WOOD SWEEPS RESTRICTED WHILE SHAW AND CAREY SPLIT NON-WING AT DIXON

DIXON, CALIF. (May 25, 2020) – The growth of Micro Sprint racing in California was clear on Saturday and Sunday at Dixon Speedway, as over 100 entries per night competed in a Memorial Day weekend special. First-time winners and strong performances led the way, including Sacramento’s Austin Wood sweeping Restricted competition while Brandon Carey and Brandon Shaw split the weekend’s Non-Wing features. Saturday’s 118 car field led the weekend car counts. Photos by Chris Cleveland

Wood led Saturday Restricted time trials, then won the dash to start on the pole for the 20-lap feature. Izaak Sharp made a big maneuver to knife from sixth into the second position at the start of the main event.

With seven to go, the top-three of Wood, Sharp, and Matthew Tatoole closed nose-to-tail in lapped traffic. Sharp snookered Wood in traffic to lead lap 14, but Wood took the top spot back on lap 15. The tight battling eventually saw Sharp get shuffled back behind both Tattoole and Oakley’s Bryant Bell. The close racing went down to the wire with Wood topping Tatoole, Riveira, Sharp, and Bell.

Elk Grove Ford offered a $250 bonus to any driver who could win both night’s features. Sharp led Sunday qualifying but surrendered the pole for the main event to Wood who would line up alongside Bell. Incidents on both ends of the track slowed the action early on. Bell took advantage by challenging Wood in a side-by-side battle for several laps.

A spin by Brandon Riveira gave Washington’s Dominic Carter a shot at second place, but Bell rolled the top to keep the position. Wood dashed to a comfortable win ahead of Bell, Carter, Sharp, and Tatoole. Wood won the $250 from his sponsor Elk Grove Ford, and he plans to use the “house money” to save up for a dirt bike as he revealed in the post-race interview.

47 Non-Wing cars timed in on Saturday with Tim Vaught, the fast-time qualifier and dash winner, lining up on the pole alongside Ripon’s Brandon Carey. Carey went around the outside to lead lap one. A lap nine restart saw Carey bring the field to the green up on the top of turn four, opening the bottom for Vaught to take the lead.

Vaught looked to be on his way for the victory before mechanical problems ended his night on lap 15. Carey inherited the lead with Rocklin’s Kelvin Lewis following closely. Carey topped Kelvin Lewis, Robbie Lewis, Austin Stone, and Travis Sullivan at the finish.

Chris Parmley topped the 40-car entry list in Sunday’s qualifying before Escalon’s Brandon Shaw won the dash for the pole position. The Brandon and Brandon show had Shaw alongside Carey for 25-laps of competition. Carey again used an outside maneuver to take the lead while Tim Vaught advanced from sixth starting position up to third. Carey’s night ended with mechanical problems on lap six.

Shaw assumed the lead and traded slide jobs with Vaught before a caution flew for Nick Van Atta stopped in turn two. Shaw slowed and was tagged by Vaught, sending Shaw for a spin. Both were placed back at the front of the field.

Shaw ran the top side of the track the rest of the way, driving to his second career Non-Wing victory ahead of Travis Sullivan, Cody Gray, Austin Stone, and Brody Fuson.

In Saturday’s Super 600 racing, Granite Bay’s Brad Hannum of Granite Bay won the dash and jumped out to the early lead ahead of Delta champion Caden Sarale and Dixon champion Kyle Mentch. Sarale kept Hannum close in lapped traffic and nearly took the lead on lap nine.

Sarale fell out on lap 15 with problems on the right front, allowing Caeden Steele a shot at Hannum. On lap 22 Hannum went upstairs on the cushion in turn three, then drove across the nose of Steele into turn one. Steele kept his foot in it, however, to lead lap 23 before the caution flew to nullify the move. Eli Bookout and Hailey Wood tangled in turn two to force the yellow flag which placed Hannum back into the lead with three laps to go. Steele dove inside Hannum coming to the finish with Hannum taking a half-car length victory. Mentch, Sage Bordenave, and Fuson were the top-five.

Sunday’s Super 600 main event was the most competitive race of the weekend. Brody Fuson led lap one of the feature with Hannum and Devon Courtnier in pursuit. Fast-time qualifier Hailey Wood stopped on the front stretch for a caution on lap four. Bakersfield’s Fuson entered lapped traffic on lap ten. Courtnier capitalized, crossing over Fuson to lead lap 12 before the caution flew.

Hannum slid Fuson on the restart for second, sending Fuson back to seventh position before he gathered himself up. Jarrett Rogers spun in turn two for his second caution of the night, nearly collecting Courtnier and Hannum. Hannum threw a haymaker at Courtnier into turn one on the restart, and behind them Fuson spun and was hit hard by James Andrichuk.

Hannum and Courtnier went side by side down the front stretch to lap 24 before making contact. Hannum tagged the wall, then collected Sage Bordenave. Courtnier persevered over a green-white-checkered finish for his first career Super 600 victory over Gauge Garcia, Steele, Ricky Sanders, and 18th-starting Sarale.

Jr. Sprints saw battles from 2019 continue into 2020 as the top-two in the Delta Speedway championship dueled on Saturday. Kyle Fernandez led lap one over Delta champ Lucas Mauldin. An incident involving fast-time qualifier Hayden Stepps and 2019 Dixon champion Makayla Tatoole brought out the first caution. Mauldin and Fernandez went three-wide in traffic allowing Mauldin to take the lead. Fernandez took the point back a lap later. On lap 14, Mauldin made his decisive pass for the victory and led Fernandez, Brody Rubio, Nathan Ward, and Ty Lovenburg to the checkered flag.

Six-year old Braxton Vasconcellos led all the way to win Sunday’s feature, keeping Fernandez at bay over numerous challenges. Nathan Ward of Bakersfield took over second position on the final lap with Fernandez third. Stepps and Kellen Harper rounded out the top-five.

In addition to the weekend sweep bonus posted by Elk Grove Ford, Hard Luck and Hard Charger prizes were offered by SD Plumbing and KPR powered by MPR. Dixon’s next points race is scheduled for June 6th.