---

Copeland Beats Becker to Get First Win

CHICO, CA (4-17-15) - Roseville�s Colby Copeland drove the race of his life to beat perennial champion Sean Becker during the 25-lap 410 sprint car main event Friday night at Silver Dollar Speedway. It was Copeland�s first career main event win at Silver Dollar Speedway. Of the six sprint car main events this year, there have been three first time winners. Copeland now joins Seth Bergman and Tanner Thorson as first time winners. Chuck Patterson Dodge point race number three had 68 total race cars among five different divisions. Tonight�s racing action was presented by the Alliance Kingdom Builders. Other winners during the night include Duane Cleveland, Ryan McDaniel, Brian Cooper and Justin Henry.

At the front of the winged 410 sprint car main event it was a Hall of Fame front row. Sean Becker was starting from the pole position. Becker has 52 career main event wins at Chico. To his outside was Jonathan Allard. Allard holds 55 career wins at his home track. With these two lions up front everyone thought the win was coming from the front row, everyone that was, except Colby Copeland.

Becker held the lead for the first 20 laps of the 410 sprint car feature. Very rarely does Becker get beat when he is up front. Copeland continued to be patient and run the bottom of the track while Becker was up on the cushion. �I just tried to hit my marks and the bottom finally came in late in the race and that�s when I got by Sean,� said Copeland. The final five laps were as action packed as they could be. Copeland made his Va Lare Steering Repair, Bianchi Farms, Kyle Larson Racing #5v very wide at times, while Becker stomped and steered to try and find an opening. The finish was spectacular as Becker made one final run on the top coming out of turn four but it wasn�t enough. Copeland won the race while Becker had to settle for second. Jonathan Allard was in the mix all race but ended up in third. Tanner Thorson drove the wheels off his #88x to finish fourth. Andy Forsberg spun on lap eight but rebounded to finish in the fifth spot.

Auburn�s Andy Forsberg won the first eight lap heat race for the 410 winged sprint cars. Princeton�s Mason Moore captured the glory in heat two.

Chico�s Jonathan Allard picked up his 55th career Tyler Wolf fast time award by turning a lap of 12.100.

Justin Henry won the 15-lap economy winged main event by over 10-seconds. He lapped everyone in the field minus second place finisher Brandon Powell. Wyatt Brown ran a solid third during the event. Dusty Barton pressured Brown but ended up fourth. Jason Holt finished in the fifth spot, two laps down. Dusty Barton wins heat race #1 for the winged economy sprints. Brandon Powell led all six laps to win the second heat.

Ryan McDaniel was perfect in the Limited Late Model division tonight. He led all 20-laps of the main event and won the first of two Limited Late Model heat races. David Newquist won the second six-lap heat race. Chasing McDaniel to the checkered flag was his rival Duane Cleveland. Later in the night, the roles were reversed in the dirt modified feature. Jeff Olschowka ran third the whole race while Auburn driver Ray Trimble was fourth. David Newquist started fifth and ran fifth.

Brain Cooper picked up back to back wins at Silver Dollar Speedway during the Hobby Stock feature. David Cooper started on the front row and led the first seven laps. On lap eight is when Brian Cooper made his move. Once Brian took the top spot it was all over. The real battle was for second. Todd Cooper, David Cooper and Brian Compton thrilled the crowd with their close side-by-side racing. In the end, Todd beat David to the line for second. Compton finished in the fourth spot while David Pierce finished fifth. Brian Cooper of Yuba City grabbed the win in heat race one of the Hobby Stocks. Todd Cooper was victorious in heat two. It was the second point race in a row that Brian Cooper clean swept the night.

Dirt Modified main event started with two cars crashing in turn three. Drivers involved were Dan Dozier and Wes Smock. One lap was completed before the yellow and Duane Cleveland was the leader. On the restart, Nevin Kennemore ran in the second spot and was followed by Chris Lewis. A yellow was needed just two laps later when Kevin Pendergrass and Mitch Machado wrecked in turn two. As the field returned back up to speed, Cleveland was the leader, but lurking in third spot was Ryan McDaniel. A few laps later McDaniel moved into the second spot and tried to track down Cleveland. Yet, as laps continued to click off, it was evident that Cleveland had the best car. Even a late race restart didn�t give McDaniel the chance he needed to pass Cleveland. It was clearly that Cleveland was the best car and driver tonight and won the main event. Duane Cleveland won the first eight lap race in the first dirt modified heat race. Ryan McDaniel passed Mark Abouzieid with two laps to go and went on to win the second heat race.

Back to News