From Gary Thomas
On a night paying respect to the famed Baylands Raceway Park there were a few select cars that everyone pointed to as sentimental favorites and when all had been settled, one of them parked in victory lane, as Sacramento’s Willie Croft continued the hottest start of his career to claim his second KWS 410 win of the year aboard the Clyde & Marion Lamar owned Tri-C Machine Sprinter.
Throughout the night a number of past Baylands Raceway Park stories were told from the likes of David Vodden, George Hague, Jimmy Sills, Chuck Gurney, Lee James, Paul Torzilli, Ron Lingron, Willie Williams and more. The Baylands Raceway announcing duo of Vodden & Hague also took part in the event by announcing the second KWS heat race, bringing back some memories of the days gone by at the historic track that was located in Fremont, California.
The victory for Croft makes him the first repeat winner of the King of the West Sprint Car Series season and marked his first ever 410 triumph at the sticky 3/8 mile clay oval. It was also the fifth Golden State/ King of the West 410 win of Croft’s career and places him into a tie for 21st on the all-time list with current series competitor Kyle Hirst; Grinnell, Iowa’s Dennis Moore Jr. and Gilroy’s Eric Rossi. All in all it was certainly one of the best drives of his career, as he battled toe to toe with Jonathan Allard, along with lapped traffic much of the race.
“This is just such a great feeling and I’m really pumped to bring home a win here at Petaluma during the Salute to Baylands night,” commented an extremely happy Croft on the front stretch. “I grew up watching races at Baylands and to win tonight knowing that guys like Jimmy Sills, Chuck Gurney, Lee James and others were here makes it so special for us. I couldn’t be happier to bring home another win for Clyde & Marion Lamar and the Tri-C Machine team with the King of the West Series. It’s been a great start to the year and we aren’t done yet.”
The 30-lap main event came to the line with Dash winner Jonathan Allard and Croft on the front row. The Petaluma Speedway black adobe gumbo surface remained hooked up all night long in typical fashion and when the green lights came on the action became intense right from the get go. Croft jumped out to the lead, but had Allard right on his back bumper as the field blasted around the 3/8 mile oval in very fast fashion. As often times at Petaluma lapped traffic created some of the best racing seen all season and after a number of laps Allard would charge his way by Croft to steal the top spot.
The fight for the lead didn’t stop there however, as Croft showed his muscle by staying right with the Williams Motorsports No. 0 and would re-pass the defending King of the West champ in impressive fashion to reclaim the point shortly after. As the race continued on the fight for the lead proved to be a torrid one, but in the open track Croft was a rocket ship and pulled away to a steady advantage. Lapped traffic though allowed Allard to close in multiple times and kept fans on the edge of their seats.
Things then got interesting as Allard was called for a jump during a double file restart and was put back two spots for the ensuing start. This now moved the Abreu Vineyards No. 24 of St. Helena’s Rico Abreu up to the front row with Croft for the double file restart. When the green flag waved again Croft jumped back out to the lead with Abreu following along in second and Allard right there in third. The intensity level heated up with the race winding down and it soon became a three car battle for the lead over the closing laps.
The lead trio darted in and out of lapped traffic playing a high speed game of chess and looked to set up an epic finish, but everything came to a slow down on lap-27 when the yellow lights flashed on for a spun car in turns one & two. The final restart of the night saw Croft choose the outside, which put Abreu on the inside and when flagman Willie Williams waved the green Abreu popped a huge wheelie in dramatic fashion and gave Allard the chance to charge back into second. Allard tried to get close to Croft, but “Double Down” drove a perfect final few circuits and crossed the checkered by 1.203 seconds for victory.
“This car was absolutely perfect tonight and I can’t thank my crew chief Lee Lindgren and all my guys enough because I could put this thing anywhere on the track,” said Croft. “To get passed by Jon Allard and then pass him back is pretty cool. Jonathan is one of the best there is and you don’t get that chance very often, so it’s definitely a confidence builder. I also want to thank everyone for coming out and supporting us tonight. We’re all really excited to be back in Petaluma and had a lot of fun tonight and hope all the fans did too.”
Allard’s runner up finish was his best result of this young King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series season and continued his strong consistency at the Petaluma Speedway. “To put it quite frankly this track is bad ass,” said Allard of Petaluma Speedway. “Every time we come here the racing is tremendous and we always have multiple lines to use. It’s great to see all of you fans pack this place for us and we hope you’ll let the promoter know how much fun you had. We love coming here and hope to do so once again next season. I want to give a big thanks to Morrie & Katie Williams and my whole team for their support.”
One week after picking up the biggest win of his young career Abreu crossed the stripe in third to also earn his third podium finish of the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series season. “I want to thank Paul Silva and all my guys for getting me back up here on the podium tonight,” commented the 21-year-old throttle masher. “The track was really hooked up tonight and got crazy there a few times. I had a lot of fun racing with Willie and Jonathan there in traffic, but I wish that last restart would have gone a little better for me. I got the wheels up in the air and did everything I could to straighten it back up and continue on.”
Fremont’s Shane Golobic continued his strong start to the season and brought the Soltis Brothers backed No. 121 home in fourth to record his second straight top-five finish with KWS. Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi came from the sixth row to score fifth and earn his first career King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series top-five finish in the Scelzi Enterprise No. 41 mount. It was another very impressive night for the recently turned 16-year-old Scelzi, who was making his first ever start at the Petaluma Speedway.
Grass Valley’s Jason Statler had a strong run in the main event and earned the PitStopUSA Hard Charger Award by coming from 15th to sixth in the 30-lapper. It was very nice to see the former Golden State/ KWS 410 champ have a solid night after two straight weeks of tough luck. Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs rebounded nicely to finish seventh after an early incident in traffic forced him to the rear. Rounding out the top-10 in the feature were Sydney, Australia’s Peter Murphy; Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst and Campbell’s Brent Kaeding.
The 12-lap Last Chance Qualifier was captured by Brent Kaeding with the six-lap Dash being won by Jonathan Allard. The three 10-lap Kaeding Performance heat races were picked off by Shane Golobic, Watsonville’s Justin Sanders and Kyle Hirst. Earning his first career King of the West BR Motorsports fast time award to begin the night was young and talented 18-year-old Christopher Bell from Norman, Oklahoma. Making his first ever Petaluma Speedway start Bell took the Finley Farms No. 77 machine around the 3/8 mile oval in 12.518 seconds to set the mark out of the 25-cars on hand.
Drivers that competed at Petaluma Speedway and displayed the Kaeding Performance decal, along with the Kaeding Performance contingency company’s decals’ will also have the chance to take part in over $1000 of contingency awards for the night. The Kaeding Performance contingency program is in effect for each and every King of the West Sprint Car Series event. For details on companies involved with the program and how to take part please visit http://kwssprints.com/sponsors
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will now head for two night’s of action at the Reno Tahoe Fernley Speedway in Fernley, Nevada next Friday & Saturday May 17 & 18. Don’t forget to book your rooms at the JA Nugget in Sparks, Nevada! The double header outing will be the first of five weekend’s of competition at the RTF Speedway, which is promoted by KWS Managing Director Dan Simpson. The event will also feature a beefed up purse each night, with the A-main’s being $3500-to-win & $1000-to-start both nights. The high-banked 3/8 mile oval will make for some great racing and we invite everyone to come out and have some fun with us.