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Jason Statler has tough Hanford GSC weekend
By Gary Thomas
Hanford, CA - March 19, 2007... "The Big Guy" Jason Statler continued to show immense speed in the Tom Rolfe Trucking Special at Kings Speedway this past weekend, but a pair of unfortunate incidents in both A-main’s put a damper on the two nights of action.
Qualifying for Jason and the team was a big improvement at Kings Speedway and he opened the weekend on Friday night by turning a 13.752, placing the Tom Rolfe Trucking, DF Rios Construction, Pheasant Run Shopping Center No. 10, tenth quick overall. The San Jose driver then started outside the second row in heat race number two. He fell into line fourth and on lap seven made the move into third where he would go on to finish.
Jason lined up 10th for the 30 lap Golden State Challenge Series main event. He was on the hammer as the green flag waved and moved forward immediately. By lap seven he was up to sixth and had found a groove to his liking. Lap 10 saw disaster strike however, as he went for opening that closed up and it resulted in Jason flipping wildy off of turn one. On Saturday he mentioned that the crash remarkably didn’t hurt all that bad and joked that it was one of the easier ones he’s taken in recent years. It was scary from a spectators point of view though as he got some serious air before coming crashing down to the ground. It put an unfortunate end to a night that looked to be going very good for the team.
Saturday brought about warm temps near 90 during the day and it gave the competitors a slick surface all night long. Jason came out 15th in the qualifying order and you could tell how much more comfortable in the car he was as opposed to last weekend’s qualifying sessions. His lap of 14.331 put him eighth overall out of the 31 cars that took times.
Jason lined up fifth in the third heat race and settled into fourth on the start. "The Big Guy" moved the Platinum Powder Coating, BR Motorsports, Weld Racing No. 10 into third on lap two and charged into second on lap four. One lap later he lost the second position to Jonathan Allard but Jason kept at it and was able to get by Garrett Ishii on the last lap for second, who had just gotten passed by Allard a lap earlier.
For the first time this season Jason was able to get into the six lap dash, which sets the first four rows of the main event. Jason finished seventh in the dash to earn an inside row number four starting spot.
The No. 10 car was fast at the start of the 30 lap feature and he diced it up with J. Allard early on. After trading the fifth spot a couple of times, Jason and Allard made contact off of turn four on lap 13, which ended with Jason getting bounced around and tipping onto his side. Jason had to go in and out of the pits a few different times to get things right on the car and ended up finishing 13th.
After four races Jason sits sixth in the Golden State Challenge Series point standings, 33 out of the lead. Jason and the team have been fast at every race and if they continue to qualify like they did in Hanford, it’ll only be a matter of time before they end up in victory lane.
The next race on Jason’s schedule is this Saturday at the Placerville Speedway bullring for the fifth round of Golden State Challenge Series action. Placerville has always been good to Jason as he’s gotten around the high-banked red clay 1/4 mile very well in recent years. The first GSC win of Jason’s championship year in 2004 came at Placerville Speedway and winning this weekend would be a great way to make up some points towards the championship this season.
For more info on 2004 Golden State Challenge King of California Jason Statler visit www.statlerracing.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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