By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – July 22, 2015…Eighteen-year-old Dominic Scelzi leads three-time USAC Silver Crown champion Bud Kaeding by just seven-points at the top of the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series standings heading into the second Peter Murphy Classic on Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway.
Reserved grandstand seats for the Peter Murphy Classic on Saturday cost $20 with general admission bleacher tickets $18. To reserve your seat contact (559) 688-0909. The front gate will open at 4pm with racing expected to get underway around 7pm. The ticket booth will open at 1pm, with pit booth scheduled to open at 9am. Camping is available on the fairgrounds for those that want to bring RV’s, trailers or tents.
This Saturday night marks round 11 in the battle for the King of the West title and is the richest event all year for the series. The A-main will pay $11,000-to-win & $1000-to-start, among other incentives thanks to former KWS regular Peter Murphy, who hustled up lots of extra cash. Murphy will once again have a special victory podium made up with champagne to help celebrate the winners in style. It will surely be a victory lane party that fans want to stay for!
Chico’s Kyle Hirst comes into the race as the hottest driver on tour with KWS. The 27-year-old has won four main events already this season, including the past three. Hirst last year fought for the lead at the Peter Murphy Classic, until catching the wall and suffering a flat tire around the midway point. The two-time series champion has been on fire lately and would love to give owner’s Dennis & Teresa Roth a victory in their own backyard at the Murphy Classic. Roth Motorsports will also have ASCS National point leader Aaron Reutzel in a car. The Clute, TX wheel-man finished fifth in his KWS debut at the HK Classic two weeks ago.
The extremely close race for the King of the West championship continues at the Peter Murphy Classic. Fresno based Dominic Scelzi is back on top of the points after last week’s event in Placerville. The ironic twist is that Peter Murphy has acted as crew chief for Scelzi the last year & a half, making him one of the many sentimental favorites. Campbell’s Bud Kaeding sits just seven-markers back of Scelzi going into Saturday. Kaeding also drives the Williams Motorsports ZERO, which is the same car Murphy notably drove from late 1997-2002. Scelzi has one win so far this year, while Kaeding has two victories to his credit.
Lemoore’s Carson Macedo now finds himself third in the standings, 19-digits behind Scelzi. The 19-year-old first-year KWS regular also drives for Tarlton & Son Inc., who Murphy drove for to a number of Wingless wins in the mid-to-late 2000’s. The always smooth & consistent Bobby McMahan drove from 16th to eighth last week and has moved his way to fourth in points. The Elk Grove driver holds a six-point advantage over Hanford’s DJ Netto, who rounds out the top-five going into Saturday. The 19-year-old drove to a big victory during the most recent King of the West event in Tulare on May 16.
Thirteen-time series champion Brent Kaeding sits just five-markers out of the top-five and last year finished third at the Peter Murphy Classic. Fremont’s Shane Golobic is six-digits behind Kaeding going into Tulare. The defending Civil War champion finished second in May at the Thunderbowl and a win at the Murphy Classic would be huge for the 23-year-old. Three-time KWS titlist Jonathan Allard is eighth in the standings and last year captured victory at the event. The Chico driver is still searching for his first series win of 2015 and would love nothing more than to do it at the Murphy Classic. Gilroy youngster Jarrett Soares & Hirst complete the top-10 in points.
A stellar field is set to be on hand and will include past KWS champions Tyler Walker of Los Angeles & Jason Statler of Grass Valley, along with Sacramento’s Willie Croft, Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto, Fresno’s Craig Stidham & Cory Eliason, Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett, Penngrove’s Chase Johnson, Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, Coarsegold’s Scott Parker, Australian’s Shaun Dobson, Michael Cunningham & Clem Hoffmans, Tipton’s Mike Faria, Tulare’s Shawn Wright, Auburn’s Richard Brace Jr., Laton’s Geoffrey Strole, Atwater’s Sean Watts and more.
Saturday will also feature the Williams Roofing Royal Fan Pill Draw with an extra special incentive. 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 $2000 bonus! Special thanks to Williams Roofing Fremont, CA!
The Hard Charger Award on Saturday is named after the late Stephen Allard and will pay $1000 to the driver that improves their starting spot the most in the feature. Fast time is being sponsored by Williams Motorsports, as well as World of Outlaws driver Brad Sweet and stands at $600. A longest haul award will also be given out, which will pay $500. A bonus for the three highest finishing 360 Sprint Cars will be up for grabs and will go $400, $300 & $200.
The Dash during the night will also have a special twist thrown in. Rather than doing the standard eight car dash where all drivers compete for six laps, the night will see an Australian & New Zealand style Pole Shuffle thrown into the mix. The winner of the shuffle will be awarded with $500 courtesy of Hunt Magnetos.
To view a promo video click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJkOp8R5Kk
The Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway is located at the Tulare County Fairgrounds on the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare, California. From the junction of SR 99 and SR 137, go west on SR 137. At South K go south one-half mile to the Fairgrounds. More info can be found at http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
The Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway is located at the Tulare County Fairgrounds on the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare, California. From the junction of SR 99 and SR 137, go west on SR 137. At South K go south one-half mile to the Fairgrounds. More info can be found at http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com