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Calistoga, Ca - May
28, 2006... Fresno’s Steve Kent held off a
late race charge by National Sprint Tour driver
Jason Meyers Saturday night in the Salute to Walter
T Ross at Calistoga Speedway to capture his first
Golden State Challenge Series victory of the season.
It was Kent’s 27th career Golden State
Challenge Series victory which ranks him third all
time in the series. The win was also big for the
seven time Calistoga Speedway track champion as it
moved him into a tie with Gary Patterson and Steve
Kinser for sixth on the all time Calistoga win list.
Kent lined up on the
pole of the feature with 2004 King of California
Jason Statler of San Jose on the outside. The first
attempted start of the feature was brought to a halt
before a lap was completed when current GSC point
leader Jonathan Allard of Chico hopped over
Statler’s right rear tire and went for wild ride
in turn four. On the next attempted start, defending
King of California Sean Becker of Oroville got
upside down in turn two which forced another
complete restart. On both starts Kent was able to
get a sizable advantage off of turn four, but the
third time would be a different story. Statler was
able to stay right with Kent and the pair drag raced
down the long front stretch and went into turns one
and two side by side until Kent forged ahead going
down the back straightaway.
The first yellow
appeared on lap eight when Rick Fowzer hit the turn
three wall and came to a screeching stop. The order
on lap eight saw Kent leading with Jason Meyers, who
was able to get around Statler on lap three, running
in second. Statler, Campbell’s Brent Kaeding and
Santa Cruz’s Kevin Pylant rounded out the top
five. Point leader Allard had already made it back
up to 10th in just eight laps.
Four more laps were ran
after the restart before Bud Kaeding slowed to a
stop on the back straightaway. During the caution,
Peter Murphy pulled the Redi-Green Motorsports 1k
into the pits with apparent engine issues. It
continued a season of hard luck for the Australian
native as he was closing in on the top five when the
problem occurred.
On the restart Allard
continued his charge getting by Ronnie Day of
Salinas to move into sixth. One lap later Allard was
able to make an inside move off of turn four to pass
Pylant for fifth. Day was also able to get by Pylant
that same lap to take sixth.
Lap 14 saw Kaeding
dispatch of Statler for third before a red flag was
brought out by Rocklin’s Robert Ballou who flipped
in turn four on lap 15. The order for the last
restart of the evening saw Kent continuing to lead
Meyers, with Kaeding Statler and Allard rounding out
the top five.
Lapped traffic with just
a few laps left made things hectic as cars raced
side by side in front of the leader and gave Meyers
an opportunity. Just a couple car lengths separated
the two as the Jake Vickers white flag was unveiled.
Kent was able to fend off the Elite Landscaping 14
on the final lap and go on to pick up his 10th
career Calistoga Speedway victory by a car length.
It was his third career Salute to Walter T Ross win
and ties him with Ronnie Day for the most all time.
Meyers had to settle for second as he flies back to
Ohio today to compete in the National Sprint Tour
event at Attica Raceway. The Al’s Roofing Supply
69 of Kaeding finished third and continued his great
season scoring his sixth podium finish in seven GSC
races. Point leader Allard drove the GT Trends 0 to
an amazing fourth place finish after restarting dead
last on the opening lap and Ronnie Day drove the
Elite Landscaping 1d to his fourth top five finish
of the year ending the race in fifth.
Results
Quick time: Jonathan Allard 17.389
Heat 1: Jonathan Allard, Rick Fowzer, Jason York,
Jason Statler
Heat 2: Kevin Pylant, Jason Meyers, Jim Skinner,
Brian Coehlo
Heat 3: John Gray, Robert
Ballou, Brent Kaeding,
Mike Benson
Heat 4: Dennis Moore Jr, Kyle Hirst, Steve Kent, Bud
Kaeding
Dash: Steve Kent, Jason Statler, Brent Kaeding,
Jonathan Allard, Jason Meyers, Kevin Pylant, Brian
Coehlo, Mike Benson
B-main: Peter Murphy, Ronnie Day, Stephen Allard,
Toni Lutar, Craig Stidham, Sean Becker
A-main: Steve Kent, Jason Meyers, Brent Kaeding,
Jonathan Allard, Ronnie Day
The Golden State
Challenge Series will be right back in action
tonight at the Calistoga Speedway for the 23rd
annual Tribute to Gary Patterson.
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