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July 2, 2005 Antioch,
CA -- Ninth quick Robert Ballou gained the pole
position in an 8 car invert because fifth quick Kyle Hirst
failed to finish top five in his heat race and he turned
that pole start into a wire to wire $3000 win in the 30
lap Golden State Challenge Series winged 410 sprint car
feature Saturday night at Antioch Speedway. At 16, Ballou
became the youngest feature winner ever on the historic
series. Ballou was a national quarter-midget star and
raced with the outlaw karts before turning to the full
size sprint cars a couple years back. This was only
Ballou's third Golden State Challenge Series appearance as
he spends most of his time in the winged 360 sprint car
action at Kings Speedway and other Northern California
tracks. Fourth starter Jonathan Allard remainded red hot
by wheeling the Morrie Williams car from 4th starting to
finish second and series point leader Brent Kaeding came
from 8th to finish third. Outside front row starter Sean
Becker ran fourth to stay within 36 points of Kaeding in
the championship fight. Stephen Allard started and
finished fifth and Kaeding's team car wheeled by Wayne
Williams placed sixth. Shain Matthews came from 12th to
finish 7th. The tight battle for second in points between
Becker, S Allard and 2004 champion Jason Statler could
become the championship fight if Kaeding elects to run the
NST Speedweek in Oregon and Washington that conflicts with
the two-night Pombo-Sargent Classic at Kings Speedway.
Exactly 22 cars checked in
at Antioch so there was no need for a B Main since the
series starts 22 cars in the feature action. The two
fastest times on the 1/4 mile clay oval were turned by the
last two cars to time in. Kaeding came out next to last
and turned quick time of 11.728 and final qualifier Jim
Skinner just missed taking it away with a 11.772. Statler
had earlier run a 11.790 and S Allard ranked fourth at
11.876. Hirst at 11.909 and J Allard at 11.952 rounded out
the 11 second bracket. Williams ranked 7th ahead of Becker
and Ballou. J Allard and Hirst both briefly held the fast
time slot before
Statler ran. The heat races
used six car inversions and a top five finish was required
to be involved in the feature inversion. Williams won the
first heat from 4th with sixth starter Kaeding second
ahead of S Allard. Outside front row starter Roberto Kirby
captured heat 2 with sixth starter Skinner nipping 4th
starter Becker for second. Andy Forsberg turned an outside
front row start into a win in heat 3 as sixth starter
Statler ran second ahead of fellow third row starter J
Allard. Ballou ran fourth in heat 3 and gained the pole
with the 8 car inversion since Hirst had only managed a
sixth in heat two. Hirst did start right behind the
inversion in 9th. Ballou and Becker shared the front row
ahead of Williams and J Allard as S Allard and Statler
made up row 3. Skinner and Kaeding started in row 4.
Ballou beat Becker into the
first corner and was never headed in the 30 lap feature. J
Allard worked his way from 4th to finish second and 8th
starter Kaeding ran third. Becker salvaged a fourth as S
Allard ran fifth ahead of Williams. Matthews worked his
way from 12th to finish 7th and Forsberg was 8th ahead of
13th starter Jerry Bonnema, Statler and Lawrence Edlund.
Skinner struggled to a 12th. After 18 races, Kaeding is 36
points ahead of Becker, 43 in front of S Allard, 60 ahead
of Statler and 98 in front of Hirst. Despite missing two
events, J Allard is ranked sixth ahead of Forsberg and the
absent Kevin Pylant. Skinner and Tommy Fogarty round out
the current top ten.
Having been rained out in
their previous trip to Santa Maria Speedway this season,
the series returns to that 1/3 mile clay oval on July 9.
The Pombo-Sargent weekend follows at Kings Speedway on
July 15-16 and the series runs a Saturday night show at
Watsonville on July 23
before finishing up their campaign with two nights of
racing in Chico on July 29-30.
Summary
Fast Time-Brent Kaeding
11.728
Heat 1-Wayne Williams, Kaeding, Stephen Allard,
Tommy Fogarty, Sparky Howard.
Heat 2-Roberto Kirby, Jim
Skinner, Sean Becker, Stuart Krum, Jason York.
Heat 3-Andy
Forsberg, Jason Statler, Jonathan Allard, Robert
Ballou,
Pat Harvey.
Main-Ballou, J Allard, Kaeding, Becker, S
Allard, Williams, Shain Matthews, Forsberg, Jerry Bonnema,
Statler, Lawrence Edlund, Skinner, Harvey, Kyle Hirst,
Fogarty, Kirby, Chase Wood, Dusty Green, Mike Larbre,
Howard, York, Krum.
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