From Andrew Kunas
CALISTOGA, CA (August 30, 2025) — Sometimes, a change of scenery will do you good. Just ask James McFadden. After a hard week elsewhere, McFadden and the Tarlton Motorsports team decided to change plans and hurried down to join NARC at the reopening Calistoga Speedway. The decision resulted in a $5,000 victory on the opening night of the Louie Vermeil Classic.
McFadden led all 25 laps and picked up his fifth NARC victory of the season aboard the American Rock & Rent-sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 TRD-powered Maxim, and it was his sixth career triumph with the series.
It wasn’t always easy as Australian star was challenged for the lead at the midway point by Indiana visitor Spencer Bayston. After completing the 13th circuit, Bayston passed McFadden for the lead as they raced in traffic on the big half-mile. An untimely caution flag though negated Bayston’s pass and put McFadden back out front. McFadden successfully fended off Bayston on a pair of restarts before Bayston then pulled off the track with mechanical issues. Shane Golobic later moved into second place but could not challenge McFadden.
Pulling into the winner’s circle in his first visit to the historic Calistoga Speedway, McFadden celebrated with his patented “shoey”, taking a drink of beer from one of his racing shoes, the fifth time he’d done that this season in NARC competition. McFadden had won four of out five races in NARC’s Fastest Five Days in Motorsports up in the Pacific Northwest in June before traveling out east with the team for the summer.
After the tough Thursday and Friday night with High Limit Racing at Skagit Speedway up in Washington, the Tarlton Motorsports team was no doubt feeling much better with the bounce back NARC win Saturday night at Calistoga.
After starting eighth and moving up six spots, Golobic finished runner-up aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kistler-powered KPC. NARC points leader D.J. Netto earned a podium finish aboard the Penny Newman Grain-sponsored Netto Ag No. 88n Rider-powered KPC. Outside pole sitter Sean Becker was fourth in the D&J Construction Rental-sponsored Bjork Construction No. 7b Shaver-powered Maxim and was followed by Colby Copeland in the Hansen Machine-sponsored Nick McColloch No. 17 Don Ott-powered Maxim.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Tanner Carrick, Dominic Gorden, Bud Kaeding, Chance Grasty and Andy Forsberg. Forsberg earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, advancing eight positions from 18th to finish tenth.
Heat races earlier in the evening were canceled due to concerns about time and track conditions, specifically regarding tire wear. NARC officials and drivers agreed to make the event show-up points only. The feature event was lined up by qualifying times with the top six subjected to an invert draw, which turned out to be a zero and put McFadden on the pole for the event, this coming after he paced the 19-car field in qualifying with a time of 18.027 seconds around the big half-mile clay oval.
Northern Auto Racing Club
Calistoga Speedway
Calistoga, California
Saturday, August 30, 2025
Qualifying
1. 21-James McFadden, 18.027[6]
2. 7B-Sean Becker, 18.047[18]
3. W-Spencer Bayston, 18.154[16]
4. 88N-DJ Netto, 18.288[2]
5. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield, 18.394[4]
6. 73-Ryan Bernal, 18.432[12]
7. 83T-Tanner Carrick, 18.472[19]
8. 17W-Shane Golobic, 18.596[3]
9. X1-Chance Grasty, 18.616[5]
10. 14-Mariah Ede, 18.662[13]
11. 17-Colby Copeland, 18.783[14]
12. 29-Bud Kaeding, 18.814[17]
13. 10-Dominic Gorden, 18.821[7]
14. 26-Billy Aton, 18.938[9]
15. 12J-John Clark, 19.072[10]
16. 121-Caeden Steele, 19.310[1]
17. 12-Jarrett Soares, 19.651[11]
18. 92-Andy Forsberg, 19.651[8]
19. 11-Cooper Marchant, 19.651[15]
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 21-James McFadden[1]
2. 17W-Shane Golobic[8]
3. 88N-DJ Netto[4]
4. 7B-Sean Becker[2]
5. 17-Colby Copeland[11]
6. 83T-Tanner Carrick[7]
7. 10-Dominic Gorden[13]
8. 29-Bud Kaeding[12]
9. X1-Chance Grasty[9]
10. 92-Andy Forsberg[18]
11. 26-Billy Aton[14]
12. 12J-John Clark[15]
13. 12-Jarrett Soares[17]
14. 73-Ryan Bernal[6]
15. W-Spencer Bayston[3]
16. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[5]
17. 121-Caeden Steele[16]
18. 14-Mariah Ede[10]
DNS: 11-Cooper Marchant