From Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – (April 29, 2015) – If you’re a Sprint Car enthusiast in Northern California the place to be this Saturday night is the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, when the King of the West 410 Series takes on the famed quarter-mile for the prestigious 25th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.
The event pays tribute to race car driver Dave Bradway Jr., who lost his life in a Sprint Car crash at Skagit Speedway’s Dirt Cup in 1987. Bradway Jr. was a driver destined for stardom in Sprint Car racing and the event held in his memory has become a cornerstone for the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series each season at Silver Dollar Speedway. This Saturday marks just the second full point event in 2015 for KWS and is the first of two season appearances at the track.
With round one winner Kyle Hirst on the road with the Outlaws and Fremont’s Shane Golobic not running the KWS portion at Calistoga recently, Sacramento’s Willie Croft will go into Saturday as the series point leader. The veteran ran a career best third at the Bradway last year and is one of the top contenders to take home the King of the West championship in 2015. Croft set fast time and claimed fifth at the season opener in Placerville behind Hirst, Golobic, Lemoore’s Carson Macedo and Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi.
Golobic, Macedo & Scelzi will all be favorites come Saturday as well.
Former winners of the Bradway set to be on hand include five-time event champion Jonathan Allard of Chico, four-time victor Brent Kaeding from Campbell, along with single-time winners Sean Becker of Roseville & Grass Valley’s Jason Statler. Allard will be gunning for number six aboard the famed Tri-C Machine No. 3c Sprinter, the car Dave Bradway Jr. was most associated with. Car owner’s Clyde & Marion Lamar have won the event twice before, with drivers Randy Tiner & Paul McMahan. Becker is the four-time & defending Silver Dollar Speedway track champion and always seems to make noise at the Bradway.
More drivers expected will include Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan, Hanford’s DJ Netto & Mitchell Faccinto, Minden, Nevada’s Tanner Thorson, Roseville’s Colby Copeland, Penngrove’s Chase Johnson, Princeton’s Mason Moore, Fresno’s Craig Stidham, Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, Redding’s Keith Bloom Jr., Chico’s Brad Bumgarner, Fair Oak’s Chad Compton, Gilroy’s Jarrett Soares, Winton’s Gordon Rodgers and others.
Dave and Diane Durica have once again collected lap money and each lap of the 40-lap A-main and 12-lap Last Chance Showdown will pay $100 to be distributed among the top three each lap. The leader of the lap gets $50, second $30 and third $20. Lap money has been a staple of the Bradway Memorial over the years and always adds a special element to the event. Commemorative 25th anniversary event shirts will also be on sale during the weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway.
The fan group Hoserville will be partnering with the heat races for the 13th consecutive season. Each 10-lap heat race winner on Saturday May 2 will receive a free Hoosier Right Rear Tire plus Five Sleeves of Tear Offs. Hoserville has been involved with the heat races at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial since 2003 and it has grown to be a major part of the event each year. Each heat race winner will also stop on the front stretch for an interview & will receive a trophy from Trophy City to give to a child in the stands.
It’s also become a tradition at the start of the night to hand out the Carwash Mike Fast Time Award at the Bradway. The winner of the award will take home a custom one of a kind Jagermeister Trophy & a Coors Light Cowboy Hat, in honor of super fan Carwash Mike Avilla, who passed away in 2011. Along with that we have $1075 cash as of press time courtesy of Kyle Larson, Backyard Dreams, 50th Stater, Robyn & Jason Meyers, Mancamp Motorsports, Julie Ripperger, Top Wing and Andrew Kunas.
Brad Johnson Trucking Inc. has donated $200 to the night’s hard charger in the main event, along with $50 from Mancamp Motorsports. If anyone would like to add to the fast time award, hard charger award or donate anything to the night, please contact Dave and Dianne Durica at Durica1414@sbcglobal.net or 916-988-5958.
Saturday is also the first Williams Roofing Royal Fan Pill Draw night. A trivia question will be asked from the announce booth and the fan that answers correctly will pull a random number (1-22) out of a bag. The fan automatically wins $100 and if the driver wins the feature from the starting spot drawn, the driver receives a $1000 bonus. The Draw is taking place at KWS events that are part of the Prentice Motorsports Group Double Down Bonus weekends, which includes this Friday at Ocean Speedway & Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway.
The Silver Dollar Speedway front gate will open at 5pm on Saturday May 2, with adult tickets costing $20, juniors 12-15 will be $15 and kids 6-11 are $6. All seating is general admission during the night. The track is a high-banked quarter-mile clay oval and is considered one of the most famous dirt track venues in the country.
Camping is available for the weekend and is $35 a night that is collected by the fairgrounds. On Saturday the Northern California Auto Racing Alumni will hold their annual racers barbeque at the garden court area inside the fairgrounds. The lunch takes place at noon.
The Silver Dollar Speedway is located on the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, a half-mile west of SR 99 on Park Ave in Chico, California. For directions and a map visit http://www.silverdollarspeedway.com/location.php
Info on the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series can be found at www.racepmg.com