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CROWDER MAKES
LAST LAP PASS TO WIN LIGHTNING SPRINT CAR MAIN AT
HANGTOWN 100
(Upland, CA, November 22, 2021) Chris
Crowder led about three seconds of the main event
at night #2 of the California Lightning Sprint Car
Series/Bay Cities Racing Association co-sanctioned
“Hangtown 100” on Friday night at the Placerville
Speedway. Those three seconds were the most
important of the race as they ticked off between
turn four and the checkered flag on the final lap
giving Crowder a well-deserved win. The victory
was his first ever in the CLS.
Like the first night on
Thursday, the fastest 12 qualifiers garnered
points. The heat races used an ASCS formula that
distributed points by combining finishing
positions and passing points. When the points were
tallied up after the heats, the top sixteen
drivers went straight into the main event. Drivers
that did not accumulate enough points to get into
the top sixteen ran a twelve lap B main. The top
four finishers in the B earned the final spots for
the main event.
After a delay due to a
brief rainstorm, Crowder, who lives in Colorado
Springs, Colorado, was the fastest of the 31
qualifiers when he recorded a lap of 12.644.
Sexton Gatlin Racing teammates Grant Sexton of
Lakeside and San Diego’s AJ Bender were third and
fourth with times of 12.650 and 12.657,
respectively.
Teenage point leader
David Gasper of Santa Barbara captured the first
eight lap heat race. Heat two went to El Cajon
teen Braden Chiaramonte. Saving face for the older
generation, Yucca Valley’s Jeff Dyer and Brent
Sexton of Lakeside won the third and fourth heat
races.
For the second night in
a row, Modesto’s Josef Ferolito captured the
12-lap B main to earn his ticket to the 25-lap
feature. Billingham, Washington’s Alex Lewis,
Dakota Albright of Waterford, and Rancho Cordova’s
Craig Holsted took the other three transfer spots.
Fourteen-year-old
Chiaramonte was on the pole for the main event
with 19-year-old Greco on the outside. Thursday
winner Logan Seavey, who hails from Sutter,
California, a town of about 3,000 which is 93
miles from Placerville, manned the inside of row
two. Crowder was outside of Seavey. The third row
featured Thursday’s second place finisher Bender
and his teammate Grant Sexton. The all-time
leading winner in Lightning Sprint Car mains at
Placerville, Scott Kinney of Citrus Heights, and
Gasper made up row four.
On a night where the
fog was rolling in and out, Chiaramonte was the
first to turn 1 when the green flag sent the field
on its way. Greco, Crowder, and Grant Sexton were
close behind. Crowder advanced up to second when
Greco went wide coming off the fourth corner on
the opening lap.
In a bizarre twist
early on, Greco hit a rut in turn #1 that shot him
up the track. Grant Sexton, with nowhere to go,
caught Greco’s right rear and flipped. Seconds
later as cars were coming to a stop for the red,
Sexton's older brother, Dalton, flipped on the
opposite end of the 56-year-old racing facility.
Both siblings were uninjured and the fact that
Dalton flipped, benefited Grant. Once Grant’s car
was turned back over, he was able to drive it back
to the pits. In the time it took to remove
Dalton's heavily damaged car from the track, the
crew was able to repair Grant’s car and he
restarted at the rear of the pack.
Chiaramonte was still
on the point for the restart, and he was being
followed by Crowder, Greco, Seavey, and Gasper. As
Chiaramonte began to inch away, it was obvious
that Seavey was having some issues as both Gasper
and Bender passed him for fourth and fifth on the
seventh lap. Seconds later Seavey exited the track
and was credited with a 16th place finish.
Bender, who has been on
a tear since joining forces with SGR last month,
started moving forward by first passing Gasper for
fourth and then taking Greco for third on lap
eight.
As the race progressed,
Chiaramonte, who was far in front when he grenaded
an engine with seven laps to go at Bakersfield and
who flipped while running third with seven laps to
go on Thursday, continued to lead over Crowder.
Gasper broke into the top three for the first time
on lap 10 when he got by Bender. He stayed there
until Bender repaid the favor on lap 18.
Crowder came calling on
Chiaramonte a couple times, but the kid was equal
to his challenges. By lap 15, Chiaramonte’s white
#73 had moved out to about a half second lead.
Meanwhile, a lot of the crowd had shifted its
attention to Grant Sexton. After restarting at the
back due to his flip, he was slicing and dicing
his way through the field. On lap 19 he broke back
into the top five when he raced by Greco.
With five laps to go,
Chiaramonte was still holding about a half second
lead. Running the highline through one and two was
allowing Crowder to close in on the bottom. On
laps 23 and 24, Crowder took full advantage of the
opportunity presented and tried to go past the
race long leader when they exited turn number 2.
Both times, Chiaramonte fended him off.
Midnight struck for
Chiaramonte on the final lap with a momentary
bobble in turn two. Crowder immediately pounced on
the situation and pushed his nose ahead as they
came off the corner. Chiaramonte did not give up.
He pulled even with Crowder on the back chute and
pulled ahead in turn three. However, a big bobble
by the leader in turn four opened up the bottom of
the track, and before he recovered, Crowder had
raced by for the lead, and mere seconds later, he
had the win. In addition, Bender also got by
before Chiaramonte recovered and finished second.
Chiaramonte crossed the line in third with Gasper,
and Grant Sexton close behind.
Unfortunately,
Chiaramonte’s bad luck did not end on the track.
Soon after the race ended, his car failed the
post-race inspection, and he was disqualified.
That moved Gasper to third, Grant Sexton to fourth
and Greco to fifth in the official finishing
order.
Lewis was the race
“Hard Charger” finishing eighth after starting
18th.
Heading into the last
race of the season, super rookie Gasper had a
76-point advantage over Greco in the championship
standings, James Turnbull of Indio, who led the
standings much of the season, was third. Dyer and
Bender were fourth and fifth.
The CLS would like to
thank 2021 series sponsors Hoosier Tires, T Shirts
by Timeless, TJ Forged Racing Wheels, and Walker
Performance Filtration. If you or your company
would like to become part of the series, please
call Alex Grigoreas at (909) 437-3170.
To keep up with the CLS
online, please visit the website at
http://racecls.com/ or on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/californialightningsprints
Placerville Speedway
25-Lap Main Event Finish (with starting positions)
1. Chris Crowder –
Colorado Springs, CO – 4th
2. A.J. Bender – San
Diego, CA – 5th
3. David Gasper – San
Diego, CA – 8th
4. Grant Sexton –
Lakeside, CA – 6th
5. Eric Greco –
Palmdale, CA – 2nd
6. Dominic Del Monte -
Gardena, CA – 14th
7. Levi Klatt –
Langley, BC, Canada – 15th
8. Alex Lewis –
Bellingham, WA – 18th
9. Brent Sexton -
Lakeside, CA – 9th
10. Dakota Albright -
Waterford, CA – 13th
11. Danika’Jo Parker -
Oakdale, CA – 19th
12. James Turnbull –
Indio, CA – 11th
13. Doug Nunes –
Kingsburg, CA – 12th
14. Josef Ferolito –
Modesto, CA - 17th
15. Scott Kinney –
Citrus Heights, CA – 7th
16. Logan Seavey –
Sutter, CA – 3rd
17. Craig Holsted –
Rancho Cordova, CA – 20th
18 Jeff Dyer – Yucca
Valley, CA – 10th
19. Dalton Sexton –
Lakeside, CA – 16th
DQ Brandon Chiaramonte
– El Cajon, CA – 1st
Hard Charger: Alex
Lewis Start 18th Finish 8th
Lightning Sprint Car
Series Points
1. David Gasper ® –
Santa Barbara, CA – 1783
2. Eric Greco –
Palmdale, CA – 1707
3. James Turnbull -
Indio, CA – 1673
4. Jeff Dyer – Yucca
Valley, CA – 1544
5. A.J. Bender – San
Diego, CA – 1357
6. Dominic Del Monte –
Gardena, CA – 1264
7. Jon Robertson -
Torrance, CA - 1046
8. Pat Kelley – Chino,
CA – 871
9. Aiden Lange -
Lakewood, CA – 815
10. Bobby Michnowicz –
Oak Hills, CA - 807
CLS/BCRA Civil War
Series Point Standings
1. Dave Gasper – CLS –
461
2. James Turnbull – CLS
– 410
3. Eric Greco – CLS –
391
4. Brandon Leedy - BCRA
– 372
5. Jeff Dyer - CLS –
337
6. Terry Bergstrom –
BCRA – 331
7. Dominic Del Monte -
CLS – 312
8. Dakota Albright -
BCRA – 306
8. Bobby Michnowicz -
CLS – 276
10. Aiden Lange – CLS -
235
2021 California
Lightning Sprint Car Series Schedule
March 13 Bakersfield
Speedway – Eric Greco
April 10 Bakersfield
Speedway – Bobby Michnowicz
April 24 Merced
Speedway (Wayne Albright Memorial - Round #1 of
the Civil War Series with BCRA – Wingless) – James
Turnbull
May 15 Bakersfield
Speedway – A.J. Bender
June 5 Ventura Raceway
– A.J. Bender
June 19 Keller Auto
Speedway (Hanford) – Postponed due to heat.
July 3 Santa Maria
Speedway – Eric Greco
July 24 Santa Maria
Speedway (Wing Madness #1) Santa Maria – A.J.
Bender
August 7 Merced
Speedway (Civil War Series #2 with BCRA – Winged)
– Dave Gasper
August 28 Ventura
Raceway – Eric Greco
September 18
Bakersfield Speedway (Civil War #3 with BCRA –
Winged) – Kevin Michnowicz
September 19 The Dirt
Track at Kern County Raceway Park – David Gasper
October 2 Ventura
Raceway – Eric Greco
October 30 Ventura
Raceway – Jeff Dyer
November 16 Bakersfield
Speedway (Civil War #4 with BCRA – Winged -
Western States Lightning Sprint Car Championship)
– A.J. Bender
November 18 Placerville
Speedway Hangtown 100 – (Co sanctioned with BCRA
and in companion with the USAC National Midgets) –
Logan Seavey
November 19 Placerville
Speedway Hangtown 100 – (Co sanctioned with BCRA
and in companion with the USAC National Midgets) –
Chris Crowder
November 20 Placerville
Speedway Hangtown 100 – (Co sanctioned with BCRA
and in companion with the USAC National Midgets)
PAST CALIFORNIA
LIGHTNING SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONS
1994 Tony Everhart,
1995 Gary Sexton, 1996 Rob Sczymczak, 1997 Jon
Rahe, 1998 Chris Rahe, 1999 Brent Sexton, 2000
Greg Bragg, 2001 Greg Bragg, 2002 Greg Bragg, 2003
David Cardey, 2004 Keith Janca, 2005 Johnny Bates,
2006 Donny Gansen, 2007 Shane Rossen, 2008 Brent
Sexton, 2009 Stuart Hielschier Sr., 2010 Jarrett
Kramer, 2011 Tim Brown, 2012 Bobby Michnowicz,
2013 Stephen Limon, 2014 Bobby Michnowicz, 2015
Bobby Michnowicz, 2016 Bobby Michnowicz, 2017
Bobby Michnowicz, 2018 Jarrett Kramer, 2019
Jarrett Kramer
This press release was
produced by Scott Daloisio Sports (909) 226-7768
mailto:sdaloisiosports@gmail.com |
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