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John Meirhofer Photo
Craig Stidham claims his second career King of the West Sprint Car Series victory during a thrilling 3rd annual David Tarter Memorial
By Jacob Perkins
Chico, CA – June 6, 2015…For the second consecutive season the David Tarter Memorial at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway was nothing short of spectacular on Saturday night. In the end it was Fresno’s Craig Stidham holding off a hard charging Tyler Walker, Willie Croft and a host of others to earn his second career King of the West Series victory.
“It feels pretty awesome to come out here and finally get a win at Silver Dollar Speedway,” said an extremely happy Stidham. “To win our second King of the West race at the David Tarter Memorial is pretty special. That was definitely a fun main event and I had to work hard for it. We love racing Sprint Cars and I want to thank all you fans for coming out tonight.”
After winning the dash 2009 King of the West champion Tyler Walker led the 22-car field down to the green flag searching for his first King of the West Sprint Car Series victory of the 2015 season and initial victory in his second start after three years off.
Walker would lead the opening lap, but outside front row starter Sean Becker used the high side of race track to get around for the lead on lap two. Walker would spin to a stop in turn four bringing out the caution and turning the lead over to Becker. With a double file restart Becker would use the inside of the track to maintain the lead with second place running Craig Stidham challenging for the top spot with lapped traffic ahead. Stidham would then use the high side of the track to get by Becker on lap ten.
Stidham and Becker negotiated the slower cars with Becker giving all he could until on lap 21 when he would make contact with a spinning car sending him to the work area and bringing out the caution as the slower car came to a stop. Stidham was able to hold off second place running Carson Macedo on restart and maintain the race lead. The caution flag would waive with seven laps to go setting up the final double file restart of the night. Stidham was able to jump out to the lead as Willie Croft gave it what he had to try and steal the victory away.
The caution flag waived with three to go bringing up a single file restart. The driver on the move was Tyler Walker, who got by Croft on the restart and set his sights on Stidham. Walker looked like he could get by Stidham to claim victory, but Stidham was able to fend him off and secure victory in the 3rd Annual David Tarter Memorial.
This win marked Stidham’s first King of the West Sprint Car Series victory since July of 2012 at the Antioch Speedway. Stidham became the fourth first time winner of the season at Silver Dollar Speedway. Tyler Walker was able to amazingly work his way back up to second after the early race spin that sent him to the rear of the field. Willie Croft was a contender for the victory ultimately coming home in third.
Jonathan Allard was able to work his way thru the field from his 12th place starting spot up to fourth. Allard’s run earned him the KSE hard charger award honors. Carson Macedo rounded out the top five after battling for the lead around the mid-point of the race. Shane Golobic finished sixth, Bud Kaeding seventh, Dominic Scelzi eighth, Sean Becker ninth, and Kyle Hirst rounded out the top ten.
Willie Croft started the night out with the fastest lap around the Silver Dollar Speedway with a lap of 11814. For his efforts he earned $500 cash courtesy of Kyle Larson. Tyler Walker, Kyle Hirst, Dominic Scelzi, and Craig Stidham claimed heat race victories. Tyler Walker won the dash, earning a $1000 bonus and B.J. Martin was victorious in the last chance qualifier.
The King of the West Sprint Car Series returns to action next Saturday night at the Stockton Dirt Track for points race #6.
3rd Annual David Tarter Memorial – Silver Dollar Speedway June 6
34 – Cars
Fast Time: Willie Croft 11.814
Heat one: 1. 88X Tyler Walker, 2. 29 Willie Croft, 3. 25 Bobby McMahan, 4. 68 Chase Johnson, 5. 21 Michael Ing, 6. 19 Keith Bloom, 7. 15 Pat Harvey Jr., 8. 69c Chad Compton, 9. 2R Richard Brace Jr.
Heat two: 1. 83JR Kyle Hirst, 2. 0 Bud Kaeding, 3. 21X Carson Macedo, 4. 69 Brent Kaeding, 5. 42 Chase Majdic, 6. E85 Nathan Johnson, 7. 12X Scott Parker, 8. 00 Jason Statler, 9. 37 Mitchell Faccinto
Heat three: 1. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 2. 22 Shane Golobic, 3. 88N DJ Netto, 4. 7 JoJo Helberg, 5. 88 Brad Bumgarner, 6. 49 Mike Monahan, 7. 98 Sean Watts, 8. 12 Jarrett Soares
Heat four: 1. 3 Craig Stidham, 2. 3C Jonathan Allard, 3. 75 Sean Becker, 4. 13 Rowdy McClenon, 5. 2 B.J. Martin, 6. 14H Heath Hall, 7. 22TR Michael Tarter, 8. 94 Gordon Rodgers
Dash: 1. 88X Tyler Walker, 2. 75 Sean Becker, 3. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 4. 3 Craig Stidham, 5. 22 Shane Golobic, 6. 21X Carson Macedo, 7. 29 Willie Croft, 8. 83JR Kyle Hirst
LCQ: 1. 2 B.J. Martin, 2. 37 Mitchell Faccinto, 3. 19 Keith Bloom, 4. 88 Brad Bumgarner, 5. 94 Gordon Rodgers, 6. 98 Sean Watts, 7. 49 Mike Monahan, 8. 14H Heath Hall, 9. 42 Chase Majdic, 10. E85 Nathan Johnson, 11. 2R Richard Brace Jr., 12. 15 Pat Harvey Jr., 13. 22TR Michael Tarter, 14. 21 Michael Ing, 15. 12 Jarrett Soares, 16. 00 Jason Statler (DNS), 17. 69c Chad Compton (DNS), 18. 12X Scott Parker (DNS)
A-Main: 1. 3 Craig Stidham, 2. 88X Tyler Walker, 3. 29 Willie Croft, 4. 3C Jonathan Allard, 5. 21X Carson Macedo, 6. 22 Shane Golobic, 7. 0 Bud Kaeding, 8. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 9. 75 Sean Becker, 10. 83JR Kyle Hirst, 11. 25 Bobby McMahan, 12. 7 JoJo Helberg, 13. 69 Brent Kaeding, 14. 88N DJ Netto, 15. 68 Chase Johnson, 16. 13 Rowdy McClenon, 17. 19 Keith Bloom, 18. 98 Sean Watts, 19. 2 B.J. Martin, 20. 37 Mitchell Faccinto, 21. 94 Gordon Rodgers, 22. 88 Brad Bumgarner
Info on the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series can be found at www.racepmg.com
Be sure to like the KWS Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/kingofthewestsprints and become a member of our Twitter community at https://twitter.com/KwsSprintRacing for all the latest breaking news regarding the series
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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