JULY 7, 2009 –- This week we were back to Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway for another round of the Golden state Challenge Series. Chico, one of the states finest dirt facilities has had its troubles recently finding a consistent racing surface. Alan Handy, the very able promoter finally seemed to find the combination as the track held up well in spite of weather in the high 90’s and a steady breeze.

We recently had our oldest 410 power plant freshened (an eight year old Kistler dash 12) and decided to put it in the car for the next few races. It throttles very smoothly but gives up a lot of power to the more contemporary engines commonly found in the GSC Series. In spite of that Evan was able to qualify 11th even after hitting the track 16th. We started our heat race on the pole (finally) and won ahead of Tyler Walker, Andy Forsberg and Kyle Larson.

Missing the Dash and starting 11th in the feature was not what we came to do but thirty laps later Evan finished where he started, 11th. Not the minimum expectation of a top 10 but we had an uneventful night and kept everything together for this weeks long anticipated return to Santa Maria. The GSC has not been to Santa Maria in, I believe, four years. It is a great facility with awesome fans and we always had a great time there when we ran Bandits.

They have scheduled a wheelie contest which pays $1000 to the winner which we may compete in………….we’ll see.

Lastly, our friend and engine builder, Tom Reitz is slipping in to retirement and we have found it necessary to move on and find a different resource to take care of our engine needs. We have started a relationship with S&S Automotive, the fabled family operation in San Leandro. The Santos bunch are great guys and we look forward to a long association.

We hope to see you at Santa Maria. If you have never been there you will not be disappointed.

Thanks for checking in

The Suggs family.