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Photo by Johns Racing Photos
Victory in Watsonville & 2nd at Petaluma highlight strong weekend for Jason Statler
By Gary Thomas
Petaluma, CA – April 19, 2008…On a weekend in which his wife was due to have a baby, Los Gatos racer Jason Statler turned in his finest two night’s of the season with his first victory of the year on Friday and backing it up with a solid second place finish on Saturday. Statler had his phone standing by in case wife Stephanie went into labor, but the call didn't come and he was able to compete for the duration of the weekend.
The former GSC King of California looked to overcome his early season bad luck at the Ocean Speedway on Friday night during the second 360 weekly race of the season at the track. The Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds facility had been tough to Statler so far this year, but this time was different as the Mark Bristow tuned machine was on a rail and he avoided any on track issues.
The Ocean Speedway saw a well prepared track on Friday evening and it made for some great racing during the main event. Statler ran second in the feature early on before claiming the lead from Evan Suggs 10 laps into the running. The defending Johnny Key Classic champion then drove away to pick up his first win of the season aboard the DF Rios Construction, Pheasant Run Shopping Center No. 00.
After the win Friday night the Statler Racing team then headed for the Petaluma Speedway on Saturday to do battle with the Golden State Challenge Series. Very gusty winds greeted competitors to Petaluma and because of that, race officials were intent on getting the show done in a timely fashion with the expected cold temperatures once the sun went down.
“The Big Guy” kicked off the night by qualifying the D & D Roofing, Trimble Motorsports Maxim seventh fastest in the 24 car field. A fourth place finish in his heat then put him into the dash where he would go on to finish seventh. Starting from the fourth row in the main event Statler battled it out with various drivers on the very tacky and hooked up 3/8 mile clay oval.
Things got crazy midway through the feature however, as a handful of drivers were taken out of the equation due to different problems. A red flag appeared on lap 18 and when the racing got back underway Statler found himself sitting in the third position for the restart. Going into turn one after the green lights came back onto the speedway the Los Gatos driver powered underneath Kyle Hirst to take over the runner-up spot.
Statler then proceeded to close in on leader Bud Kaeding and on a couple of different occasions it looked like he might be able to get by, but the opening never came and he drove on to finish second, scoring his best finish of the Golden State Challenge Series season. “I thought we might have had a chance at Bud in traffic, but he just got through it a little better than I did at the end,” Statler said. “But hey we gave it a shot and ended up second so we’ll take it and move on from here. I want to thank my team for getting the car good in the main event and also want to thank all the fans for coming out and braving the cold,” he concluded.
Statler is scheduled to be at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway this coming Saturday for another Golden State Challenge Series event. Stay tuned to http://www.statlerracing.com for updates.
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