Tulare, CA. April 10, 2010. Although Tulare’s Thunderbowl Raceway is Kyle
Larson’s favorite racetrack, it hasn’t always been kind to the 17 year old from Elk Grove, California. As a testament to that fact 2009
saw two bone jarring crashes there, both of which were the result of others changing their
line suddenly as Larson entered turn one. However, fortunes turned around greatly Saturday
night as Larson got his first win at the Central Valley track and his second in Golden
State Challenge 410 competition as the series held round number three in the season long
title chase.
With 22 cars in the pits Larson qualified fifth fast, which placed the Stadelhofer
Construction/ Peppermill Casino-Reno/Maxim/Shaver in the fourth starting position of the
second heat. From there Larson charged his way to the front, eventually snaring the lead
from Evan Suggs past the midway point and stretching his advantage to the checkered flag.
With the top eight in qualifying all transferring to the dash, Larson drew the sixth
starting position in the six lap event. At the conclusion Larson advanced two places to
fourth, which is where the number 99 BK Motorsports car would start the feature event.
Once underway on the extremely slick track dash winner
Bud Kaeding assumed the lead in the early going with Tommy Tarlton, Larson and fifth
starting Jonathan Allard trailing. Four yellow flags flew in the first five laps, but the
racing was hot and heavy under green flag conditions between Tarlton, Larson and Allard.
After the lap five yellow Allard disposed of both Larson and Tarlton and set out for
Kaeding. Allard was able to nip Kaeding to the line to lead lap six, just as Tarlton
attempted to shut the door on Larson on the low side of turn four. Tarlton and Larson made
slight contact on the slippery surface, which sent the Tipton, California driver into a
360° spin that he recovered from in 12th.
While Larson slowed to avoid Tarlton, Brent Kaeding took advantage and move into third. As
Larson and Tarlton regrouped Allard and Bud Kaeding fought for real estate coming off turn
two of lap six. In an instant Allard found himself bouncing off the turn outside wall to
bring out another yellow. Although Allard was towed to the pits, repairs were quickly made
and he returned for the restart.
As racing resumed Larson used the high line in turns one and two to get back around Brent
Kaeding and take over second place. One final yellow flag slowed the pace on lap seven,
thus setting up a steady 23 lap non stop run to the finish for Larson.
When the last green flag flew Bud Kaeding reasserted his control of the race for several
laps, enjoying a nearly straightaway advantage at the halfway point. While both were
running at the fence in turns three and four, Larson began to find the middle of turns one
and two to his liking, as Kaeding stayed committed to the top in that set of turns also.
When lapped traffic became a major factor Larson’s line through the backmarkers
narrowed the once substantial gap and Kaeding had his hands full with the oncoming
youngster. Finally on lap 22 Larson got a good run off turn two and took the lead down the
back straightaway. Once ahead Larson increased his lead to nearly a half straightaway,
winning by 1.706 seconds. Following Bud Kaeding were Tarlton, Brent Kaeding, and a
charging Allard.
“I had a real good feeling all week long about this race,” said Larson in
Victory Lane. “I’ve torn up a lot of stuff over the last couple of years here so it feels good to finally get a
win at my favorite track. The car felt great all night and I want to thank my crew Clark
Riolo, Matt Britt, and Nick Wilke for giving me such a good car to drive. Also, thanks to
Rich Stadelhofer, Peppermill Casino, Kaeding Performance, Safety Solutions, Abreu
Vineyards, Allstar Performance, Simpson, JW Web Design and everybody that helps me.”
