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Tulare Thunderbowl hosts Golden State Challenge Series and Western States Modifieds on Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA - April 22, 2008…The Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will be back in action this Saturday April 26 with an exciting night of competition showcasing the Golden State Challenge Series 410 Sprint Cars and the Western States Modifieds. It will begin the busiest stretch of the season for the special event track, with racing occurring every other weekend over the next month at the exciting 1/3 mile clay oval.
The traveling Golden State Challenge 410 Winged Sprint Car Series has competed in eight nights of racing so far this year, including one already at the Thunderbowl held back on March 29. Overall the schedule for the series features 22 events held all around the Northern California area, with them running in a number of different parts of the state throughout the season. The Golden State Challenge Series sees some of the widest varieties of tracks and regions of any traveling sprint car club on the west coast and at the end of July they will crown the “King of California.”
Sitting atop the points coming into Tulare this weekend is ’06 King of California Jonathan Allard from Chico. The 31 year-old has been extremely consistent this season, but is also coming off his first DNF of the year last weekend during the GSC event in Petaluma. Allard was battling for the top spot in the feature when the leader and a lap car got together, which left him with nowhere to go. He currently holds a 33 point lead in the GSC standings and will look for his first series win of the season on Saturday aboard the Oakhurst based Williams Motorsports No. 0.
Finishing third last weekend and chopping 17 points off Allard’s lead was first year GSC full-timer Mike Henry of Sacramento. Henry, who has already won a main event this season with the series, finished sixth during the last Thunderbowl Raceway event, which marked one of his career best finishes at the 1/3 mile clay oval. He has shown much speed so far during his first season behind the wheel of the HMH Motorsports No. 93 and will look to pick up more ground in the points on Saturday.
Defending King of California Brent Kaeding has moved to third in the points aboard his Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69 and will look for his first win of the season this weekend. Kaeding won eight main events with the Golden State Challenge Series last year, including three at the Thunderbowl, but has yet to crack victory lane in ’08. The 13-time champ finished third last month at the Tulare County Fairgrounds facility and is coming off the event in Petaluma which saw him crash with 12 laps remaining, but charge back with authority to finish 11th.
A driver looking for a better outing at the Thunderbowl this time around is Los Angeles’ Tyler Walker who scored a DNQ last month due to mechanical issues that caused him to scratch from the B-main. Walker was leading last Saturday nights main event when contact with a lap car knocked him out of the running and dropped him to fourth in points, eight behind Kaeding for third. Walker and the SC Motorsports team have been very fast this year though and the Thunderbowl Raceway should be a great venue for his hard charging driving style.
Coming off his first victory of the season Campbell’s Bud Kaeding currently rounds out the top five in the Golden State Challenge Series standings. The 28 year-old is just one point back of Walker for fourth after his big win last Saturday in Petaluma and comes into Tulare on the strength of three consecutive top five finishes. The two-time and defending USAC Silver Crown champ drove his BK Motorsports No. 29 to a 10th place finish at the Thunderbowl last month.
Scott’s Valley’s Evan Suggs has also finished in the top five three straight weeks and currently ranks sixth in the points aboard the Suggs Racing No. 33e. The 21 year-old driver is just 13 points out of the top five and has performed very well all month long. Los Gatos racer Jason Statler is coming off a runner-up finish in Petaluma and sits seventh in the standings. The driver of the DF Rios Construction No. 00 didn’t compete at the Thunderbowl last month, but plans to be in competition this weekend.
Other possible drivers for Saturday will include Clovis’ Peter Murphy, Fresno’s Craig Stidham & Mark Workentine, Easton’s Tommy Tarlton, Loomis’ Kyle Hirst, Tipton's Danny Faria Jr, Caruther’s Garrett Ishii, Fremont’s Brent Bjork, Discovery Bay’s Jim Skinner, Gilroy’s Ken Fredenburg, Tracy’s Jason Botsford and more.
The Western States Modifieds are in store for a big night of wheel to wheel action at the Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday with the main event paying $1,500 to win. The extra money is coming in courtesy of Little Darlin’s Child Care, which is located in Bakersfield, CA. The last WSM race at the Thunderbowl saw Brian Cass pick up the win over Paul Stone and former Late Model driver Vance Beltran. All of the drivers will be getting tuned up for the big $20,000 to win 2nd annual U.S. Western Modified Nationals held at the Thunderbowl on September 25, 26 and 27.
The front gate will open up at 5 pm this Saturday with reserved grandstand tickets costing only $18 and general admission bleacher tickets just $15. Log onto http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com to view a seating chart and then call (559) 688-0909 to get the seats you want. The Thunderbowl Raceway is located at the Tulare County Fairgrounds on the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare.
Upcoming events- The Tulare based facility will be right back in action Mothers Day weekend on May 10 with the annual running of the Chris & Brian Faria Memorial, featuring the GSC Sprints and WSM Mods. Then two weeks later the USAC CRA Wingless 410 Sprints will invade the Thunderbowl for the second annual Salute to Indy.
The Golden State Challenge Series will head for the hills next weekend with an event on Saturday May 3 at the American Valley Speedway in Quincy. For a rundown of the GSC point standings visit http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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