland, Azevedo, Ryan McDaniel, Phil Indihar, Crowell, Jim DiGiovanni, and Randy Brown.          
 
Randy McDaniel led the last 10 laps of the 15-lap B-main to transfer to the feature along with Cleveland, Indihar, Brown, Chester Kniss, Ryan McDaniel, and DiGiovanni. The 10-lap C-main was captured by former Petaluma Speedway and Top Dog champ Nick Caughman Jr., who moved up to the B-main along with McGee, DiGiovanni, and Danny Dozier. Heat race wins went to Pettit, Jon DeBenedetti, Papenhausen, and Paul Jr.
 
In the All-Pro Spec Sprint feature veteran racer Bob Newberry and 14-year-old rookie driver Ryan Bernal staged a spectacular lead-swapping skirmish that didn’t end until Newberry grabbed the checkered flag at the end of the 25-lap duel. Newberry, in contention for the Spec Sprint championship, mounted his best effort since winning the first race of the season in April. Starting sixth in the 15-car field Newberry grabbed the lead from Arvo Backholm six laps into the fray. Bernal, a winner of his heat, displayed a touch of fearlessness when he ducked underneath the leader on Lap 9 to take charge over Newberry, Backholm, heat winner Troy Caraway, Lucas Nerlove, and Press. Following a red flag on the 16th circuit Newberry exploded from the single file restart and got under Bernal to regain the front spot, which despite a determined effort by Bernal, he held to the finish. Press, who finished fourth behind Newberry, Bernal, and Backholm, leads Newberry by 20 points in the standings with two races remaining.
 
This Saturday the Speedway hosts the final appearance of the season of the Civil War Series for winged 360 Sprint Cars along with the All-Pro Dwarf Cars.    
 
Results for September 6, 2008

DIRT MODIFIED  

TOP DOG NATIONALS  

Heat 1—Jim Pettit II; Brian Azevedo; Scott Busby; Duane Cleveland; Randy Brown; Nick Caughman Jr.; Jim DiGiovanni; Danny Dozier.  
Heat 2—Jon DeBenedetti; Robert Miller; Aaron Crowell; Phil Indihar; Chester Kniss; Bert Elworthy; Joel Myers; Ron Dickerson.  
Heat 3—Richard Papenhausen; Rick Karnes; Ron Palombino; Brad Coelo; Oreste Gonnella; Bob Grenier; John O’Gara; Chris Sieweke.  
Heat 4—Michael Paul Jr.; Kevin Fitzgerald; Nick Perivolaris; Danny Casho; Jerry Roy Jr.; Vito Gonella; Paul Anderson; Woody Woodward DNS.  
Heat 5—Michael Paul Sr.; Brian Cass; Don Camilli; Randy McDaniel; Tommy Bottini; Ryan McDaniel; Steve McGee; Trent Wentworth.  
C-main—Caughman; McGee; DiGiovanni; Dozier; Sieweke; Dickerson; Wentworth; O’Gara; Myers DNS; Anderson DNS; Woodward DNS; Carr DNS.  
B-main—Randy McDaniel; Cleveland; Indihar; Brown; Kniss; Ryan McDaniel; DiGiovanni; Casho; Dozier; Bottini; Roy; Grenier; O. Gonella; McGee; Caughman; Hill; Elworthy; Coelo DNS; Vito Gonella DNS.  
A-main—Pettit; Cass; Randy McDaniel; Cleveland; Azevedo; Ryan McDaniel; Indihar; Crowell; DiGiovanni; Brown; Palombino; Kniss; Camilli; Paul Jr.; Papenhausen; Paul Sr.; Karnes; Miller; Fitzgerald; Busby; Perivolaris; DeBenedetti.  

SPEC SPRINTS
Heat 1—Ryan Bernal; Lucas Nerlove; David Press; Jason McIntosh; Marcus Hardina; Burt Siverling; Jack Clark.
Heat 2—Troy Caraway; Arvo Backholm; Bob Newberry; Rick Sharp; David Goodwill; Scott Dupont; Todd Miller; Keith Shipherd.
Main—Newberry; Bernal; Backholm; Press; McIntosh; Hardina; Shipherd; Caraway; Goodwill; Nerlove; Sharp; Siverling; Dupont; Miller; Clark