Second and Third Place Finishes Highlight Larson’s Twin Race Weekend Watsonville and Petaluma, CA ~ April 16 and 17, 2010. Kyle Larson put together another weekend of solid finishes as the 17 year old racer descended on two of Northern California’s coastal region racetracks for both 360 and 410 sprint car racing. Following his second career Golden State Challenge Series win last week at Tulare’s Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway Larson pulled off a second place finish at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway during the opening round of the Taco Bravo 360 series, before heading to Petaluma Speedway, where a third place finish in the GSC capped the weekend for the youngster. After the season opener was rained out two weeks ago thirty-one 360 sprint car teams were ready for action at Ocean Speedway Friday night. Larson qualified the Stadelhofer Construction/Peppermill Casino-Reno/BK Motorsports/Maxim/Shaver third quick, then proceeded to transfer directly to the A-main with a fourth place finish in his heat from sixth starting. With a zero pill drawn for the inversion Larson started third in the feature, with fast qualifier Brad Furr on the pole and second quick Bud Kaeding on the outside. Just after the green flag unfurled Furr did a half spin entering turn two, while Larson powered thru a small opening to take second as Furr recovered in 14th. In the early going Larson made a couple of stabs at Kaeding in turn three, but could not get a good enough hold of the race track off turn four to accomplish the pass. While Kaeding held a lead of about five car lengths near the mid point of the 30 lap event traffic became a serious factor and Larson quickly closed in. On lap 17 Kaeding entered a little high in turn one while negotiating a slower car and Larson seized the opportunity and led off turn two. However, just as that point, Ronnie Day came to a stop in turn two and the race reverted back to lap 16 with Kaeding leading. Once underway again Larson experienced some more misfortune as he clipped the implement tire positioned at the apex of turn one and two on lap 19, bending his drag link and left front axle. Luckily able to continue Larson never gave up as he closed from nearly a straight-away behind over the last ten laps to camp on Kaeding’s bumper with two to go. A last ditch attempt to make an outside pass in turn three and four on lap 28 was for naught and Larson held on for second to the finish, while Bud’s father Brent came home third making it a top three sweep for Kaeding Performance cars. With an engine change to a 410 the 99 car and team trekked over to Petaluma Speedway Saturday to contest round number four of the GSC. Larson started the night off on a high note as he set fast time over the 19 cars field on a wetter than normal racetrack. As passing was at a premium early on Larson finished third from fourth starting in the first heat of the night. Although Larson picked his best pill draw of the GSC season for the eight car dash fifth was not where he wanted to be with Jonathan Allard and Brent Kaeding planted on the front row. Seventh starter Tommy Tarlton got by Larson with a move in turn one and repeated it on Colby Copeland a lap later. Running seventh Larson regrouped and got by Copeland a couple of laps later when the Roseville, California driver hopped a rut in turn four. As Allard continued on to take the dash with Kaeding second Larson held on for sixth, where he would start the night’s feature event. Kaeding grabbed the lead from Allard on the first lap but the start was nullified by a turn four incident involving five cars. Underway again Allard assumed control with Kaeding in second trailed by fifth starting Tarlton, Zach Zimmerly, Evan Suggs and Larson. Larson was not much of a factor in the opening stages as the lead pack fell into position. Finally on lap seven Larson made the first pass among the top six as he got under Suggs in turn four for fifth. Two laps later he chased down Zimmerly with an outside pass in turn one to crack the top four. Over the next few laps Allard and Kaeding encountered heavy lapped traffic and Tarlton and Larson made it a four way dogfight as the foursome bunched up in exciting fashion. On lap 13 Zimmerly executed a hard tumble down the back straightaway to bring out a red flag. On the restart Larson’s car pushed the front end in turns one and two and Suggs was able to retake fourth. A yellow slowed the field on lap 15 and Larson got a beautiful run around Suggs on the restart, only to have another caution appear which invalidated the pass. On the next restart Tarlton hit a rut in turn two allowing Suggs to move into third. Larson also began pressuring Tarlton over the next few laps and on lap 19 disposed of the Easton, California driver with a quick pass around the outside in turn two. At this point Larson found the topside of one and two more and more to his liking and began to use it to his advantage more than any other car. In just another lap Larson performed the same maneuver to take third from Suggs. With ten laps to go Larson was nearly a half lap behind Allard as Kaeding still trailed close behind. The last laps ticked off non stop and Larson was on a mission to make something happen before the checkered flag fell on lap 30. Although Larson was cutting the fastest laps of the race while narrowing the gap to half a straightaway Allard maintained the point until the end, with Kaeding holding on for the runnerup position. 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, Abreu Vineyards and All Star Performance Race: April 16 & 17, 2010 Photos Courtesy Shane Muir