Fremont's Shane Golobic steals victory in final laps of Petaluma Speedway Civil War

July 9, 2013 - PRLog -- By Bill Sullivan, Civil War Series Media Director

PETALUMA,CA-   Throughout the season, Fremont's Shane Golobic has been a driver to contend with regardless of the venue in which he races. From Midgets to 410 sprint cars and everything in between the second generation wheelman has topped the charts all season. Saturday night, the defending 2012 Ocean Speedway track champion added a win in the 2013 Civil War Sprint Car Series to his accomplishments after charging to victory lane at Petaluma Speedway.

         "It felt great putting the Keith Day Trucking #22 Sprint Car in victory lane after our string of three straight second place finishes," said Golobic. "Alissa Geving was running a great race out in front and it took everything we had to track her down and get by her. I have to thank Keith and Ronnie Day for the opportunity and my crew chief Rick Bragg for giving be such a great car."

         After a near miss at a win in the Civil War Sprint Car Series just last Thursday in Placerville, Golobic rolled into Petaluma Speedway looking to put the bridesmaid blues behind him in this series that is California's premier traveling body for 360 cubic inch powered sprint cars and tops the list of racing campaigns when it comes to overall car counts and diversity in both tracks and competitors.

         After qualifying seventh Saturday night in the 34 car field, Golobic drove to a second place finish in the third heat race of the night to secure a starting position in the 30-lap feature race without the challenges of a semi-feature. The secure seat in the money race gave the crew plenty of time to dial in the Keith Day Trucking #22k Sprint Car for the feature race.

         Racing before a packed grandstands on the 3/8 mile lightning fast Petaluma Speedway, Golobic took the green flag in the fourth place starting position. Three time Petaluma Speedway Champion and former Civil War Series Rookie of the Year Alissa Geving of Penngrove powered off the pole to take the lead at the waving of the green flag.

         Saturday's 30-lap feature was a lengthy one with many caution flags, forcing the race to more than 35 minutes in length. Geving was the dominate one of the race, leading by several car lengths into the very final laps. After working his way past Fresno's Koen Shaw and Jeremy Burt of Grass Valley, Golobic pursued Geving in the closing laps of the race.

         After closing a gap of several car lengths, Golobic stalked Geving for the lead up until the 27^th lap of the race. As Geving's #3x sprint car began to get loose, she opened up the bottom groove of the track just enough for the hard pressing Golobic to muscle his way inside and power his way into the lead.  At the finish line Golobic picked up his 18^th career win.

         Geving finished in second place. Colby Wiesz, who started fifth in the event, completed the podium in the third position. Sean Becker of Roseville drove from 11^th to fourth place. Former Track Champion Bradley Terrell, who won the previous Civil War at Petaluma, drove from the ninth position to round out the top five.

         In preliminary competition on Saturday night, Jake Haulot won the B-feature over defending series champion Andy Forsberg, Terrell, Ivan Worden, and Nick Rescino Jr. Heat races were claimed by Brett Rollag, Billy Aton, Eric Humphries and Justin Sanders. Fast qualifier for the night was Haulot with a 12:529.

         Following Saturday's event, Becker continues to lead the series point standings with a 14-point advantage over Sanders. Forsberg is third, 19-points out of the lead. Wiesz is fourth, 25-points out of the lead while Aton is fifth, 53-points behind the leader.

         The Civil War Series will return to action on Satuday night, August 10^th with the high paying Mark Forni Classic at Placerville Speedway. For complete point standings from the Civil War Sprint Car Series, visit www.civilwarsprints.com.