Photo by "Tailgate" Rodriguez
King of the West Series Awards Banquet honors champions Tim Kaeding & Roth Motorsports and hands out $300,000 in cash and prizes during the night
By Gary Thomas
Rio Vista, CA – January 31, 2012…The King of the West Sprint Car Series presented its championship Awards Banquet on Saturday night at the Hilton Garden Inn Fairfield, where series champion Tim Kaeding of San Jose & Fresno’s Roth Motorsports were honored for winning the $20,000 title.
The team also made the announcement during the night that they will be returning to KWS in 2012 to defend their championship, which is great news for all the fans in the Golden State. Roth Motorsports also brought the immaculate HR Cattle No. 83 sprint car to the banquet on Saturday and had it on display in the room.
“I really have to thank Dennis & Teresa Roth and my whole team for a great season,” said Kaeding on stage. “I also can’t thank Dan Simpson and KWS enough for all the work they put in. It really made everyone step up their game and was a lot of fun all year. We are coming back this season and going to try and make it back to back.”
Car owner Dennis Roth also shared much of the same sentiment. “I want to thank Tim Kaeding for a great season and of course our team and my wife Teresa for all the support over the years. Dan Simpson and KWS did a wonderful job in stepping up and bringing back 410 sprint car racing after it looked like it was going down out here.”
The $116,000 total cash point fund was handed out to the top-15 drivers that made the cut and along with Roth Motorsports taking home $20,000, runner up Suggs Racing were awarded with $15,000, third place Brent Kaeding went home with $12,000, fourth place Jonathan Allard/Williams Motorsports scored $10,000 and rounding out the top-five was Jason Statler, who claimed $9,000.
Sixth place Willie Croft picked up a check worth $8,000, seventh place Andy Gregg got $7,000, eighth place Bobby McMahan was awarded with $6,000, ninth place Kenny Allen took home $5,550 and Brad Furr, who finished 10th claimed $5,250. 11th through 15th were Brent Bjork ($4,500), Danielle Simpson (4,000), Pat Harvey ($3,500), Eli Deshaies ($3,250) and Doug Gandy ($3,000).
“Grant’s Fine Art/ Hoseheads.com Rookie of the Year” Kenny Allen was also honored during the night. For the award the 16-year-old captured $1,000 cash, a custom framed picture drawing courtesy Tim Grant of Grant’s Fine Art and a custom made trophy. The Chico native has now won Rookie of the Year four times in his young sprint car career, as he’s also won it at Silver Dollar Speedway, Placerville Speedway and the Civil War Series.
The top-15 KWS “members in good standing” also went home with a Goodyear Right Rear tire and two Front Goodyear tires. The drivers 16 through 20, who were on hand at the banquet (Mark Barroso & Dan Simpson), also went home with two Goodyear Front tires and plaques. The top-20 teams also were awarded with a Contingency Connection packet worth $1,000.
Each of the top-15 teams also received a Bob Olson custom painted die cast replica of their own sprint car, along with a unique steering wheel trophy.
Other special awards during the night included the JE Pistons Sportsman of the Year, which went to Suggs Family Racing. Most Improved Driver was given to Eli Deshaies, Crew Chief of the Year went to Roth Motorsports tuner Dean “Bonzai” Bruns and KWS Managing Director Dan Simpson was given a set of custom flags that were signed by all the series winners in 2011 from flagman Ryan Riley.
The evening was capped with the “Last Man Standing” drawing that included roughly $140,000 worth or prizes, with the ultimate awards being a complete 410 Sprint Car and an S&S 410 Engine. The 15 drivers/teams eligible (those that didn’t miss more than two races throughout the season) pulled a pill when they registered at the beginning of the night and then those 15 pills went back into the tumbler. One by one a pill was rolled out of the tumbler, until there were just two drivers left, which happened to be Pat Harvey and Danielle Simpson.
As it turned out Harvey’s pill was the next to roll out of the tumbler and that meant he would claim the S&S 410 Engine and Simpson would go home with the complete 410 Sprint Car. The interesting aspect about Harvey winning the engine is the fact that he has campaigned the 410 trail with a home built 360 over the last few years.
Contributors for the King of the West giveaway car included Kaeding Performance, S&S Automotive, Maxim Chassis, Guts Racing Graphics, Amerikote, Vortex Wings, Saldana Racing Products, Weld Wheels, SCI, Santo Mauro Racing Products, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Pro Shocks, Butler Built Performance, Goodyear, DES Inc., Dryvac and Simpson Percherons.
Additional prizes in the “Last Man Standing” drawing included a Bell Dominator 2 helmet that was graciously donated by Ed Coughenour of Pit Stop USA, a Bully Dog $4,000 prize package, a $1000 certificate for Bully Dog, a $1000 package from Red Horse Performance, five $200 certificates from Auto Meter Products Inc., a $200 certificate for Scorpion Racing Products, a $100 certificate for Performance Parts.com, a $100 gift package for Mallory Ignition and a number of cases of Pennzoil Motor Oil.
“I think there was a lot of energy and excitement in the room all night,” said King of the West Operations Manager George Hague. “It was definitely a successful night overall and we can’t thank everyone enough for coming and being a part of the banquet. We want to congratulate all of the winners during the evening, especially Tim Kaeding and the whole Roth Motorsports team for the championship.”
King of the West Series sponsors, officials and staff were also recognized during the night for their support of the KWS season. Other highlights included a tribute portion that paid respects to Anita Zwern, Chuck Stickley and “Carwash” Mike Avilla, who all passed away over the last half a year.
King of the West Managing Director Dan Simpson also introduced Cancen Oil Company as the new title sponsor for the series, which is some very exciting news for the tour. Cancen Oil founder and CEO Rick Moraski was invited up to the podium to say some words and share how excited he is for the company to become a part of the King of the West Sprint Car Series. More details will follow soon.
The event was emceed by George Hague, Gary Thomas and Dan Simpson, with live entertainment by the Sterling Silver Band on stage. Simpson spoke highly of all the teams, officials, sponsors and fans on hand, thanking them for their support during the inaugural King of the West season. The people in attendance also gave Simpson a standing ovation for his efforts this past season.
Photos from the evening can be viewed on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.309389325779542.90638.150145691703907&type=1
The Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series will hold a general meeting for teams and drivers on Saturday February 11, before kicking off the season on Saturday April 7 at the Antioch Speedway.
For the tentative 2012 schedule of events visit our website at http://www.kwssprints.com
Also follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kwssprintracing and look for us on Facebook at Golden State King of the West Series.
Be sure to catch archived shows of “KWS Tonight,” along with special
highlight clips from the 2011 season at http://vimeo.com/user5784994/videos and http://www.ustream.tv/channel/king-of-the-west-today/videos
Tim Kaeding and Dennis Roth were officially honored on Saturday as King of the West champions.
- Gary Thomas on Jan 31, 2012
- Article Date: 1/31/2012 by Gary Thomas