MARYSVILLE, Calif. — The annual Mel & Marlyn Hall Memorial provided several thrills for the Sprint Car Challenge Tour on Saturday night at Marysville Raceway.
At the end it was a classic battle between Andy Forsberg and Shane Golobic, which saw the closest finish in SCCT history.
The race was broadcast by SPEED SPORT affiliate CaliDirt.tv.
As the packed house came to their feet, the talented duo drag raced to the checkered flag, with Forsberg nipping Golobic at the scoring loop for an official margin of victory that read as just 0.006 seconds. With extra money raised by the Hall family and the Kyle Larson Racing Bonus factored in, Forsberg walks out of town with $3,500 for his efforts.
With the win Forsberg matches track legend Colby Wiesz for the most victories all-time in the Mel & Marlyn Hall Memorial, having claimed his sixth career triumph at the event on Saturday. It also marked his fourth career Elk Grove Ford Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Abreu Vineyards win, tying him with Rico Abreu for fourth all-time.
“That was a great race right there and I hope all you fans enjoyed that one,” Forsberg commented after the feature. “Mel & Marlyn Hall were two very special people that gave a lot of their lives to this racing stuff. It’s pretty awesome to get my sixth win at the Hall and tie Colby Wiesz for the most all-time. Big thanks to my team and everyone who came out to support this show at Marysville Raceway.”
The 35-lap feature started out with High Sierra Industries Dash winner Michael Faccinto leading early, until Forsberg took over the top-spot on a lap seven restart. Several cautions and a couple red flags slowed the flow of the main event and never allowed much in the way of lapped traffic.
Forsberg looked solid out front, but as the race wound down Golobic found a nice line up top in turns one and two, which gave him immense momentum heading down the back stretch.
Lap after lap Golobic tried to hit it perfectly and closed right up to the rear of the Pacific Highway Rentals No. 92 machine. With the white flag in the air Forsberg picked his way through a couple lapped cars, but Golobic cut an excellent corner down low to get under the leader and make it a battle to checkered.
In one of the most exciting finishes on the Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Forsberg won out by inches at the scoring loop. Golobic came home in second with 15th starting Justyn Cox having an outstanding run in third. Lemoore youngster Gauge Garcia came home in fourth, with Faccinto rounding out the top-five.
Feature Finish (35 Laps)
1. 92-Andy Forsberg[2]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[3]; 3. 42X-Justyn Cox[15]; 4. 21X-Gauge Garcia[6]; 5. X1-Michael Faccinto[1]; 6. 21-Shane Hopkins[24]; 7. 83T-Tanner Carrick[18]; 8. 4SA-Kaleb Montgomery[11]; 9. 25S-Seth Standley[22]; 10. 55D-Dawson Hammes[8]; 11. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[12]; 12. 1-Chance Grasty[21]; 13. 10-Dominic Gorden[5]; 14. 9L-Luke Hayes[4]; 15. 71L-William Fielding[23]; 16. 7C-Steven Tiner[17]; 17. 35-Sean Becker[9]; 18. 21M-Michael Ing[20]; 19. 43-Bradley Terrell[10]; 20. 7H-Jake Haulot[7]; 21. 2-Cody Spencer[19]; 22. 12R-Mitchell Faccinto[14]; 23. 115-Nick Parker[13]; 24. 7-Jake Morgan[16]