MARYVILLE, Calif. — Andy Forsberg may be approaching age 50 in less than a month, but on Sunday night he looked every bit a spry youngster utilizing a brave and bold drive, bringing home his seventh career Mel & Marlyn Hall Memorial triumph at Marysville Raceway.
With his win from the 10th starting spot, the Auburn veteran becomes the all-time leader in wins at the event, breaking a tie that he shared with Marysville Raceway legend Colby Wiesz.
Forsberg and his Pacific Highway Rentals No. 92 team pocketed $5,000 for the SCCT victory, plus an additional $150 cash for Hard Charger thanks to the Rounds Family.
“This is one of those events that really means a lot to me,” Forsberg said to infield reporter Roy Benning. “The Hall Family were such huge supporters of the sport out here and gave a lot of their lives to auto racing. They played a big role in my early years driving, so to win this race seven times is special.”
The 30-lap Shop Kyle Larson feature began with High Sierra Industries Dash winner Colby Copeland jumping out front. The driver of the C&M Motorsports No. 7c set a fast pace early on and kept the field at bay.
Lapped traffic over the opening stages created some hectic and exciting racing as usual on the tight Marysville Raceway bulling. Tanner Carrick and Chance Grasty raced closely behind Copeland as the leaders zigged and zagged through the slower traffic.
Several cautions and a red flag period slowed the flow just before the halfway point of the race. After that, however, business began to pick up. With 14 circuits complete Andy Forsberg found himself in sixth, but he was determined to not stay there.
A restart at the halfway point saw “Mr. Excitement” rocket to the high side in traditional fashion and charge all the way into second. He proceeded to work on leader Copeland and looked to make the pass on a couple of occasions, only to have cautions bring it back.
Forsberg stayed with it though and finally sealed the deal to get past Copeland on lap 18 for the top spot. Copeland didn’t let him off easily and remained glued to his tail tank. The Promoter at Silver Dollar Speedway then had to deal with a fast-moving Grasty, who claimed second on lap 24.
The final laps saw Grasty cut the gap between himself and Forsberg, while making it a battle for the win coming to the checkered flag. Forsberg hit his marks and crossed the stripe just ahead of Grasty to claim his ninth career Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour victory.
Grasty and Copeland rounded out the podium.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 92-Andy Forsberg[10]; 2. X1-Chance Grasty[6]; 3. 7C-Colby Copeland[1]; 4. 35-Sean Becker[3]; 5. 42X-Justyn Cox[5]; 6. 83T-Tanner Carrick[2]; 7. 7-Seth Standley[9]; 8. 9L-Luke Hayes[4]; 9. 21A-Austin Wood[14]; 10. 88-Brad Bumgarner[12]; 11. 55D-Dawson Hammes[19]; 12. 7H-Jake Haulot[15]; 13. 3F-William Fielding[16]; 14. 76-Jennifer Osborne[11]; 15. 56C-Carson Hammes[8]; 16. 87S-David Silveria[22]; 17. 2STX-Corbin Seay[23]; 18. 15-Pat Harvey Jr[21]; 19. 2X-Max Mittry[7]; 20. 51-Jake Morgan[17]; 21. 29-Cole Croft[20]; 22. 7W-Dennis Scherer[13]; 23. 6W-Billy Wallace[18]; 24. 87A-Antionio Silveria[24]; 25. (DNS) 54-Carson Hall
