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CHICO,
CA (7-7-06) - Peter
Murphy has always been successful at Silver Dollar
Speedway. Tonight he once again showed his brilliance at
the track he loves. Murphy passed Shain Matthews on a
lap 17 restart to win his first winged main event of the
year. He got the win driving the Redi-Green/Kumar/RPM
Engines #1k wrenched by Lee Lindgren. Murphy has often
been a crowd favorite at Silver Dollar Speedway from his
years running on a weekly basis in the late ninety’s.
Our friends from Ashley Furniture Home Stores once again
sponsored the night of racing. With their help Murphy
and team pocketed $2,000 for the win. A total of 34
sprint cars appeared during the Friday night Feather
Falls Casino point race.
Murphy led the 20-car
sprint car main event to the green flag. He took the
early lead from Matthews. Before the race started Dennis
Moore Jr. was unable to race when after a motor change
there was a problem with the throttle linkage and he
pulled off. Murphy led the first few laps with Matthews
behind him. Johnny Gray and Brad Sweet battled for third
while Robert Ballou and
Jason Statler were vying for the top five. On lap eleven
Matthews passed Murphy for the lead. Matthews was
working the top and finally had the drive to get by
Murphy. Matthews proceeded to become a rocket ship and
motor to an impressive lead. As Matthews entered the
back markers on lap 17 a yellow was waived. This was
going to give Matthews a clear tack ahead of him on the
restart and seemed to secure the win. Yet, with the
unpredictability of open wheel racing this race was
anything but over. On the restart Matthews went through
the middle of turn one. Murphy dove the bottom and
passed Matthews for the lead. Murphy went on to lead the
final three laps and get the much-deserved win. Matthews
was second and obviously disappointed with the outcome.
Johnny Gray hung on for another strong finish in third. Ballou
cruised into fourth. Statler finished fifth.
Andy Forsberg passed the most cars. He started twentieth
and finished ninth.
The real drama of the
night happened when point leader Sean Becker could not
start the B main event. A reported broken rear-end
sidelined the team. Because he did not take the green
flag he was awarded no points and will lose the point
lead. Stephen Allard went on to lead the B main wire to
wire to get the win. Brent Kaeding was second and
Forsberg third. On the next to last lap Craig Stidham
passed Kyle Hirst for the final transfer spot.
Heat race action saw Doug
Lippincott in the winner’s circle during the first
heat. Jonathan Allard cruised from sixth to first to win
heat two. Teenager Brett Miller won heat three. Destiney
Hays got the popular win in heat four.
Jason Statler started the
night by turning the quickest lap in qualifying with an
11.903.
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