Watsonville, CA July 30, 2010. Looking for his third straight victory in the Taco Bravo 360 Sprint Car Series at Watsonville Speedway Friday night Kyle Larson came up just one spot short of making it happen as he raced from 12th to second in the action packed feature. With the runnerup finish to point leader Tommy Tarlton the Elk Grove, California driver lost some ground to the defending series champion in the title chase, but still remains within striking distance at 13 points in arrears with five race remaining.
Larson’s night started by watching Scotts Valley, California driver Evan Suggs break his one race old track record in qualifying, while his Stadelhofer Construction/Peppermill Casino Reno wound up 13th fast of the 28 cars present. A third place finish in the first heat transferred Larson into the talent laden 30 lap headliner that started 22 cars.
With most of the heavy hitters in the lineup ahead of him, Larson had major work cut out for himself with the 12th place starting assignment. However, as the green flag unfurled Larson slowly began to assert himself as he advanced to the top ten by lap four.
With Ronnie Day, Brent Kaeding and Jerry Bonnema all having turns leading before Tarlton took over on lap eight, Larson continued his steady climb, sitting eighth at that point. Passing Peter Murphy and Brad Furr on successive laps pushed Larson to sixth with the race only one third complete.
When Larson got by Bonnema on lap 13, the driver spending his last day as a 17 year old cracked the top five for the first time. Over the next handful of laps Larson narrowed a large gap between his car and the top four of Tarlton, Jason Statler, Bud Kaeding, and Suggs.
In heavy lapped traffic that had the top five cars nearly nose to tail Larson passed Suggs on lap 19. A lap later the highly entertaining battles at the front were slowed as the caution flag appeared at lap 20.
Once under green conditions the action heated up quickly as the same top five began to reel in the back markers again. But just as quickly the race was halted under red as Matt Sargent flipped on lap 25.
When racing resumed Statler made a daring outside pass on Tarlton in turn two to take over the lead, only to have his good fortune nullified as Furr turned over in turn four. On the restart Tarlton headed topside to negate Statler and resumed control of the lead.
Larson scampered by Bud Kaeding off turn two on the same lap and then began to apply pressure to Statler. With three to go Statler hooked the cushion in turn four and Larson and Kaeding both raced ahead into second and third. Over the final three laps Larson closed the gap on Tarlton but it was to no avail as the 99x machine trailed by a one second differential at the checkered flag.
“That was a real fun race,” Larson said afterwards. “This track has so many grooves that you can find lots of ways to pass. My guys, Clark Riolo, Matt Britt, and Nick Wilke, have had this car so good lately. We’re really clicking and I am looking forward to the Johnny Key race at the end of the month. We lost a little bit of ground to Tommy tonight but we’ve still got a few races to go. I think it will probably go down to the wire to decide the championship.”
With the Golden State Challenge Series not racing on Saturday night Larson found time to celebrate his 18th birthday by going back to his roots and racing an outlaw kart at Cycleland Speedway near Chico, California. Showing no signs of rust Larson drove a QRC Factory Kart as a teammate to house kart driver “Pistol” Pete Johnston and set fast time and won the 20 lap feature event from eighth starting.
Larson said, “I had a blast running the outlaw karts. I have to thank Robert Carrel of QRC, “Pistol” Pete, and Karl Pavlik for setting up the kart. My kart was fast all night.”
Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by Stadelhofer Construction, The Peppermill ~ Resort ~ Spa ~ Casino ~ Reno, Kaeding Performance, Safety Solutions, Simpson Race Products, JW Web Design and All Star Performance.
For more information and news on Kyle Larson please visit www.kylelarsonracing.com
Race: July 30 & 31, 2010
Photos Courtesy of MAJ1K Motorsports
- Kyle Larson Racing on Aug 04, 2010
- Article Date: 8/4/2010