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M&M Racing Photos
King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series continues 30th anniversary season with the Chris & Brian Faria Memorial on Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – May 12, 2015…The traveling King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series invades the Central Valley for the first time in 2015 this Saturday night, with the annual Chris & Brian Faria Memorial on tap at the Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare. Competing alongside KWS for the first time this year will be the always exciting USAC West Coast Wingless 360 Sprints.
Chris Faria was an up and coming driver who was the youngest of five children to Danny Sr. & Arlet Faria. He grew up on their farm in Tipton and was known as the prankster of the family. Chris unfortunately lost his life at the age of 21 during a farming accident and his memory has been kept alive with a memorial race at the Thunderbowl Raceway ever since.
Brian was the oldest of the five Faria children and was taken from us in January of 2006 during an accident while driving on a highway. Brian enjoyed helping out with the track preparation at the Thunderbowl, as he drove the water truck and the grader among other things. The Chris & Brian Faria Memorial has become a cornerstone of the track schedule and is always a special night for everyone with the Thunderbowl Raceway.
An extremely close point battle has developed after the first three King of the West races of the season, with a trio of drivers separated by just one-marker at the top of the standings. Lemoore’s Carson Macedo heads into his home territory atop the points, in what is his first full season with the series. The 18-year-old has finished on the podium in all three events, including runner up efforts the last two weeks aboard his WFO Apparel/ Tarlton & Son Inc. No. 21x machine. Macedo will be in search of his first KWS win on Saturday.
Campbell’s Bud Kaeding has won the last two events and goes into Tulare as the hottest driver on tour. The three-time USAC Silver Crown champ always gets around the Thunderbowl well and is gunning to make it three in a row on Saturday at the helm of the Williams Motorsports/ Buster & Ziggy Enterprise ZERO. Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi has been on the podium the last two weeks and sits tied with Kaeding going into the Faria Memorial. The 18-year-old has showed lots of speed in the early season and looks for a win at his home track.
Veteran driver Bobby McMahan is coming off a nice run from 16th to seventh last week in Petaluma and comes into the Thunderbowl ranking fourth in the standings. The driver of the American Tool & Mfg No. 25 finished third at the Faria Memorial last year. Completing the top-five in points going into this weekend is Fremont’s Shane Golobic, who was the runner up at last season’s Faria Memorial. Driving the Keith Day Trucking No. 22 this season with KWS, Golobic goes into Saturday just seven-points back of McMahan.
Thirteen-time King of the West Series champ & multiple-time Chris & Brian Faria Memorial winner Brent Kaeding is only one-point out of the top-five in sixth, followed by reigning Trophy Cup winner Willie Croft of Sacramento in seventh, three-time KWS champion Jonathan Allard from Chico in eighth, last year’s Rookie of the Year DJ Netto from Hanford ninth and youngster Jarrett Soares of Gilroy rounds out the top-10. Croft last year led a majority of the feature at the Faria Memorial, before running out of fuel just seven-laps shy of the checkered.
Chico’s Kyle Hirst will return to King of the West action on Saturday night aboard the Roth Motorsports No. 83jr Sprinter. The two-time & reigning series champion captured last year’s Chris & Brian Faria Memorial, marking his first series victory at the Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway. Hirst also went on to claim opening night of the Trophy Cup in October at the one-third mile clay oval. The 27-year-old was victorious in the KWS opener earlier this season at Placerville Speedway.
A stout field of Sprint Cars is expected with more drivers set to be on hand including Easton’s Tommy Tarlton, Roseville’s Colby Copeland, Princeton’s Mason Moore, Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto, Fresno’s Cory Eliason & Craig Stidham, Penngrove’s Chase Johnson, Grass Valley’s Jason Statler, Minden, NV’s Tanner Thorson, Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, Fair Oak’s Chad Compton, Tipton’s Mike Faria, Coarsegold’s Scott Parker, Tulare’s Shawn Wright, Winton’s Gordon Rodgers, Laton’s Geoffrey Strole and others.
Reserved grandstand seats for the Chris & Brian Faria Memorial on Saturday cost $20 with general admission bleacher tickets $18. To reserve your seat contact (559) 688-0909. The front gate will open at 4pm with racing expected to get underway around 7pm.
The Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway is located at the Tulare County Fairgrounds on the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare, California. From the junction of SR 99 and SR 137, go west on SR 137. At South K go south one-half mile to the Fairgrounds. More info can be found at http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
Info on the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series can be found at www.racepmg.com
Be sure to like the KWS Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/kingofthewestsprints and become a member of our Twitter community at https://twitter.com/KwsSprintRacing for all the latest breaking news regarding the series
Upcoming KWS events after Tulare
Saturday June 6: Silver Dollar Speedway (3rd annual David Tarter Memorial)
Saturday June 13: Stockton Dirt Track
Friday June 26: Ocean Speedway (Pombo/Sargent Classic)
Saturday June 27: Calistoga Speedway (Wine Country Classic)
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Two-time & reigning series champion Kyle Hirst returns to the King of the West Sprints this Saturday at the Tulare Thunderbowl. The 27-year-old will be aboard the Roth Motorsports No. 83jr machine this weekend, the same car he drove to back-to-back KWS titles. Hirst is also the defending winner of the Chris & Brian Faria Memorial. Paul Trevino Photo
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