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EVENTFUL NIGHT SEES LARSON SECOND TO TIM KAEDING IN JOHNNY KEY CLASSIC
Watsonville, CA – August 28, 2010. Just as he did the week previous when he was crowned King of California of the Golden State Challenge Series, Kyle Larson was looking to add his name to a prestigious list of drivers when he competed in one of California’s most heralded races, the Johnny Key Classic. Although Larson gave Tim Kaeding all he could handle over the course of the last 20 of a scheduled 50 laps at Ocean Speedway Saturday night, the 18 year old from Elk Grove, California came up just shy of victory in a thrilling duel with the World of Outlaw veteran.
The Taco Bravo 360 Series sanctioned event is the highlight of the season at Ocean Speedway and honors the memory of local legend and national star Johnny Key, who hailed from nearby Salinas. The 50th running of the race featured, as always, a format that has drivers pre-qualify for the big race over the course of several weeks.
This year’s event saw Larson as the first pre-qualified entrant when he won the main event on June 25th. When he also won round two on July 17th second place finisher Ronnie Day moved in as the next entrant. Feature winners of rounds three and four, Tommy Tarlton and T. Kaeding, were joined by the two highest drivers in the track’s season long point standings not already locked in, Brent Kaeding and Peter Murphy.
Prior to those six drivers gracing the speedway, qualifying and twin B-mains were held for the other 25 cars on hand. After Andy Gregg ? turned the fastest qualifying lap, Brad Furr and Justin Sanders paced the 16 final entrants into the feature event by each scoring wins in their respective B-mains.
Following the completion of the semi-features the six locked in drivers drew for starting positions in a six lap dash that would set the lineup of the first three rows of the Key classic. Larson had his work cut out when he drew the number six pill, with Tarlton drawing the pole over Day, B. Kaeding, Murphy, and T. Kaeding. When the checkered fell Tarlton scored the win over BK, TK, Day, Larson and Murphy.
The half century lap race is set up to have a mid point 15 minute break in which competitor’s crews can do virtually anything to improve the performance of the race car over the last half of the race. Little did anyone know at the outset that a complete engine change would add much drama to the proceedings.
With the feature finally underway BK jumped out to the lead as Tarlton slipped to fourth as he fought early handling woes. Day and TK followed as Larson fell into seventh behind Murphy and Sanders. By lap four Larson drove under Sanders and around Murphy to advance to fifth.
Over the next few laps Larson began to reel in the lead foursome as the action at the front was furious. As the lead pack began lap nine Larson had a run on the bottom of the frontstretch as Tarlton looked to make something happen with Day. Just when Larson appeared to have the momentum to carry past Tarlton, the Easton, California driver made a dramatic move to the low side that contacted the Stadelhofer Construction/Peppermill Casino sponsored car and sent it veering into the implement tire in turn one.
At the same time that Larson was unable to keep his mount running Cory Eliason flipped in turn four to bring the race’s first stoppage. With the race reverting back to the last completed lap officials ruled that Larson would return to the race where he was scored at that point, which was fifth.
When the race resumed TK powered ahead of father BK to take the lead. As BK began to experience a faltering powerplant, Tarlton and Larson both powered by lap on 16. When the same top four and the rest of the field reached the lap 25 red flag period, the fans did not expect what was in store as crews went to work on the cars directly in front of them on the front straightaway.
Taking advantage of the unique format of the race BK’s crew of “Hogs” raced out onto the speedway to try to accomplish the near impossible by changing engines during the break. Amazingly pushing off to restart even before other racers, BK rejoined the race still holding fourth.
At the same time, a curious decision added to the drama as fans were informed that Larson would be set back due to officials rescinding their earlier ruling that gave the youngster his spot back at the lap 8 red flag. As a puzzling compromise, Larson was dropped to sixth on the restart.
As the field roared back to life Larson appeared more determined than ever as he raced past Day on lap 27 and fourth place Sanders on lap 29. As Tarlton and BK were trading slide jobs for second and third Larson sat poised to pounce on both.
Coming out of turn four for the completion of lap 31 Larson drove under BK and then disposed of Tarlton just a few feet later on lap 32. He quickly pulled away and set out for TK. When the yellow flag appeared a lap later only one lapped car separated Larson from the leader.
Over the latter stages of the race Larson shadowed TK and on many occasions raced side by side. The thrilling battle, with TK running the high side and Larson looking for traction on the bottom, got more intense as the laps clicked off, with a winner clearly undecided.
When the final yellow flag appeared as the leaders were battling on the last lap, the race became a 51 lap event as track rules provide a two lap race to the finish in that situation. At the final restart third running Tarlton got a great push and Larson lost ground to TK as he fought to hold second. Successfully resuming command of the runnerup position over the last pair of laps Larson crossed the finish line one second behind the jubilant TK.
When interviewed after the race Larson stated, “Congratulations to Tim. He was real smart under the yellow when we had to go through the infield and he would spray loose dirt onto the bottom. Then I got kind of startled by Tommy on that last restart and sort of lost my shot at Tim. But I got a third here last year and now a second, so maybe the trend will lead me to winning this race next year.”
Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by Stadelhofer Construction, The Peppermill ~ Resort ~ Spa ~ Casino ~ Reno, Kaeding Performance, Safety Solutions, Simpson Race Products, JW Web Design and All Star Performance.
For more information and news on Kyle Larson please visit www.kylelarsonracing.com.
Race: August 28, 2010
Photos Courtesy of Shane Muir
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