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Jason Statler moves into tie for 8th on all-time GSC win list with Petaluma victory
By Gary Thomas
Petaluma, CA – June 7, 2008…Los Gatos driver Jason Statler used some hard driving as well as a bit of good fortune early on in the main event Saturday night at the Petaluma Speedway and led the final 24 laps of 30 lap feature to pick up his first Golden State Challenge Series win since Memorial Day weekend of last year.
Statler has had an admittedly tough start to the season, but has been gaining ground in recent weeks with some strong performance out of his Mark Bristow led team. “We really needed a win and this feels great to be back up here,” the former King of California said. “I want to thank Dave Rios and this whole team for working so hard this year and I also want to thank all you fans for coming out tonight.”
The 30 lap main event started out with pole sitter Tim Kaeding of San Jose jumping out into the lead. Kaeding was in search of his third straight GSC main event win, but hopes of that were dashed with a broken driveshaft occurring on a lap three restart. While he was slowing after the problem occurred it stacked the field up and left Sacramento’s Mike Henry with nowhere to go and ended with his No. 93 machine getting upside down to bring out a red flag.
With Kaeding out of the race it bumped up Los Angeles’ Tyler Walker into the top spot and he would hold the lead for three circuits after going back green, before tangling with a lap car in turn four. Walker came to a stop and restarted, but was involved in another incident with the same lap car later in the race to put an end to his night. After all that madness was done with Statler now found himself out in front of the race and had to deal with a number of cautions and reds, in addition to a fast moving Brent Kaeding late in the going.
The main event on this night was virtually identical with last week’s as an inordinate amount of stoppages were seen and slowed the flow of the race. The track had become a one lane expressway on the bottom as well and made passing opportunities almost impossible as the race wore on. An open red was seen on the 24th lap and allowed teams to add fuel with the extra amount of caution laps that were run.
After going back green Statler continued to hold the lead and although “BK” applied some pressure towards the final few laps, the driver of the DF Rios Construction No. 00 never faltered and drove under Willie Williams’ checkered flag for his eighth career GSC victory. The win moved Statler into a tie with Sean Becker for eighth on the all-time Golden State Challenge Series win list and was a much needed confidence booster for the "Big Guy."
Brent Kaeding hung in for a second place finish during his first GSC start since the Dace Bradway Jr. Memorial a few weekend’s back. “I caught up to Jason there at the end but just couldn’t get by because the track was really tough tonight,” the defending King of California said. “Second place isn’t what we wanted, but I have to congratulate Jason and his team on winning tonight and we’ll be up there before too long.”
Creswell, Oregon’s Roger Crockett made his seventh GSC start of the season and picked up his third podium finish of the year aboard Roger Henderson’s No. 7n. "I haven't been back here in a long time so it's nice to be sitting here on the podium tonight and it was a lot of fun," Crockett said. Loomis’ Kyle Hirst came home fourth in the feature and current point leader Jonathan Allard of Chico ended up fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Bud Kaeding, Peter Murphy, Shawn Arriaga, Bradley Terrell and Evan Suggs.
Allard won the night’s 12 lap B-main rebounding from a heat race crash to transfer into the main event along with Hirst, Mike Benson, Crockett, Mark Workentine and Ken Fredenburg. Tim Kaeding easily won the night’s six lap dash aboard the Tom Rolfe owned No. 10. There were a total of four 10 lap heat races held and they were picked off by Brent Bjork, Shawn Arriaga, Bud Kaeding and Tyler Walker. Mike Henry ripped off a 12.22 in qualifying for his first fast time of the season.
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A-main finish- GSC Round 15- Petaluma Speedway:
Jason Statler, Brent Kaeding, Roger Crockett, Kyle Hirst, Jonathan Allard, Bud Kaeding, Peter Murphy, Shawn Arriaga, Bradley Terrell, Evan Suggs, Dave Lindt, Alissa Geving, Art McCarthy, Brent Bjork, Tyler Walker, Mark Workentine, Ken Fredenburg, Mike Benson, Mike Henry, Colby Copeland, Christian Stover, Tim Kaeding.
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