Larson Grabs First Golden State Win At Watsonville
Scores Fifth At Placerville Saturday
Watsonville and Placerville, CA. May 29 and 30, 2009. Sixteen year old Kyle Larson checked
off another accomplishment on his list of things to do by taking his first Golden State
Challenge Series main event win at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway Friday night. The
leading contender for GSC Rookie of the Year also backed that effort up the next night at
Placerville Speedway by racing from 11th to fifth in the feature event at the high banked
foothill facility.
Friday night at the fog shrouded Ocean Speedway Larson qualified fifth fast in the 24 car
field, before starting third and finishing there in heat number two. After making several
GSC dashes this season, Larson finally drew a front row assignment by picking the pill
marked with a one. He did not let the opportunity slip away as he beat Jason Statler into
turn one before opening a straightaway advantage at the lap six checkered.
The same scenario was repeated at the start of the 30 lap
headliner, as Larson quickly opened up a comfortable lead. Although the early going saw
several yellow flag slow downs and red flag stoppages, Larson would push the Dave and
Debbie Vertullo Starr Property Management/Eagle/Kistler to a safe lead after each restart.
The intensity level ratcheted up after a lap 23 red flag period that saw teams allowed to
add fuel and make adjustments to their setups. When the race resumed Statler’s team had obviously made the right moves as he attacked
the cushion of the very heavy race track. Applying heavy pressure to Larson, who held the
same low line that had worked since the opening lap, Statler inched closer to the Elk
Grove, California resident. As the pair exited turn four on the way to the white flag,
Statler had momentum in his favor going into turn one. However, the 2004 Golden State
champion caught the cushion in turn one and executed a hard flip that ended his valiant
effort to get the win.
When the race was restarted for the final time Larson easily held off new second place
runner Bud Kaeding and defending Golden State champion Jonathan Allard. In victory lane the high school junior
who has now claimed six feature wins in a little over two seasons of racing sprint cars
said, “It feels great to get my first Golden State win. I owe it all the Dave
Vertullo, who has been giving me a great car every week. We didn’t make any changes
all night. I just tried to hit my marks in the main event and tried not to worry about
what might be going on behind me.”
At Placerville Speedway the next night Larson qualified 11th fast of the 20 cars on hand.
Tyler Walker got the jump on polestarter Larson in the second heat and both finished one
and two at the conclusion of the ten lap event.
From his 11th starting spot in the feature Larson was hot from the outset. By lap six, when Larson made a spectacular pass around
both Roger Crockett and Willie Croft, he had advanced to sixth. Larson made several
attempts to pass Allard prior to fourth place Kyle Hirst jumping a rear tire going into
turn one and bringing out the yellow on lap 13. With three laps to go Larson briefly got
by Andy Gregg for fourth. But Gregg fought back to pass Larson and Bud Kaeding to take
over third. Larson closed on Kaeding and nearly passed the two time
USAC Silver Crown champion on the last lap, but settled for his fifth top five finish of
the Golden State Challenge season. Walker led flag to flag to pick up his fifth feature
win this season.
At the end of the night Larson commented, “We had a really good weekend. Things went
my way with the draw at Watsonville and my car was very fast. I didn’t qualify so
good here and missed the dash, but I had one of the fastest cars come main event time. I
love to run the cushion here and Dave had the car just the way I like it.”
Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by Starr Property Management, Inc., Phoenix
ParkerStores and Lubrication Equipment and Supply Co., G & N Construction, Simpson
Performance Products, Wion’s Body Shop and Powdercoating, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, JW
Web Design, Safety Solutions-LFT Technologies, Wyman Construction, GME-Nields Steerings,
LRB Manufacturing, SWEPCO Lubricants, Edward’s Lawn Service, Sierra Tire and Wheel,
Mancamp Motorsports, and Mophead Graphix.
Golden State champion Jonathan Allard. In victory lane the high school junior
who has now claimed six feature wins in a little over two seasons of racing sprint cars
said, “It feels great to get my first Golden State win. I owe it all the Dave
Vertullo, who has been giving me a great car every week. We didn’t make any changes
all night. I just tried to hit my marks in the main event and tried not to worry about
what might be going on behind me.”
