Silver Dollar Speedway Write-Up - Silver Cup by Troy Hennig, 3-25-00
Auburn’s Richard Brace Jr. and Mike Compton led down the 20 car-starting field for 40 laps. It was Brace who looked like the early driver to beat as he charged into the lead with ease. Brace was piloting his brand new “Brace Car” that seemed to be dialed in from right off of the trailer. A series of yellow flags slowed the event to a crawl for the first nine laps. Once the drivers got some racing room, the laps started to quickly run by. It was Brace who first encountered slower cars on lap 15, with Matt Micheli and Papenhausen close behind. On lap 20, Brace was still struggling to get by cars, while Papenhausen was using the outside to get by Micheli and move into second.
On lap 22, Papenhausen had caught Brace Jr. On the next lap, Papenhausen once again returned to the topside and drove by Brace Jr. Papenhausen had found a grove upstairs and he was dancing all the way into the lead. On lap 26, the final yellow of the night was needed for Brain Wright of Chico. This allowed Brace Jr. to close (up on) the bumper of Papenhausen. However, Papenhausen was able to drive away from Brace and went on to lead the next 14 laps for the big win. Brace Jr and Micheli swapped positions even up to the final lap. Micheli had second secured as he went into the final turn and run up the track, allowing Brace Jr. to come back by and get second. Micheli finished third, followed by Compton and Will Zinn.
Silver Dollar Speedway Write-Up,- Modified Point Race by Troy Hennig 4-7-00
The dirt modified main event got off to a fast start with Dustin, Jenks and Matt Micheli leading the 19-car field down (to) the green flag. The first ten laps went by like a flash with Jenks, Micheli, Richard Brace Jr. and Joey Hubbard were racing so tight and close that a blanket could have been thrown over them. As the top four entered the back markers, Jenks easily got by as did Micheli, however Brace Jr. went to the inside of rookie driver Jaime Becker and contact between the two resulted in both cars stopping in turn two, collecting Hubbard and Mike Sohnrey. Hubbard and Sohnrey were able to continue on, however Brace Jr., who had lost his brakes earlier in the race, would restart in the back of the pack and could not make the charge back up through the field.
High Flying Richard Brace Jr. used the high line to win heat number one for the dirt modifieds.
Placerville Speedway Write-Up - by Bill Sullivan 7-1-00
In the California Modified division, Richard Brace started on the outside of the front row and overtook Tim Bennintendi of Colfax on the backsretch for the lead. Once he overtook the pole-sitter, Brace distanced himself from the field while Bennintendi battled with Charlie Mars of Yuba City for the second position.
“This place is great. The people, the track…Placerville is just awesome and I wish we could race these cars here all the time,” said Brace, who now drives a sprint car at Placerville as well. “Since the fair the track surface has been going away really bad, so tonight I got out in front, I just focused on running smooth laps and let them try and run around me.”
Silver Dollar Speedway Write-Up - Points Race by Troy Hennig, 8-11-00
Finishing third on the night was Auburn’s Richard Brace Jr., who had started 14th.
Silver Dollar Speedway Write-Up - Points Race by Troy Hennig, 9-13-00
The incident sent McDaniel to the pit area with damage and placed Richard Brace Jr. of Auburn in second place for the six laps remaining. In the final two laps, Brace closed to within inches of Micheli but it was Micheli in front when the checkered flag waved as he claimed the $800 win and the 2000 track championship.
