CHICO, Calif. – Justin Sanders completed the two night sweep of the sprint car doubleheader weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway by winning the Dave Bradway Jr. Classic Saturday night.
Sanders drove his yellow No. 121 North County Plastering/Andy’s Construction/Yuba-Sutter Aviation sponsored car to a $4,000 plus lap money victory in the Fujitsu King of the West by NARC Series 40-lap contest.
Just like the previous night, Shane Golobic was the runner up in the Wood’s Motorsports NOS Energy Drink No. 17w, with Tim Kaeding rounding out the podium.
Kaeding and Sean Becker brought the 24-car starting field to the green with Kaeding getting the early lead. The race would only go three laps before Sean Watts tagged the front stretch wall, blowing a right rear tire. The black No. 98 would pit, along with Ryan Bernal, in the infield for a replacement tire and rejoined the tail of the field. The race would restart but would only go another lap before the two cars caused another yellow with an issue in the first turn. Watts’ race ended but Bernal would pit yet again and returned to action.
With Kaeding leading, Becker picked the high groove while Sanders joined in, making for an exciting three way battle. The race would slow again on lap seven when Tim Estenson spun off the fourth turn banking. On the restart, Becker started to challenge Kaeding but a miscue while in lapped traffic sent him off the first turn to bring out a lap 15 caution. Cole Macedo would pit and both cars would tag the rear of the field. The race would restart but quickly went back to yellow for Kenny Allen who stopped in the third turn.
The race would now be a battle between Kaeding and Sanders while Golobic was slowing advancing to the front after starting deep in the pack. Kyle Offill and Chase Johnson collided exciting the fourth turn with Offill stopping on the track in the first turn with a flat right rear to bring out a lap 19 caution. He rejoined the field after pitting.
Once the race resumed Sanders would get around Kaeding after gouging his way through heavy lapped traffic. The rim riding Becker would cause his second caution on lap 30 with a slow spin in the middle of the third and fourth turns. Officials decided to red flag the race for a fuel stop making for a 10 lap shootout.
Dominic Scelzi, the current KWS series points leader, failed to re-fire, knocking him out of the event. Twice his pit crew went under the car’s hood but couldn’t resolve the problem and he retired with an electrical issue.
With Sanders leading, it was Kaeding’s turn to try the top of the track but that move proved costly as Golobic would pass him low. The race’s final caution came out when Offill spun in the fourth turn on lap 33. This made for a two car battle between Sanders and Golobic with both cars choosing to run low on the track. Just as he did the night before, Golobic would pressure Sanders waiting for him to make a mistake, which didn’t happen and the two cars crossed the finish line close together.
The finish:
Justin Sanders, Shane Golobic, Tim Kaeding, D J Netto, Bud Kaeding, Geoff Ensign, Mitchell Faccinto, Colby Copeland, Ryan Bernal, Nathan Rolfe, Blake Carrick, Chase Johnson, Willie Croft, Stephen Ingraham, Kenny Allen, Gary Paulson, Tim Estenson, Justyn Cox, Kyle Offill, Dominic Scelzi, Sean Becker, Richard Brace, Jr., Cole Macedo, Sean Watts.