From Gary Thomas
Stockton, CA — (November 7, 2015) — Chico, California’s Jonathan Allard became the third driver in King of the West Sprint Car Series history to reach the 40 win plateau, while Lemoore’s Carson Macedo locked up his first career KWS championship on Saturday night at the 32nd annual Tribute to Gary Patterson.
A large crowd packed the stands for the championship finale at the Stockton Dirt Track and saw Allard dominate the main event to earn his first KWS victory of the season. By doing so the three-time series champion has now won a race every year since 2005. It marked his second triumph in the Tribute to Gary Patterson, with his first coming at the Calistoga Speedway in 2007.
“It feels great to come out here and end the season with a victory at the Tribute to GP,” said a very happy Allard on the front stretch. “We battled through some adversity at times this year, so it really means a lot to give Clyde & Marion Lamar a big win like this. I also want to congratulate Carson Macedo & the Tarlton gang on a fantastic season. He’s one of the many great young drivers we have out here. Huge thanks to all my guys that help out. This car was phenomenal in the feature.”
Allard made a great move on the start to charge around front row starters Sean Becker & Macedo and was never seriously challenged the rest of the way. The past Gold Cup Race of Champions winner has fought through some bad luck this year in King of the West action, but none of that occurred on Saturday. His 40th career series win ranks third on the all-time list behind Brent & Tim Kaeding. Coupled with Paul McMahan’s victory in 1995, it was also the second time that the Tri-C Manufacturing Sprinter has captured the Tribute to Gary Patterson.
Macedo went into the A-main with an eight point advantage over Bud Kaeding and ran near the front for the duration of the feature, ultimately ending it with a second place finish, which was good enough to give him the title by 12-markers over Kaeding. The 19-year-old becomes the second youngest champion is series history behind Kyle Larson, who claimed the crown in 2010. Macedo didn’t earn a KWS victory during the season, but used consistency & smarts to capture the championship.
“It’s pretty special to win the King of the West championship in my first full season running with the 410 guys,” commented Macedo. “I’ve been stressed out all week over this close championship battle with Bud Kaeding and to come out on top is an awesome feeling. I want to thank Bud for such a fun season and have to give a huge thanks to Tom Tarlton, Paul Baines and my whole team for all their support. It’s really big to get my name on the list of past champions that have won the title with this series. Hopefully we can come back next season and do it again.”
Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto capped the KWS season by earning his second straight podium finish in third. Faccinto is another one that wrapped up his first full year of competition with the King of the West Sprint Car Series. He also began the night in very strong fashion, setting a new all time track record at the Stockton Dirt Track. “We’ve had some rough luck at times this year, so to end on such a good note is a big deal for us,” Faccinto said. “I want to thank my car owners and all our crew for supporting this year. We learned a lot and can’t wait for next season to come around.”
Bud Kaeding ended the race in fourth to lock up second in the standings for the second straight year. It was a great season for the Williams Motorsports team, who won the prestigious Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial with the King of the West Series & the annual Trophy Cup in October. Rounding out the top-five on Saturday was Sacramento’s Willie Croft. The remainder of the top-10 was filled out by Hanford’s DJ Netto, Roseville’s Sean Becker, Campbell’s Brent Kaeding, Sacramento’s Billy Butler and Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan.
Sean Becker won the dash, with the three 10-lap heat races going to Jonathan Allard, DJ Netto and Jason Statler. Mitchell Faccinto ripped around the Stockton Dirt Track in 12.495 seconds for his first fast time of the season.