Larson 12th to Second In Taco Bravo Feature At Ocean Speedway
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, Abreu Vineyards, and All Star Performance.
