CHICO, Calif. — Shane Golobic won the 40 lap, $5,000-to-win Tribute to Stephen Allard season finale feature at Silver Dollar Speedway on Saturday night.
The 30-year-old from Elk Grove, Calif., secured both the Fall Nationals title but also the track’s sprint car championship.
Mitchell Faccinto challenged Golobic most of the distance, but had to settle for the runner up spot. Kaleb Henry finished on the podium for the second night in a row, taking the third spot. Kalib Montgomery and Oregon invader Tanner Holmes rounded out the top five.
Michael Faccinto and Golobic brought the 24 car field to the green with Golobic quickly taking command. Faccinto settled into second while his brother Mitchell was racing against Andy Forsberg and Willie Croft. The race ran strong for 14 laps before the first caution would slow the field when Jake Andreitti slowed to a stop on the track in the third turn.
The restart was short lived as D.J. Netto took a wild series of rollovers in the third turn as a result of hard racing with Tony Gomes. The upset driver then went over to the Gomes machine which was stopped on track during the red and pulled wiring off the Gomes machine in retaliation for the incident. Both cars ended up in the pit area where the crews had to be separated.
Officials then penalized Netto, stripping him of his 21st-place finish. Gomes was unable to
make repairs, also ending his night.
On the restart, the cars of Casey Schmitz, Justin Henry, Forsberg and Croft came together taking the green-flag restart. With the track mostly blocked, officials once again red flagged the race and declared a refueling stop. Only Henry was able to refire.
Once restarted, Golobic maintained command and there was little change in the top five but Kaleb Henry, Dylan Bloomfield and Max Mittry were tussling for positions six through eight. Lap 23 saw a caution when Drake Standley spun.
On the restart, Michael Faccinto passed his brother to move back into second and it looked like he was going to be a threat to Golobic. That, however, ended on lap 30 when Faccinto’s No. X1 stopped exiting turn two to bring out a caution. He was pushed back to the work area but couldn’t fix the issue in order to rejoin the 17 other cars on track.
With 10 laps to go and a clear track, Golobic once again built up a comfortable lead. Corey Day’s car seemed to come to life and he picked off several cars before moving in on Golobic. When laps were running out, Day apparently pushed too hard and a mistake sent him in the second-turn cushion, upsetting and flipping his No. 41 car bringing out yet another red flag and giving up his well-earned second position.
Once restarted, Golobic again had a clear track and clicked off laps to take the checkered flag.