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Buy, Sell, Trade Everything Motorsports
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Race: October 1, 2005
LARSON WINS TWO DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS AT CYCLELAND SPEEDWAY
Also Sets New Track Record
Chico, CA - ParkerStore Outlaw Sprint Kart Driver Kyle Larson enjoyed one of his finest
nights in his six year racing career as the 13 year old from Elk Grove, California
captured both the Intermediate 125/250 and the 500cc Ope n Intermediate point championships during the QRC Cup six foot perpetual trophy
races at Cycleland Speedway Saturday October 1st.
Larson also set the qualifying track record in the 500cc Open Intermediates, breaking the
two year old standard by 3/10ths of a second and narrowly missing the all time track
record. While all Larson had to do to win the 125/250 championship was to qualify for the
A-Main, he wouldn’t settle for just that as he drove to his ninth 125/250 main event
win of the season at the 1/6 mile speedplant. He also took home the six foot trophy for
the second year and added his name to the perpetual trophies for a record fifth time on
the QRC Cups.
I n the 500cc Open Intermediate
division the championship was still up for grabs as Larson held a narrow 13 point lead
over Mason Moore who earlier finished second behind Larson in the 125/250 points race.
Larson drove to a second place finish to secure the championship as misfortune struck
Moore on the first lap when he could not avoid a stalled kart. Moore did race back to a
seventh place finish but it was too little, too late.
Larson started the night with second fast time in the 29 kart 125/250 division. He started
fifth in the six kart eight lap dash and made an exciting high side last turn pass on race
long leader Sean Martin to garner the narrow win. Larson, with championship in hand, held
nothing back in the feature race as he jumped from fifth starting to pass leader Dillon
Silverman on lap four. He then drove his ParkerStore/Predator Motors/QRC Factory Kart to a
convincing win over Moore and fast time Jake Cartwright.
In the 500cc Open Intermediate Division Larson drove his ParkerStore/Grandpa George
Motors/QRC Factory Kart to the second fastest lap ever seen at Cycleland and stopped the
clock at 10.237. He gained two points on th ird fast qualifier Moore and led the chase by 15
points. Larson started last of the six karts in the dash and advanced to a fourth place
finish. Moore finished third to bring the gap back to 13 points heading into the A-Main.
The pair started side by side in the fourth row as the 20 lap race began. As Larson went
low into turn three Moore went high, only to find the spun kart of newcomer Adrien
Betourney sitting directly in his path. Moore slammed into Betourney, effectively ending
his chance for the point title unless a similar fate befell Larson. Moore restarted at the
back while Larson began to charge to the front. On lap two Larson went from seventh to
fifth and got into fourth on lap five. On lap six Larson passed both Colby Copeland and
James Sweeney to take over second. Two laps later Larson overtook leader Nick Soto in turn
four. He proceeded to drive away from the pack and looked to be headed to his second
convincing win of the night. However, a yellow flag appeared on lap 16 and Sweeney was
poised to make a race of it. On lap 18 Sweeney dove under Larson in turn three and carried
the ParkerStore driver nearly to the turn four wall. Larson, cognizant that the
championship was more important than the race win, let Sweeney go and safely drove to a
second place finish and the track championship. Moore soldiered to a respectable seventh
place finish but ended the season 24 points in arrears of Larson.
With the races completed Larson said, “This feels so good. I have gone for double
division championships here at Cycleland four times and would usually get one but not
both. Heck, last winter we decided we weren’t even going to run for points here. But
as the season came near we figured this was the place to be and I sure am glad we did
that. It’s a big effort to win two championships, with what can go wrong running two
karts at one track on the same night every week. But my dad and Sean Sheppard always had
my karts race ready and that made my job easier. Tonight, with the way the points were in
each division, my dad and I talked it over and the plan was to run as hard as I could and
get the QRC Cup trophy in the 125/250 race. But in the 500cc race I was just going to try
to stay out of trouble and not push things. I just had to finish within a few places of
Mason. Even with Mason going to the back I knew the same thing could happen to me. But as
the race went on I felt like I was just cruising and still passing people. The next thing
I knew I was leading and pulling away. When the yellow came out with four to go I just
told myself if somebody tries something risky with me to not fight it. When Sweeney drove
me up to the wall in turn four with two to go that was enough for me. On any other night I
would have come right back and challenged him, but with the championship on the line I
know I did the right thing. Next week is the 100 lap races and I can’t wait. Last
year was the first ever 100 lappers and it was so fun. You get to do pit stops and use
some strategy and it is a great way to close out the Cycleland season.”
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