Brad Furr posts back-to-back 360 weekend wins, chico, fall nationals

Brad Furr Wins Fall Nationals at Chico By: Troy Hennig (Chico, CA 10-05-03)…Pleasanton’s Brad Furr passed Tim Kaeding on lap 23 to take the lead of the 40 lap main event and went on to easily pick up his first ever Fall Nationals Championship on Saturday night. After passing Kaeding, Furr led the final 17 laps with a comfortable margin of victory. For his efforts Furr collected the handsome $4,000 payday. Interviewed by infield announcer, Free Willy, Furr explained, “The crew did all the work and I managed not to get passed tonight.” He continued by giving support to his fellow racers, “I think this 360 thing is just as competitive as the 410’s and tonight it was a lot of fun racing with them.”

Second on the podium was Rocketville, NC driver Roger Crockett. What a weekend for Crockett as he won the 30 lap main event on Thursday night and finished second tonight. “Overall it was a good weekend for me and the team. We started going real good near the end of the race but there was just too many lapped cars between me and Brad. Brad did a good job tonight.”

The night started off with pole sitter David Robinson Jr. leading the field to the green flag. Trouble soon found Destiny Hays as she spun around and collected Brad Sweet. Both drivers would continue. On lap four Rick Williams and Jason Statler tangled in turn four to bring out the night’s second yellow. Up front it was still Robinson Jr. leading the way and he was being chased by Jimmy Trulli and Tim Kaeding. On lap seven Trulli took the lead away from Robinson Jr. Kaeding quickly followed Trulli and was now in second spot.

On lap eleven Steven Tiner spun and brought out the yellow. The ensuing restart saw Kaeding go to the high side and run the cushion. In doing so he passed Trulli for the lead. On lap fifteen Brad Furr moved into the second spot and began to challenge Kaeding for the top spot. After a series of hair-raising running the cushion laps by each driver, Furr made his move and took the lead from Kaeding on lap 23. Now it was Kaeding’s turn to shadow Furr for the next six laps. In what was turning out to be a classic showdown between these two sprint car stars was ended on lap 32 when Kaeding jumped the cushion and spun around. He ultimately pulled off the track with a reported shock problem.

This left Roger Crockett the opportunity to challenge Furr for the lead, however, Furr had three cars in between himself and Crockett. For the final eight laps Crockett never challenged Furr for the win. At the finish line it was Furr followed by Crockett and Greg DeCaires.

What a month it had been for DeCaires at Chico. He finished second on the Friday night of the Gold Cup and now was third on Saturday night of the Fall Nationals. DeCaires said, “I love my people behind this car, I have a hell of a crew and I tried my best to repay them tonight with a good finish for all that they do.” Lost in this mix might have been Brent Kaeding who ran fourth but never was a factor for the win. Trulli finished a respectable fifth and had a wonderful overall weekend. It’s also nice to see good things happen to good people such as the Trulli’s are.

Hard charger of the night had to be Jason Statler who started the night fourteenth and finished third in the B main event. Then he started 19th in the A feature and charged his way up to the sixth spot. In all, Statler passed 24 race cars on the night. Shawn Whitney led all 20 laps to win the B main event. He was followed across the stripe by Colby Weisz, Willie Croft and Jason Statler.

Unfortunately for Croft he forgot to go directly to the scales after the race and was disqualified even though he made weight. That let Brad Sweet transfer into the A feature because he finished fifth and was the first alternate. Jason Solwold proved he is a force to reckon with in the future as he dominated the C main event. He was followed by fellow North West driver Jayme Barnes in second and Brad Sweet was third. Jim Richardson showed the younger kids how to get around Silver Dollar Speedway with a flag to flag win in the D main event. Andy Gregg was his closest challenger. Finishing third was Robert Stice and fourth went to Tracy Canales. Monty Ferreira took the honors in the E main event. He held off Gaylon Stewart for the win. Adam McCarthy started the night off by winning the F main. Tim Gibbons showed improvement and finished second followed by Scott Russell.

Tonight 80 sprint cars returned for the final night of racing at Silver Dollar Speedway for the 2003 season. In all, 91 drivers entered the 12th Annual Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals. This race still seems to be California’s best keep secret of great racing and great times.

Results

A Main: Brad Furr, Roger Crockett, Greg DeCaires, Brent Kaeding, Jimmy Trulli, Sean Becker, Jason Statler, Dennis Moore Jr., Colby Weisz, David Robinson Jr., Mark Hall, Shawn Whitney, Rick Williams, Steven Tiner

B Main: Whitney, Weisz, Statler, Sweet, Jason Solwold, Andy Forsberg, Doug Lippincott, Ronnie Day, Tracy Canales, Mike Benson, Jayme Barnes, Mark Tabor

C Main: Solwold, Barnes, Sweet, Canales, Tabor, Robert Stice, Mark Abouzeid, Marc Mackay, Justin Johnson, Matt DeMartini, Brent Dothage, Dave Angus, Andy Gregg

D Main: Jim Richardson, Gregg, Stice, Canales, Davey Key, Jay Cole, Jimmy Carter, Ron Myska, Kevin Pylant, John Giffin, Mark Tabor Jr., Gaylon Stewart, Erik Folger

E Main: Monty Ferriera, Stewart, Folger, Tabor Jr., Brett Rollag, Pat Harvey, Randy Lathrop, Shawn Schmitz, Tim Gibbons, Jade Parker

F Main: Adam McCarthy, Gibbons, Scott Russell, Christine Zaveson, Parker, Brian Harvey, David Lyons, Scott Lynch, Melissa Yates, Greg Alexander

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