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Late Race Comeback Propels Larson to Golden State Top Ten
Chico, CA July 13 and 14, 2007. Fourteen year old rookie sprint car driver Kyle Larson tested himself against the top 410 racers on the West Coast once again as he joined with the Golden State Challenge (GSC) Series regulars at Silver Dollar Speedway Saturday night. Repeating his performance in May at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial Race, when Larson drove a 360 powered car, the youngster scored his second ninth place finish with the GSC Series in three tries. The impressive run was highlighted by a charge from the back of the pack after a mid race spin while battling for eighth.
Larson also drove the Dave and Debbie Vertullo/ParkerStore/CRV Racing Products/Eagle Kistler in the regular Friday night Silver Dollar Speedway point series and, after pitting for replacement of a malfunctioning tearoff shield, settled for a 14th place finish.
Larson qualified very well each night as he was sixth fast of 23 cars on Friday and seventh quick of 26 competitors Saturday. Both nights saw Larson just miss a direct transfer to the A-main as he scored a pair of sixth place finishes in the take five heat races. He made both feature races by winning the B-main events each night.
While starting seventh, Friday night found an extremely tacky track still around for the A-main event. The sticky condition of the race track was something that wasn’t conducive to having a tear off post fall off his face shield mid race, causing the loss of the rest of his tearoffs. After fighting a losing battle with diminishing vision Larson pitted on a lap 22 yellow and installed another shield. Restarting at the tail, he was scored 14th at the lap 25 checkered.
Saturday saw Larson start ninth on the 22 car Golden State grid. He advanced his way into seventh by lap 10 but the spin on lap 14 necessitated the charge from behind. Over the last 16 laps Larson came from 17th and got as high as eight, before nabbing ninth at the end of the 30 lapper.
“I really like running the Golden State races,” said the high school sophomore from Elk Grove, California. “To be able to race with top drivers like Brent Kaeding, Ronnie Day and Jonathan Allard is what I want to do. It’s the only way to get better. I’ll run with the Golden State series again in a couple of weeks when they close their season here and I’m really looking forward to improving on my finishes.”
Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by ParkerStore, CRV Racing Products, Starr Real Estate and Property Management, Safety Solutions – LFT Technologies, D & J Towing, Heritage Drywall, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, RPM Indoor Kart Racing and Conference Center, Platinum Powdercoating, JW Web Design, Wion’s Body Shop, SWEPCO Lubricants and Sierra Tire and Wheel.
Check out www.kylelarsonracing.com for current news, photos and video clips of the race.
Race: July 13 and 14, 2007
Photos Courtesy of Jack Waterman
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