EUREKA -- There were tons of wrecks this weekend at Redwood Acres Raceway, but there were also some close races and fantastic driving.
After all, it was Fair weekend.
Tim McCracken was involved with several wrecks throughout the weekend, but somehow managed to keep his car in one piece and won the Sportsman main events both nights. As a result, he left with the class's Fair Classic championship trophy.
Perhaps the most exciting race of Saturday night though, was the Real Stock main.
After wrecking on Saturday night, Trevor Miller, who owns the Real Stock lap record, held off his friend Shawn Craig to win by a half-car length. It was a bang-bang finish that saw the cars side-by-side when the checkered flag waved.
”We're friends, but it gets pretty competitive,” said Craig, who won Saturday and earned their Fair championship. “(While trailing Miller) I just gotta hope he makes a mistake. He bobs a little, but not much. When we start, it's a race to get in front of everyone. That's where the real race is.”
And on Saturday Miller began up front as the drivers had an inverted lineup based on Friday's main event results. Miller wrecked on Friday and was in the No. 2 spot when
That means Craig is obviously the better driver then, right?
”No way,” Craig said. “He is real, real good.”
So is Paul Peeples, Jr., who continued his dominance of the Thunder Roadsters despite a scare from Chris Sarvinski.
Peeples entered the weekend with a 44-point lead in the point standings and had won every race this season. He won Friday and had a tough time getting around Sarvinski on Saturday.
After a nasty wreck involving Jay Bahner and Gehry Foster in Turn 4 on lap 6, Sarvinski began at the head of the pack on the re-start. Peeples, who started at the back of the line, was already in fifth.
”I've had a lot of trouble spinning out, so I was taking it easy,” Sarvinski said. “Then, while they were cleaning up (the wreck) Dave (Henderson) was chewing me out, saying I wasn't taking it deep enough into the corners.”
That was advice Sarvinski wasn't going to take lightly. He blew his motor on Friday night and was considering staying out of Saturday's race. But Henderson, who along with Troy Combs has been the only driver to really challenge Peeples over the last three seasons, and the rest of Sarvinski's crew stayed up until 1 a.m. replacing the motor and tweaking the car's set up.
”I told Paul before the race that I wasn't going to give in to him,” Sarvinski said.
By lap 8, Peeples was in second and by lap 10 he had closed a three-car-length gap to move in on Sarvinski's bumper. Several times Peeples tried his trademark move to bait a driver high then go underneath, but Sarvinski kept his speed up through the turns and stayed on his line, making it tough for Peeples to pass.
On lap 16 Sarvinski got a little loose on Turn 4, and on Turn 2 of the next lap Peeples ducked underneath him for the lead. Sarvinski challenged after that, but never got too close.
”He ran one helluva race,” Peeples said. “(On the pass) he got just a litle sideways and I got under him. It was a good run.”
Scott Baker beat Marty Walsh in the Mini Stock main, and the drivers shared their Fair championship.
Orion Mosher won the Limited Street Fair championship, but the class did not run a main on Saturday due to a lack of cars.
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