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Golden State Challenge Series set for rare Saturday appearance at Ocean Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – April 8, 2008…The Golden State Challenge King of California Series will make its second visit of the season to the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville this Saturday night April 12. It will also mark the only Saturday appearance at the quarter-mile speedway for the traveling 410 winged sprint car series this year. The event will be the seventh round of action for the Golden State Challenge Series after coming off an event in Antioch last Saturday.
The first GSC stop of the season at the Ocean Speedway was on March 14 and the main event was won by World of Outlaw driver Jason Meyers over fellow WOO driver Shane Stewart and Tim Kaeding, who is running an Outlaw style schedule this year. With all of those drivers scheduled to be in Eldora this weekend, it will open the door for a number of other competitors looking to put their names towards the front of the field come Saturday night.
Leading the Golden State Challenge Series point standings for the first time this season is ’06 King of California Jonathan Allard, who drives the Oakhurst, CA based Williams Motorports, K & N Filters No. 0. The Chico driver finished fourth at Ocean in March and has accumulated five top 5 finishes in the first six events of the year. Allard has been right in the thick of things each night, but has yet to crack victory lane in this early season. He will certainly be looking to change that on Saturday however, as he goes into the evening fresh off a third place finish in Antioch.
Currently second in the standings is San Jose’s Tim Kaeding, but he is expected to be in action at the Eldora Speedway this weekend, weather permitting. Following “TK” in the points there is a good battle for third between three drivers that are separated by just 10 digits. Holding onto the third position is Sacramento’s Mike Henry who is competing in his first full GSC season aboard the newly formed HMH Motorsports, Royal Lagoon Pools No. 93 team. The former two-time Civil War Series titlist has shown speed during the early season and sits 41 points behind Allard for the lead in the series standings. Henry finished eighth in Antioch last Saturday and will look for his second win of the season this weekend.
Just four points behind Henry going into Ocean Speedway is the most recent winner in GSC competition, that being Los Angeles throttle-masher Tyler Walker. The driver of the SC Motorsports, NMI Industrial Contractors No. 24 led all but one lap last weekend in Antioch to pick up his inaugural series win and first since joining the Scott Chastain owned team. The first event at Ocean Speedway this season saw Walker running among the top five for much of the feature, before getting involved in an accident in turns one and two that left him with a further back finish than he would have liked.
Defending GSC and Ocean Speedway champion Brent Kaeding of Campbell has moved to fifth in the points after finishing in the runner-up position last weekend at Antioch. Kaeding has quietly been making headway over the last few weekends aboard his Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance No. 69 and will look for his first win of the season at his home track this weekend. Last year saw BK win eight main events with the Golden State Challenge Series en route to his 13th King of California title.
After finishing fifth last weekend Campbell’s Bud Kaeding has moved up to sixth in the current GSC point standings aboard the BK Motorsports, Alviso Rock No. 29. The two-time & defending USAC Silver Crown champ is also coming off a runner-up finish last Friday during the opening 360 point race at Ocean Speedway and always seems to run well at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds quarter-mile. The last time Bud visited GSC victory lane came in July of 2006 when he subbed for his father Brent during an event at the Watsonville bullring.
Sitting seventh in points and just five digits back of Bud Kaeding is second year GSC competitor Evan Suggs from nearby Scotts Valley. The 21 year-old driver of the Suggs Racing, GLR Investments No. 33e is coming off an event in Antioch that saw him finish in fourth place, which tied his career best Golden State Challenge Series finish. Suggs has gone through a lot of bad luck during the early season, but the top five finish last weekend should be a sign of things to come and he’ll look for more good things at his home track this Saturday.
Los Gatos veteran Jason Statler sits ninth in the current standings and will look to put his DF Rios Construction, D & D Roofing No. 00 near the front of the field on Saturday. “The Big Guy” is coming off a sixth place finish last weekend as he returned to action following the event in Tulare, which he missed due to the flu. Statler is also set to become a dad next week as wife Stephanie is due with the couple’s first child.
Other possible competitors for this Saturday in Watsonville will include Fremont’s Shane Golobic & Brent Bjork, Fresno’s Tommy Tarlton, Craig Stidham & Mark Workentine, Caruther’s Garrett Ishii, Gilroy’s Ken Fredenburg & Jon Maiwald, Tracy’s Jason Botsford, Rio Vista’s Dan Simpson, Corralitos’ Jerry Bonema and more.
The front gate at the Ocean Speedway will open at 4:30 pm on Saturday with adult tickets costing $20, children 6 to 12 $10, seniors 65 and older $15 and kids five and under will be free. The Ocean Speedway is located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville, California. For more info on the track visit http://www.oceanspeedway.com
Up Next: Next Saturday April 19 will see the Golden State Challenge sprinters take to the tacky and hooked up Petaluma Speedway 3/8’s mile for the first time this season. Last year’s action in Petaluma was some of the best on tour and it’s expected to be just as good this season. For the current GSC point standings and more log onto http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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