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Golden State Challenge Series set for bullring mania in Watsonville & Placerville
By: Gary Thomas
May 30, 2007... After running a pair of races at the longest track on tour last weekend, the Golden State Challenge King of California Series will now head for a double header weekend at the two smallest tracks on the schedule. The weekend will begin on Friday with the second season stop for the series to John Prentice’s Ocean Speedway located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville. Following Friday’s event drivers and teams will make the haul over to Placerville Speedway for the final stop of the season to the high banked red clay bullring. Last year’s Ocean/Placerville double header was swept by youngster Robert Ballou of Rocklin.
Continuing to lead the Golden State Challenge Series point standings is 12-time King of California Brent Kaeding of Campbell. The driver of the Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69 brings a five point lead into the weekend. Kaeding has won five races this season and is coming off a second place finish last Sunday night at Calistoga’s Speedway’s Tribute to Gary Patterson. BK has been impressive this season and leads the series with 11 top five finishes in 14 starts. The all-time leading winner in GSC history was leading Saturday’s Salute to Walter T Ross when he suffered a broken rear end early in the going. It was just the second time all year that he had failed to finish an A-main event.
Oroville’s Sean Becker is coming off his best career Calistoga Speedway finish of third last Sunday and sits second in points coming into the weekend, just five behind Kaeding. Becker won his second GSC race of the season last Friday in Petaluma and will look to chop into Kaeding’s lead as he pilots the potent Fisher/Main Motorsports entry. "The Shark" leads all drivers with 13 top 10 finishes in 14 races. He finished outside the top 10 for the first time this season on Saturday when he ran out of fuel with less than two laps remaining, while running a strong second. When the series competed at Ocean on May 5, Becker scored the first clean sweep in GSC competition since 2002.
Defending King of California Jonathan Allard goes into this weekend with momentum fresh off his first career Calistoga Speedway victory, which he accomplished at last Sunday’s Tribute to Gary Patterson. It was also the first time that Allard and his Williams Motorsports team had visited victory lane with the Golden State Challenge Series since opening night in March. Allard momentarily lost third place in the GSC standings following Petaluma last Friday, but gained it back with the win on Sunday. JA has come back strong with three straight top five finishes following the Chris Faria Memorial in Tulare where he dropped out of the race with motor issues while he was battling Brent Kaeding for the lead.
Sacramento’s Willie Croft comes into this weekend sitting fourth in points, just five behind Allard for third. Croft had moved into third place in points after a third place finish in Petaluma on Friday and a second place finish in Calistoga on Saturday, but a 10th place finish on Sunday, coupled with Allard’s win, has put the driver of the D & D Roofing No. 29 back to fourth in points heading into Ocean. Croft’s second place finish on Saturday in Calistoga came during his first ever 410 start at the ultra fast ½ mile. The driver known as "Double Down" finished sixth during his first ever Ocean Speedway start on May 5.
"The Big Guy" Jason Statler earned his first win of the season last Saturday and comes into this weekend rounding out the top five in the Golden State Challenge Series point standings. Statler had his best action of the year this past weekend as he drove the Tom Rolfe Trucking No. 10 to three consecutive top five finishes.
Rounding out the top 10 in GSC points heading into this weekend’s double header is Ronnie Day from Salinas, Brett Miller from Chico, Jon Maiwald from Gilroy, Bud Kaeding from Campbell and Jason Botsford from Tracy.
Golden State Challenge regular Jim Skinner from Discovery Bay sits 11th in points but blew his engine Saturday night in Calistoga and didn’t compete on Sunday. Skinner isn’t expected to be back in action until Petaluma next Saturday or Medford on the following Monday. The former NARC Rookie of the Year drove his WB Equipment No. 73 to a ninth place finish last Friday in Petaluma before the engine gremlins hit on Saturday.
GSC rookie driver Evan Suggs will be back in action starting Friday at Ocean Speedway. The Suggs Racing team will be debuting a new Maxim Chassis at Ocean Speedway and will be running every race with GSC the rest of the Summer. The 20 year-old former non-wing racer scored his second career top 10 with GSC this past Friday in Petaluma as he drove to an eighth place finish.
Making his first start of the season this Friday will be Santa Cruz driver Kevin Pylant. The former stock car champ at Ocean Speedway will be aboard the Sperry Racing No. 51 as he competes in a sprint car for the first time since last year’s GSC finale in July. The fan favorite will be a welcomed addition to the roster on Friday.
The front gate opens at 4:30 pm on Friday at Ocean Speedway. Adult tickets will be $20 with children $10. The pits will open up at 2 pm. The Ocean Speedway is located at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville. For more info call 831-476-9466 or log onto http://www.oceanspeedway.com
The front gate on Saturday at Placerville Speedway will open at 5 pm with adult tickets costing $16, juniors/seniors $11 and children $4. The Placerville Speedway is located at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville. For more info visit http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
Following this weekend the Golden State Challenge Series will head for a one night stand in Petaluma next Saturday. After that it will be time to head North as the series competes at Medford’s Southern Oregon Speedway on Monday June 11. Many of the GSC teams will then continue driving North on I-5 to compete on Thursday, Friday & Saturday in the 36th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway presented by Foley’s RV & Camping World.
Don’t forget about the Dirt Cup Party on Wednesday night June 13 in the parking lot at Haggen Food & Pharmacy in Burlington, WA. This party is held the evening before opening day of Dirt Cup and is a great way to promote not only the event, but your team as well. Skagit Speedway will haul your cars to the party but they need to know you are coming. Skagit Speedway’s number is: 360-724-3567. The track will be hauling the cars to the party so you won’t lose your place at the track. Last year there was only one California car at the party so please support the event so we can have as many Cali cars as possible. There will be live radio stations on hand for interviews as well as a live band. This is a great chance to sell shirts and merchandise prior to the weekend. |
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