This message was edited on
April 26, 2010 at
05:37:27 PM by Gary Costa
(Photo courtesy Steve LaMothe www.stevesracingphotos.com)
Tommy Tarlton 'Puts in Work' During Ocean Speedway GSC Stop
By Gary Costa
Watsonville, CA – (April 24, 2010) --- Easton hot shoe Tommy Tarlton continued his streak of strong finishes within the Winged Sprint Car set. Tarlton, who is always hard on the loud pedal, turned-in a masterful driving performance by charging from his 11th starting position to finish third in Golden State Challenge Winged 410 Sprint Car action at Ocean Speedway last Saturday evening.
Tommy has now driven the potent Corporate America Lending, Tarlton & Son, Inc. No. 21 to five consecutive Top-10 finishes. He has racked-up top-ten finishes with the World of Outlaws, the Golden State Challenge Series and the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo. Tarlton has tallied two 3rd place finishes and one 5th place finish in all three GSC races that he's entered.
The defending Ocean Speedway 360 Sprint Car Series champion started his night off by qualifying the family owned Maxim with an uncharacteristic 14.489, immediately putting the veteran driver behind the "eight ball". After qualifying and observation of the racetrack, the Tarlton Motorsports team made adjustments to the car. "We really missed the setup for qualifying, and I know that I will have my work cut out for me the rest of the night, but Paul (Baines) and the guys have made some changes to the car and we will just see what happens," Tarlton said with fire in his eyes.
Bud Kaeding, Kyle Larson and Brad Furr were all in his heat race. When the green flag waved, the front row starting Tarlton jumped out in the lead on the tricky surface and was never headed, en route to victory in his ten-lap heat race. Despite his heat race win, Tarlton would have to start 11th in the feature. During a break in action after the dash, the track crew went to work on the speedway re-working the racing surface. More changes were made to the car during the break, after Tarlton and Baines conferred on what changes to make for the 30-lap feature.
Tarlton slid down in his seat and was pushed to the push-off area where he cinched his belts extra tight. Out on the track, Tommy slid his machine into his 11th starting spot. Larson and Brent Kaeding brought the 21-car starting field down toward the green flag and then drag raced into turn one and charged off of turn two. Tommy was making every move count on the ¼-mile racing surface as laps were being clicked-off at an intense pace, while the racing really began to heat-up.
Tarlton would show all in attendance why he was able to score four-victories last year at the speedway, as he maneuvered the Black No. 21 through lapped traffic and for position, passing cars both high and low on the speedway. On lap-21 Tommy was able to get by Brent Kaeding for third, and he would put the No. 99 of Larson and the No. 29 of Bud Kaeding in his crosshairs. With the two drivers locked into an exciting duel for the lead, Tommy would begin closing in on both of them. Unfortunately laps would run out, and Tarlton would bring home another podium finish for Tarlton Motorsports.
"We didn't get qualified as good as we wanted, but we definitely made up for it in the main event and had a great run," Tommy said over the PA system to the large crowd. "I want to thank my dad, my whole family and crew and all our great sponsors for helping out with this team. We're looking forward to Santa Maria next week and hope all the fans can come down because they'll enjoy it."
Up Next For Tarlton Motorsports!
Tommy will be at Santa Maria Speedway this coming Friday and Saturday. Friday, he will compete with the Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo with a 360 powerplant. Saturday, Tommy will once again be at the helm on the No. 21 - this time with a 410 bullet under the hood for another round of GSC racing.
For schedule information, please go to www.tarltonandson.com
Special thanks to: Corporate American Lending, The Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Ridgeline Framing, Shark Racing Engines, Matt & Glass, M & S Motorsports, Sharp Insurance, Elite Racing, BG Products, Pro Signs, VMAC, Kaeding Performance, Pro Shocks, Sander Engineering, Astro Titanium, Simpson, BR Motorsports, Willwood, and Brown & Miller Racing Solutions.
|
.jpg){kind=icon}
