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Calistoga, Ca - May
29, 2006... There aren’t very many certainties
in racing, but there is one in Northern California,
Steve Kent likes Calistoga Speedway. Kent has said
many times in the past that "If Calistoga ran
every week, we’d be here every week." He
showed why over Memorial Day weekend.
After leading all 25
laps in Saturday’s Salute to Walter T Ross, Kent
and his Island Muffler Brake 7n team came back on
Sunday night to capture the 25 lap Tribute to Gary
Patterson. It was Kent’s 28th career
Golden State Challenge Series win which ties him
with Tim Kaeding for second on the all time GSC win
list.
The 25 lap Tribute to GP
started out with San Jose’s Jason Statler and Rocklin’s
Robert Ballou on the front row. At the
waving of Jake Vickers green flag the pair drag
raced down the front stretch and were even going
into the first set of corners until Ballou
took the lead heading down the back straightaway. In
the early going Ballou
stretched his lead out to nearly a straightaway and
was pulling away when the first yellow of the
feature was brought out by Dennis Moore Jr. who
slowed to a stop on the back stretch.
Kent made his presence
known on the restart as he utilized a nice bottom
groove pass of Jason Statler in turn one to take
over second. Lap five saw a red flag come out for
Petaluma’s Brian Azevedo who flipped in turn two.
During the red flag 12 time King of California Brent
Kaeding pulled into the pits and called it a night
due to over heating problems.
Ballou
rocketed away from Kent to take a sizable lead on
the restart as GSC point leader Jonathan Allard went
to work on Statler for third. Lap seven saw Allard
and Statler race side by side down the super long
front stretch with Statler getting a good drive
through one and two to hang onto third. Allard
wasn’t done, however, as he made the move under
Statler in turn four on lap eight to take over
third. Lap 11 saw the 73 of Jim Skinner bring out
the caution as he slowed on the front stretch and
coasted to a stop in between turns one and two.
This restart would be a
totally different story than the previous one. Kent
hung with Ballou
and stalked him for a few laps before making an
aggressive inside move to take the lead off of turn
two on lap 14. A couple laps later Jonathan Allard
drove the GT Trends 0 into second and set his sights
on the leader. Just as he began to close the gap
between himself and Kent, the u-joint broke on
Allard’s car causing the drive shaft to hit him in
the foot and forcing him to stop in turn four on lap
19. The red flag was brought out when realized that
Allard was in pain and an ambulance was needed to
assist him. He was thankfully able to walk back to
his own pit, however, much to the delight of the
crowd.
The final restart of the
night was dramatic as Ballou
kept pace with Kent and put heavy pressure on the
seven time Calistoga Speedway track champion. Ballou
drove his car deep into the corners in a frantic
effort to get the lead, but all it took was one
bobble in turn four with a few laps left that
allowed Kent the breathing room needed to cruise to
his 11th career Calistoga Speedway
victory. It was also Kent’s fourth career Tribute
to Gary Patterson win and ties him with Brent
Kaeding for the most all time. He now sits in a tie
for fourth on the all time Calistoga Speedway win
list.
Robert
Ballou finished an extremely respectable
second in the Gardemeyer Finish Carpentry 12. It was
only the youngsters second night in a 410 at the
historic ½ mile track and came back from a flip the
previous night to turn in a fantastic performance.
Ronnie Day ended up third in the Elite Landscaping 1
and closed the gap in the point standings with J.
Allard and Kaeding both suffering dnf’s.
Defending Golden State
Challenge King of California Sean Becker made a nice
charge at the end to drive the Family Auto Service
98x to a fourth place finish, a career best at
Calistoga for Becker. It was also the first top five
finish of the GSC season for the 98x team.
Rounding out the top
five was 2004 King of California Jason Statler in
the Pheasant Run Shopping Center 00. Completing the
top ten was Peter Murphy in the Redi-Green
Motorsports 1k, Bud Kaeding in the LoanCity.com 69k,
Kyle Hirst in the Wright Process Systems 99, Stephen
Allard in the Tom Rolfe Trucking 10 and Brian Coehlo
in the Central Valley Meats 5c.
Peter Murphy led all 12
laps to capture the night’s B-main.
Jason Statler won the
evening’s six lap dash to gain the pole position
for the A-main.
Heats were picked off by
Jonathan Allard, Jason York and Jim Skinner.
Ronnie Day toured the
long ½ mile in 16.868 seconds to earn his first
quick time of the season.
Unofficial Results-
Quick time: Ronnie Day
16.868
Heat 1: Jonathan Allard
Heat 2: Jason York
Heat 3: Jim Skinner
Dash: Jason Statler
B-main: Peter Murphy
A-main: Kent, Ballou,
Day, Becker, Statler, Murphy, Bud Kaeding, Kyle
Hirst, S. Allard, Coehlo, John Gray, Toni Lutar,
Andy Gregg, Jon Maiwald, J. Allard, Rick Fowzer,
York, Skinner, Kevin Pylant, Brent Kaeding, Azevedo,
Moore Jr.
The Golden State
Challenge Series will head for another double dip
this weekend as they take to the Ocean Speedway on
Friday and Placerville Speedway on Saturday.
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