PETALUMA SPEEDWAY
Flawless David Lindt Jr. displays winning form again
Published: Thursday, Apr 10, 2008
By HARLAN OSBORNE
FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER
The message was clear and as distinct as the big “52” stenciled on his winged racer — David Lindt Jr. is back, not just racing, but back to his old ways of getting to the front and winning. Over the last decade, nobody has done it better, or in such electrifying fashion, as the 36-year-old former three-time sprint car champion who posted his speedway-best 46th career victory Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway.
The triumph was the first in three years for Lindt, and couldn’t have come at a more opportune time as the Speedway prepares to host the potent Civil War Series for winged 360 sprint cars this coming Saturday.
“It’s good to be back. It was tough. The competition has gotten a lot stiffer,” admitted the veteran racer, who led for all but the first six laps of the 14-car, 25-lap event, holding off an impressive effort by Rob Johnson, who shadowed Lindt through the corners waiting for a mistake that never came.
“We had to be perfect to win,” said Lindt.
Not only did Johnson face the daunting task of catching Lindt, he had to fight off the determined charge of Alissa Geving, who climbed from 12th starting to third place in nine laps, then hounded Johnson until the white flag lap before the talented teenager made a spectacular low-side pass that provided her with just enough space to nip Johnson for second place at the finish line. It was the second exciting finish in two races for Geving and lifted her into the All-Pro Series points lead.
Rounding out the finish behind Lindt, Geving, and Johnson were Matt Sargent, Brandon Davis, Dustin Baxter, Klint Simpson, Rick Wright, Roberto Kirby and Art McCarthy Jr.
Veteran Spec Sprint race Bob Newberry found the best way to keep Chris Magoo from getting too close was by disappearing into lapped traffic.
It was a formula that seemed to work out for Newberry, who led every lap of the season-opening Spec Sprint feature.
In a battle between front- row starters and heat race winners, Newberry repeatedly opened a sizable lead over Magoo and David Press, but couldn’t secure the victory until taking the checkered flag.
Finishing behind the top three were 10th-starting Lucas Nerlove, Marcus Hardina, Scott Dupont, Jack Clark, Rick Sharp, David Goodwill and Michael Vaughn.
Although his mind was on his father, who was taken from the track to the hospital after complaining of chest pains, defending Dirt Modified champion Michael Paul Jr. remained focused enough to grab the lead on a lap-8 restart and hold off the dangerous Richard Papen-hausen the rest of the way to notch his 17th career victory and first of the current season.
A strong jump on a pair of restarts gave Paul the boost needed to take charge over early leader Joel Myers and Papenhausen, whose car encountered an engine problem. Veteran racer Mike Learn had his second straight impressive outing, finishing third behind Paul and Papenhausen and is now the division’s points leader. “My car is great on restarts these days and was really hooked up Saturday night,” noted Paul.
A report Sunday afternoon indicated Michael Paul Sr. had suffered a mild heart attack and was resting comfortably and on the road to recovery at a local hospital.
Displaying all the earmarks of an impending season-long battle reigning Super Stock champion, Dean DeVolder thwarted a threat by last week’s winner Danny Potts by leading the final 20 laps to capture the victory and maintain his tenuous points lead.
Starting side-by-side in the third row the two heat winners outdistanced the rest of the 14-car field by a large margin in the non-stop event.
Three lapped cars separated second place finisher Potts from third-place Steve Studebaker, Woody Woodward, Shawn McCoy, Michelle Byron, Justin Aguirre, Paul Hanley, D.W. Drew and Dave Byron.
Mini Stock driver Kenny Drew had eight top-five finishes last season and 10 in 2006, but until Saturday night, the Petaluma driver had not won a feature. That all changed after the third-starting Drew took the lead from his father, Larry Drew, on lap12 and held on the rest of the way to notch his first win.
Mini-truck driver Dominic Lopez, one of three trucks competing, was actually the first to cross the finish line in the 16-car race, but since the trucks are much lighter and quicker, they’re not included in the official finish.
Rounding out the finish behind Drew were his father, Larry Drew and brother, Michael Drew. Fourth place went to Jon Kirby, followed by Nick Machado, Nicole Scarpete, Mathew Janes and Erica Reid.
In a display of compassion and support for fellow racers the generous fans and management at the Speedway donated about $4,000 to race driver Kellen Chadwick who was injured recently while racing.
