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Photos courtesy Paul Trevino Racing Photos
Cory Eliason claims first career King of the West win while the series point fight tightens up at the 30th Penny Newman Grain Cotton Classic on Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Hanford, CA – October 24, 2015…After being close numerous times in the past Selma’s Cory Eliason left nothing on the table Saturday night at the 30th Penny Newman Grain Cotton Classic in Hanford, dominating the 30-lap main event to score his first ever King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series victory.
Eliason started on the pole at Keller Auto Speedway on Saturday and impressively checked out from the rest of the field, charging to a half-lap lead during much of the later stages. The 24-year-old took the Ed Entz checkered flag by a staggering 7.557 seconds over his nearest competitor to capture the big victory aboard his Reitz Almond Harvesting/ Driven Performance No. 00jr machine. An excited Eliason leaped to the top of his car in celebration after turning some donuts on the infield. He became the 74th driver to win a King of the West race since the series started in 1986.
“Wow I can’t believe we just did that so I don’t really know what to say, but this is pretty awesome to get our first King of the West win tonight,” commented Eliason, who was this year’s Keller Auto Speedway track champion. “We’ve been really fast all season and things just haven’t really gone our way at times. It’s such a special feeling to win the Cotton Classic and I can’t thank my team enough. We had Cori Guy helping out tonight and this car was on rails. We also have some guys on our crew that haven’t committed to next year so I’m happy to give them a win tonight as well. I’m really pumped to get my name on the KWS & Cotton Classic winner’s list.”
The only stoppage during the feature came on the initial attempt when Hanford’s DJ Netto got sideways and spun around to a stop on the front stretch. After that the main event clicked off 30-laps consecutively in very quick fashion. First year King of the West full-time driver Mitchell Faccinto ran a strong race to earn his career best series finish on Saturday, crossing the stripe in the second position. The Hanford native had a very solid night, also qualifying second fastest to begin the evening at the helm of his Western Metal Company/ TSG Recycling No. 37 Sprinter. It was nice to see Faccinto have a good outing after numerous moments of bad luck this year.
“It feels really good to have a strong night and finish second here at the Cotton Classic at my home track,” said Faccinto, whose runner up finish was also his first King of the West Sprint Car Series podium effort. “We’ve had some bad luck that has taken away some better finishes this season, but we’ve learned a lot racing with the King of the West 410’s this year. I really want to thank this whole 37 team for supporting me all season and want to congratulate Cory Eliason for the win because he did a great job. Hopefully we’ll take this momentum into Stockton on November 7 and have another good run to finish out the year.”
The most dramatic part of the main event occurred on the warm up laps when KWS point leader Carson Macedo had issues that forced him into the work area. As he pulled into the pits a huge fireball erupted on his car, which created a few anxious moments. Macedo was able to get out of the car, the fire went out and the crew luckily diagnosed the issue to get him back out for the restart. The 19-year-old then drove to a 12th place finish and with his nearest rival Bud Kaeding coming home third, it leaves Macedo with just a three-point advantage going into the series finale at the Stockton Dirt Track on November 7.
For Kaeding a third place finish was just what the doctor ordered to close the gap between himself and the leader, as he searches for that first King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series title. After winning the Trophy Cup last week the Campbell driver came back with another strong outing on Saturday behind the wheel of the Williams Motorsports/ Buster & Ziggy Enterprises ZERO mount.
“The last time we were here in Hanford it was me on the other end of the stick, so thankfully we had some luck on our side tonight and now it’s an all out battle going into Stockton. It’s been a great back & forth fight all year long between us and the 21x team, so the fans won’t want to miss November 7. I really want this championship bad and we’ll definitely be on our A-game in two weeks. Carson Macedo & I battled for the Trophy Cup last week and now it’s a one race deal for the King of the West championship. Hope everyone brings a friend out to Stockton, because it’s going to be good.”
Paradise, CA’s Kyle Hirst & Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi rounded out the top-five on Saturday night at the 30th Penny Newman Grain Cotton Classic. Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan looked solid all night and finished sixth, as did Penngrove’s Chase Johnson, who brought home a seventh place finish. Johnson is another driver that has fought through numerous bad luck this year, so it was great to see the Thomas Family Racing team have a good night. Completing the top-10 were Campbell’s Brent Kaeding, San Jose’s Tim Kaeding and Los Angeles’ Tyler Walker.
Cory Eliason won the dash, while the three 10-lap heats were picked off by Carson Macedo, Dominic Scelzi and Eliason. Fresno’s Craig Stidham opened the night by setting fast time with a clocking of 13.523 around the Keller Auto Speedway. Full results are available at www.racepmg.com
A-main finish: 1. 00JR Cory Eliason, 2. 37 Mitchell Faccinto, 3. 0 Bud Kaeding, 4. 83JR Kyle Hirst, 5. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 6. 25 Bobby McMahan, 7. 68 Chase Johnson, 8. 69 Brent Kaeding, 9. 35M Tim Kaeding, 10. 88 Tyler Walker, 11. 56 Ryan Bernal, 12. 21X Carson Macedo, 13. 9S Landon Hurst, 14. 88N DJ Netto, 15. 12 Jarrett Soares, 16. 98 Sean Watts, 17. 09S Geoffrey Strole, DNS #3 Craig Stidham, #73 Shane Golobic
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will now close the season with the 32nd annual Tribute to Gary Patterson at the Stockton Dirt Track on Saturday November 7. The night of racing also features the championship finale for the Civil War 360 Sprint Car Series presented by Flowmaster for the second straight year. Both KWS & Civil War feature ultra tight point races going into the night, making the event a must see. It’s the only time all year that both of the west coast’s premier Winged Sprint Car Series’ compete on the same night, at the same track.
Tickets are on sale for the big night of racing, with reserved upper deck seats $30 and general admission bleachers $20. Kids 6-12 are half price & five & under are free in the lower bleachers. Box seating is also available in increments of six & eight seats, so if you have a group going, be sure & take advantage of the opportunity. To order tickets contact 916-370-9417. Pre-sale ends on Thursday November 5 at 5pm. During the day on Saturday November 7 a car show & live band will entertain the crowd behind the grandstands. More info, including a seating chart is available at www.stocktondirttrack.com
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Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto brought home a career best King of the West 410 finish of second on Saturday at the 30th Penny Newman Grain Cotton Classic. It was also his first podium with the series, during what has been his initial full year of KWS competition.
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