By: Chris Santos
9/28/22…Petaluma California: Saturday Night, Colby Johnson and his team would return to action at Petaluma Speedway for the Adobe Cup with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour. It would be their final visit to Petaluma for the 2022 season and a great field of 28 Winged 360 Sprint Cars would be in attendance!
In qualifying Colby would go out in group qualifying where he would need a good lap to put himself in a good spot for the night. He would go out & end up going 2nd quick as he would show his speed once again in Petaluma. “Qualified 2nd, we were decent just not good.”
The heat race would see Colby roll off from the pole courtesy of his qualifying lap. He would need to win the heat to make the dash. Colby would do just that as he would take the early lead and never look back, winning the heat race. “In the heat race I finished 1st, car was great and we made improvements, made the dash.”
In the dash, Colby rolled off from the outside of row 3 in the 6th spot courtesy of his pill draw. He would get to 5th and try to pass 4th. However when trying to pass 4th he would lose his spot and fall back to 6th where he would finish. “Pulled a 6 which was bad because of track conditions, started 6th got to 5th, went for a risky move on 4th, but it cost me a spot and ended up where i started (6).”
The feature event would see Colby roll off from the 6th position outside of row 3. Early on he would find success getting up to 3rd. However late in the race his muffler would fall off causing a caution. Colby’s team would be able to get the muffler changed and get him back out.
However coming back out he would tag the tail end. He would continue to show his speed as he would make some moves and quickly find his way back inside the top-10. When the checkered flag would fall on the feature, he would finish in the 7th spot & salvage a good finish despite his luck.
“In the feature it was hard to pass, started 6th got to third with a broken nose wing, muffler fell off and had to go to the pit. Forced to tag the back and got up to 5th but almost flipped the last lap and ended up 7th. We were fast just bad luck.”
It ended up being a very good night for Colby & his team. He was one of the fastest cars all night & was a contender to win if not for his luck. However he still salvaged a 7th place finish & continued his good string of finishes in Petaluma.
Colby would like to thank his sponsors; Pit Stop USA, CSI Shocks (Competition Suspension Inc.), Johnny Franklin's Muffler - Driveline - Hitch, Tim McCloskey Electric, Inc., K1 RaceGear, Bell Helmets, QuickCar Racing Products, Topline Titanium, and Schoenfeld headers.
Next Race: 9/30, Silver Dollar Speedway, Fall Nationals