By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – May 26, 2013…One night after coming out on top of a torrid battle for the lead in the feature Clovis, California’s Jason Meyers came back Sunday evening and left nothing on the table to dominate the later stages of the main event and sweep the “Chris & Brian Faria Memorial” with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series in Tulare.
The victory for Meyers was the 14th of his Golden State/ King of the West 410 Series career, which places him into a tie for sixth on the all-time list with Los Angeles wheel-man Tyler Walker. It was also the second time in his career that he has captured the event that is held in memory of the late Chris & Brian Faria at Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway. Meyers certainly showed and reminded everyone over the weekend why he is a two-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion.
“This car was perfect tonight and I can’t say enough about Paul Baines and this whole Tarlton & Son Inc. team,” commented an excited Meyers after leaping from his car. “To get the chance to come out and race for Tom Tarlton this weekend was great and to be able to sweep both nights is just awesome. There are some great drivers out here in California so it’s pretty special to run so strong. I love racing in Tulare because this track is so much fun and I really want to thank everyone that supports this team. Without all of them we couldn’t do this.”
The 30-lap main event came to the line with Meyers & Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst on the front row after the pair continued their battle from the night before during the six lap dash. Hirst was able to claim victory in the dash to earn the pole, but when the green flag waved in the feature it was Meyers getting the jump to lead the field. Over the first few laps Hirst & Campbell’s Bud Kaeding would please the crowd by throwing slide jobs at each other on both ends of the speedway, prior to the caution flag waving on lap four. After this the final 26-laps were clicked off caution free and the action throughout the field remained intense.
Once going back green Chico’s Jonathan Allard made some nifty moves to get up into the third spot after starting from the fifth row. As Meyers sat out front though, Hirst was able to get close to his bumper a couple times over the first half of the race, but with about 10-laps remaining Meyers kicked it into overdrive. The man known as “Hotfoot” pulled away to a sizeable advantage and took the checkered flag by nearly four seconds to earn his second King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series win of the season. It was also the second time in his career that Meyers won the Memorial Day weekend finale with the series, as he also performed that feat in 2002 at Calistoga Speedway.
Some of the most excitement in the main event came from the battle for second between Hirst and Allard, as the pair ran closely together for much of the race while riding the high-scary side of the one-third mile clay oval. Allard tried his hardest to get by Hirst, but the 25-year-old driver of the Roth Enterprises No. 83jr did a solid job to earn his fourth runner up finish of the season. “I tried to get up there and race with Jason Meyers for the lead again tonight, but he was definitely the class of the field so I want to congratulate him on the win. I really have to thank Dennis & Teresa Roth and this whole team for working so hard. We’ve been really consistent and that’s what you have to do to win a championship.”
Allard crossed the stripe in third for a nice end to the weekend that had some adversity to it at times. On Saturday night the three-time King of the West champ got upside down in the main event and then came back to set fast time on Sunday, but contact while racing for position in turn three during his heat race resulted in him having to come through the LCQ. “We kind of got forced into the wall there in the heat race, but all my guys did a great job and we got rolling good there in the feature. This place is always fun to race at and it was great racing with Kyle Hirst like that tonight. I want to thank everyone for coming out and we’ll look forward to the next race.”
Peter Murphy of Sydney, Australia had a strong run in the main event to earn his best King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series finish of the season in fourth. The veteran driver made some great moves in the feature and looked fast all night long in the Dalton’s Landscaping No. 1nz mount. Current King of the West point leader Rico Abreu rounded out the top-five in the main event to score his eighth top-five finish in the first eight races of the season. The consistency that the 21-year-old has put together has been ultra impressive and we’d like to wish him the best of luck as he heads back to the Midwest to compete for Keith Kunz Racing over the next handful of weeks.
Completing the top-10 in the main event were Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Grass Valley’s Jason Statler, Campbell’s Brent Kaeding, Fresno’s Carson Macedo and Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett. Capturing the 12-lap Last Chance Qualifier was Jonathan Allard and winning the six-lap dash was Kyle Hirst. Kaeding Performance heat race wins went to Bud Kaeding, Peter Murphy and Evan Suggs. Allard became the first repeat fast time qualifier to begin the night in BR Motorsports qualifying by ripping the one-third mile oval in 13.492 seconds.
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will now have some time off before resuming action on June 29 at the Placerville Speedway in Placerville, California.