By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – June 8, 2011…The biggest weekend so far this season for the Golden State King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series is set to go green this Friday and Saturday nights with events at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico and the Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford, Oregon.
Friday’s opener is expected to be a huge night of competition with a number of special awards and prizes up for grabs during the annual “Tribute to Gary Patterson/ Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.”
A large car count is anticipated for the evening of racing that is expected to be a night that surely won’t want to be missed, as the extra money on the line always seems to bring out the best in California’s top winged sprint car drivers.
Saturday’s event at the Southern Oregon Speedway is also expected to be a big night at a track that has become a fun stop on way to the non-point Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup. Former winners of Golden State 410 events at the track include Brent Kaeding on two separate occasions, as well as Tim Kaeding, Tim Shaffer and Kyle Larson, who captured last year’s race.
San Jose’s Tim Kaeding leads the Golden State King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series into the weekend, currently holding a 35-point lead in the standings. “TK” is a two-time winner of the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial and was the winner of the Tribute to GP in 2008 aboard his Roth Motorsports No. 83 mount. Kaeding will be in search of his series leading fourth KWS win of the season on Friday.
Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs continues to be a consistency machine and goes into Chico ranking runner up in the Golden State King of the West Sprint Car Series standings while driving his family’s Suggs Racing No. 33e. The 24-year-old has been right in the thick of things all season & will look for his first KWS win this week.
Moving up to third in the standings is National Sprint Car Hall of Fame member and 13-time Golden State 410 Series champion Brent Kaeding of Campbell. “BK” is tied for the most wins in both Bradway Memorial & Tribute to GP history, having claimed four wins apiece in each race and will look to get back into victory lane on Friday.
Chico’s Jonathan Allard will be looking to rebound this weekend, starting with Friday’s “Tribute to GP/ Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial” at his home track of Silver Dollar Speedway. The two-time Golden State Series champion is tied with “BK” for most wins in Bradway Memorial history and captured the Tribute to GP in ’07.
Rounding out the top-five in KWS points coming into the weekend is Sacramento’s “Double Down” Willie Croft, who has been having a strong season thus far in the Holey Smokes BBQ No. 29 sprint car. After winning at Marysville on April 30 the veteran driver will be looking for his second victory of the season this Friday at the “Tribute to GP/ Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.”
Completing the top-10 in Golden State King of the West points going into Friday evening are ’04 Golden State 410 Series champion Jason Statler of Grass Valley, Placerville’s Andy Gregg, Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan, Fremont’s Brent Bjork and Hoseheads/ Grant’s Fine Art Rookie of the Year contender Kenny Allen of Chico.
More drivers expected to take part in some of the weekend’s action will include Stockton’s Brad Furr, ’05 Golden State 410 Series titlist Sean Becker of Oroville, Auburn’s Andy Forsberg, Oregon’s Roger Crockett, Loomis’ Kyle Hirst, Australian Ian Madsen, Chico’s Brad Bumgarner and Jason York, Princeton’s Mason Moore, Clovis’ Peter Murphy, St. Helena’s Rico Abreu, Fremont’s Shane Golobic, Redding’s Tyler Wolf, New Zealander’s Dean Brindle, Danielle Anderson, Jason Scott and more.
The Silver Dollar Speedway is located on the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, CA. Adult tickets for Friday will cost $20, juniors 12-15 will be $14, children 6-11 are $12 and kids five and under will be free. More information on the Tribute to Gary Patterson/ Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial can be found by logging onto http://www.silverdollarspeedway.com
The Southern Oregon Speedway is located at the Jackson County Sports Park just outside of White City, OR and is about 15 minutes from downtown Medford. General admission tickets for Saturday will be $20 for adults with seniors, juniors & veterans $15 and children $5. More info on the Southern Oregon Speedway is available at http://www.sospeedway.com
For results, point standings and much more on the Golden State King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series visit http://www.kwssprints.com