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Tom Arbogast Dominates Fender Banging Late Model Main Event; Ward, Patterson and Abouzeid also win on the night

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Photo by Steven Cox [sprintcarphotos.com][/caption]CHICO, CA (6-17-11) - It was an all fender-banging night at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico on Friday evening. With the winged and non-wing sprint cars off for the weekend it gave a chance for the door banging street stocks, hobby stocks, dirt modifieds and limited late models to strut their stuff on the famed quarter-mile clay oval speedway. The track is usually associated with winged sprint cars. The season's biggest attended race is the Gold Cup in September featuring the World of Outlaw sprint cars. Yet, tonight it was all about the fender divisions and credit has to be given to the drivers that showed up and raced. They put on a good entertaining night at the races. The fans seemed to enjoy the tight racing action. The In N Out Burger give-away went to any fan wearing San Francisco Giants gear. A total of eleven winners were awarded and the fans seemed to enjoy that also.

Auburn's Tom Arbogast led the final 14 laps of the Dirt Solution Limited Late Model main event en route to his second win of the year at Chico. "I am finally having fun again," said a happy Arbogast in victory lane. "Chico's track was hooked up and fast again. I love coming here and we should be supporting Dennis Gage and the job he has done this year," said Arbogast. It helps when you sponsor the division that you race and can win it. "I know I sound like a salesman but my product, Dirt Solution, really does make my car go faster because it repels mud from sticking to the car," said Arbogast. "Less mud equals better aerodynamics and more power." After his second win tonight the other competitors should also be believers in his product.

The one sad part about tonight was what was reported as another motor problem for Jerry Bartlett. Over the past two seasons, Bartlett and Arbogast have built up a pretty good rivalry. It would have been fun to see if Bartlett had anything for Arbogast tonight. Yet, Bartlett's night ended before it really began, in hot laps.

Chico's David Larabee was the early leader. Larabee had won a previous heat race and was looking for the clean sweep. On lap six, Arbogast passed Larabee for the lead. Larabee was not quite as fast as Arbogast but was able to hold on to the second spot at the finish. It was another solid finish for Larabee with help from his mentor Jimmy Pettit, who was turning the wrenches in the pits.

Championship point leader Ken Micheli finished in the third spot. Micheli started in the fifth spot and cruised up to the third place spot. Micheli was involved in a spin out on the sixth lap in the second heat race. Not only did he rebound and continue on but Micheli went on to win that race. Alan Pace was strong all night and finished in the fourth spot. George Magenheimer rounded out the top five.

Arbogast started the night off by turning the quickest lap in qualifying at a 16.040. This was the first time that the Limited Late Models qualified at the speedway so Arbogast will go into the record books as the track record holder after tonight.

Paradise driver Kevin Ward won his first career main event at the Silver Dollar Speedway tonight in the street stock division. Ward had been so close a few times before was finally able to get into the win the column. Jess Garland led the field to the green flag. Garland was able to lead the first lap. However, on the second lap it was Kevin Lesch who took the lead away from Garland. Lesch roared down the back stretch and into the commanding lead. The driver on the move was Ward. On lap six he passed Garland for second spot. On the next lap Garland exited to the pit area and was done for the night.

Ward chased Lesch and was able to close in on him during lap eight. This set up the most incredible part of the night. As the two leaders were battling, a slower car ran right in the middle of the track. Ward went low, while Lesch went to the top. There was contact between Ward and the slower car that forced Ward to the infield. Without hesitation, Ward never lifted from the throttle and raced his way back on to the track in the middle of turn three. Remarkably, he was the leader. He went on to lead the rest of the race to pick up his first career main event. Lesch battled back to within a car length at the stripe. Richard Workman had another solid top-five finish and came home in the third spot. Shawn Smith started in the tenth spot and finished fourth. Chico's Mike Slightom rounded out the top five. Ward won the first heat race. Slightom picked up the win honors in heat two.

The Rocket Man was back where he belonged Friday night, in victory lane. Abouzeid led wire-to-wire to secure his first win of 2011 at his home track. "It feels wonderful to be back here in victory lane," said Abouzeid who was joined by his mom, wife, daughter and mother in law. "The whole family's here and it feels good to celebrate it with them." He was then asked about winning the race and what his plans were and he said, "We're going to Disneyland!" How dominating was Abouzeid tonight? Well at the finish he held a 12 second advantage over Kevin Pendergrass. Finishing third was newcomer Ron Palombino. Richard Papenhausen had problems all night and did not finish the event but was credited with a fourth place finish.

The debut of the hobby stock class only netted four cars but hopefully with two more dates on the horizon the class will continue to grow. Bill Patterson Jr. of Chico dominated the event once Brian Compton had a tire issue and exited on lap seven. Patterson then went on to lap the second place finishing car of Joe Longmire. Compton won a spirited battle in the eight lap heat race earlier in the night. The Hobby Stocks are scheduled to return July 22nd and August 19th.

Results (also available at www.mylaps.com)

Dirt Solution Limited Late Models
Fast Time (NEW TRACK RECORD) Tom Arbogast - 16.040
Heat 1: David Larabee, Arbogast, Matt Magenheimer, Alan Pace, Donnie Fortney
Heat 2: Ken Micheli, Chris Warner, George Magenheimer, Matt Micheli
A Main: Arbogast, Larabee, Ken Micheli, Pace, G. Magenheimer, M. Magenheimer, Warner, Todd Cooper, Fortney, M. Micheli

Dirt Modifieds
Heat 1: Mark Abouzeid, Ron Palombino, Kevin Pendergrass, Richard Papenhausen
A Main: Abouzeid, Pendergrass, Palombino, Papenhausen

Hobby Stocks
Heat 1: Brian Compton, Bill Patterson Jr., Joe Longmire, Richard Jones
A Main: Patterson Jr., Longmire, Compton, Jones

Street Stocks
Heat 1: Kevin Ward, Kevin Lesch, Jess Garland, Rob Worthington, Kevin Berns
Heat 2: Mike Slightom, Richard Workman, Gary Newman, Bill Hall III, Shawn Smith
A Main: Ward, Lesch, Workman, Smith, Slightom, Berns, Hall III, Fritz Zanker, Newman, Garland

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