This message was edited on
August 18, 2009 at
05:30:16 PM by Gary Thomas
Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series season finale this Saturday night August 22 at Placerville Speedway/ Tyler Walker & SC Motorsports looking for first King of California title
By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – August 18, 2009…After kicking off the season in late-March at the Placerville Speedway the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series season has come full circle and will conclude the 2009 year this Saturday evening at the track located on the El Dorado County Fairgrounds known for its distinctive red-clay, high-banks and close competition.
The Placerville Speedway is the closest that the Golden State Challenge Series gets to the capital city of Sacramento, which is located just 40 minutes from the track and regularly plays host to packed crowds and loyal fans whenever big events come its way. The event on Saturday will also mark the first time since 2000 that the series, which annually crowns the King of California, will end the season at a track other than Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway.
The man that won the most recent visit to the Placerville Speedway is also the driver that will lead the Golden State Challenge Series into the final event of the season looking to bring home his first career King of California title, with that being the always exciting Tyler Walker of Los Angeles. The 30 year-old wheel-man of the SC Motorsports, NMI Industrial Contractors No. 24 will bring a 21-point lead into the red-clay bullring this Saturday as he'll be searching for his ninth GSC win of the season to put a cap on the title.
Walker this past week also finished 14th in the main event at the Knoxville Nationals after running an impressive fifth on his preliminary night. "This isn't exactly the finish we wanted obviously, but we ran strong all week and I'm proud of that," Walker said in his team's press release. "We'll just go onto Placerville and try to put a period on the GSC season because we want this championship bad." Walker's eight wins with the traveling 410 sprint car tour this season is one shy of breaking the all-time record and he'll certainly be gunning to make history on Saturday at a track that is the closest to his Sacramento area based Scott & Kathy Chastain owned team.
The driver that chased Walker to the finish line in Placerville on May 30 is Chico's Jonathan Allard, who comes into the Golden State Challenge Series finale 21 digits behind Walker for the lead. The two-time King of California took over the GSC point lead on Memorial Day Weekend, before losing it back Walker on July 11 in what has been a tremendously close back-and-fourth battle for much of the season. Allard has picked up one victory with the series this year, with that win coming at the annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial in May.
Allard also brought home a 15th place finish in last weeks Knoxville Nationals to give the Golden State Challenge Series a pair of regular's in the top 15, during an event that saw a total of 107 drivers in competition. The pilot of the Williams Motorsports, K&N Filters No. 0 has been very strong at the Placerville Speedway in recent years having scored seven finishes of second or better in the past 10 GSC stops at the track. Allard's nine fast-time efforts this season also lead the series in that category.
Thirteen-time King of California Brent Kaeding opened the Golden State Challenge Series season in victory lane at the Placerville Speedway in March and comes into the finale sitting third in the standings. "BK" has driven his Al's Roofing, Kaeding Performance No. 69 machine to four victories this year with GSC to run his career win total with the series up to 83 as the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Member has put together another strong season of competition. Kaeding also currently sits atop the GLR 360 track standings at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville.
Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs will look to solidify the fourth spot in the Golden State Challenge Series standings on Saturday at the helm of his Suggs Racing, Lucas Oil Products No. 33e mount. During the season opener at Placerville in March the 22 year-old tied Tim Kaeding's all-time track record with a clocking of 9.913 in qualifying and then tallied a career best finish at the track by running fifth in the main event. Suggs has had a solid last couple months of the season as he continues to search for his first career GSC victory.
Seventeen-year-old Kyle Larson of Elk Grove will look to lock up the Rookie of the Year Award this weekend as he finishes off his first full year with the Golden State Challenge Series. Larson sits fifth in the points and has been impressive at every track the tour has visited as he's adapted to virtually every surface in no time at all aboard his Vertullo Racing, Starr Property Management No. 83v. The youngster scored a fifth place finish after starting from the sixth row in the most recent GSC event in Placerville and he'll look for his second career win with the series on Saturday.
Loomis, CA's Kyle Hirst has been one of the hottest drivers on the west coast in recent weeks and will look to pick up his third Golden State Challenge Series victory of the season this weekend. The 21 year-old driver of the GP Development, Summit Airworks No. 6 has won a total of seven main events this season, including GSC victories at the Salute to Walter T Ross in Calistoga and the Tribute to Gary Patterson in Chico. Hirst is also currently on a streak of three wins in the last four races at the Silver Dollar Speedway.
Grass Valley's Jason Statler has had a strong season, yet is still searching for that first GSC win of the year, which he'll look to accomplish this weekend behind the wheel of his Statler Racing, DF Rios Construction No. 00. The former King of California has scored a trio of runner-up finishes this season with GSC, including the season opener in Placerville. Local driver Andy Gregg has also had a solid season in limited starts with GSC having tallied four top-five finishes in seven appearances aboard his Guts Racing, Dale Miller Plumbing No. 16x. Included in those finishes is a pair of third place efforts in the two GSC Placerville events so far this year and he'll look for his first career series win at his home track on Saturday.
Auburn's Andy Forsberg will be gunning to win his first Placerville Speedway Golden State Challenge Series main event on Saturday. "Mr. Excitement" has won four main events in his GSC career, but none have come at the track he calls home and he'll look to finally breakthrough on Saturday to also end a winless drought with the series that dates back to 2004. Forsberg this year has eight feature wins overall, with six of those coming in Placerville aboard his A&A Motorsports, K&N Filters No. 92.
Saturday's event will also mark the return of Princeton's Mason Moore, who was injured in a hot lap crash in Chico on May 23. The 18 year-old will be behind the wheel of the familiar Friends & Family Racing, A.R.T. Enterprise No. x1, a car that won the 2003 & '04 Placerville Speedway track titles with former driver David Robinson Jr. Moore last season finished third in the Silver Dollar Speedway 410 standings with a pair of victories.
Other possible entrants on hand Saturday will include Ripon's Brandon Carey, Australian super-star Robbie Farr, Fremont's Brent Bjork, Elk Grove's Greg Decaires, Chico's Brad Bumgarner, Nevada City's Pat Harvey and more. The front gate will open at 5pm on Saturday night with qualifying scheduled to get underway around 6 and racing at 6:30. All seating will be general admission during the night with adult tickets costing $16, juniors $11 and children $5.
An early arrival to the track will be recommended as the crowd is routinely large for any special event at the Placerville Speedway. The high-banked quarter-mile clay oval is located at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville. For more information on the track visit http://www.placervillespeedway.com and for more on the Golden State Challenge Series log onto http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com
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Los Angeles, CA's Tyler Walker will bring a 21-point lead into the Golden State Challenge Series season finale this Saturday night at the Placerville Speedway as he looks to lock up his first career King of California title. Walker will also be looking to drive his SC Motorsports, NMI Industrial Contractors No. 24 to his ninth victory of the year with GSC to set a new all-time single-season win record. Photo by http://www.stevesracingphotos.com
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