Tommy Tarlton locks up Ocean Sprint Car Series title on Friday and slices through the pack for third place finish at Cotton Classic Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Watsonville, CA – October 19, 2010…Rebounding from an opening lap collision on Friday night Easton, California’s Tommy Tarlton charged back through the field to record a fourth place finish in the main event and wrap up the 2010 Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo title.
Tarlton ended the year in championship style at the Ocean Speedway by racing to finishes of fourth or better in each of the final six events at the track to put a cap on his second straight title by 44-markers over young gun Kyle Larson.
“It’s great to bring home another title this season and we couldn’t be happier to accomplish this,” commented Tarlton. “I owe a huge thanks to my dad, my whole family and all my crew for their support. Paul Baines and my guys have given me some awesome race cars this year and we’ve been fast no matter where we’ve gone, but especially here at Ocean Speedway.”
The final night of 2010 for the Ocean Sprints saw 26-cars on hand and Tarlton began the evening by timing in 11th fastest overall, before driving to a victory in the second heat race aboard the Corporate America Lending, Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino No. 21 Maxim. Starting from the sixth row in the feature the ’09 Johnny Key Classic winner was then involved in a lap-one accident with Cory Eliason and Kurt Nelson, which forced him to the work area to get the damage fixed.
Prior to the main event Tarlton had already clinched the championship and over the remainder of the race he proceeded to let it all hang out, passing car after car to get all the way back up to fourth by the time the checkered flag waved. The veteran wheel-man ended the year with four wins under his belt with the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo, claiming three victories at Ocean Speedway and one at Santa Maria Speedway.
“We’ve really been focusing on having fun the last couple years and I think it has definitely paid off for us,” Tarlton said. “I also have to thank each and every one of our sponsors, because we really appreciate their support. We had Corporate America Lending come on board this year and it feels awesome to give them a championship like this right out of the box.”
On Saturday Tarlton then took to the Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford for the annual Cotton Classic, where he qualified 10th quickest in the field to kick off the night and then scored a third place result in his heat race to transfer the Tarlton & Son Inc., Sharp Insurance, BG Lubricant’s No. 21 into the main event.
The 3/8 mile clay oval had become very challenging for the 30-lap contest, but Tarlton didn’t have any problems moving forward after starting from the fifth row and would make a late pass of early leader Jonathan Allard to earn a third place finish at the conclusion, behind winner Kyle Larson and runner up Tim Kaeding.
Next up for the Tarlton Motorsports team will be the much anticipated 17th annual Southwest Contractors Trophy Cup this Friday and Saturday at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare. The prestigious event will award the high-points driver over the two-nights of racing with a guaranteed payday of $20,000 and features an overall purse of near $90,000.
Tarlton was the winner of the Trophy Cup in 2000, which was the lone time it was held in Watsonville and he will look to bring home the Cup this Saturday night for the second time in his career. “The Trophy Cup is always a great event and we’re really excited for this weekend,” said the Easton driver. “It’s been a great year for us and if we keep doing what we have been then we should have as good of a shot as anyone this week.”
For ticket information on the 17th annual Trophy Cup please visit http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com and for all your event info including a driver roster log onto http://www.trophycup.org
For more on Tommy Tarlton and Tarlton & Son Inc. log onto http://www.tarltonandson.com/
After putting a cap on his second straight Ocean Sprints title Friday night Easton's Tommy Tarlton charged to third place finish from the fifth row at the annual Cotton Classic in Hanford on Saturday. Tarlton will head next for this weekend's 17th annual Trophy Cup, an event he captured in the year 2000. Photo by John Meirhofer of http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
- Gary Thomas on Oct 19, 2010
- Article Date: 10/19/2010