From Gary Thomas, image courtesy of L&J Photography
Chowchilla, CA – August 16, 2010…Visiting the Chowchilla Speedway this past Saturday night Easton, California’s Tommy Tarlton made the trip pay off by recording a clean sweep of the event en route to yet another victory on the season.
It marked Tarlton’s third win in his last three starts and came despite an opening lap crash that could have easily thwarted his chances at making that happen.
“I really have to thank my crew chief Paul Baines and all my guys for getting the car back together after our first lap incident so I definitely owe a lot to them,” he commented. “There wasn’t a real big car count on Saturday so it might not have been as glamorous as our wins the previous couple of weeks, but we’ll take it.”
Venturing to the Central California based 1/3 mile clay oval this most recent weekend the current Ocean Speedway 360 sprint car point leader kicked off the night by setting fast time at the helm of the Corporate America Lending, Tarlton & Son Inc., Ridgeline Framing No. 21 Maxim. Tarlton then won his heat race and looked to cap off the evening with another triumph, but on the first lap of the feature things got off to a rocky start when he got upside down on the front stretch.
After going to the pits the team was able to make repairs and get the car back together, with Tarlton rejoining the field at the rear. When the green flag came back out he immediately began making his way through the pack and was able to get to the front and take the checkered flag ahead of local driver Eric “Hotrod” Humphreys for the win.
Up next for Tommy Tarlton and the Tarlton Motorsports team will be a double header weekend beginning this Friday night with the final Ocean Sprint Car Series presented by Taco Bravo event prior to the 50th running of the Johnny Key Classic, which is coming up on Saturday August 28. The defending Ocean Sprints champion will bring the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Sharp Insurance, Elite Racing No. 21 into the Ocean Speedway looking to maintain his current 13-point lead over young Kyle Larson at the top of the standings on Friday.
“With the Johnny Key coming up we’d definitely like to go into it with some momentum and having another good run on Friday will go a long way,” said Tarlton, who has won the last two sprint car events at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds quarter-mile and has tallied four overall triumphs at the track this season. “We’ve had a really great year at Ocean Speedway and it would be awesome to win the Johnny Key again and then end the season with the title for the second straight year. It’s going to be tough, but we’ll be giving it our all.”
Then on Saturday Tarlton will head for the Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford for another winged 360 sprint car event. “We’re looking forward to getting back to Hanford again and we’d like to support the place as much as possible, because the promoters are doing a great job with it,” he said. “Kings Speedway has always been one of the best tracks around and it’s nearby for us so we’d love to see it get back into the mix like it once was.”
For more on Tommy Tarlton and Tarlton & Son Inc. log onto http://www.tarltonandson.com/