By Gary Thomas
Santa Maria, CA – May 3, 2010…A packed house on Saturday night at the Santa Maria Speedway witnessed just the third clean sweep in Golden State Challenge Series competition since 2002, as Easton’s Tommy Tarlton set fast-time, won his heat race, the dash and then dominated all 30-laps of the feature to score a big victory during the second annual Doug Fort Memorial.
The two most recent clean sweeps with the series came in July of 2008 when San Jose’s Tim Kaeding turned the trick at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico and then in May of 2007 when Oroville’s Sean Becker did it at the Ocean Speedway in Watsonville. Prior to that you have to go all the way back to 2002 when current World of Outlaw point leader Jason Meyers of Clovis scored a clean sweep at Calistoga Speedway’s Tribute to Gary Patterson.
The win for Tarlton also came one night after winning the Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo main event at the track and the GSC triumph capped a strong weekend for the veteran competitor. “Wow it’s been a while since we’ve won a 410 race and to do it with a clean sweep is unreal,” said the driver of the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Corporate America Lending, Tarlton & Son Inc. No. 21. “This is all about Paul Baines, Blaine Steele and my whole team because this car was amazing all weekend long.”
When the green flag waved in the 30-lap feature Tarlton jumped into the lead with Vancouver, Washington’s Zach Zimmerly following along in second. The early stages would see the 15-year-old youngster hang with Tarlton, but after about 10-laps the Easton racer would pull away as he worked traffic to perfection on the extremely heavy 1/3 mile clay oval. Tarlton throughout the race held a steady advantage, putting on a clinic out front and was never seriously challenged as the laps wound down and crossed the checkered for his first Golden State Challenge Series victory since 2003.
Over the last couple season’s Tarlton has been one of the very best in all of California sprint car racing and lapped all the way up to eighth place in his impressive win on Saturday night during the second annual Doug Fort Memorial. “It’s really great that Chris Kearns and this track brought winged sprint car racing back to Santa Maria and we’ve always loved coming here,” said the 2000 Trophy Cup champion. “I want to thank my dad, all my family and all of our sponsors for supporting us. We had some sponsors in attendance tonight, including Corporate America Lending so it’s pretty cool to have a night like this with them watching.”
Zimmerly would hold the second spot comfortably for virtually the entire race, until feeling some pressure from Clovis driver Peter Murphy the final few laps, but the wheel-man of the McMillen Motorsports, Christian Stover Foundation No. 94 never faltered and crossed the checkered in the runner-up position to score his best ever GSC finish.
“This is pretty cool to come out here and run second tonight with GSC in my first weekend of racing at Santa Maria Speedway,” Zimmerly commented. “I want to thank my whole family, Duke and Scott McMillen, Jonathan Allard, the Christian Stover Foundation, all of our sponsors and everyone that supports this team.”
After giving Zimmerly a run for his money over the closing laps Murphy crossed the stripe in third to tally his first Golden State Challenge Series podium of the season aboard the Ridgeline Framing, Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino No. 13 machine.
“This was a really good weekend for us and I’m real happy to be up here on the podium tonight,” said Murphy, who also finished in fourth on Friday evening in Santa Maria. “Tommy was really fast out front tonight and so was Zach who did an awesome job for being just 15-years-old and running second. I want to thank all the fans for coming out, as well as my sponsors for helping out on this 13 car.”
Completing the top-10 in the main event were Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson, Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan, Campbell’s Brent Kaeding, Pleasanton’s Brad Furr, Chico’s Jonathan Allard and Kerman’s Davey Pombo. The three 10-lap heat races were won by Tarlton, Sacramento’s Willie Croft and Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs. The dash was captured by Tarlton with him also setting fast-time to begin the evening with a clocking of 13.707 around the 1/3 mile clay oval.
The Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series will now head for the 20th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway this Saturday night. For detailed information on the huge event stay tuned to http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com