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Photo by Chucks Pix

Jonathan Allard surges to third career Cotton Classic victory in front of large crowd on Saturday/ Tim Kaeding takes home King of the West 410 Sprints championship

By Gary Thomas

Hanford, CA –
October 15, 2011…Two of the very best sprint car drivers on the west coast
celebrated on the front stretch Saturday night in Hanford, as Chico’s Jonathan
Allard brought home his fourth King of the West 410 victory of the year and San
Jose’s Tim Kaeding became the inaugural KWS champion.

“It’s just a great
feeling to bring home the first California title for Dennis and Teresa Roth,”
said Kaeding after the race. “This was a great year with the King of the West
Series and I owe it all to my guys. Todd, Bonzai and our whole crew busted their
tails every week and gave me a great car at every race.”

The 2002 Golden
State 410 champion ended the year with a King of the West Series-high six
victories aboard the HR Cattle, Roth Motorsports No. 83 Maxim. He also led the
tour in top-five finishes, having only finished outside of the top-five on two
occasions, showing the type of consistency needed to win championships.


“I really have to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth for giving me the
opportunity these last few years, because it’s been a fun ride so far and this
season has been icing on the cake,” he commented. “I also want to give a big
thanks to Dan Simpson for stepping up and making the King of the West a premier
410 series. Hopefully next year we can get more backing and make it even
better.”

For much of the main event on Saturday it looked as if youth
would prevail over experience, with Northwest traveler Trey Starks outgunning
the field from the pole position in his family’s black No. 55 sprinter. The
15-year-old from Puyallup, Washington impressively pulled away from the field on
many occasions, but had a hair-raising first turn, where he got sideways and
nearly spun out.

It resulted however, in outside front row starter Andy
Gregg spinning around and coming to a stop, along with Tim Kaeding. St. Helena’s
Rico Abreu also looped the car on the opposite end of the speedway, forcing him
to the rear of the field after having a third row starting spot.

The
next attempt saw Starks get a clean entry into the first set of corners and lead
the field until a yellow flag with three laps complete. During it T. Kaeding had
the rear end lock up and resulted in his first dnf of the year.

When
things got going again Starks shot to the lead and began to stretch his
advantage over the rest of the pack, whom were fighting for position behind him.
The Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway surface had changed drastically as the night
went on and became very treacherous and slick, which made finesse paramount to
cutting good laps.

A yellow on lap 17 then changed the complexion of the
race and tightened up the battle for the top-spot. When the green flag waved
Easton’s Tommy Tarlton showed his muscle and carved the Tachi Palace No. 21
mount into the lead. It didn’t last long though as Starks continued his
impressive night and went right back around Tarlton shortly after to re-take the
point.

It soon became an exciting three-way tussle with two-time Golden
State 410 champ Jonathan Allard entering the mix at the helm of his familiar
Morrie and Katie Williams’ No. 0 machine. The 3/8 mile clay oval then started to
take rubber more and more in the later stages, making speeds go up all around
the speedway.

Using his experience from racing all around the globe
Allard charged hard after the top-two and on lap 24 sliced underneath Tarlton
for second.

The three-time & reigning Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup
winner then tracked down Starks and coming off turn four on lap 26 made a great
move to cut to the bottom and steal the lead away. After that it was clear
sailing for Allard, who took the Willie Williams checkered flag by 2.788 seconds
and claim his third career “Cotton Classic” victory. It was also his 28th career
Golden State 410 triumph, which ties Steve Kent for third on the all-time win
list.

“It’s been a back and forth season for us so to be able to finish
the year with another win at the Cotton Classic is a great feeling,” said
Allard, who also won the KWS season-opener in April. “That was an awesome race
right there and I have to thank my whole team and my car owners Morrie and Katie
Williams. I want to dedicate this win to Carwash Mike Avilla. I tried to get a
win for him a couple weeks ago, but that didn’t work out so I’m glad I could get
it tonight.”

Starks and Tarlton had the huge crowd on their feet as they
fought it out for second in lapped traffic. Tarlton got around the youngster
with only a few laps left, but the Northwest driver executed a beautiful
maneuver off the fourth corner on the final lap to narrowly get the runner up
spot. It was a very strong outing for Starks, who has limited starts in Hanford.
Thirteen-time Golden State 410 champion Brent Kaeding had a solid night and came
home in fourth to wrap up the third spot in the KWS standings.

Also
having a nice run in the main event was ’04 series champ Jason Statler, who came
home in fifth to lock up the fifth position in the King of the West standings.
New daddy Willie Croft ironically crossed the line in sixth to solidify the
sixth spot in the KWS points. Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan finished seventh in the
feature after starting from row seven. Wooster, Ohio’s Jac Haudenschild earned
the Pit Stop USA hard charger award by coming from 18th to eighth, with the
remainder of the top-10 being comprised of Brad Furr and Peter Murphy.


The evenings Last Chance Qualifier was picked off by Willie Croft and
the Grants Fine Art/ KSE Racing Products dash was won by Trey Starks. The four
Richmond Gear Weekend Warrior heat races were captured by Andy Gregg, Rico
Abreu, Kyle Hirst and Trey Starks. The night was started off by Jonathan Allard
earning his series high fifth Grants Fine Art fast time award of the season with
a lap of 13.167.

On behalf of us all at the Golden State King of the
West 410 Sprint Car Series we’d like to thank everyone for their support this
year and look forward to a great 2012 campaign. This season we had 17 full time
teams compete with KWS and the support from our teams meant a lot to all of us.
Thank you to all the fans and sponsors that made this year a great one. Best of
luck to all who are competing at next weekends Trophy Cup in Tulare.


Remember to stay glued to http://www.kwssprints.com for updates throughout the
off-season and information regarding our championship awards banquet that is
tentatively scheduled for the last weekend in January.

-------------

Jonathan Allard picked up his 28th career Golden
State 410 victory & tied fellow two-time series champion Steve Kent for third on the all-time win list. It was also the Chico drivers third Cotton Classic win since 2005 and his fourth triumph of the KWS season.

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Chuck S Pix

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Golden State King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series Results “Cotton Classic” – Saturday October 15, 2011

28-cars

Fast time: Jonathan Allard

Heat one: Andy Gregg, Bobby McMahan, Jonathan Allard, Tommy Tarlton,
Brent Bjork, Sean McMahan, Eli Deshaies

Heat two: Rico Abreu, Jason
Statler, Evan Suggs, Kenny Allen, Andy Forsberg, Danielle Simpson, Pat
Harvey

Heat three: Kyle Hirst, Peter Murphy, Brad Furr, Jac Haudenschild,
Willie Croft, Gary Paulson, Koen Shaw

Heat four: Trey Starks, Tim
Kaeding, Brent Kaeding, Cody Lamar, Doug Gandy, Mark Barroso

Dash: Trey
Starks, Andy Gregg, Jonathan Allard, Evan Suggs, Rico Abreu, Tommy Tarlton,
Brent Kaeding, Kyle Hirst

LCQ: Willie Croft, Sean McMahan, Koen Shaw,
Andy Forsberg, Gary Paulson, Eli Deshaies,

Amain: Jonathan Allard, Trey
Starks, Tommy Tarlton, Brent Kaeding, Jason Statler, Willie Croft, Bobby
McMahan, Jac Haudenschild, Brad Furr, Peter Murphy, Andy Gregg, Rico Abreu, Cody Lamar, Evan Suggs, Sean McMahan, Kenny Allen, Eli Deshaies, Mark Barroso, Koen Shaw, Gary Paulson, Kyle Hirst, Tim Kaeding

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com

Jonathan Allard set fast time and won the main event on Saturday, but missed out on third in the KWS standings by just four-markers to Brent Kaeding. Photo by Paul Trevino.

www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com