By Gary Jacob
Cedarville, CA -- First year driver Cody Sell from Brownsville OR led the final 17 laps to get his first ever feature win as he collected $750 for his 30 lap Pacific Coast Dirt Late Model Tour victory Friday night at Cedarville Speedway during the annual Modoc County Fair. The son of Oregon legend Russ Sell, Cody had earlier won one of his two heat races and the trophy dash with his Swartz Chassis. The race was the only event held at the track in 2003 and it became a one groove affair and severe dust conditions made it difficult for the racers. Incoming point leader John Duty spun due to the dust while lapping Gene Day on lap 18 while leading. C Sell led the rest of the race and Craig Hanson retook the season point lead with a $600 second. Josh Eyerly ran third ahead of Tom Lawson and former Alturas resident Roger Lorenzini Jr.
The Friday night race drew a 14 car field and the tour altered the format to run double heat races for everyone to give the fans more of a show as there were no support classes. The first set of heat races were straightup off the pill draw and the second set completely inverted. The points earned in the heat action determined the six dash participants. C Sell won heat one over Lorenzini and Jason Johnson. The second heat also finished the way that they started with Duty winning ahead of Ron Brewster and Hanson. Filling in for Jody Tanner on the weekend, Willie Sutton won heat 3 from third starting with pole starter Russ Sell second over Lawson. Eyerly won heat 4 from second starting ahead of Hanson and Greg Walters. C Sell and Duty had the front row for the dash and C Sell raced to the win ahead of third starter Sutton and Duty. The winner of dash rolls the dice to determine the feature inversion. C Sell rolled a 3 to put Duty and Sutton the front row for the 30 lapper ahead of C Sell and Hanson.
On the first attempt to start the 30 lapper, Matt Workman and Brewster both spun in turn 1 and the race was over for both. Eyerly spun on the next try to force another restart. The low visibility marred the third attempt as Walters clipped an infield tire and spun to a stop with a broken suspension. Duty raced into the lead over C Sell and Hanson. Fighting the ever present dust, Duty spun in his attempt to avoid contact with Day on lap 18. Duty drove through the incident without a caution falling back to sixth with C Sell the new leader over Hanson, Eyerly, crowd favorite Lorenzini and Lawson. On lap 25, the lapped car of Sutton triggered a turn 1 incident that involved C Sell, Hanson and Eyerly. The red flag fell and the three leaders were restored to their front of the pack slots. C Sell led the rest of the way for the win ahead of Hanson, Eyerly, Lawson, Lorenzini Jr, Duty, Johnson and Day.
The two race Northern California weekend also saw the debut of the tours new two sitter dirt late model that gave rides to track officials and lucky fans who won the drawings.
Summary Dash-Cody Sell, Willie Sutton, John Duty, Craig Hanson, Josh Eyerly, Tom Lawson. Heat 1-C Sell, Roger Lorenzini Jr, Jason Johnson, Tom Lawson, Sutton. Heat 2-Duty, Ron Brewster, Craig Hanson, Greg Walters, Josh Eyerly. Heat 3-Sutton, Russ Sell, Lawson, Johnson, C Sell. Heat 4-Eyerly, Hansen, Walters, Brewster, Duty. Main-C Sell, Hanson, Eyerly, Lawson, Lorenzini Jr, Duty, Johnson, Gene Day, Sutton, R Sell, David Newquist, Walters, Matt Workman, Brewster.