Sean Becker feasts on Civil War chums at speedway
Published: Thursday, Apr 17, 2008
By HARLAN OSBORNE
FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER
Saturday night, the Peta-luma Speedway hosts the potent Golden State Challenge King of California Series 410 Sprint Cars and the All-Pro Dwarf Cars.
Last week, sprint car driver Sean Becker showed his separate personalities. Off the track he is personable, patient, and considerate. He answers questions thoughtfully and completely. But on the track he is a demon, supremely focused and able to make lightning decisions. Deftly zipping through lapped traffic, he is in complete control and impossible to catch. After watching him display his considerable abilities over a hungry, talent-laden 22-car Civil War Series field at Petaluma Speedway, it is easy to see how he earned his nickname, “The Shark.”
Starting from the pole, the former Golden State Challenge Series champion was at his best Saturday night, leaving all but a handful of hopefuls scrambling to keep pace as he avoided the incidents and the rough spots and, with the final 15 laps running all green, eluded the competition to post his first Civil War Series victory of the season and fourth career triumph at Petaluma.
Third-row starter Willie Croft took away second place from Kyle Larson on Lap 6 and gave Becker a stiff challenge, particularly after yellow flags on laps 9 and 10 closed up the field. But with Becker running in mid-track, Croft’s only option was to run up high. “It was going to be hairy regardless. I knew if he got around me up top, he’d have earned it,” said Becker.
Hoping that Becker might get caught up in traffic, Croft valiantly tried to stay with him, but at the checkered flag, four lapped cars separated the two and Croft settled for second. Third place went to 15-year-old Larson, followed by eighth-starting David Robinson Jr., defending series champion Andy Forsberg, fast qualifier and B-main winner Alissa Geving, Andy Gregg, B-main transfer Myles Bishop, 17th starting David Lindt Jr. and Mason Moore.
Geving, of Penngrove, posted fast time of 12.892 seconds among the 40 qualifiers, but an incident in the heats relegated her to the 12-lap B-main where, after a frantic scramble by her pit crew to ready the car, the 16-year-old fan favorite dominated the 18-car field from the front row, winning by a sizable margin over Bishop, Christian Stover, Chad Compton, Art McCarthy Jr. and Mike Benson, all of whom transferred to the A-main.
Herman Klein, Robinson, Kyle Hirst, and Greg DeCaires captured heat race wins and Brandon Davis won the C-main.
In the companion All-Pro Late Model feature, the father-son rivalry of Paul and Clarke Guglielmoni kept the excitement percolating in a battle between front row starters. Paul Guglielmoni led from the start, with Clarke Guglielmoni, Jerry Bartlett and Anthony Restad on his trail. Second place was in hot contention 10 laps into the contest when Restad’s car suffered a cut tire and flipped over in Turn 2. The race car was heavily damaged, but Restad was unhurt as the race restarted and Clarke Guglielmoni began pressuring his father for the lead. On Lap 15, Clarke Guglielmoni attempted to squeeze past on the bottom, but his father nixed the move.
“He tried to get underneath me, but I didn’t let that happen,” said Paul Guglielmoni, smiling broadly, relishing the on-track exchange as much as he did the victory.
“I wasn’t going to let him go without a fight,” answered 24-year-old Clarke Guglielmoni, enjoying the thrill of competing against his dad.
On Lap 16, Bartlett got under Clarke Guglielmoni in Turn 2 to take second place and on Lap 19 his brother, Rick Shafer, swiped third place from him, but it didn’t matter, because he had already made his statement.
Rich Barbaccia finished fifth followed by Steve Johnson, Derek Nance, Redstad, Dennis Souza and Randy Shafer.
