By Gary Thomas
Image courtesy of Tim Holland
Merced, CA…After opening the season last month the Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards is eager to get business back underway this Saturday with an event at the ultra-popular Merced Speedway.
The Merced bullring happens to be one of the more centrally located tracks in California, which should make for a solid field of cars from throughout the Northern and Central part of our state. The always action packed quarter-mile lies one hour and 45 minutes from Sacramento and just under an hour from Fresno.
This Saturday’s winner will pocket a minimum of $2,500 while the main event is a guaranteed $400-to-start. All cars that competed at the SCCT opener in Placerville are also eligible for the Shop Kyle Larson Bonus, which allows them to compete for $3,000-to-win the feature.
“We look forward to having the Sprint Car Challenge Tour here at Merced Speedway on Saturday,” said General Manager Doug Lockwood. “The S&S Promotions crew have been hard at work ever since the off-season trying to make this place the best it can be. We had an excellent Outlaw show in March and think the SCCT event will be a can’t miss this weekend. We hope to see a good field of Sprints and a great crowd in the stands.”
Aromas, California’s Justin Sanders pocketed the Sprint Car Challenge Tour opener in Placerville on March 26th over Shane Golobic, Sean Becker, Blake Carrick and Isaiah Vasquez. Shane Hopkins, Logan Forler, Willie Croft, Stephen Ingraham and Michael Faccinto completed the top-10 that night.
This Saturday’s appearance will be the first time the tour has competed at Merced Speedway in the Spring and should make for considerably more pleasant conditions. “We were fortunate to swap dates with Petaluma and get this April race with SCCT,” Lockwood commented. “The Promoters have all done a good job of working together to try and get these dates to make the most sense weather wise. With our show now this weekend it makes track prep far more manageable, so we should have a fantastic show.”
Roseville’s Colby Copeland, who captured his first career Sprint Car Challenge Tour victory at Merced Speedway last season, is expected to make his 2022 SCCT debut on Saturday. In 2019 it was Roseville’s Jodie Robinson who claimed her initial tour win at the quarter-mile.
Adult tickets at Merced Speedway this Saturday April 23rd cost $25 (ages 15 and up), while seniors and military cost $20, kids 6-14 will be $10. Five and under will be free. Tickets will be available at the gate on race day.
The pit gate will open at 2pm, with the front grandstand gate opening at 5pm. The pit meeting will take place at 5:15pm with hot laps, qualifying and racing to follow. The event will follow the standard SCCT muffler rule as described in the rulebook.
The Merced Speedway is located at 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Merced, California 95431. It is approximately one hour and 45 minutes south of Sacramento and one hour north of Fresno. For information on the speedway visit http://www.mercedspeedway.net/
The Sprint Car Challenge Tour is also pleased to welcome back FloRacing as the official live streaming partner of the series. If you can’t make it to the track Flo will have live flag-to-flag coverage of every SCCT event. Also included on the fully loaded card this Saturday are the USAC Western States/ BCRA Midgets and Hobby Stocks. Hoosier Racing Tires is also back as a major contributor and official tire of SCCT in 2022.
The Sprint Car Challenge Tour would like to thank Elk Grove Ford, Abreu Vineyards, Hoosier Racing Tires, Flo Racing, Shop Kyle Larson, Pit Stop USA, Tiner-Hirst Enterprise, BR Motorsports, King Racing Products, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, Bianchi Farms, D&D Roofing, Garth Moore Insurance and Financial Services, Quick Time Energy and Mortgage and High Sierra Industries for their support this season.
More information on the Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards can be found at our official website www.sprintcarchallengetour.com – Be sure to also like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sprintcarchallengetour and follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/360SCCT for the latest breaking news regarding SCCT. You can also find us on Instagram by searching scct360.
Upcoming Sprint Car Challenge Tour presented by Elk Grove Ford and Abreu Vineyards Events
Saturday April 23: Merced Speedway
Friday May 13: Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway (Eighth annual Peter Murphy Classic w/NARC)
Saturday May 14: Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford (Eighth annual Peter Murphy Classic w/NARC)
Saturday May 28: Stockton Dirt Track (Jimmy Sills Classic)
Sunday May 29: Marysville Raceway (22nd Mel and Marlyn Hall Memorial)
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