Kyle Larson wins “Chris & Brian Faria Memorial Spring Shooutout” opener at Thunderbowl Raceway
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – May 11, 2012…Elk Grove, California native Kyle Larson considers the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway to be his favorite track and on Friday night he showed exactly why that is the case.
Driving for well known car owner Paul Silva the 19-year-old took the lead from Tommy Tarlton in the main event and held off a closing Jonathan Allard to score victory with the Cancen Oil KWS Series presented by Goodyear.
Larson also won the companion West Coast 360 Wingless Sprint Car feature to score a sweep for the night.
“Paul Silva puts together a great car and it really is a pleasure to drive this thing,” said the 2010 Chris & Brian Faria Memorial winner. “I always love racing at this track so it feels pretty awesome to get another win here.”
The 30-lap feature started out with KSE Dash winner Brent Kaeding getting the jump on the field. The slick and treacherous surface took its toll on a number of drivers throughout the contest. During a lap two restart “BK” spun a complete 360 as Tommy Tarlton and Tim Kaeding challenged him for the lead.
Tarlton now assumed the lead of the race and would pace the field for a number of laps with Kyle Larson carving his way to second. Up front Tarlton tried to fend off the fast moving Larson, but the youngster sliced his way by and assumed the point just before lap-10.
“TK” sat in third but spun a 360 on lap-nine and lost a number of spots, before hard contact with the turn three wall a few laps later resulted in the red flag coming out. Damage was too severe to continue and left Kaeding with a 19th place finish.
With Larson out front Tarlton kept pace, but with rubber building up more and more, the bottom side of the raceway became the place to be. Late in the running Chico’s Jonathan Allard stepped up his challenges and when Tarlton got loose coming off the corner he would grab the runner up spot.
Allard gave it his all to try and track down the leader, but came up just shy at the checkered flag as Larson crossed under it by 0.287 seconds to claim victory. For
Allard his second place finish was good enough to make him the new KWS point leader by 20-markers over Tim Kaeding. The rest of the top-10 was completed by Tarlton, Oregon driver Roger Crockett, Loomis’ Kyle Hirst, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Clovis’ Peter Murphy, Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan and Placerville’s Andy Gregg.
Cancen Oil King of the West Sprint Car Series presented by Goodyear Results – Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway Friday May 11 “Chris & Brian Faria Memorial”
26-cars
Fast time: Cody Lamar 13.361
Heat one: Tommy Tarlton, Jason Statler, Kyle Hirst, Bud Kaeding, Bobby McMahan, Craig Stidham, Doug Gandy, Pat Harvey
Heat two: Evan Suggs, Tim Kaeding, Jonathan Allard, Cory Eliason, Peter Murphy, Sean McMahan, Trey Starks, Danielle Simpson, Geoffrey Strole
Heat three: Kyle Larson, Roger Crockett, Brent Kaeding, Andy Gregg, Mike Faria, Chad Compton, Willie Croft, Rico Abreu
Dash: Brent Kaeding, Tim Kaeding, Tommy Tarlton, Jason Statler, Jonathan Allard, Kyle Larson, Evan Suggs, Andy Gregg
LCQ: Rico Abreu, Willie Croft, Sean McMahan, Chad Compton, Danielle Simpson, Geoffrey Strole, Doug Gandy, Craig Stidham, Pat Harvey, Trey Starks, Cody Lamar
Amain: Kyle Larson, Jonathan Allard, Tommy Tarlton, Roger Crockett, Kyle Hirst, Evan Suggs, Bud Kaeding, Peter Murphy, Bobby McMahan, Andy Gregg, Cory Eliason, Mike Faria, Chad Compton, Brent Kaeding, Sean McMahan, Danielle Simpson, Doug Gandy, Geoffrey Strole, Tim Kaeding, Jason Statler, Rico Abreu, Willie Croft
- Gary Thomas on May 12, 2012
- Article Date: 5/12/2012 by Gary Thomas