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Thunderbowl Raceway set for Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series & Western States Modifieds this Saturday night May 2
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – April 28, 2009…Racing competition will return to the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway this Saturday night when the exciting 1/3 clay oval plays host to the powerful Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series and the always entertaining Western States Modifieds. This weekend's event will also begin the busiest stretch of the season for the special events track, with racing occurring nearly every other weekend over the next month.
The traveling Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series has competed in five nights of racing so far this year, including one already at the Thunderbowl held a couple weekends ago on April 11.
Overall the schedule for the series features 24 action packed events at 11 different tracks held all around the Northern California area, including two in Oregon and the non-point Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at the Skagit Speedway in Washington. The Golden State Challenge Series sees arguably some of the widest varieties of tracks and regions of any traveling sprint car club on the west coast and at the end of August the "King of California" will be crowned.
Coming into the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway leading the Golden State Challenge Series points on the strength of two consecutive victories is the SC Motorsports, NMI Industrial Contractors No. 24 of Tyler Walker from Los Angeles. The 29 year-old driver has won a total of three main events this season and will bring a six point lead in the standings into the 1/3 mile clay oval.
Walker finished eighth during the GSC visit on April 11 and routinely runs strong at the Thunderbowl having won three main events last season at the track, including one with the Golden State Challenge Series. He also brought home a fourth place finish with the World of Outlaws in March at the Thunderbowl and will look to keep up his torrid pace this Saturday. Walker is always guaranteed to put on a show in Tulare as he's shown no fear in the past of putting his machine right on the ragged edge of the track and that should be the case this weekend as it always is.
Chico's Jonathan Allard has been hot on Walker's heels every step of the way however, as he's finished second during all three of Walker's wins, including last week in Watsonville where he led all but the final lap in the main event. The two-time & defending King of California finished fifth in the April 11 event at the Thunderbowl, which also happened to be the lone time this season that he hadn't been in position to challenge for a win. Every other race has seen Allard put himself in position to get into victory lane and he'll look to seal the deal for the first time this season with GSC on Saturday aboard his Williams Motorsports, Sharp Insurance No. 0.
Thirteen-time King of California Brent Kaeding is always strong at the Thunderbowl Raceway and will come into this weekend sitting third in points, just 11 back of Walker for the top spot. The Campbell veteran finished sixth at the first GSC event in Tulare and is coming off a season that saw him win the Pombo-Sargent Classic at the Thunderbowl for the third straight year and 10th time overall in his storied career. Kaeding is tied with Allard for the most top five finishes this season and has scored one victory on the year with GSC at the helm of his Al's Roofing Supply, High Five Pizza No. 69.
Coming into the weekend fourth in points is Golden State Challenge Series Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Larson of Elk Grove. The driver of the Vertullo Racing, Starr Property Management No. 83v had a very impressive night at the Thunderbowl on April 11 as he ran strong all evening and ultimately ended the night with a third place finish in the main event. The 16 year-old charger has tallied three consecutive top five finishes and is closing in on his first career series win, which he'll look to make happen in Tulare on Saturday.
Rounding out the top five in the standings is the DF Rios Construction, YAK Graphics No. 00 of Jason Statler. The Grass Valley driver & former King of California finished a very strong second at the Thunderbowl on April 11 and has had a solid start to the year, but is coming off an event in Watsonville that saw a possible top five finish taken away due to a flat tire with just 11 laps left in the feature. In his career Statler has one win at the 1/3 mile clay oval, with that coming at the Chris Faria Memorial in 2005.
Other drivers to look for this Saturday night include Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs, Campbell's Bud Kaeding, Ripon's Brandon Carey, Gilroy's Ken Fredenburg, Easton's Tommy Tarlton, Fresno's Mike Stallings & Mark Workentine, Fremont's Brent Bjork and more.
The Western States Modifieds are geared up for their second race of the season at the Thunderbowl Raceway and Chowchilla's Alex Stanford will look to keep up his momentum and put the No. 98 into victory lane once again after picking up the win on April 11. Stanford used a strong lap 17 restart to shoot by Richard Papenhausen and Brad Pounds en route to claiming victory in the 25 lap feature. A total of 43 cars were on hand for the WSM opener at the 1/3 mile clay oval.
Stanford will be challenged by a number of other drivers on Saturday however, including Papenhausen, Pounds, Bobby Hogge, Paul Stone, Ryan McDaniel, Robby Jeppesen and many more. A solid $1,200 will go to the winner of the night's main event like it is at all WSM shows. For the point standings and more information on the Western States Modifieds please log onto http://www.westernracer.com
The front gate will open at 5pm this Saturday night with qualifying scheduled for 6 and racing at 7. Reserved grandstand tickets will cost only $18 with general admission bleacher seats costing just $15. For more info please log onto http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com or call (559) 688-0909. More info on the Golden State Challenge Series can be found at http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com
Upcoming events- Following this Saturday's event, the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will be right back in action on Saturday night May 16 with the running of the annual Chris & Brian Faria Memorial featuring the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series, the Bandit 360 Wingless Series & the Western States Modifieds. Then after that the USAC/CRA Wingless 410 Sprint Series will invade the 1/3 mile clay oval for an exciting night of racing on Saturday May 30.
The Thunderbowl Raceway is located at the Tulare County Fairgrounds on the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare, Calif
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On the heels of back-to-back wins Los Angeles competitor Tyler Walker will bring his Scott & Kathy Chastain owned No. 24 sprinter into the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway holding a six point lead in the Golden State Challenge King of California Sprint Car Series standings. Johns Racing Photos picture.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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Following this weekend's event in Tulare, the Golden State Challenge King of California Sprint Car Series will head for the biggest night of the season on Saturday evening May 9 with the running of the 19th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial at the Silver Dollar Speedway. It will mark the first GSC visit of the season to the Chico, California based quarter-mile clay oval, located on the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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