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Photo by Steve Lamothe
Jason Statler races to podium finish at Calistoga
By Gary Thomas
Calistoga, CA - August 14, 2007...Los Gatos driver Jason Statler drove to a third place finish at the historic Calistoga Speedway ½ mile this past Saturday night during the 360 Civil War Series sanctioned Napa Valley Challenge. It was the second time this season that Jason has finished on the podium at Calistoga and continued his recent string of success at the Napa Valley speed-plant.
The defending Calistoga Speedway track champion came into the event this past Saturday also as the defending champ of the Napa Valley Challenge, an event held for the smaller 360 cubic inch sprint cars. Lining up on the outside of the second row in the 25 lap feature, Jason ran among the top five the whole race, but with the track remaining fairly narrow, it made for limited passing opportunities. The Big Guy had an excellent battle with Sean Becker throughout the race and although he lost the third position to Becker midway through the contest, Jason was able to get back by when Becker’s engine stumbled on a lap 18 restart.
The final seven laps saw Jason fend off 2007 King of California Brent Kaeding to finish the Napa Valley Challenge in the third position aboard the DF Rios Construction, Pheasant Run Shopping Center, D & D Roofing, YAK Graphics 00. "We definitely wanted to be a couple positions higher, but we’ll take a third place," Jason said in post race interviews. He continued, "We got our new truck & trailer this week so look for us to race whenever and wherever as far as finances permit. I want to thank all the fans for coming out and all our sponsors who support us."
Getting the truck & trailer will be a definite boost for Jason, Mark and the whole team as there will be less uncertainty and there will be no need of loading and unloading from different trailers each week. Crew Chief Mark Bristow commented at the final Golden State Challenge Series race a couple weekends back, "Once we get our own rig I think we’ll be better off as we won’t be running around 1,000 mph and things will be a lot smoother."
The third place finish in Calistoga was following an outstanding run a couple weeks prior with GSC in Chico and you can see Jason’s confidence building back up as the weeks go on. Getting everything going strong is crucial at this point as we’re getting closer to the time that the World of Outlaws hit California for the Western Swing. The $50,000 to win Gold Cup Race of Champions is coming up in less than one month. With all that Jason has been through this season, just making the A-main on Saturday night at Gold Cup would be an accomplishment.
This Friday night will see Statler Racing compete at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway in the Wright One Construction 360 winged sprint car series. Jason earned a runner-up finish during his only 360 Ocean Speedway start, which came in June.
Visit http://www.statlerracing.com for more on Jason Statler Racing.
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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