Larson Races To Third In Return To Ocean Taco Bravo
Watsonville, CA June 3, 2011. Hopping back into the Stadelhofer Construction #99 sprinter
for his second consecutive race after an extended period of competition in Indiana, Kyle
Larson returned to one of his favorite haunts last Friday at Watsonville’s Ocean
Speedway. The race against his fellow competitors, and incoming rain, saw the Elk Grove,
California driver finish a fast closing third as the track held round number six in the
Taco Bravo 360 Sprint Car Series.
At the conclusion of the group qualifying for the 23 cars on hand Larson found himself in
a sandwich between
fellow Kaeding Performance teammates, as Brent Kaeding, Larson and Rico Abreu set the top
three times. Larson then drove to a third place finish from fourth starting in heat number
two to secure a spot in the inversion for the night’s feature race.
When the inversion came up six Larson was placed fifth on the grid next to Kaeding, as
Tommy Tarlton and Andy Forsberg filled the front row, with Ronnie Day and Abreu in row
two. At the drop of the green flag Tarlton and Forsberg set the pace with Abreu right
behind. With the early laps hampered by several caution flags on the somewhat slick track,
Larson was losing ground to the leaders as he sat
eight after getting passed by Justin Sanders and Shane Golobic by lap three. After Abreu
fell back with mechanical issues, and trading slide jobs with Golobic, Larson had climbed
back to sixth by lap five. When Sanders spun in turn three of lap seven Larson returned to
his original starting position of fifth.
Resuming the race Larson engaged in a spirited duel with “Cowboy” Craig Smith as
the veteran showed his muscle to the 18 year old by stealing fifth on lap eight. Over the
course of the next two laps both drivers went at each other with slide jobs at each end of
the track. Finally, on lap ten, Larson regained fifth and set out for the leaders, who
were led by Tarlton over Day, Forsberg and Kaeding.
The top five stayed in that order for the middle third of the race until Larson swept
underneath Kaeding on lap 20. Three laps later he dropped Forsberg to fourth and began to
close on Tarlton and Day. With lapped traffic coming into play Larson began to make it a
three way fight at the front.
On lap 28 Tarlton slid over the cushion in turn two and lost the lead to Day. Tarlton made
a valiant effort to reclaim the lead with a slide job in turn three but Day crossed under
to hold the top position. When the race’s final caution came out on lap 29 Tarlton
had gotten past Day only to see it nullified when the lineup reverted a lap.
When the race resumed for a green, white, checkered finish the top three raced the
distance under the proverbial blanket. Going into turn three on the final lap Tarlton made
one last slide job attempt at Day. With Tarlton ahead, Day once again crossed under and beat the two time defending Taco Bravo series champ to the
line, albeit with contact just prior to the flag stand. Day, the current point leader,
earned the popular win, which was his first in series competition. Larson finished just
behind the lead duo, with a hard fought third place effort.
Larson now heads back to the Midwest where he will compete over the next several weeks.
His first action will be during Indiana Midget Week which commences this Wednesday night
at I-69 Speedway in Gas City. The five straight night series of USAC Mopar National Midget races will then move to Lincoln Park
Speedway in beautiful downtown Putnamville on Thursday, before dropping down to
Bloomington Speedway on Friday. The contingent of racers will then graceLawrenceburg Speedway on Saturday night,
before wrapping it all up at Kokomo Speedway on Sunday. Larson currently sits eighth in
points after a solid fifth place finish in his first pavement midget race at Lucas Oil
Raceway Park in Indianapolis last weekend.
Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by Stadelhofer Construction, Bullet Chassis,
Toyota Racing Development, IWX Motor Freight, Peppermill ~ Resort ~ Spa Casino ~ Reno,
ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Simpson Race Products, RJ’s Race Graphics,
Abreu Vineyards, JW Web Design, Kaeding Performance, Safety Solutions and All Star
Performance.
