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Photo by "Tailgate" Rodriguez
A look back at the 2011 King of the West 410 Sprints Royal Court
Driver Number Two- “The Engineer” Evan Suggs
By Gary Thomas
Rio Vista, CA – January 23, 2012…Continuing to climb the ladder in California 410 Sprint Car racing, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs experienced a career best season in 2011, highlighted by his very first King of the West victory and a second place finish in the series standings.
In fact since 2008 Suggs has improved one position in the Golden State 410 points each year, with a fifth place effort seen in ’08, followed by a fourth in ’09, third in ’10 and now second in ’11.
“We had a great season and to finish second in the points and get a win was a really cool accomplishment for our team,” said Suggs, who concluded his fifth year of competition in a winged sprint car. “It was a fun year with the King of the West Series and probably the toughest fields we’ve had since I got into the winged ranks.”
On the King of the West 410 Series season Suggs had the second most Grant’s Fine Art fast time awards, having set the quickest mark on four separate occasions, including track records at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway and the Antioch Speedway. He also had the third most top-five finishes behind series champion Tim Kaeding and two-time champ Jonathan Allard.
Suggs’ most impressive night of the year came on July 2 at the inaugural “Howard Kaeding Classic” where he won his heat race, the dash and then passed both Tim Kaeding and Tommy Tarlton in the main event to claim his biggest career victory.
“We had come really close in the past so to finally get our first Golden State King of the West win was an awesome thing and to do it at the “HK Classic” made it even better,” commented the 25-year-old Suggs. “Tommy Tarlton and TK don’t get passed very often so to do it in one main event was pretty amazing.”
An interesting stat for the season was the fact that the other drivers in the top-five of points with KWS (Tim Kaeding, Jonathan Allard, Brent Kaeding and Jason Statler) have combined for 18 of the 26 Golden State 410 titles. All four of those drivers have also captured World of Outlaws wins and Suggs is extremely happy to be part of such a stout top-five in points with KWS this past year.
“It’s pretty special to be in a group with guys like that and to finish ahead of some of them is an honor when you look at what they’ve done in this sport,” said Suggs. “I think we showed last year that when we’re on our game we can run with anyone out here and that gives us a lot of confidence going into next season.”
Suggs would like to thank Riley Collins Body Shop, Lucas Oil, Jeff Pippin, S&S Automotive, Brad Scadden, HoservilleCA, their longtime friend and mechanic Brian Poe, Erik Peterson, Jason Riley and everybody for their support this past season and throughout the years.
Suggs also made two appearances on “KWS Tonight” and they can be viewed at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/15873356 and http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13673407
Also visit Suggs Racing on the web at http://www.evansuggs.com
The Golden State King of the West 410 Sprints would like to thank the following companies for their support this season: Goodyear Racing Tires, Kaeding Performance, Pit Stop USA.com, Hoseheads.com, Grant’s Fine Art, Auto Meter Products Inc., Contingency Connection, Maxim Chassis, Amerikote, Abel Chevrolet, Bully Dog, Red Horse Performance, JE Pistons, KSE Racing Products, Hunt Magnetos, Weld Racing, Racing Optics, Butler Built Performance, HoservilleCA, Angellos ATV Rental, Rogue Regency Inn, Williams Motorsports, DES Inc. and Simpson Percherons.
Don't forget to “like” the Golden State King of the West Series on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kwssprintracing for the most timely and up to date information on the series.
Also check out our official website at http://www.kwssprints.com for the latest news, results, history and more on the Golden State King of the West 410 Sprint Cars.
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Photo by Bob Tarvin of Tarvin Images
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