(PETERSEN MEDIA-Placerville, CA)- The 2014 Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster has been highly competitive, and on Saturday night Greg DeCaires became the seventh winner in seven events this season as he picked up his second career Mark Forni classic, and cashed in the $5000 that came along with it.
With Andy Forsberg and DeCaires leading the field to green, it was Auburn, CA’s Forsberg jumping out to the early lead, while the Elk Grove, CA native,Decaires, sat in the catbird’s seat.
On a track that held moisture through the 30-lap feature event, Forsberg held a strong command of the race as he paced the field despite a pair of early stoppages.
With DeCaires, Colby Wiesz, and Shane Golobic chasing after him, the race’s complexion took a major change as the leaders found traffic on the 13th lap.
A spinning car on lap 13 forced Forsberg to take evasive action, and in doing so, he made contact with the stalled car, ending his night with rear-end damage, and handing the lead over to DeCaires who proved to be strong on this night.
After the open red following the incident, DeCaires worked the bottom of the speedway to perfection as he broke away from the field, but behind him the action was intense, as Jonathan Allard worked his way into the third spot, as a torrid battle broke out between Allard, Golobic, DeCaires, and Steven Tiner.
With the yellow waiving on the 22nd lap, the field was re-stacked in double file formation, and with DeCaires getting away, the race within the top-five kept the fans on the edge of their seats as cars used every piece of Placerville Speedway real estate looking to reel in the leader.
Golobic ran strong in the second spot as he fended off advances from Allard, but Colby Wiesz kept the duo in striking distance as Tiner, and Justin Sanders applied the pressure on him, until the red flew on the 27th circuit for Alissa Geving, who walked way from a hard crash.
With three laps to go, DeCaires continued to use the bottom of the speedway as the race for the final podium spot picked up as Wiesz finally got some breathing room as he cleared Allard who had his hands full with the charging duo of Justin Sanders and Steven Tiner.
As the white flag flew the crowd got on their feet as Shane Golobic closed in on the race leader, and though Golobic gave it his all during the final circuit, it was DeCaires crossing the stripe first, claiming his second career Mark Forni Classic, and earning a feature event spot in the upcoming Johnny Key Classic at the Ocean Speedway.
“I got a gift from Andy Forsberg early in the race, but we will take it,” a jubilant DeCaires said. “I am worn out after that one, and have to thank everyone on this team for working so hard, and getting us in a great spot all night. This is a huge race to win, and hopefully next year we can come back and cash in with the $10K that is up for grabs.”
Though he finished in the second spot, Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster point leader, Shane Golobic also locks into the Key as the series point leader, and was pleased with his run.
“Congrats to Greg DeCaires and his team on this win,” he said. “I gave it everything I had, and I wish we would have had less cautions and raced with traffic, because I wanted to see what we had. This car has been great all year, and I can’t thank this entire team for continuing to give me a competitive machine.”
After a torrid battle during the 30-lap feature event, Colfax, CA driver, Colby Wiesz took the final spot on the podium.
“These double file restarts were intense, especially racing someone like Jonathan Allard,” he said. “Allard raced us had and clean, and we are pleased to finish third in a hard fought race. This completion with the Civil War Series is so good, so anytime you can land on the podium, you are happy.”
Following the top three across the stripe was 13th starting Jonathan Allard, Justin Sanders, Steven Tiner, Cory Eliason, 16th starting Kyle Hirst, 18th starting Carson Macedo, and 14th starting Herman Klein rounding out the Top-10.
In B-Main action, pole sitter, Jimmy Trulli, took command from the front row and went on to win the 15-lap showdown as he held off Alissa Geving, Sean Becker, Adam Walters, Jake Morgan, and Justyn Cox who all transferred to the feature event.
In the night’s Dash, Andy Forsberg won from the pole, while heat race wins went to Steven Tiner, Forsberg, Wiesz, and Golobic.
With 34 cars on hand for the 9th Annual Mark Forni Classic, Brad Furr stopped the clocks with the quickest lap while Andy Forsberg, Cory Eliason, Jimmy Trulli, and Justin Sanders rounded out the top five.
The Civil War Sprint Car Series would like to thank Flowmaster, BR Motorsports, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Brodix, ButlerBuilt, CRV Carbon Solutions, Design 500, Dirt Solution, Taco Bravo, Hansen Machine, Frankland Racing Supply, Fuel Safe, Hoosier, Joe Hunt Magnetos, Kaeding Performance, King Racing Products, KSE Power Steering Products, Pit Stop USA, MPD, All Pro, RCM Design, Rod End Supply, Racing Optics, SRP, VSR, and Weld Racing for their support.
ON TAP: The Civil War Sprint Car Series Presented By Flowmaster will now take next week off before returning to action on August 23rd for the 54th Johnny Key Classic at the Ocean Speedway as they take on Ocean Sprints Presented By Taco Bravo.
WINNERS: Winners in the 2014 California Sprint Car Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster… Andy Gregg- 1 (Marysville Raceway Park on March 15th), DJ Netto-1 (Marysville Raceway Park on May 24th), Shane Golobic-1 (Silver Dollar Speedway on May 25th), Andy Forsberg- 1 (Placerville Speedway on May 31st), Mason Moore (Petaluma Speedway on July 5th), Brad Furr (Ocean Speedway on July 11th), Greg DeCaires (Placerville Speedway on August 9th)
STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the Civil War Series Presented By Flowmaster, and find complete results and point standings by clicking over to www.racepmg.com, ‘Liking’ www.facebook.com/civilwarsprints, or following us on twitter at www.twitter.com/civilwarsprints.
CIVIL WAR SERIES PRESENTED BY FLOWMASTER- Founded in 1991 as the North-South Series, the Civil War Sprint Car Series was born in 1993 giving 360 Sprint Cars in California a sanctioning body. What started as just a handful of races at three different tracks has evolved into quite the series. In 2014, the Civil War Sprint Car Series will host 14 events at 8 different tracks around California.