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Golden State Challenge Series set for first Quincy appearance
By Gary Thomas
Quincy, CA - June 20, 2007... After taking last weekend off to allow California racing teams to compete at the Dirt Cup in Washington, the Golden State Challenge Series will kick back into action this Saturday night with its first ever appearance at the American Valley Speedway in Quincy. Located at the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds, American Valley Speedway is a 3/8 mile dirt oval and should be a fun getaway as the intensity level will be a little less severe as opposed to this past weekend’s Dirt Cup where drivers and teams were battling for a $25,000 first place prize.
Leading the GSC points coming into Quincy is 12-time King of California Brent Kaeding of Campbell. Last Monday night in Medford, Kaeding drove the Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance No. 69 to his eighth GSC win of the season and in doing so, tied the all-time GSC season win mark set by son Tim in 2004. The Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway ended with BK finishing fourth after getting around Shane Stewart late in the going. He also scored a stout second place finish on Friday night at the event. Last August Kaeding picked up a win at the American Valley Speedway during a non-sanctioned 410 winged sprint car event. Kaeding’s 14 top five finishes leads the Golden State Challenge Series in that category this season.
Oroville’s Sean Becker comes into Quincy looking to rebound from the Dirt Cup where he failed to make the feature all three night’s. Expectations were high for the former King of California at the Dirt Cup, but they didn’t pan out and his weekend ended when he hit the wall during the B-main on Saturday night while running in a transfer spot. You can bet he’ll come back with a vengeance this weekend, however, and the Fisher-Main Motorsports, Cherry St. Mini Storage No. 35m will be one of the cars to watch at the American Valley Speedway. Becker sits 21 points behind Kaeding for the lead in the GSC point standings.
The highest placing California driver at the Dirt Cup was Chico’s Jonathan Allard who brought home a second place finish in the Williams Motorsports, K & N Filters No. 0. The defending King of California was looking to become the first driver to ever win three straight Dirt Cup’s and he put up a great fight, leading the first 34 laps before getting passed by Brandon Wimmer in traffic. Allard sits third in GSC points and should be strong at Quincy.
Sacramento driver Willie Croft brought home a 14th place finish at his first ever Dirt Cup this past weekend. Croft comes into Quincy sitting fourth in GSC points and is still in search of his first victory of the season aboard the Holey Smokes BBQ, BR Motorsports No. 29.
Rounding out the top five in the GSC standings is Los Gatos driver Jason Statler. Statler, however, wasn’t positive if he would be at Quincy after he and his former team split ways a week ago. He is expected to be back soon though aboard the famous 00 he has driven for many years.
Other drivers in the top 10 of the Golden State Challenge Series points include: Ronnie Day of Salinas, Brett Miller of Chico, Jon Maiwald of Gilroy, Jason Botsford of Tracy and Bud Kaeding of Campbell. Additional possible entrants for Quincy will be Australian Trevor Green, Chico drivers Stephen Allard & Johnny Gray, Fresno’s Mark Workentine, Rio Vista’s Dan Simpson, father/son combo Mark Tabor Sr. & Jr of Reno NV, Grass Valley’s Pat Harvey and more.
GSC regular Evan Suggs picked up his very first winged sprint car win last Thursday during opening night of the Dirt Cup, but got upside down on Saturday night and isn’t expected at Quincy this weekend. The Scotts Valley competitor looked very strong each night at the Dirt Cup and is set to return to action next Saturday at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway.
This Saturday’s event at the American Valley Speedway will be the start of the final eight races of the Golden State Challenge Series season. The action is getting down to the wire and we’ll be crowing this year’s King of California in just over a month.
Track staff at the American Valley Speedway recommend bringing a coat because they say that it can chill off at night. They also expressed how excited they are to have GSC in town and look forward to this weekend’s event. Gates at the American Valley Speedway will open at 5 pm on Saturday with tickets costing $25. For additional info visit http://www.avspeedway.com/index.html or call 530-283-2175
For the full Golden State Challenge Series point standings log onto http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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