Antioch, CA — Cory Eliason won the inaugural 30 lap Sprint Car Challenge Tour Main Event Saturday night at Antioch Speedway.
The new Sprint Car Tour, sponsored by Abreu Vineyards and Elk Grove Ford, was expected to draw a big car count, but it exceeded expectations when 58 teams showed up to race. Unofficially, this is a record car count for a Sprint Car race at Antioch Speedway.
Eliason breezed through the preliminaries by winning his heat race and Dash 1. This gave him the pole for the Main Event next to Dash 2 winner Shane Golobic. Eliason charged into the lead at the start ahead of two time Watsonville champion Golobic and reigning Chico champion Sean Becker. The race grinded to a halt on lap seven as Kenny Allen flipped.
Despite a pair of mid race yellow flags for Petaluma champion Bradley Terrell and D.J. Netto, Eliason continued to lead the way. Though Golobic stayed not too far behind him, Eliason set a rapid pace. In addition to winning the Metal Works Fastest Lap Award, Eliason scored the Main Event victory ahead of Golobic, Becker, Willie Croft and Mitchell Faccinto.
The car count was so big and the competition was so stacked that nine time Civil War Series Sprint Car champion Andy Forsberg had to win the 12 Lap Finley Farms B Main to earn his feature start. He won that race ahead of King Of the West Series champion Kyle Hirst and Justin Sanders. There were two C Mains that transferred cars to the B Main.
Justyn Cox won the first C Main ahead of Kurt Nelson, and Tony Gualda won the second one ahead of recent Chowchilla winner Ryan Robinson. 2015 Antioch champion Shawn Arriaga gave the home crowd something to cheer for by holding off rising star Ryan Bernal to win his heat race. Eliason’s heat win came ahead of Geoff Ensign. Faccinto won his heat ahead of Colton Slack, Becker beat Croft in their heat race and Terrell won his ten lapper in front of Kaleb Henry.
Young Hunter Kinney collected his first career 15 lap BCRA Midget Lites Main Event victory. After a lap four tangle eliminated Roy Moody and Steve Roza, Kenny found was way into the lead and set a blistering pace from there. He took the checkered flag a full straightaway ahead of Dakota Albright. Danika Jo Parker settled for third ahead of Craig Holsted and reigning champion Craig Dillard.
All Star Series racing action continues next week with DIRTcar Late Models, A Modifieds, Wingless Spec Sprints, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Hobby Stocks all in action on the fast three-eighth mile clay oval.
For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.
Race Results
Sprint Car Challenge Series
- Heat 1-Mitchell Faccinto, Colton Slack, D.J. Netto.
- Heat 2-Cory Eliason, Geoff Ensign, Shane Golobic.
- Heat 3-Shawn Arriaga, Ryan Bernal, Andy Gregg.
- Heat 4-Bradley Terrell, Kalib Henry, Kenny Allen.
- Heat 5-Sean Becker, Willie Croft, Dominic Scelzi.
- Dash 1-Eliason, Faccinto.
- Dash 2-Golobic, Becker.
- Main 1-Justyn Cox, Kurt Nelson, Matt Perterson. C Main 2-Tony Gualda, Ryan Robinson, Chase Johnson. B Main-Andy Forsberg, Kyle Hirst, Justin Sanders, Buddy Kofoid, Steven Tiner.
- Main Event
- Eliason, Golobic, Becker, Croft, Faccinto, Bernal, Hirst, Forsberg, Sanders, Arriaga.
BCRA Midget Lites
Main Event-Hunter Kinney, Dakota Albright, Danika Jo Parker, Craig Holsted, Craig Dillard, Scott Kenny, Steve Roza, Roy Moody.
