Zach Zimmerly scores 2nd career GSC podium Friday in Petaluma while blown tire puts a stop to another podium finish Sunday night at Calistoga
By Gary Thomas
Petaluma, CA – May 31, 2010…Heading for a big triple-header Memorial Day Weekend of racing Vancouver, Washington’s Zach Zimmerly kicked it off this past Friday evening at the Petaluma Speedway and charged to his second ever podium finish with the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series in the main event.
For Zimmerly it was a bit of redemption at the sticky 3/8 mile clay oval after having a top-five run cut short at the track in April and also marked the second best GSC finish of his career, following a runner-up effort earlier in the month at Santa Maria.
“We always seem to be fast here at Petaluma and it feels real good to get a top-three finish tonight,” said Zimmerly, who won a California Sprint Car Civil War 360 Series event at the Petaluma Speedway last September. “We had a great race with Evan Suggs and Jonathan Allard there late in the main event and it was really fun to race in traffic like that. I want to thank Duke and Scott McMillen, my family, all of our sponsors and everyone that helps us out.”
Zimmerly opened the rare Friday event at the Petaluma Speedway by timing in fifth fastest overall, before scoring a fourth place finish in the opening heat race to move the Christian Stover Foundation, Level One Concrete, McMillen Motorsports No. 94 into the dash, where he would run sixth to earn a third row starting spot in the feature. When the green waved in the 30-lapper “Super-Z” moved forward early and immediately began to hound 13-time King of California Brent Kaeding for third.
A very fast and rough surface was prevalent during the night and the first 15-laps of the main event were clicked off caution free, before Bobby McMahan slowed to a stop at the halfway point. Following that four more circuits would be run until another caution period and it set up a restart where the 16-year-old driver proceeded to make his move, as he rocketed to the outside of Kaeding and charged to third off turn two.
With the laps closing down Zimmerly continued to run a higher line than most and it paid off as he closed in on the leaders with just under five tours remaining. Heavy lapped traffic had bottled up the front runners and the youngster was able to get to the inside of second place Evan Suggs at one point, but couldn’t complete the pass and crossed under the checkered flag in the third spot.
Following Petaluma Zimmerly then made the short trip to nearby Calistoga to make his debut at the famed half-mile dirt oval located on the beautiful Napa County Fairgrounds. The opener on Saturday saw fairly difficult track conditions with a very fast, rough and narrow surface, but the Washington driver showed no intimidation early on as he picked up a dominating heat race victory and then tallied a seventh place finish in the feature at the helm of the Douglas Wheel Technologies, Butler Built Performance, Fire-Down Graphics A.R.T. sprinter.
Coming back on Sunday with a night of racing under his belt at the track Zimmerly looked very strong right from the get-go as he qualified fourth quick, ran second in his heat race to Tim Kaeding and then started from the fourth row in the 25-lap main event. Fighting his way forward he positioned himself into fifth with 17-laps down and then moved to fourth when contact between Jonathan Allard & Kyle Larson resulted in Larson coming to a stop. On the restart Zimmerly looked to the bottom in turns one and two in an attempt to get by Allard, but the two-time King of California was able to hang on for the time being.
Continuing to apply pressure to Allard’s rear the 16-year-old flung his machine under the Chico driver multiple times trying to get by and on lap-22 he would make it happen to claim the third position. Just after taking the spot however, he would unfortunately suffer a blown left rear tire and come to a stop in turn four to bring out a caution and halt his impressive run. Zimmerly restarted at the tail of the field and would finish the final three-circuits in the ninth spot.
Zimmerly is also looking for additional sponsors to help support his racing endeavors and for anyone that would like to get on board please contact Zach at zachzimmerlyracing94@gmail.com
For more news and info on 16-year-old Zach Zimmerly please visit http://www.zachzimmerly.com and don't forget to follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/ZZR94
Sixteen-year-old Zach Zimmerly raced to his second career Golden State Challenge Series podium Friday night in Petaluma and looked to be on way to a another podium in Calistoga on Sunday, until a blown tire just after taking third relegated him to ninth at the end. Photo by Steve Lamothe of http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
- Gary Thomas on Jun 01, 2010
- Article Date: 6/1/2010