(PETERSEN MEDIA- Aptos, CA)- Memorial Day weekend has morphed into a marquee date for the Civil War Series presented by Flowmaster. The holiday week is upon us, and the 16th Annual Mel Hall Memorial will offer drivers a minimum of $3,000 to win on Saturday night at the Marysville Raceway, before the Silver Dollar Fair Race on Sunday night showcases the series in front of a capacity crowd.
Paying homage to one of the series’ forefathers, Mel Hall, the Hall family has gone above and beyond to make Saturday night’s 16th Annual Mel Hall Memorial truly a special event. With sponsorship money still coming in at the time of press, the feature event will pay a minimum of $3000 to the winner, while qualifying and heat races will also have some extra money and items up for grabs.
The 2014 edition of the Mel Hall Memorial was an exciting one, as DJ Netto and Shane Golobic went toe-to-toe for the race win, with Netto breaking through and picking up his first career series win. Fast Forward to a year later, Netto comes into this weekend’s event looking to defend his title, and brings in some momentum as he picked up his first career King of the West win a week ago, after again, dueling with Shane Golobic.
Aside from the extra money on the line, the winner of the 16th Annual Mel Hall Memorial will also earn a spot into the 55th Annual Johnny Key Classic on August 29th at the Ocean Speedway. This will be the first of three Civil War qualifiers, giving drivers an extra chance to lock into the race through out the season. During the qualifying races, only the race winner will lock into the 24-car Johnny Key Classic feature, and this year there will be no series point leader lock in position.
As the series invades the Marysville Raceway on Saturday night, Justin Sanders will look to continue his dominance at the track in 2015, as he looks to cut into Bradley Terrell’s series point lead. A podium run at the opener, mixed with three wins so far at the track in 2015 makes Sanders one to keep an eye on.
Sunday night the series invades the Silver Dollar Speedway, as they take the main stage during the Silver Dollar Fair. In what is one of the most scenic back drops of the year, the Chico, CA faithful show up in bunches to pack the grand stands and enjoy what is the best bargain of the year in Motorsports, as a fair admission ticket gets you FREE race admission.
Shane Golobic out dueled Jonathan Allard last year, in what was the lone series win for the 2014 Champion during a back and forth battle during Silver Dollar Fair Race. With one win already under his belt, Golobic comes into this weekend looking to end a streak of second place finishes by celebrating another victory at the Silver Dollar Fair, during his quest for another series championship.
Over the years, the Civil War Series has been very competitive and as of late, it has featured a ton of parody. After seeing only one repeat winner during the 2014 season, the series has seen three different winners in three races to kick off the 2015 season, including wins by the last two series champions, and the series’ current point leader.
In the series’ most recent race at the Calistoga Speedway on April 11th, it was Sean Becker going toe-to-toe with reigning series champion, Shane Golobic. In the series’ first visit to the ½ mile facility since 2012, the race led up to the hype, as Becker used a late race move to grab his first Civil War win since the 2013 season.
Current point leader, Sebastopol, CA driver, Bradley Terrell, leads the series into the Marysville Raceway on Saturday night. Terrell has one Civil War Series win to his credit of the three contested thus far, and will look to continue his strong showings of late at the Marysville Raceway.
Justin Sanders and his F&W Racing team have been a dominant team in Northern California to date. Though Sanders has been strong in his personal car at the Ocean Speedway, his F&W team has been just as strong at the Marysville Raceway, as he has won two of the last three weekly races, including a charge from 14th.
16-year-old Robbie Price makes his way back into the Golden State on Saturday night as he sits third in the series standings. Racing up and down the west coast in what is his rookie season, Price has found victory lane on several occasions so far in 2015, and will look to strike California Gold this coming weekend.
Other drivers that are expected to be in attendance for the Civil War Series’ North State Double Header are Kyle and Koen Shaw, Andy Forsberg, Dominic Scelzi, Cody Lamar, Brett Rollag, Matt Peterson, Mason Moore, Chase Johnson, amongst many others.
California fans will also be treated to Midwest star, Jonathan Cornell, in action this weekend. Hopping in the seat of the Main Motorsports No. 35m machine, the Warsaw, MO driver makes his first ever Civil War Series start on Saturday night. Pair Cornell with KWS stars Jason Statler, Kyle Hirst, Jonathan Allard, and Dominc Scelzi along with the Civil War regulars, and this weekend has the makings to be two nights of electrifying racing.
Saturday night, the front gates will open at 5pm with cars on the track by 530pm with tickets available for $17.
Sunday night, the grandstands will open again at 5pm, with Adult tickets costing just $7, Seniors $6, and Child tickets costing $2.
ON TAP: The Civil War Series presented by Flowmaster will return to action on Saturday at the Marysville Raceway for the 16th Annual Mel Hall Memorial, and on Sunday night at the Silver Dollar Speedway for the Fair Race”
WINNERS: Shane Golobic (March 20th, Marysville Raceway), Bradley Terrell (March 28th, Petaluma Speedway), Sean Becker (April 11th, Calistoga Speedway)
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 360ci 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 2015, the Civil War Sprint Car Series will host 14 events at 8 different tracks around California.