Larson Scores ISCS Victory In Front Of Packed Yreka Crowd
By Ben Deatherage
Yreka, California- August 12, 2011. It had been nearly two years to the day
that a Sprint Car race was last held at the Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka and August
12th’s event proved to be the biggest event in the tracks storied history with an
extremely large crowd for the Interstate Sprint Car Series’ debut for the event
presented by Premier West Bank. Many drivers visiting the place for the first time proved
to be a learning curve at first but nonetheless adaptation is a strong quality in many
Sprint Car teams. The night was the first of three straight races for the inaugural
Ore-Cal Challenge and had twenty-five cars show up for the event.
For the main event presented by McDonald’s of Yreka and Weed the thirty lap affair
started off with pole sitter Garen Linder of Medford, OR leading early until Kyle Larson
of Elk Grove, driving for the Finley Farms team out of Ft. Jones, ran Linder down and
passed him for the lead on lap six. Willie Croft of Sacramento looked like the car to beat
as he was getting ready to make a move on Larson for the top position but spun out in turn
four around lap ten.
As Kyle Larson was able to hold the lead through a large amount of cautions terrific
battles were taking place throughout the entire field including the top five that allowed
him to separate from the main body of the field. Larson was able to hold on for the win
despite being held up with lapped traffic a time or two to continue his winning ways and
earn the victory in his first visit to the Siskiyou Motor Speedway and with the Interstate
Sprint Car Series.
With Larson scoring the win it would be his first victory since scoring the huge wins in
the Midwest including the Belleville Midget Nationals in Kansas and the Ultimate Challenge
at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa earlier in less than a week’s time.
Six cautions occurred during the whole race with all of them occurred in the first half of
the race.
Garen Linder was able to finish in a respectable second place as it looked as if was going
to pass the leader after reeling in Larson but couldn’t quite pass him. Battling
within the top five throughout the whole race was Princeton’s Mason Moore finishing
in third in while Dan Menne of Ft. Jones, a former champion at the racetrack, came from
ninth place and was able to score a top five in his ISCS debut while battling Moore and
others during the entirety of the race with the final position in the top five being
earned by Chadd Noland of Central Point, OR. The remainder of the top ten consisted of:
Willie Croft, Colin Baker of Cottage Grove, OR, Nate Morelock of Cottage Grove, OR, Jayme
Barnes of Everett, WA, and Rob Held of Sutherlin, OR.
“To win for them (Finley Farms) it was cool to win for Jason he helped promote this
event I knew Linder was all over me in traffic it was stressful I couldn’t make a
mistake I just found the bottom in the first five or six laps and I kept working it and at
one point I could hear Willie up high and when that happened I knew I had to move
up,” said victor Kyle Larson in victory lane.
“I wish we would have gotten into lapped traffic a lot more with and run about more
ten laps I was just too conservative in the beginning and let those guys get by me Willie
and Kyle are the best in California we’re happy to finish behind Kyle even though we
would have liked to win,” said runner-up Garen Linder.
“Everyone out here is really good I mean you get the top ten out here and anyone of
them could win it and the track tonight got get really racy towards the beginning and once
it took rubber it got stretched out and the only way to get by somebody was if someone
made a mistake or lapped traffic I felt I was too far back behind Garen to have caught him
got around him and Kyle were definitely fast tonight,” commented third place finisher
Mason Moore.
In qualifications fast time of the night went to Garen Linder at 11.270 seconds amongst
the twenty-five cars that qualified. Three eight lap heat races were ran with the top six
qualifiers able to get a position in the dash if they finished in the top five while all
drivers who finished sixth on back would have to run the consolation main. Heat race
winners were Todd Zeitler of Medford, OR, Vern Wheeler Jr. of Central Point, OR, and
Canadian Kelly Miller of Stirling, AB. For the second time of the season there was a
consolation main with top five transferring to the feature winning the race was Truman
Winningham of Central Point, OR in addition the top two finishers of the race would
receive their time back for starting in the main event behind the six cars that were in
the evening’s trophy dash.
The Interstate Sprint Car Series is a brand new winged 360 sprint car series primarily
based out of Oregon but will sanction and host races in Montana and California. The series
is slated at ten total point events reaching as far north as the Cottage Grove Speedway
and as far south as the Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka, California. The series currently
has a current sum total of $9,000, but growing, end of the year points fund that will be
awarded at the end of the season. For any teams or drivers wishing to learn more or for a
complete list of rules log on to http://www.iscssprints.com or contact series director
Brian Crockett at (541)-510-0757 for more information.
Interstate Sprint Car Series Notebook
Quick Time- Garen Linder was the night’s quick clocker with a time of 11.270 seconds.
Linder would earn ten bonus championship points while Willie Croft (nine), Jayme Barnes
(eight), Mason Moore (seven), Kyle Larson (six), Rob Held (five), Mike Monohan (four),
Chadd Noland (three), Dan Menne (two), and Kyle Hirst (one) would also earned their
respected bonus championship points.
Lap Leaders- Season lap leader based off of main event performances are the following: 1.
11-Roger Crockett 98; 2. 23-Seth Bergman 27; 3. 22-Garen Linder 26; 4. 77-Kyle Larson 25
Winners- There has been six races for the Interstate Sprint Car Series inaugural season.
The winners include Roger Crockett-4 (Cottage Grove Speedway on June 4th, June 17th, and
July 2nd, Coos Bay Speedway June 18th), Seth Bergman-1 (Cottage Grove Speedway on July
3rd), Kyle Larson-1 (Siskiyou Motor Speedway on August 12th)
Website- For the latest information on all things about the Interstate Sprint Car Series
log on to the series website at http://www.iscssprints.com for more information.
Interstate Sprint Car Series Statistical Report; Siskiyou Motor Speedway; Yreka, CA;
August 12th, 2011
Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 22-Garen Linder, Medford, OR 11.270; 2. 29-Willie Croft,
Sacramento 11.330; 3. 7N-Jayme Barnes, Everett, WA 11.410; 4. 5H-Mason Moore, Princeton
11.430; 5. 77-Kyle Larson, Elk Grove 11.560; 6. 68-Rob Held, Sutherlin, OR 11.590; 7.
49-Mike Monohan, Sparks, NV 11.600; 8. 61-Chadd Noland, Central Point, OR 11.620; 9.
75-Dan Menne, Ft. Jones 11.650; 10. 14S-Kyle Hirst, Loomis 11.680; 11. 9T-Truman
Winningham, Central Point, OR 11.750; 12. 23B-Colin Baker, Cottage Grove, OR 11.850; 13.
2Z-Todd Zeitler, Medford, OR 11.870; 14. 33-Nate Morelock, Eugene, OR 11.900; 15. 63-Ivan
Worden, Cotati 11.930; 16. 4C-Charlie Cash, Medford, OR 11.960; 17. 21W-Vern Wheeler Jr.,
Central Point, OR 12.000; 18. 44-Kelly Miller, Stirling, AB 12.060; 19. 6M- Baba Ghanoush,
Medford, OR 12.310; 20. 11L-Jeremy Lowe, Medford, OR 12.370; 21. 24Z-Zack Spaulding,
Springfield, OR 13.480; 22. 88-Brent Hoover, Eugene, OR 12.480; 23. H2-Jim Hayes, Yreka
12.500; 24. 29P-Dan Philpot, Glide, OR 13.480; 25. 10-Kyle Miller, Eugene, OR NT
