By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – May 31, 2016…After a couple weeks off from competition the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series is geared up & eager to kick-off a big summer of racing with one of the special events of the year this Saturday night June 4 at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway.
The event on Saturday marks the fourth annual David Tarter Memorial, which pays tribute to former Sprint Car driver David Tarter, who we lost in a pit area accident during a King of the West Series race at Silver Dollar Speedway in June of 2012. David was an up & coming driver that never had a large budget in racing and worked hard for everything he had in the sport. The night we lost him was certainly a very emotional one for all. In honor of David Tarter’s No. 35, Saturday will be capped with a 35-lap $3500-to-win main event.
The Tarter family will be selling commemorative T-Shirts & Sweatshirts during the weekend. They’ll also be raffling off a helmet & two embroidered blankets among other items, with proceeds going to the Enloe Foundation, which provides comfort items to children served by Enloe Medical Center, as well as the Northern Auto Racing Club Benevolent Fund, which uses 100% of the funds raised to support the families of injured drivers, crew members and officials running Sprint Car Series’ in California.
Both KWS & Silver Dollar Speedway are committed to keeping David’s memory alive & making this one of the cornerstone events on the schedule each season. The racing has been top notch at the high-banked quarter-mile this year, so we invite everyone to come up and make a weekend out of it. Friday June 3 also features a Winged 410 Sprint Car track point race. Camping is available on the fairgrounds for an ironic fee of $35 a night. It’s going to be a full weekend of Winged Sprint Car racing with the best California has to offer on hand.
With three rounds complete Campbell’s Bud Kaeding holds a six-point lead in the King of the West standings over Paradise, CA’s Hirst, who captured the series visit to Silver Dollar Speedway on April 30. The two-time KWS champ scored a thrilling victory from the 16th starting spot at the David Tarter Memorial in 2014, while passing Kaeding for the lead with just four-laps left in the feature that night. Chico’s own Jonathan Allard has positioned himself third in points and is just 13-markers out of the lead. Hanford’s DJ Netto & Fremont’s Shane Golobic complete the top-five going into Saturday.
As the summer kicks into gear the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series gets ready for the busiest part of the season. The tour will be in action on seven of the next nine weekends throughout June & July. Title contenders certainly have to be on their game over the next couple months if they want to have a chance of etching their name on the list of past champions come November.
Also set to be on hand at the David Tarter Memorial will include past event winners Craig Stidham of Fresno & Roseville’s Sean Becker. Stidham won the second KWS race of his career last year at the Tarter, while Becker is the five-time & defending Silver Dollar Speedway track champion. At the Bradway Memorial on April 30 the 2005 King of the West titlist finished runner up after leading a number of laps in the feature.
More drivers expected to tackle the famed quarter-mile clay oval on Saturday will be Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan, Auburn’s Andy Forsberg, Fresno’s Cory Eliason, Watsonville’s Justin Sanders, Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox, Roseville’s Colby Copeland, Grass Valley’s Jason Statler, Citrus Height’s Kalib Henry, Atwater’s Sean Watts, Cobble Hill, BC’s Robbie Price, Anderson’s Keith Bloom Jr., Murrieta’s Cori Andrew and others.
Former King of the West Series champion Kyle Larson has also donated $500 to the nights fast time qualifier on Saturday.
The front gate will open at 5pm this Saturday June 4, with adult tickets $20, juniors 12-15 will be $15 and kids 6-11 are $6. All seating is general admission during the night. The David Tarter Memorial will be the final visit of the year to Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico.
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 more info visit www.silverdollarspeedway.com
The David Tarter Memorial is also the third Williams Roofing of Fremont, CA Royal Fan 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 Royal Fan Draw is taking place at nearly half of the KWS events in 2016.
Info on the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series can be found at http://www.racepmg.com