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Tight point battle highlights Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series return to Santa Maria Speedway this Saturday for inaugural Doug Fort Memorial/ $500 to start A-main & $1,000 Angello's ATV Rental wheelie contest on tap

By Gary Thomas

Santa Maria, CA – July 8, 2009…The extremely hot Golden State Challenge 410 Series point battle will resume at the cool confines of the Santa Maria Speedway this Saturday night for the inaugural running of the Doug Fort Memorial, which will feature a $1,000 wheelie contest, with $500 going to the winner, $300 to 2nd and $200 for third, as well as added money to the main event making it $500 to start.

The night of racing will mark the first Golden State Challenge Series appearance at the Santa Maria Speedway since 2005 and will honor Doug Fort, who built the track in 1964 and helped mold it into one of the top dirt tracks in the country as the owner/promoter until his passing in 1999. The 1/3 mile clay oval has been named "Best Short Track Operation West of the Mississippi" on two separate occasions and is nestled in a semi amphitheater of natural terrain, sheltered by dense eucalyptus trees at the top and to the back of the bleacher area.

With just seven events remaining in the Golden State Challenge Series season the fight for the King of California title has closed up even tighter after this past weekend's action and now just 12 points separate the top three drivers in the standings going into Saturday's Doug Fort Memorial.

Continuing to sit atop the standings is two-time & defending Golden State Challenge Series champion Jonathan Allard of Chico, who has been a consistency machine this season as he searches for his third King of California title in the last four years. The driver of the Williams Motorsports, Sharp Insurance No. 0 has tallied an amazing 10 podium finishes in the past 11 GSC events and will bring a seven point lead into the Santa Maria Speedway this Saturday night. Allard leads the series this season with six fast-time efforts and will be looking for his second main event victory of the year with the tour at the Doug Fort Memorial.

1978 Santa Maria Speedway Rookie of the Year Brent Kaeding comes into the 1/3 mile clay oval sitting second in the points and will be looking to close the gap between himself and Allard at the track he won his very first career sprint car race at. "BK" has won three main events with GSC this year aboard his Al's Roofing Supply, Angello's ATV Rental No. 69 machine, to push his career win total with the series to 82. In his career Kaeding has also won a main event with the World of Outlaws in Santa Maria, with that victory coming in 1997.

Los Angeles, CA's Tyler Walker comes into Santa Maria third in points and will be gunning for his sixth GSC feature victory of the season at the helm of the SC Motorsports, NMI Industrial Contractors No. 24 sprinter. After a couple weeks' of tough finishes the 29 year-old charger was back in usual form last Saturday night by scoring a strong runner-up finish at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. Walker, who will be celebrating his 30^th birthday next week, goes into the Doug Fort Memorial just 12 digits back of Allard for the points lead and will look to shorten the advantage this weekend.

Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs has never a made a winged sprint car start at the Santa Maria Speedway, but does have non wing experience at the track coming into this weekend. The 22 year-old driver of the Suggs Racing, Lucas Oil No. 33e currently ranks fourth in the Golden State Challenge Series standings and will be searching for a strong run to build momentum towards the end of the GSC season. Suggs continues to look for his first career win with the series and will look to make it happen at the Doug Fort Memorial.

Getting his first taste of the Santa Maria Speedway this weekend will be Golden State Challenge Series rookie driver Kyle Larson, who currently rounds out the top five in the series standings. The Elk Grove racer returned to GSC action and scored a seventh place finish in the main event last Saturday, just one week after a frightening crash at the Tulare Thunderbowl. Larson has driven his Vertullo Racing, Starr Property Management No. 83v to one victory on the season with GSC and will be a strong threat to make it number two this weekend.

Campbell's Bud Kaeding comes into the Doug Fort Memorial with momentum on his side after racing his BK Motorsports, Angello's ATV Rental No. 29 sprint car to his first victory of the Golden State Challenge Series season last weekend in Chico. The current USAC Silver Crown Series point leader has scored six top-five finishes in his last six GSC starts.

Easton's Tommy Tarlton has put together a pair of runner-up finishes with GSC this year aboard his Tarlton & Son Inc, Tachi Palace No. 21 and will be looking for his first 410 victory of the year on Saturday. The veteran driver has been successful at the Santa Maria Speedway in his career having won with the California Rebel Cup 360 Series in the past.

Other possible drivers for Saturday's Doug Fort Memorial will include Ripon's Brandon Carey, Santa Cruz's Kevin Pylant, Sydney, Aus's Trevor Green, Fresno's Craig Stidham, Mike Stallings & Anthony Simone, Fremont's Brent Bjork, Visalia's Danny Faria Jr. Selma's Charlie Louden and more.

The front gate will open at 3pm on Saturday with qualifying scheduled for 5 and racing at 6. Tickets will be $18.00 for adults, $16.00 for seniors and military, $5.00 for children six to twelve and kids five and under are free. The Santa Maria Speedway is a 1/3 mile clay oval, located 12 miles inland from the Pacific coast, three miles north of the city of Santa Maria and is located a 1/4-mile north of the US 101/166 interchange on Hutton Road. The facility is one hundred seventy miles north of Los Angeles and 260 miles south of San Francisco.

More information on the inaugural Doug Fort Memorial can be found at http://www.racesantamariaspeedway.com and http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com

Up next- After this weekend's event the Golden State Challenge Series will head for its second and final appearance of the season at the Antioch Speedway next Saturday night July 18. Following that the series will conclude the month of July with a double-header weekend at Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway, which will feature the 26^th annual Tribute to Gary Patterson on Saturday July 25.

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Jonathan Allard, Brent Kaeding and Tyler Walker are separated by just 12 points at the top of the GSC standings going into the Doug Fort Memorial on Saturday at the Santa Maria Speedway. Photo's by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com

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www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

View of the grandstand area at the beautiful and unique Santa Maria Speedway. Photo by http://www.tohf.com

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Ok these pictures are making me even more excited that I was before! I will need to bring our seats because it looks like they don't have backs on the stands. The stands look small so I want to get there early. Who else is going to Santa Maria?

Looking forward to the new Golden State King of the 
West series schedule! 

Winged sprintcars = the fastest and most exciting 
racecars on dirt! 

They have areas at both the first and fourth corners where you can bring in a lawn chair for seating. It cost a few extra $$, but seems to be worth it. Just FYI. As GT describes above, the track has "semi amphitheater" seating. And every seat is a good one.

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

Kelly pay the extra once inside for the seating in turn 4, it is well worth it and where most families with children sit. Ask when you pay to get in exactly where to go and buy the special seating. Basically rows of wide concrete seating and numbered, you'll have plenty of room for everything for the baby. Most of the racers wives with children sit there. The kids have plenty of room to play and enjoy themselves. Take something comfy, sleeping bag or whatever to sit on. You will have an awesome view of the entire track. I heard it will be only 73 as a high and 54 as a low. It can get quite chilly there, if you've been to Ocean the weather is similar. Bring whatever to keep warm in case. Hope to see you there.

I'll be there, shooting pics from the infield. This will be my first time at SMS under the new management and the first time shooting winged sprints there in a few years!

edit: Like LindaL says, bring warm clothing for when the fog rolls in (or doesn't). SMS is only a couple miles from the beach. Dress like you would for Ocean or Ventura.

Photo website: http://www.chucko.com/photo/
Also see my (ad-free!) sprint car website at:
http://www.chucko.com/racing/sprint-cars.html
Updates coming soon!

This Saturday will see Santa Cruz, CA's Kevin Pylant will make his first Golden State Challenge Series start since June of 2007. "Pyle" has always been solid at the Santa Maria Speedway and is expected to have a 410 underneath the hood this weekend. Photo by http://picasaweb.google.com/jmart16164

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

So glad to see Pyle back can't wait to see how he will do hopefully good!!