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(Photo courtesy Jon Paquet www.paquetphotography.com)
Murphy Wins Bud Stanfied Memorial; Tommy Tarlton Holds Onto GLR Point Lead
By Gary Costa
Watsonville, CA – Santa Maria, CA (October 9-10, 2009) – Tarlton Motorsports turned in another stellar weekend of sprint car racing this weekend. Tommy Tarlton finished fourth in the 30-lap GLR Investments Sprint Car feature event October 9 at John Prentice's Ocean Speedway. By finishing in fourth place, he maintains the point lead with one race to go over Brent Kaeding. And Peter Murphy drove to victory for his eighth win of the season by claiming the Bud Stanfield Memorial at Chris Kearns' Santa Maria Speedway, claiming the last West Coast 360 Non-Wing Sprint Car race of the season at the track.
Tarlton's night started off with him qualifying the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Tarlton & Son, Inc. No. 21 in the tenth position out of the 34 cars that tipped the clock. With every point counting toward the championship, Tarlton would rip around the speedway in his heat race, following Kaeding across the line in third. Kaeding would gain one point in the standings on Tarlton.
Paul Baines and the team made the appropriate changes to the car for the 30-lap feature, and when the green flag dropped, Tarlton was on a charge all the while keeping Kaeding in his sights. Tarlton made certain that "BK" didn't get too far out of range, and was challenging him for the third position. Time would run out however, and Tarlton would finish in the fourth spot – right behind Kaeding. Tarlton would lose one more point, and now holds the GLR points lead by a five points heading into the last event.
"You can never count out Brent (Kaeding). He is always on the gas, and I'm doing my best to keep up with him," said Tarlton. "My crew did a great job tonight, and we'll just get ready to battle it out in the last race. I want to thank the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino – they've been great to us, as have all of our sponsors."
Peter Murphy was up next, and the veteran gasser didn't disappoint as he came close to bringing out the broom and sweeping the show in the Bud Stanfield Memorial race held at Santa Maria Speedway. The track has been a good one for Murphy and Tarlton Motorsports, as Peter has claimed three features this season on the racy surface.
Murphy qualified the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Tarlton & Son, Inc. No 21, second out of the 24 cars that took time. In his heat race, Murphy started fourth and pulled away to a convincing win, winning the event going away.
The potent No. 21 would slide into its fourth starting spot, and at the drop of the green flag, he outran fellow outside front row starter, Albert Pombo, into the first turn. From there it looked like Murphy would run away with the event, however, veteran Davey Pombo had other plans and began to put pressure on Murphy in the latter stages of the race. Murphy would be able to hold the charging D. Pombo off, and lead all 30-laps of the exciting race.
"My guys did a great job. Davey (Pombo) was right there at the end," Murphy explained. "It's an honor to win this race, and I can't thank all of our sponsors enough. Chris (Kearns) is doing a great job with the track, and we have a great time every time that we race here."
The Tommy Tarlton vs. Brent Kaeding show will pick up once again this Friday at Ocean Speedway to decide who will be the 2009 GLR Investments Series champion.
Tarlton Motorsports efforts are supported by: The Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Ridgeline Framing, Shark Racing Engines, Matt & Glass, M & S Motorsports, Sharp Insurance, McLellan Equipment, Elite Racing, BG Products, Pro Signs, VMAC, Kaeding Performance, Pro Shocks, Sander Engineering, Astro Titanium, Simpson, BR Motorsports, Willwood, and Brown & Miller Racing Solutions.
Be sure to follow Tarlton Motorsports on the web at www.tarltonandson.com
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