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Tulare, Ca - April 30,
2006... Clovis’s Jason Meyers emerged victorious
on Saturday night in one of the most exciting Golden
State Challenge Series main events in recent memory. The
victory was Meyers 10th career win in the
Golden State Challenge Series giving him sole possession
of 6th on the all time list.
Although Meyers started on
the pole by way of his dash win, it was hardly a
cakewalk in the feature for the National Sprint Tour
star.
Meyers got the jump in the
A-main at the waving of Jake Vickers green flag and held
a hefty lead until Brian Coehlo spun to bring out the
caution on lap seven. On the restart 2nd
place Brent Kaeding stepped up his challenge and by lap
nine had pulled even with Meyers going down the
backstretch. Over the next seven laps Kaeding and Meyers
would go side by side and wheel to wheel in one of the
most intense duels GSC has ever seen. The two would dart
in and out of lapped traffic with inches to spare as the
track had begun to take rubber making the cars gain
speed lap after lap.
The action was hot and heavy
as Jonathan Allard entered the picture on lap 17.
Allard, the night’s quickest qualifier started 8th
and methodically worked his way foreword as the laps
wore on. Lap 20 saw Allard make the move around Kaeding
for 2nd and set his sights on Meyers. Just as
he had caught up with Meyers the yellow waved for Jason
York and Kyle Hirst who were stopped on the inside of
turn four.
One lap was completed on the
restart before Stephen Allard spun in turn two
collecting Jim Skinner to bring out the caution.
On the next restart Meyers
got a nice jump to lead the field into turn one. With
the open track, coupled with the rubber being laid down
it become increasingly difficult to pass and the top six
cars ran single file until a caution waved for Mike
Henry with just two laps to go.
The order for the green,
white, checkered restart saw Meyers, Allard, Kaeding,
Ronnie Day and Dennis Moore Jr. in the top five. Going
into turn two on the start Day and Brian Coehlo made
contact which resulted in Day turning several 360's
directly in front of several oncoming cars. Miraculously
no one hit him and even more miraculous he kept his foot
in it and continued on!
On the final lap 5th and 6th
running Jason Statler and Steve Kent got together with
both of them spinning 360's, but just like Day, they
both kept going! The same couldn’t be said for a
couple other cars who stopped in turn two but the
checkered flag had already appeared for Meyers who took
the win by about three car lengths over current GSC
point leader Jonathan Allard. 3rd through 10th
were Kaeding, Moore Jr, Peter Murphy, Ricci Faria, Day,
Tommy Tarlton, Sean Becker and Statler.
The night’s 12 lap B-main
was picked up by Peter Murphy who passed pole sitter
Steve Kent halfway through the race. Tommy Tarlton also
got by Kent to finish 2nd. Kent hung on for 3rd
with Craig Stidham, Sean Becker and Robert
Ballou also transferring out.
The Trophy Dash was won by
pole sitter Meyers with Stephen Allard, Ronnie Day,
Brent Kaeding, Brian Coehlo, Dennis Moore Jr, Ricci
Faria and Jonathan Allard completing the field. J.Allard
was running in 4th when he spun in the very
last turn relegating him to last.
6th starting
Jonathan Allard dominated the night’s 1st
heat race, John Gray won heat two after leader Jeff
Delte had problems with just a couple laps left, Jason
York picked up heat three and the 4th heat
went to 6th starting Jason Meyers.
Jonathan Allard set the
night’s quickest time in qualifications.
Next weekend the Golden
State Challenge King of California Series is off to the
Reno-Fernley Raceway.
Tulare Results-
Fast time: Jonathan Allard
Heat 1: J.Allard, Mike
Henry, Brian Coehlo, Carl Droivold
Heat 2: John Gray, Brent
Kaeding,, Ronnie Day, Kyle Hirst
Heat 3: Jason York, Ricci
Faria, Dennis Moore Jr, Jim Skinner
Heat 4: Jason Statler,
Stephen Allard, Jason Statler, Danny Faria Jr.
Trophy Dash: Meyers,
S.Allard, Day, Kaeding, Coehlo, Moore Jr, R.Faria,
J.Allard
B-main: Murphy, Tarlton,
Kent, Stidham, Becker, Ballou
A-main: Meyers, J.Allard,
Kaeding, Moore Jr, Murphy, R.Faria, Day, Tarlton,
Becker, Statler, Kent, Gray, Stidham, Droivold, Skinner,
Ballou, S.Allard,
Coehlo, D.Faria, Henry, Hirst, York
For full results and updated
point standings visit www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com
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