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Kyle Hirst makes late race pass to earn second King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series win of season on Saturday at Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Fernley, Nevada – July 6, 2013…After losing a heart breaker on the final lap at the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway in May Sacramento, California’s Kyle Hirst was determined to find some redemption this past weekend and that he did. The secon...d generation driver stalked Richard Brace Jr. for 26-laps, before making an inside move down the front stretch to grab the lead that he would never relinquish, as he drove off for his second victory of the 2013 King of the West 410 season.
For Hirst it marked his sixth career Golden State/ King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series triumph, placing him into a tie for 18th on the all-time win list with Rio Linda’s Randy “Boo” Tiner, current World of Outlaws regular Paul McMahan and KWS competitor Bobby McMahan.
In the main event Hirst stayed glued to Brace’ back bumper for much of the race and waited patiently for his opportunity to pounce. When that time came he then took full advantage to score his first Fernley victory over his brother-in-law Willie Croft and Brace Jr.
“We’ve had some tough luck here lately so it feels pretty awesome to get back in victory lane tonight at Fernley after the way that race in May ended,” Hirst said. “I want to congratulate Willie (Croft) on being up here on the podium with me and also Richard Brace Jr. because he drove a great race tonight. I have to thank Dennis & Teresa Roth and this whole Roth Enterprise team for all their hard work. It was a really good point’s night for us also and we’ll move on to Watsonville next week and try to do it again.”
Richard Brace Jr. earned the pole position for the 30-lap main event by way of his first career King of the West Series Dash win earlier in the night. When the green flag came out Brace impressively jumped into the lead aboard his Bear River Auto Tech, Brace Muffler & Welding No. 21j machine. The veteran driver from Auburn, California looked very solid during the feature and held a comfortable lead over the first half of the race. As the laps wound down however, Hirst and Croft began to reel him in as traffic came into play.
Hirst hounded Brace for a number of laps and with just a few circuits remaining would make the winning move off turn four as Brace got just a little loose off the exit. Brace remained close to him, but on a green-white-checkered double file restart would lose the second spot to a fast moving Croft. Hirst went on to cross the checkered flag by 1.303 seconds for the $3500 victory and extended his King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series point lead in the process.
Croft came home in second to score yet another consistent finish at the helm of his Clyde & Marion Lamar owned Tri-C Manufacturing No. 3c mount. The Sacramento, California wheel man has finished on the podium in all three events held at the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway thus far in the 2013 season. It also marked his seventh top-five effort in the first 10 events of the KWS season.
“I’m really happy to be back up here on the podium and I can’t thank the Lamar family enough for the opportunity this year,” Croft commented. “We had a great car tonight so I really have to thank Lee Lindgren and all my guys. I would have liked to start a couple rows further up to see if we could have won it, but I’m pleased with a second place finish to Kyle. I also want to congratulate Richard Brace on a great run, because he’s been out here working hard all year and it’s nice to see him do so well tonight.”
Brace Jr. came oh-so-close to his first KWS win and crossed the stripe in third to pick up his best ever King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series finish. It was an ultra impressive run for the Jeff Adell owned team and a great comeback after getting upside down the previous week. “All I can say is wow,” said an extremely happy Brace. “This is unreal to be up here on the podium and to lead that many laps in the feature felt pretty damn good. This year we’ve been finishing around 11th to 12th so to get third is pretty special for this whole team. I have to thank everyone and anyone that has ever helped me in my career.”
Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan had a great run in the main event for the second week in a row and finished the feature in fourth aboard the American Took & Mfg. No. 25 Sprinter. It was just McMahan’s third race back since returning from a back injury that had sidelined him since late-April. Fresno’s Craig Stidham again showed speed at the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway and claimed a fifth place finish at the checked in his Brad Johnson Trucking No. 3 machine. Stidham has been one of the more impressive drivers in the three Fernley events and continues to have solid season in 2013.
Completing the top-10 in the 30-lapper were Sydney, Australia’s Peter Murphy, Chico’s Jonathan Allard, who rebounded nicely after having to come from the rear after an early incident, Chico’s Brad Bumgarner, Fair Oak’s Chad Compton and Laton’s Geoffrey Strole. For Compton it was his first top-10 effort of the season and for Strole his second straight top-10 finish. It was also great to have Bumgarner on hand during the night in Fernley and nice to see him earn a good result. For Murphy it was his second consecutive sixth place finish in KWS competition.
The 12-lap Last Chance Qualifier went to Jonathan Allard with the six-lap Dash going to Richard Brace Jr. The three 10-lap Kaeding Performance Heat Races were picked off by Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi, Peter Murphy and Willie Croft. Earning his first BR Motorsports Fast Time Award of the season was Kyle Hirst, who toured the 3/8 mile oval in 15.888 seconds. Full results can be found at [url=http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fhttp://www.kwssprints.com&h=uAQFGqkiF&s=1]http://www.kwssprints.com[/url]
Over the last two seasons the “Howard Kaeding Classic” has become one of the cornerstone events for the King of the West Sprint Car Series and next weekend the third installment of the race will be held at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway. To commemorate the event, fans and teams are invited to attend the “HK Classic” luncheon held at the fairgrounds on Saturday afternoon July 13 from 2pm to 6pm, which will benefit the NARC Benevolent Fund.
The luncheon is being backed by High Five Pizza & Catering Co. along with Roth Motorsports and will feature a terrific New York Steak & Chicken lunch for a $20 donation. There will also be a raffle and silent auction. All proceeds from the “HK Classic” Luncheon will go directly to the NARC Benevolent Fund, so we invite everyone to come support a great cause and do some bench racing with many of your favorite drivers and closest race fans.
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Saturday's podium in Fernley included brother-in-laws Kyle Hirst and Willie Croft, along with third place finisher Richard Brace Jr. who had the best night of his King of the West 410 Series career. Photo by Troy White
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