SPRINT: David Lindt Jr. wins 11th round of Civil War series at Petaluma
28 September 1998
CIVIL WAR RESULTS 9/26
RACE RESULTS
CALIFORNIA SPRINT CAR CIVIL WAR RACE SERIES
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1998
PETALUMA 9-26-98 - The California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series made it's final appearance of the 1998 season at John Soares Petaluma Speedway Saturday night for 11th round of competition on the series 13-race campaign. When checkered flag flew on the 31 lap feature event, Sebastopol driver David Lindt Jr. became the ninth different driver to win a CSCCWRS event this season after leading the barnstormer feature event from flag to flag.
Starting in the second position outside of Yuba City driver Kevin Lovell, Lindt took command of the 20-car field at the waving of the green flag. Powering his family owned Maxim to far ahead of the field early in the race, Lindt faced the challenges of lapped traffic as early as the fifth lap. On the ninth circuit the first yellow flag of the event came out when Richard Tiner apparently suffered a motor loss and stalled in the second turn.
On the restart, Lindt, the 1998 Petaluma track champion, resumed his lead and was trailed drown the back stretch by Lovell and series point leader Roger Crockett of Rio Linda. Just as Lindt built up a healthy lead another yellow flag brought the event to a pause on the 11th lap when Billy Wallace of Grass Valley stalled in turn two with a flat tire. Wallace would be the first of several additional yellow flags that would fly during the next ten laps. The most serious yellow flag incident took place on the 17th lap when Rob Johnson of Santa Rosa spun in the fourth turn and collected Andy Forseberg, Mike Benson, Marc Mackay and Claudia Harvey. All of those involved were able to return after making repairs.
When the green flag flew once again, Lindt continued to dominate the action on the 3/8 mile dirt oval while a heated battle broke out between Chico drivers Stephen Allard and Shane Scott for the fifth position. While these two drivers raced wheel to wheel, Lindt too was keeping the crowd on the edge of their seats as he raced through lapped traffic and on the 25th made a three wide pass coming out of the fourth turn that brought the majority of the spectators to their feet to see if Lindt could maintain the lead while racing up against the front stretch wall.
On the 27th lap, Lindt was becoming slowed by the lapped traffic which allowed Lovell to close in on the leader while Crockett too caught up to make it a three-way battle for the top spots. On the 28th lap the top four drivers were nose to tail racing in lapped traffic with Lindt leading followed by Kevin Lovell, Crockett and now Korey Lovell while Scott and Allard also closed in on the action.
As the white flag flew with the top six drives all bunched together, Lindt barely held off Crockett who charged into second and began putting the heat on the leader. It was at this point when Allard attempted to make a daring pass on the low side of turn three which resulted in the Chico driver loosing traction and sliding up on to the track backwards and slamming into the wall. David Robinson Jr. of Sacramento was amongst the many cars in traffic and attempted to spin-out to avoid striking Allard but it was simply too late. The ensuing collision sent Robinson into a series of end-over end flips that ended with his car upside down against the turn four wall to bring out the red flag instead of the anticipated checkered. Both Allard and Robinson were uninjured in the mishap.
When the incident was cleared from the track, Civil War officials ruled that two additional laps would take place. When the green flag flew followed by a white, Lindt maintained his lead over a hard charging Crockett all the way to the line. Kevin Lovell finished third followed by Scott who made a last-lap pass for the fourth position over Kevin Lovell.
As he celebrated in victory lane, Lindt praised the Civil War series and stated the the competition "did not" intimidate him on his home track and he was simply thrilled with the victory. Lindt added that his car handled perfectly, despite the fact he was plagued with a fogged face shield from the 26 lap mark.
Passing honors in the feature event went to Placerville driver Dave Angus who started 18th and finished 8th and Roseville's Chad Riolo who started the event in the 19th position and finished 9th.
In preliminary action on Saturday, fast time honors went to Korey Lovell who turned a quick lap of 13:220. In heat race competition victories went to Claudia Harvey of Grass Valley, Steve Watts of Sacramento, Crockett and Marc Mackay. Herman Klein led every lap of the C-main. In a caution plagued B-main, Ricky Wondergem took home the victory and was followed across the line by Scott, Riolo, Robinson and Alan Bradway of Fair Oaks.
Next Saturday night the California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series will make their final appearance of the season at Alan Padjen's Placerville Speedway for the 12th round of competition. The front gates are scheduled to open at 5 p.m. for this event which will also feature the 3rd annual "Placerville Legends" feature at the conclusion of the Civil War program. For any further information on this upcoming event contact the office of John Padjen Motorsports at (916) 969-7484.
RACE SUMMARY - CALIFORNIA SPRINT CAR CIVIL WAR RACE SERIES ROUND 11, PETALUMA SPEEDWAY, PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA
FAST QUALIFIERS: Korey Lovell 13:220; Rob Johnson 13:275; Roger Crockett 13:348
HEAT ONE: Claudia Harvey; Korey Lovell; Rich Tiner; Kevin Lovell; Kyle Schild; Ricky Wondergem.
HEAT TWO: Steve Watts; Mike Benson; Andy Forsberg; Rob Johnson; Chad Riolo; Colby Weisz.
HEAT THREE: Roger Crockett; Willie Croft; Stephen Allard; Dave Angus; Randy Lathrop; Jack Clark.
HEAT FOUR: Marc Mackay; Jim Richardsen; David Lindt Jr.; Billy Wallace; Shane Scott; David Robinson Jr.
C-MAIN: Herman Klein; Troy Degaton; Jeff Young; Greg Sherman; Clark.
B-MAIN: Wondergem; Scott; Riolo; Robinson; Alan Bradway.
A-MAIN: Lindt; Crockett; Kevin Lovell; Scott; Korey Lovell; Wondergem; Forseberg; Angus; Riolo; Mackay; Johnson; Harvey; Allard: Robinson; Benson; Richardsen; Watts; Wallace; Tiner; Croft.
NEXT EVENT: Saturday, October 3, Placerville Speedway, Placerville,CA
