The annual Mark Hagopian Memorial took place at Visalia, California’s Plaza Park Raceway on September 26-28, with a $10,000 payday awaiting the winner of Saturday night’s Winged Micro Sprint feature event. Two nights of preliminary action with split field feature events each night allowed for plenty of action and opportunities for drivers to lock in to Saturday night’s feature event.
The weather was warm for Hyper Racing's Factory team comprised of Mike Dicely, Jim Radney and Steven Snyder Jr, who all arrived ready to work.
Thursday night was off to a hot start for Hyper Racing and driver Steven Snyder Jr as he would set quick time in Flight A time trials, with West Coast Hyper Racing driver Colton Key right behind Snyder Jr in second. Brand new Hyper Racing dealer Cole Schroeder went 6th quick in flight B, and fellow Hyper driver Eddie Hamblen 14th.
Come feature time in the Flight A feature, Snyder Jr was in a heavy battle for spots inside the top five before contact and front end damage ended the night for the Hyper Racing/EVO Fuel Injection driver. Meanwhile, the Flight A feature event win went to young West Coast driver Colton Key who locked himself into the Saturday night finale in his Hyper Chassis!
In feature event B, Hyper West dealer Cole Schroeder came home in the seventh position, with Eddie Hamblen in the 16th spot at the conclusion of the feature event.
Moving on to Friday night, Snyder Jr went second quick in Flight B time trials, with Cody Key, who was filling in for absent Cole Schroeder, setting the 13th quick time. Flight A again featured Eddie Hamblen, who ended the session in 15th.
Feature time for Flight A resulted in Eddie Hamblen ending with a solid run ending in 12th. Flight B’s feature event was all Steven Snyder Jr as he completed a big rebound from Thursday night’s event, as he picked up the preliminary win and locked in to Saturday’s finale feature. Cody Key in the Schroeder 3 car finished the main event in seventh.
Saturday’s finale saw Steven Snyder Jr take the lead from his third place starting position at the halfway point of the event, and Snyder Jr never looked back, going to the checkered to score his first ever Mark Hagopian Memorial win, second win of the season at Plaza Park, and second $10,000 payday in California of the season.
The Key boys wound up with great runs as well, as Colton finished in the third place spot making two of the top three finishers being Hyper Racing X7 Chassis, while older brother Cody Key battled through the field on a 21st to 11th run, earning hard charger honors for the event!
Photos:Claudia Jimenez | instagram: @jimenez.a.photography
Fast Four Media | www.fastfour.tv
Devin Mayo | https://www.devinmphotography.com
Maxwell Patrick Imagery | instagram: @maxwell_patrick_imagery