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Thunderbowl Raceway hosts Golden State Challenge Series this Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA - March 27, 2007... The Golden State Challenge King of California Series will make its first visit of the season to Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway this Saturday night March 31. It will be the second event of the season for Thunderbowl Raceway after hosting the World of Outlaws Sprint Series in late February.
The Golden State Challenge Series stop this weekend will be one of four season visits by California’s premier 410 winged sprint car organization at the racy 1/3 mile clay oval. Last year GSC ran in a total of five nights at Thunderbowl Raceway with the only repeat winner being 12 time King of California Brent Kaeding.
Saturday’s event marks the sixth round of competition for the traveling Golden State Challenge Series and on top of the point standings coming into Tulare is 2005 King of California Sean Becker of Oroville. Becker took over the top spot in the points following a third place finish last Saturday in Placerville and leads all drivers with four top five finishes. To put into perspective how well Becker has performed, his worst finish this season is sixth, which came on opening night where he started the feature in 20th. Last year Becker sat aboard the Family Auto Service No. 98x for all five GSC Tulare races, but this season he will be behind the wheel of the potent Fisher/Main Motorsports, Cherry St. Mini Storage No. 35m machine. Becker primarily drove the 35m last season at Silver Dollar Speedway and captured his biggest career win with the team last May when he picked up the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. The combination has only been together for a year but they’ve quickly become one of the top teams on the West Coast.
The Williams Motorsports, GT Trends No. 0 of Chico’s Jonathan Allard is now in chase mode as he sits second in Golden State Challenge Series points, seven digits behind Becker. Prior to this past weekend’s race in Placerville, Allard hadn’t trailed in the GSC point standings since 2005. Last year he won the opening night feature and led the standings all season. 2007 started out the same way as he won opening night and looked to be on the same pace, but a few night’s of hard luck and the amazing pace of Becker have pushed the defending King of California off the top spot for the time being. Allard will look to rebound at the Thunderbowl, a track he usually runs well at. Last year he led the Thunderbowl Raceway point standings for much of the season before finishing third in the final rundown following a hard crash at the NST point finale in October.
Defending Thunderbowl Raceway track champion Ronnie Day of Salinas will be another strong contender. Day and the Ridgeline Framing, Elite Landscaping No. 1 team recently added Brian Cannon as crew chief and last Saturday in Placerville scored a second place finish during their first night together. Day comes into Tulare sitting 10th in the Golden State Challenge Series points and will look to pick up his first sprint car win since July of 2005. The former King of California had a consistent season en route to the track championship last year, but you can bet a win is something that the 48-year-old father of one wants bad.
The last time Thunderbowl Raceway hosted the Golden State Challenge Series, it was 12-time King of California Brent Kaeding of Campbell picking up the two night sweep of the Pombo/Sargent Classic. The weekend sweep pushed BK’s career GSC win total up to 70, making him the first driver to reach the 70 win plateau in GSC competition. He comes into Tulare sitting third in points, 14 back of Becker for the lead. Kaeding has driven his Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance No. 69 to three top five finishes and four top 10's. BK is the all-time winningest 410 sprint car driver in Thunderbowl Raceway history and has also tasted glory in the 360 ranks at the track, having captured the Trophy Cup in October of 2005.
Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett will be making his second start of the season behind the wheel of the Henderson Motorsports, Island Muffler & Brake No. 7n this Saturday. When the Golden State Challenge Series visited Hanford a couple weekend’s back, Crockett drove the 7n to a victory and a second place finish. He also set fast time on Friday night of the weekend and was lightning quick both night’s.
A talent packed field of nearly 30 cars is expected to be on hand this Saturday and will include: ‘04 King of California Jason Statler of San Jose, Sacramento’s Willie Croft, Chico’s Brett Miller, Fairmont, Indiana’s Brandon Wimmer, Grass Valley’s Brad Sweet, Chico’s Stephen Allard, Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Chico’s Matt Shelton, Tipton’s Mike & Danny Faria Jr, Tracy’s Jason Botsford, Visalia’s Ricci Faria, Gilroy’s Jon Maiwald, Discovery Bay’s Jim Skinner, Fresno’s Craig Stidham, Easton’s Tommy Tarlton, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Kingsburg’s Kody Swanson, Stockton’s Shawn Wright, Fresno’s Mark Workentine and more.
Five winners in five races- So far in 2007 the Golden State Challenge Series has seen five winners in the first five races. Drivers that have won this season include: Brandon Wimmer, Roger Crockett, Brad Sweet, Tim Kaeding and Jonathan Allard.
Also competing during the night will be the Western States Modifieds. The group will compete at Thunderbowl Raceway a total of eight times this season including the three day U.S. Western Modified Nationals in September that pays $20,000 to win. More info on the Western States Modifieds can be found at http://www.westernracer.com
The front gate at the Thunderbowl Raceway will open at 5 pm this Saturday with Reserved Grandstand tickets costing $18 and General Admission bleacher tickets costing $15. To purchase tickets call 559-688-0909. First race is scheduled for approximately 7pm. For a seating chart, directions, a list of hotels and more, log onto http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
For point standings, results and more info on the Golden State Challenge Series visit http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
The Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway is located at the Tulare County Fairgrounds on the corner of Bardsley and J Streets in Tulare.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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