PETALUMA, Calif. — Just a week after claiming one of the biggest wins of his career at the Bradway Memorial, Colby Copeland returned on Saturday night to record an entertaining victory with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour in Petaluma.
It marked the second Elk Grove Ford SCCT presented by Abreu Vineyards win of Copeland’s career and came aboard the familiar Van Lare Steering Repair/ Bianchi Farms No. 5v machine.
The race was broadcast live by SPEED SPORT affiliate CaliDirt.tv.
“I can’t say enough about this entire Van Lare Racing 5v team right now,” said Copeland on the frontstretch, who performed a memorial lap for the late Jim Van Lare Sr. during the night. “Little Jim keeps giving me great race cars and I know that Big Jim is looking down on us helping as well. We had a really good racetrack tonight, so I have to give my hats off to Rick Faeth and the team here at Petaluma Speedway. Hopefully we can keep this momentum rolling in the weeks to come.”
The 35-lap Sprint Car Challenge Tour finale began with High Sierra Industries Dash winner Bradley Terrell snagging the lead. The three-time Petaluma Speedway track champion was in search of his initial SCCT victory and held command over the first few circuits. Copeland was able to take advantage of a double-file restart however, riding the high line around Terrell to take the top-spot on lap four.
Several cautions plagued the contest and didn’t allow for much in the way of lapped traffic, but the action remained hot and heavy throughout the main event. Justyn Cox and Justin Sanders fought their way forward and had a tremendous fight for the runner-up spot over numerous laps.
At times it appeared that both drivers may have had something for the leader, but Copeland cut smooth laps up front and never gave them the opportunity.
The final restart of the night occurred with six laps remaining and Copeland drove off to cross under the checkered flag for the victory. Sanders excited the large crowd on hand while riding the high-scary side and crossed the stripe in second, followed by new SCCT points leader Cox, Terrell and Sean Becker rounding out the top-five.
Western Midget Racing
Bryant Bell recovered from a major flip on Friday night at Ocean Speedway to win a duel for the Petaluma Speedway Western Midget Racing victory on Saturday night. Bell and Logan Mitchell raced side-by-side for numerous laps through the 20-lap contest.
Mitchell started on the pole in the No. 96x Boss Chassis alongside the No. 66 of Darin Horton.
Bell started third but immediately drove underneath Mitchell to take over the lead in turn one. Mitchell crossed underneath Bell in turn two to take the lead back on lap three.
Kyle Hawse had an incident in turn four that brought out the red flag. On the restart, Bell and Mitchell continued to battle before Mitchell stretched out to a three car length advantage.
Bell used a caution flag to challenge Mitchell. He looked high for two laps before driving underneath Mitchell to lead lap 14.
Bell drove on to his third win of the season followed by Mitchell in second place. Greg Dennett finished third with Todd Hawse and DeMartini rounding out the top-five.
Feature Finish (35 Laps)
1. 5V-Colby Copeland[2]; 2. 4SA-Justin Sanders[8]; 3. 42X-Justyn Cox[4]; 4. 43-Bradley Terrell[1]; 5. 7B-Sean Becker[9]; 6. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[11]; 7. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[3]; 8. 12J-John Clark[17]; 9. 10-Dominic Gorden[15]; 10. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[13]; 11. 21-Michael Ing[18]; 12. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto[5]; 13. 1-Chance Grasty[21]; 14. 7V-Kinser Claradge[14]; 15. 8-William Fielding[25]; 16. 9L-Luke Hayes[6]; 17. 08-Preston Carr[19]; 18. 222-Wyatt VanLare[16]; 19. 77-Ryan Lippincott[22]; 20. 25S-Seth Standley[23]; 21. 16A-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[7]; 22. X1-Michael Faccinto[10]; 23. 7H-Jake Haulot[24]; 24. 92-Andy Forsberg[12]; 25. 54S-Drake Standley[20]