Author - Harlan Osborne

Division leaders take top honors at Petaluma Speedway

  PETALUMA, CA , Aug.18—With the points racing season closing in on the final stretch it’s time for Petaluma Speedway drivers hoping to make a late push towards a track championship to make their moves. But from all indications by the very strong performances by three of the Speedway’s division points leaders on Saturday, that task may prove to be an uphill challenge. Among the victorious drivers who extended their points lead were Napa driver Joe Stornetta, in [...]

August 19, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Henry, Bragg and Albright tops at Open Wheel Madness

  PETALUMA, CA, Aug. 11—It was time to turn back the calendar Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway, to an era when fenderless race cars ruled the sport of auto racing. The Speedway’s sixth annual Open Wheel Madness competition, featuring winged 360 Sprint Cars along with the Bay Cities Racing Association’s Midget and Midget Lite divisions provided the racing action, with plenty of timely reminders of the perils of open-wheel racing. Sacramento driver Mike Henry held off the charges of Bradley [...]

August 12, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Terrell denies Henry’s last-ditch bid for win

PETALUMA, CA. July 28—Although he’s just 21-years-old Bradley Terrell is a veteran sprint car racer with one track championship under belt. Over the course of the past seven seasons he’s competed against the best drivers the division has to offer and has gained a reputation as hard charger. Saturday night, while gunning for his 15th career victory at Petaluma Speedway, the Sebastopol driver, in what possibly was his sternest test ever, climbed from ninth place to overtake race leader [...]

July 29, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Chase Johnson very cool in 360 Sprint Car win

  PETALUMA, CA. July 21—No one could blame Chase Johnson if he was a bit nervous as he lined up in the front row at the start of Saturday’s Pit Stop USA 360 Sprint Car feature at Petaluma Speedway. Just one row behind him in the 13-car field was five-time track champion David Lindt Jr. and two rows further back was two-time champion Art McCarthy Jr. Championships aside, the two veteran racers hold a combined Petaluma Speedway total of 84 [...]

July 23, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Speedway winning streaks stay alive

  Next to winning a race or capturing a track championship one of the most difficult obstacles in racing is to mount a multi-race winning streak, which has no formula available other than rigorous preparation and a solid dose of good luck. Currently, there are two red-hot drivers at Petaluma Speedway riding the crest of notable winning streaks, Mike Learn, who has won four consecutive main events in the Lumberjack Restaurants Super Stock division, and Geoff Ensign, a three-peat feature [...]

July 16, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Dialed-in Stephen Allard charges to Civil War victory

  PETALUMA, CA. July 7—Veteran sprint car racer Stephen Allard, who had never finished higher than third place at Petaluma Speedway, looked like he was the man to beat as he commanded the lead for all but one of the initial 11 laps of the 30-lap Hoosier Racing Tires Civil War Series A-main event on Saturday night, but when the Cameron Park driver hit a wet spot that aimed his winged sprint car towards the Turn 1 crash wall allowing [...]

July 9, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Motorcycles are a hit at Petaluma Speedway

PETALUMA, CA, June 16—A perfectly groomed hard and smooth race track, made to order for the second annual visit by Gene Romero’s West Coast Flat Track Series, proved to be the formula for success as 91 entries from California, Nevada and Utah fiercely competed in a five-division program to the delight of a grandstand packed with enthusiastic motorcycle racing fans on an unusually warm Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway. Twelve Sonoma County riders were on hand to compete, with [...]

June 17, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Geoff Ensign is tops in Wingless Sprint Car showdown

  As one of the best young racers at Petaluma Speedway, Geoff Ensign seems to possess a competitive drive that steadfastly refuses to settle for second best, he wants to win. That drive, and a seat in a top-notch wingless sprint car, was on display Saturday night as the 22-year-old Sebastopol driver topped a stellar 21-car field that combined the best of the Speedway’s Pit Stop USA Wingless Sprint Cars together with the traveling Joe Hunt Magnetos Wingless Shootout Series.   The [...]

June 11, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Superb race track produces thrilling results

  PETALUMA, CA, June 2—Smooth, fast and tacky are three words that resonate deeply and are music to the ears of nearly every driver who races at Petaluma Speedway. They’re the words that describe the condition of the three-eighths-mile adobe race track that opens the door for greater speed and more passing. Saturday’s track, perfectly groomed by promoter Jim “Dr. Dirt” Soares, had a wide multi-groove smooth surface that offered plenty of passing opportunities resulting in four of five of [...]

June 4, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...

Speedway winning streaks rise and fall

  PETALUMA, CA, May 19—Winning and losing, hot and cold, lucky or jinxed, they’re all just segments of racing that every driver encounters during the season. Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway a pair of three-race winning streaks were halted, another was extended, and a repeat winner and a first-time winner are hoping that good fortune continues to ride with them. At the conclusion of the five-division race card, second-year driver Trevor Schmid was standing tall in Pit Stop USA’s Wingless Sprint [...]

May 21, 2012 Petaluma Speedway Read more...