Murgoitio earns first feature win of 2006 at Shasta also sets track record! – By Bobby Gerould – September 23, 2006 – Anderson, CA. …Hungry Mike Murgoitio satisfied himself Saturday night at Shasta Raceway Park with a clean sweep in the "Pop Porter Memorial". Despite having a strong season that finds him solidly in second place in the USAC Western Sprint Car point standings; Murgoitio had yet to win a feature event. He changed that in a big way by lapping all but three fellow competitors on the 3/8’s-mile paved oval. The 50-lap event was co-sanctioned by CASA.

Driving the Larry Trigueiro Jr. tuned Davey Hamilton-APEX Racing #20; Murgoitio took the lead on lap eleven from pole sitter Alan Kaiser. Once in front, the Meridian Idaho driver was unchallenged. Points leader Tony Hunt bested Tim Barber in a race long duel for second place. Kody Swanson rebounded from struggling at the start of the race to finish fourth, and Matt DeMartini completed the top five.

Murgoitio also starred in time trials by establishing a new track record for USAC sprint cars. Murgoitio blistered the track in 14.538 seconds. Heat one fell to Murgoitio with Swanson winning heat two.

NOTES: Kody Swanson – the 2005 USAC Western Sprint Car Champion recently completed two test sessions in General Motors’ driver development search. Swanson, 18, from Kingsburg, CA said half of test runs were conducted in North Carolina in a stock car, while the other half were done in a dirt late model at North Georgia Speedway. Swanson was praised for his quick learning curve but as of Saturday night he wasn’t sure if he would be part of the next phase of testing in Nashville. "I made some great connections and at least now they know my name", he said.

USAC WESTERN SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 23, 2006 – Anderson, California – Shasta Raceway Park – (Co-sanctioned by CASA)

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Mike Murgoitio, 20, Hamilton-14.538; 2. Bradley Galedrige, 21, Hamilton-14.572; 3. Tony Hunt, 4, Kaiser-14.754; 4. Kody Swanson, 75, KT-14.799; 5. Tim Barber, 14, Pierson-14.918; 6. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-15.110; 7. Glenn Hopper, 8, Stanton-15.183; 8. Jim Kaiser, 94, Kaiser-15.280; 9. Tony Iacobitti, 71, Oval Chassis-15.482; 10. Ivan Worden, 63, Worden-15.559; 11. Alan Harney, X, Harney-16.877; 12. Marvin Mitchell, 68, Mitchell-17.143; 13. Scott Clough, 5x, Clough-23.009; 14. Matt DeMartini, 6, Carr-NT; 15. Brian McClish, 2, Anderson-NT; 16. Joe Helberg, 7x, Helberg-NT.

DASH: (4 laps) 1. Swanson, 2. Galedrige, 3. Murgoitio, 4. Hunt. NT

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Murgoitio, 2. Hunt, 3. Barber, 4. Hopper, 5. Iacobitti, 6. Harney, 7. Clough. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Swanson, 2. Galedrige, 3. Kaiser, 4. Hogg, 5. Worden, 6. Mitchell. NT

FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Mike Murgoitio, 2. Tony Hunt, 3. Tim Barber, 4. Kody Swanson, 5.. Matt DeMartini, 6. Jim Kaiser, 7. Joe Helberg, 8. Glenn Hopper, 9. Tony Iacobitti, 10. Ivan Worden, 11. Alan Harney, 12. Marvin Mitchell, 13. Scott Clough, 14. Shauna Hogg, 15. Bradley Galedrige. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Kaiser, Laps 11-50 Murgoitio.

NEW WESTERN SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Hunt-841; 2-Murgoitio-740; 3-Swanson-704; 4-Galedrige-637; 5-Hogg-508; 6-Brian McClish-462; 7-Nick Green-425; 8-Nick Rescino Jr.-381; 9-Barber-371; 10-Kaiser-362.

NEXT WESTERN SPRINT CAR RACE: October 21 – Madera (CA) Speedway