By Gary Costa, phot by Brian Lugo
TULARE, CA (April 3, 2010) — Defending Ocean Speedway Sprint Car champion, Tommy Tarlton’s weekend came to a quick and disappointing end, due to the wet weather that would cancel the Friday opener at Ocean Speedway. However, Peter Murphy along with the Tarlton Motorsports team finally knocked the monkey off of their back at the Tulare Thunderbowl. The pesky monkey has been clinging onto the back of the team since the first West Coast 360 Sprint Car race that was held in conjunction with the World of Outlaws event back on March 6, at the same track.
Three frustrating races in a row would plague the team with circumstances that were out of their hands while contending for the victory. With some much needed luck on their side, the team was able to turn in a solid finish.
The team had a busy week leading up to the Tulare race as they hustled and disassembled the car immediately after the Bakersfield crash, then sent the chassis off for repair for the second time in as many weeks. The cagey Tarlton Motorsports crew did a masterful job of putting the car back together in a short amount of time, and the car would perform flawlessly once it hit the racing surface.
The Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Tarlton & Son, Inc. No. 21 KPC would take to the speedway and qualify fourth out of the field. Murphy then went on and also finished fourth in his heat race, testing the racing surface throughout the event. Peter eventually finished in the fourth position at the end of the 30 lap feature, but was officially scored third, as fellow friend and masher Danny Faria, Jr. failed the post-race tech inspection.
“It was a good night. Hats off to the guys who finished in front of us – they did a great job. We still have some things to work on, but we will get it figured out. This is our first race that we’ve finished this year, so now we will just keep looking to improve on our performance,’’ Murphy quipped. “We made a huge jump in the point standings and we’re definitely not out of it yet. There’s a lot of racing to do, and we will try it again this Saturday in Tulare!”
Up Next For Tarlton Motorsports!
Tarlton Motorsports will be hosting “Forcum Mackey Construction Night At The Races” at the Tulare Thunderbowl this Saturday, April 10.
Tarlton Motorsports drivers, Tommy Tarlton and Peter Murphy, will both be behind the wheel of the potent Tarlton Motorsports mounts at the Tulare Thunderbowl.
Tommy will be competing with the Golden State Challenge 410 Winged Sprint Car Series and Peter will be battling it out once again with the West Coast 360 Non-Wing Sprint Cars.
For schedule information, please go to www.tarltonandson.com
Special thanks to: The Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Corporate American Lending, Sharp Insurance, Ridgeline Framing, Shark Racing Engines, Matt & Glass, M & S Motorsports, Elite Racing, BG Products, Pro Signs, VMAC, Kaeding Performance, Pro Shocks, Sander Engineering, Astro Titanium, Simpson, BR Motorsports, Willwood, and Brown & Miller Racing Solutions.