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Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
Kyle Hirst dominates Salute to Walter T Ross for first career Calistoga Speedway victory Sunday night
By Gary Thomas
Calistoga, CA – May 24, 2009…Loomis, CA's Kyle Hirst put together a dominating flag-to-flag victory in the Walt Ross Memorial at the Calistoga Speedway Sunday night to pick up his second ever Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series win, with it also marking his first career triumph at the Napa County Fairgrounds half-mile.
The 21 year-old throttle-masher started from the outside of the front row in the feature and withstood an early race challenge from San Jose's Tim Kaeding, before proceeding to cruise away from the field for one of the biggest victories of his career. "It feels awesome to get a win here at Calistoga and I just have to thank my car owner Gary Perkins and this whole team because they gave me a great car tonight," said Hirst, whose other career Golden State Challenge Series victory came in 2005 at the Santa Maria Speedway.
The 25 lap A-main began with Hirst getting the jump off turn four, however, going into turn one pole sitter and dash winner Tim Kaeding attempted a super slider to get the lead, but the driver of the GP Development, LRB Manufacturing No. 6 kept his foot in it up high and made a thrilling move to rocket into the lead off the second corner. The first few laps saw Kaeding shadow Hirst as he looked to make it back-to-back wins during the weekend, but his hopes of that came to an end on lap five when steering issues, reportedly caused by a broken bolt, caused him to slow to a stop on the front stretch.
Kaeding was able to restart, but would pull off soon after to put an end to the night for the Roth Motorsports No. 83jr. With Kaeding out of the race Hirst had no worries out front as he pulled away to a sizeable advantage aboard his expertly set-up machine from crew chief Rodney Tiner.
The Loomis racer stretched his lead over the final 20 laps and easily crossed under the checkered flag to claim his first career Calistoga Speedway victory and fourth overall in the 2009 racing season. Hirst leaped from the car and was mobbed by his team, before getting a big hug from his mother Kim as it was one of happiest victory lanes at Calistoga Speedway in sometime. "Calistoga is one of the most important places we go out here and too finally get a win at this place is really great," commented Hirst, whose father Rick won the Calistoga track title in 1986. "I wish my dad was here to see it but I know he'll be real happy when he finds out we won."
The battle for the runner-up spot featured a race long fight between Campbell's Brent Kaeding and Chico's Jonathan Allard, as the two drivers ran closely together for virtually the entire 25 laps of action. "BK" held onto the spot all the way, but had to get his elbows up as Allard put together a number of strong runs on the Al's Roofing Supply No. 69. "We definitely would have liked to win tonight, but we'll take a second because Kyle Hirst did a great job out front," Kaeding said. "We need Kyle and his team out here running with Golden State cause they're really running strong this year and have become one of the top combinations out here."
Allard crossed the stripe in third aboard his Williams Motorsports No. 0 and will leave Calistoga holding a 12 point lead in the Golden State Challenge Series standings as he searches for his third King of California title. "We had a good run tonight and it was fun to race with Brent like that and I think I woke him up there because he really got up on the wheel over the last half of the race," Allard said. "I really have to congratulate Kyle Hirst on getting his first Calistoga win because that's really cool to see."
Some of the most excitement in the main event was turned in by the SC Motorsports No. 24 of Tyler Walker, who charged forward with authority during the 25 lap contest. The Los Angeles driver started 13th on the grid and picked off cars with some thrilling moves to blast through the pack for a fourth place finish at the checkered. It was a solid rebound for Walker after getting upside down in the feature the night before.
Rounding out the top five was 14th starter Bud Kaeding in the Alviso Rock No. 29, who finished third the night before and also brought home a fourth place finish in Friday's Hoosier Hundred with the USAC Silver Crown Series in Indiana. Completing the top 10 were Grass Valley's Jason Statler, Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs, Calistoga's Mike Benson, Ripon's Brandon Carey and Fremont's Shane Golobic.
The Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series will return to action this coming Friday at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California.
For full results from the Calistoga Speedway weekend log onto http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com
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