Larson Garners Fifth In Outlaw Showcase Race

Chico, CA – With the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, and fellow ParkerStore driver Donny Schatz, in town for the Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway Cycleland Speedway held their annual Tuesday Showcase and Kyle Larson was on hand to race in the 500cc Open and 250cc Intermediate Divisions. After restarting 21st after an early race spin, Larson recovered and drove to fifth in the Open Division main event, while in the Intermediate feature the carburetor fell off while the youngster was racing in third place, ultimately scoring an 11th place finish.

Larson set second fast time of the 33 karts in the Open Division and fourth of the 16 Intermediate drivers assembled. He started fifth in the six kart eight lap Open dash and finished there, while the Intermediate dash found the ParkerStore kart starting fourth and finishing fifth.

In the Intermediate 20 lapper Larson started ninth and quickly jumped to fifth on the first lap, while first heat winner Keith Bloom led from the pole over William Fielding. On the second lap Larson got by Shane Graham in turn two and then got by Garry Burdick down the back stretch on the next lap to move into third. Larson remained in third until, on lap 17, his carburetor bounced loose while attempting an inside pass on Fielding in a very rutted turn two. Larson pulled into the infield to watch Bloom lead the final three laps.

Larson started seventh in the Open Division main event. While battling for fifth place on lap seven Larson allowed his kart to spin in turn one, bringing out the yellow flag and relegating him to the back of the pack. As the race restarted David Tarter flipped in turn four and while the pack raced back to the yellow flag second running Daniel Becker got into leader Alec Kerns, collecting seven karts in all. Larson restarted 13th and passed four karts on the ninth lap to move into ninth. By lap 15 Larson cracked the top five where he battled Colby Copeland over the remainder of the race. He settled for fifth at the finish as Tyler Schaff drove to the win from the 15th starting place.

As the night concluded Larson had this to say, “This is a neat event that Cycleland puts on each year. With the Outlaws fans in town you get to race in front of people who are sprint car fans or crew members that maybe have never been exposed to our form of the sport with the Outlaw Sprint Karts. This is a great place to showcase our sport and I hope newcomers were impressed. As far as my night went it could have been better. I wish I wouldn’t have spun early in the Open main because I think I had a good shot at the win. It’s tough to go to the back and come back to win here. In the Intermediate race I don’t know if I could have won it but I was trying hard to get into second when the carburetor fell off after I hit a big rut. I don’t normally get to race that division much anymore, but thanks to Robert Carrel from QRC, he provided the engine so that I could compete and it was fun while it lasted.

Race: September 5, 2006
Photos Courtesy of Jack Waterman
www.kylelarsonracing.com