Dozier in high-side ride to the front

by Bob Burbach
MARYSVILLE, CA (August 31) - Marysville’s Brandon Dozier put on a clinic while winning the MRP Winged 360 Sprint Car feature event Saturday night at Marysville Raceway Park. Sacramento’s Tim Sherman, likewise, roared through the field to virtually cement his first title in the Wingless 360 companion feature. Cortney Dozier claimed another trophy in the MRP Super Stock class as Olivehurst’s Eddie Hammett took another trophy home in the MRP Hobby Stock closer. Bay area dwarf car driver Shawn Jones rode the top to a convincing win in the Nor Cal Dwarf Car feature as well.

It was Yuba City Scrap and Steel’s Ice Cream Night at the Races and the largest crowd of the summer was on hand with some 64 cars entered.

In one of the most daring drives in MRP Winged 360 Sprint Car history Brandon Dozier came from tenth starting position, took it to the early leaders and made a late race pass on bay area sprint car star Alissa Geving for the win.

Geving was a rocket from her front row start and seemed headed for her first victory at MRP. Geving is a three time sprint champion at the Petaluma Speedway. Dozier, however, started tenth after a dismal qualifying effort earlier in the evening.

The early laps featured an up-front dice between championship point leader John Michael Bunch, Geving and recent feature event winner Heath Hall of Oroville. While that was going on Brandon Dozier plowed through the cushion and picked off car after car on his way to the front.

He arrived in fourth position when Rookie of the Year candidate Jeremy Hawes appeared to have a suspension failure as he accelerated off of turn four midway in the event. Hawes’ car was destroyed during the heavy, head on impact with the wall. Hawes limped away from the vicious crash, but seemed otherwise unhurt.

At the restart it was Geving, Bunch, Hall and Brandon Dozier at the front. In turn one after the new green Hall and Bunch spun to a stop in turn one. This melee opened the door for Dozier to challenge Geving. It turned out to be a spectacular one-hundred mile per hour joust to the finish. Dozier passed Geving with six to go only to be re-passed on the back stretch by Geving. Dozier again shot by Geving with an almost frightening move one lap later and sailed on from there to the checkers.

Geving stayed second. Kelseyville’s Bent Dothage was third after a race long battle with Yuba City’s Kevin Lovell and Nevada’s Mike Monahan. The entire event was a feast for any sprint car fan.

In the MRP Wingless Sprint Car feature, Sherman also went to the top and carried his momentum past the top three positions to score another victory and pretty much put a stranglehold on the title.

The high riding Sherman seemed to surprise third running Brett Youngman of Grass Valley and then recent winner Josh Vieira of Marysville as they cruised along on the bottom. They finished that way.

Earlier in the evening Wheatland’s Johnny Burns caught a wheel and hammered the turn one concrete head on. Burns immediately jumped from the vehicle unhurt, much to the delight of everyone. The impact could be felt in the press box.

Cort Dozier simply ran away with the MRP Super Stock trophy. He was never challenged during the event. The driver dubbed “The Iron Man” finally finished a main event. It’s almost as simple as this; if Cort Dozier finishes a stock car race, he wins it.

Championship point leader, Yuba City’s Phillip Shelby, has had better nights as fellow championship contender Corey Hall made up some ground in the standings. Hall wound up second after Shelby endured a flat tire and then a spin in turn one that put the hard charger a lap down. Hall picked up seven points with his solid performance and now only four points separate the two former champions. With two races left, this is the tightest point race of all.

Does anybody have anything for Eddie Hammett? The championship point leader in the MRP Hobby Stock division just smoked the rest of the field Saturday night. Chico’s Garrett Agnew and defending champion, Yuba City’s Jeremy Hammons had a spirited race for the runner-up spot near the end with Agnew getting the position at the checkers. This battle, however took place about a half-lap behind winner Hammett.

PACIFIC 360 SPRINTS, WINGLESS SPRINTS, SUPER STOCKS, HOBBY STOCKS, DWARF CARS
MARYSVILLE RACEWAY PARK - MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA
AUGUST 30, 2014 - YUBA CITY SCRAP & STEEL NIGHT
 
PACIFIC 360 SPRINTS

QUALIFYING: 1 38N MARK TABOR JR. 13.304, 2 11VS JOHN MICHAEL BUNCH 13.324, 3 3X ALISSA GEVING 13.36, 4 3F WILLIAM FIELDING 13.549, 5 21H JEREMEY HAWES 13.602, 6 71L KOREY LOVELL 13.662, 7 97C COURTNEY DOZIER 13.717, 8 14H HEATH HALL 13.755, 9 7B BRENT DOTHAGE 13.89, 10 8 JIM RICHARDSON 13.899, 11 81 KEVIN LOVELL 13.929, 12 98M BILLY WALLACE 13.984, 13 49 MIKE MONAHAN 14.056, 14 9 PETE PAULSON 14.063, 15 95 BRANDON DOZIER 14.187, 16 24R REYNA KRUEGER 14.197, 17 21 COLBY WIESZ 01:08.6

HEAT RACE 1: 1 7B BRENT DOTHAGE, 2 81 KEVIN LOVELL, 3 49 MIKE MONAHAN, 4 95 BRANDON DOZIER, 5 3X ALISSA GEVING, 6 97C COURTNEY DOZIER, 7 21H JEREMEY HAWES, DNF 38N MARK TABOR JR., DNS 21 COLBY WIESZ

HEAT RACE 2: 1 98M BILLY WALLACE, 2 8 JIM RICHARDSON, 3 71L KOREY LOVELL, 4 11VS JOHN MICHAEL BUNCH, 5 14H HEATH HALL, 6 24R REYNA KRUEGER, 7 9 PETE PAULSON, 8 3F WILLIAM FIELDING

PACIFIC 360 SPRINT MAIN: 1 95 BRANDON DOZIER, 2 3X ALISSA GEVING, 3 7B BRENT DOTHAGE, 4 81 KEVIN LOVELL, 5 49 MIKE MONAHAN, 6 11VS JOHN MICHAEL BUNCH, 7 9 PETE PAULSON, 8 24R REYNA KRUEGER, 9 71L KOREY LOVELL, 10 38N MARK TABOR JR., DNF 14H HEATH HALL, DNF 21H JEREMEY HAWES, DNF 8 JIM RICHARDSON, DNF 97C COURTNEY DOZIER, DNF 3F WILLIAM FIELDING, DNS 21 COLBY WIESZ, DNS 98M BILLY WALLACE

WINGLESS SPRINTS

HEAT RACE 1: 1 1JR TIM SHERMAN JR, 2 3V JOSH VIEIRA, 3 77 RYAN SIVERLING, 4 XX BRETT YOUNGMAN, DNF 56 JOHNNY BURNS, DNF 32 ROWDY MCCLENNON

HEAT RACE 2: 1 5B ANGELIQUE BELL, 2 95 MISTY CASTELBERRY, 3 54 KYLE STANDLEY, 4 73C CODY FINLEY, 5 97 CURTIS COLLIER

WINGLESS SPRINT MAIN: 1 1JR TIM SHERMAN JR, 2 3V JOSH VIEIRA, 3 XX BRETT YOUNGMAN, 4 95 MISTY CASTELBERRY, 5 73C CODY FINLEY, 6 54 KYLE STANDLEY, 7 5B ANGELIQUE BELL, 8 97 CUTRIS COLLIER, DNF 77 RYAN SIVERLING, DNS 56 JOHNNY BURNS, DNS 32 ROWDY MCCLENNON

SUPER STOCKS

HEAT RACE: 1 4 JAMES CASTLEBERRY, 2 97 CORT DOZIER, 3 86 PHILLIP SHELBY, 4 56 COREY HALL, 5 95 RICK DOZIER, 6 13A MIKE WALKO, 7 57 ROD OLIVER, 8 98 LEON OLSCHOWKA, DNF 63 JOE OLSCHOWKA JR

SUPER STOCK MAIN: 1 97 CORT DOZIER, 2 56 COREY HALL, 3 95 RICK DOZIER, 4 13A MIKE WALKO, 5 4 JAMES CASTLEBERRY, 6 86 PHILLIP SHELBY, 7 98 LEON OLSCHOWKA, 8 57 ROD OLIVER, DNF 63 JOE OLSCHOWKA JR

HOBBY STOCKS

HEAT RACE 1: 1 85H WILLIAM WOLF, 2 83 EDDIE HAMMETT, 3 22 DAVID TODD COOPER, 4 12C GARRETT AGNEW, 5 19 JIM WALLER, 6 16 SHANNON COLLINS, 7 66 WYATT BROWN, DNF 90 JEREMY HAMMONS, DNS 91 MIRANDA HAMMONDS

HOBBY STOCK MAIN: 1 83 EDDIE HAMMETT, 2 12C GARRETT AGNEW, 3 90 JEREMY HAMMONS, 4 19 JIM WALLER, 5 16 SHANNON COLLINS, 6 66 WYATT BROWN, DNF 85H WILLIAM WOLF, DNF 91 MIRANDA HAMMONDS, DNS 22 DAVID TODD COOPER

DWARF CARS

HEAT RACE 1: 1 80 SHAWN JONES, 2 9N KEVIN BENDER, 3 99V THOMAS LEIBY, 4 39N JEFF FITCH, 5 29N BRYAN BENDER, 6 22N JOSH MILLER, 7 8N SAM BENDER, 8 21N DENNIS HIVELY, DNF 01N JEREMY BLACKSHERE

HEAT RACE 2: 1 12N MICHAEL GRENERT, 2 63N BUDDY OLSHOWKA, 3 27N JOEY DAVE, 4 73N CODY FENDLEY, 5 4N RYAN WINTER, 6 26N DAN ZUGER, 7 5 TIM REEDER, 8 55N BEN WISEZ, DNF 48N SCOTT DAHLGREN

DWARF CAR MAIN: 1 80 SHAWN JONES, 2 12N MICHAEL GRENERT, 3 63N BUDDY OLSCHOWKA, 4 9N KEVIN BENDER, 5 4N RYAN WINTER, 6 48N SCOTT DAHLGREN, 7 22N JOSH MILLER, 8 27N JOEY DAVE, 9 99V THOMAS LEIBY, 10 73N CODY FENDLEY, 11 29N BRYAN BENDER, 12 8N SAM BENDER, 13 5 TIM REEDER, 14 55N BEN WISEZ, 15 21N DENNIS HIVELY, DNF 26N DAN ZUGER, DNF 39N JEFF FITCH, DNF 01N JEREMY BLACKSHERE