From Gary Thomas
Aptos, CA — (September 8, 2014) — One of the much anticipated weekends of racing for the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series is set to take place this Friday & Saturday, with a double header of competition kicked-off at the Santa Maria Speedway on Friday & a historical first at Ventura Raceway on Saturday. It will mark rounds 15 & 16 in the battle for statewide championship, which has just a couple races remaining after this weekend.
On Friday September 12 the series returns to the luxurious confines of the Santa Maria Speedway for the second straight season. The King of the West 410’s routinely play host to a packed house of fans whenever the series invades the one-third mile clay oval, which was built by the late Doug Fort in 1964.
Fort helped mold Santa Maria Speedway into one of the top dirt tracks in the country as the owner/promoter until his passing in 1999. The unique one-third mile clay oval has been named “Best Short Track Operation West of the Mississippi” on two separate occasions and is nestled in a semi amphitheater of natural terrain, sheltered by dense eucalyptus trees at the top and to the back of the bleacher area.
The Santa Maria Speedway is located 12 miles inland from the Pacific coast, three miles north of the city of Santa Maria and is located a 1/4-mile north of the US 101/166 interchange on Hutton Road. The facility is one hundred seventy miles north of Los Angeles and 260 miles south of San Francisco.
The following night will see history take place when the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series heads to the Ventura Raceway on Saturday September 13, for what will be the first ever Winged Sprint Car event at the track. The facility has been a favorite stop among Wingless Sprint Car & Midget fans/teams over the years and features one of the most picturesque settings you’ll find at any dirt track. All the action will also be filmed by MAVTV for airing on the Dirty 30 Series with support from ARP Fasteners & Maxwell Industries.
A past column by racing journalist Norm Bogan said of Ventura Raceway: “If you could pick a scenic location for a racing facility, the Fairgrounds at Ventura, California would be near the top of the list. As you sit in the grandstands, you can look to your right and watch surfers riding the waves of the Pacific. To your left, is a background of mountains, covered with many Spanish style, white stucco and red tile homes, interspersed with tall palm trees, while in the foreground, the Coastal Amtrak trains sweep by and blow their whistles. In front of you is one of the best maintained racing facilities in the country.”
“This is going to be a really fun weekend for fans and teams alike,” commented Brent Kaeding, who captured Rookie of the Year honors at the Santa Maria Speedway in 1978. “It’s always a great trip heading down to Santa Maria and the fans really do an amazing job of packing that place when we come to town. Then on Saturday at Ventura it’s going to be an exciting night with KWS bringing the first ever Winged Sprint Car show to the track. You’re definitely not going to want to miss it, so be sure and make the trip down to join us.”
Defending King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series champion Kyle Hirst brings an 80-point lead into the weekend and is fresh off a runner up finish with the World of Outlaws on Sunday in Antioch. The wheel-man of the Roth Motorsports No. 83jr finished just .005 seconds behind winner Kerry Madsen, in what was the closest finish in WOO history. Hirst captured last season’s KWS event in Santa Maria and has claimed three victories so far in 2014 with the series, which is tied for the most with Jonathan Allard & Rico Abreu.
World of Outlaws winners from last weekend, Carson Macedo & Jonathan Allard, will be gunning to keep the momentum rolling this weekend at Santa Maria & Ventura. Macedo, the talented 18-year-old from Lemoore, earned his first career WOO victory during opening night of the Gold Cup Race of Champions, while Allard capped the event with his first WOO win on Saturday to score one of the biggest triumphs of his accomplished career. Allard has won the past two KWS events held this season and sits fourth in the standings.
The father/son battle for second in the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series standings will continue with Campbell’s Bud Kaeding holding the spot by 17-digits over Campbell’s Brent Kaeding going into Friday. Bud, a three-time USAC Silver Crown champ, earned his first KWS win of the season July 12 at Ocean Speedway. Brent has been close to victory lane this year with KWS and will look to check that off the list this weekend.
Roseville’s Sean Becker led a number of laps during the finale of the Gold Cup Race of Champions and came home an impressive third at the conclusion. The former KWS champ rounds out the top-five in the series points going into this weekend and is just 11-markers back of Allard for fourth. A close fight for the sixth spot continues to be seen between Grass Valley’s Jason Statler, Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi and Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan, with just 14-points separating the trio.
Statler, who won a WOO race at Santa Maria in 1999, is coming off a seventh place finish during opening night of the Gold Cup Race of Champions and looked solid all last weekend with the World of Outlaws. Likewise, Scelzi also looked impressive with the World of Outlaws, despite not getting the finishes that could have been. McMahan had his best effort of the season last Friday during the Gold Cup opener, finishing a very strong third in the main event. All three will be threats to earn their first KWS win of the season this weekend.
More drivers expected to take part in the weekend will include Hanford’s DJ Netto, who is coming off a solid seventh place run on Sunday night in Antioch, Fresno’s Craig Stidham & Cory Eliason, Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto, Fremont’s Shane Golobic, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Gilroy’s Jarrett Soares, Grass Valley’s Pat Harvey, Winton’s Gordon Rodgers, Tracy’s Austin Liggett, , Laton’s Geoffrey Strole, Ventura’s Greg Taylor and others.
Tickets at Santa Maria Speedway on Friday are $25 for adults. Kids 6-12 will be $6. Seniors / Military / Students $ 23. Five and under FREE. On Saturday at Ventura Raceway adult tickets will be $25, seniors/ students with id & military with id will be $15, kids 7-12 are $10, with children 6 & under free accompanied by an adult. The front gate on Friday will open at 4pm, while Saturday will open at 3pm. More information on the events can be found at www.santamariaspeedway.com and www.venturaraceway.com
Info on the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series can be found at http://www.kwssprints.com
Be sure to like the KWS Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/kingofthewestsprints and become a member of our Twitter community at https://twitter.com/KwsSprintRacing for all the latest breaking news regarding the series