From Bill Sullivan, Media Release from Handy Racing Promotions, Inc.
ROSEVILLE, CA – The much anticipated schedule for the 2010 season of the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series has been officially slated by the office of Handy Racing Promotions Incorporated. The latest edition of California’s premier series for winged sprint cars is action packed with some 27 events taking place at 14 different tracks in California and the Pacific Northwest.
The upcoming season for the coveted battle of the King of California title will be worth more that $450,000 in overall winnings throughout the California portions of the series. An additional $225,000 will be up for grabs in the road to the Dirt Cup Western Speedweek addition to the series in 2010.
Every Golden State Challenge Series event will pay $3000 to win every night and $400 to anyone who starts the A-feature. The championship point fund for 2010 will be an estimated $50,000 with contingency sponsors throughout the year, barring any rained out events during the year.
The battle will begin on Saturday, March 27 as Placerville Speedway will host the season opener. The quarter-mile bullring will host three Golden State Challenge events in the year to come with follow up events on June 5 and the series finale on August 21 when the champion is officially crowned.
Antioch Speedway will be the second track on the schedule this season. The fire breathing winged sprint cars will thrill the Antioch crowd for their first appearance on April 3 and a late season appearance July 17th. Nearby Petaluma Speedway will host the tour for three exciting nights this year. The first Petaluma date will fall on April 17 followed by appearances on April 17, May 28 and July 31.
The always exciting Tulare Thunderbowl is host to a pair of GSC thrillers this year. Competitors will travel far south for the visit to Tulare on Saturday, April 10 and will return on May 15 for the second and final appearance of the year.
Ocean Speedway will present two King of California events this season. Located in Watsonville, the track will feature the 410 sprinters on April 24, and a late season appearance on August 7th. The famed Santa Maria Speedway is host to a pair of events during the season with a date on May 1 followed by a second visit on July 10.
Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico will be home to three GSC events during the year. The second appearance of the year will fall on Saturday, May 15th. This event will be the annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. The series returns to the Chico banks on June 11 for the Tribute to Gary Patterson and will conclude their Silver Dollar appearances on July 4th for a special event that includes fireworks following the night of racing.
The month of June will feature a very exciting series of events as the series will travel to the Pacific Northwest as part of Western Speedweek. This event features seven races in nine days at five different tracks for more than $225,000. Three of the Northern events will be point races in the Golden State Challenge campaign which lead up to the annual Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Washington.
Western Speedweek begins with the June 11 event at Silver Dollar and continues with the second leg of the mid season stretch on June 12 at Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford. Competitors will travel to Cottage Grove on Monday, June 14 and then over to Lebanon at Willamette Speedway on June 15. The stretch concludes with the Dirt Cup at Skagit on Saturday, June 19th. The Dirt Cup will not count as a GSC point race but the majority of the teams which travel north will be in competition for the high dollar event.
The Western Speedweek is the work of Skagit Speedway promoter Steve Beitler working together with Silver Dollar Speedway and GSC Promoter Alan Handy to bring something the GSC tour that drivers have been asking for over the last several seasons. Thus, “The Road to Dirt Cup” is finally here.
“I am excited to be working with Steve and the other promoters on this new speedweek tour. It’s great to expand on a tradition that started long ago between Jim Raper and John Padjen to work together as promoters around the Dirt Cup.” said Handy. “The racers, the fans and the tracks have been wanting this for a long time.”
After a long absence, the Golden State Challenge returns to King’s Speedway in Hanford this season with a solo appearance on Saturday, June 26. Much like the return to Hanford, competitors and fans are excited to be returning to Marysville Raceway Park for the first time in several years.
Promoter Paul Hawes has made many great improvements to the facility over the last two seasons and will host the first GSC event under his track management reign on Saturday, July 24.
In 2009 a total of 109 different drivers competed in the Golden State Challenge Series and earned championship points. In the end it was Tyler Walker of Los Angeles completing a record breaking season and earning his first Golden State Challenge Series Championship.
Walker won a record nine feature wins during the campaign. Driving for the Sacramento based SC Motorsports #24 team he finished the year with a 26 point advantage over former series champion Jonathan Allard of Chico. Brent Kaeding finished in third over all followed by Evan Suggs and Kyle Larson, the 2009 series Rookie of the Year.
For a complete detailed schedule of the 2010 Golden State Challenge Series please visit the official website of the tour at www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com. The series business office can be reached at (916) 969-7484.
2010 Golden State Challenge Schedule
MAR 27 SAT PLACERVILLE SPEEDWAY Placerville, CA
APR 3 SAT ANTIOCH SPEEDWAY Antioch, CA
APR 10 SAT TULARE THUNDERBOWL Tulare, CA
APR 17 SAT PETALUMA SPEEDWAY Petaluma, CA
APR 24 SAT OCEAN SPEEDWAY Watsonville, CA
MAY 1 SAT SANTA MARIA SPEEDWAY Santa Maria, CA
MAY 8 SAT SILVER DOLLAR SPEEDWAY Chico, CA “Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial”
MAY 15 SAT TULARE THUNDERBOWL Tulare, CA
MAY 28 FRI PETALUMA SPEEDWAY Petaluma, CA
MAY 29 SAT CALISTOGA SPEEDWAY Calistoga, CA
MAY 30 SUN CALISTOGA SPEEDWAY Calistoga, CA “Walt Ross Memorial”
JUN 5 SAT PLACEVILLE SPEEDWAY Placerville, CA
2010 Western Speedweek
JUN 11 FRI SILVER DOLLAR SPEEDWAY CHICO, CA “Tribute to Gary Patterson”
JUN 12 SAT SOUTHERN OREGON SPEEDWAY Medford, OR 2010 Western Speedweek
JUN 14 MON COTTAGE GROVE SPEEDWAY Cottage Grove, OR
JUN 15 TUE WILLAMETTE SPEEDWAY Lebanon, OR
JUN 17 THU SKAGIT SPEEDWAY Alger, WA
“Skagit Dirt Cup”
* JUN 18 FRI SKAGIT SPEEDWAY Alger, WA ”
* JUN 19 SAT SKAGIT SPEEDWAY Alger, WA
JUN 26 SAT KINGS SPEEDWAY Handford, CA
JUL 4 SUN SILVER DOLLAR SPEEDWAY Chico, CA
JUL 10 SAT SANTA MARIA SPEEDWAY Santa Maria, CA
JUL 17 SAT ANTIOCH SPEEDWAY Antioch, CA
JUL 24 SAT MARYSVILLE RACEWAY PARK Marysville, CA
JUL 31 SAT PETALUMA SPEEDWAY Petaluma, CA
AUG 7 SAT OCEAN SPEEDWAY Watsonville, CA
AUG 21 SAT PLACERVILLE SPEEDWAY Placerville, CA