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From Blogspot.com
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
In the UMP Hobby Stocks, word came out that the "Team Mighty Mouse" #33 car will be earning points towards their car. What had happened what the Team #99 car of Jim Freethy and Jack Jonker had requested their points be earned towards their car prior to the season, and that request was granted by track management. I'm not sure if Melissa Hansen and Brad Myers had requested the same, but in the interest of consistency and fairness, it was granted after the last race. This decision gave the #33 car of Hansen and Myers a two point lead over the #00 of Chris Sorensen.
What will be interesting is to see is how this will effect the strategy of the#33 team. The plan going in was for the two to alter weeks as the driver. The rookie Myers does have a fourth place finish, while Hansen, who has a championship each in Street Stocks and Pure Stocks, has won the two races she started. I believe Myers is slated to drive this week. How will that strategy play out as the season goes down the line? If points are needed at a crucial time, will the experienced Hansen take the wheel? One thing is certain, the two are engaged to be married, and the track has never had a husband/wife team win a championship sharing the same car during the season. I'd like to see if they can do it by sticking with the original plan. If Brad focuses in on finishing and gaining experience, while Melissa does what she does best, they should do just fine.
Speedway stocks up
by Jack Menges, Brentwood Press, Apr. 15, 2010
Brentwood resident Melissa Hansen returned to racing Saturday night after a one-year absence from the Antioch Speedway and won the pure stock main event. Left, Hansen puts the pedal to the metal in 2008 in her super stock, a division she won in 2005 after taking the pure stock title in 2002.
Photo courtesy of Jack Mengesslideshow.
Brentwood’s Melissa Hansen returned to action with a winning effort this past weekend at the Antioch Speedway. A two-time champion at the track, Hansen won the pure stock main event after missing the racing season last year.
It was a good night for the Brentwood drivers. The husband-and-wife team of Fred and Patti Ryland accounted for victories in the super stock and four banger feature races, respectively.
A past champion of pure stocks and super stocks, Hansen elected to skip racing last year and concentrate on her studies at Los Medanos College. “It was a wonderful feeling to get back in a race car,” she said. “Add that to the fact I won the main event. I didn’t win too many main events when I captured the two championships. I won those honors with consistent close finishes.
“It was also a way to celebrate that I could now make wedding plans. I became engaged the week before to Brad Meyer. We’re going to alternate races driving the car, which he raced for the first time ever and finished fourth in the main event.”
Posted on Fri, Jun. 10, 2005
'Mighty Mouse' earns first super stock win
Antioch Speedway regulars know that a diminutive young female racer sits quietly atop the super stock points chart.
Affectionately nicknamed "Mighty Mouse" by the racetrack's announcers, Brentwood's Melissa Hansen was last year's super stock Rookie of the Year and, before that, the pure stock champion.
Over the first six race dates of 2005, she had recorded six top-three main event finishes but had not visited the coveted Winner's Circle. All that changed last Saturday when "Mighty Mouse" dominated the 14-car field to claim her first-ever super stock victory.
Knightsen's Mike Walko and Hansen each won a heat race and then started side-by-side in the front row of the super stock main event. At the green flag, Hansen quickly passed Walko and remained out front all the way to the Lap 20 checkered flag, while Walko held on for runner-up honors.
Liberty High School's D. J. Petrell of Oakley suffered mechanical problems and finished last in the field. Other Oakley racers had much better luck last Saturday.
Kellen Chadwick made a rare visit to the Antioch Speedway and won every dirt modified event he entered. The 20 year-old Oakley resident set a new one-lap track mark in qualifying time trials, won his heat race and then dominated the 20-lap main for that win.
Last Saturday, Oakley's Mark Willson won a hard-fought duel with Antioch's Jason Buchanan to record his second pure stock main event victory. Willson, a rookie at the speedway, is now ranked third in points, just ahead of Oakley's Jason Robles. Robles made a strong late-race run in the main event, passed Buchanan and was rapidly closing on Willson as the checkered flag waved.
-- Information provided by John Trussler. The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/email/sports/11861827.htm (c) 2005 ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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