Official Site of Ballou Motorsports

Tulare, Ca - July 23, 2006... On a Pombo/Sargent weekend in Tulare where temperatures were well into the triple digits it was 12 time Golden State Challenge King of California Brent Kaeding of Campbell sweeping the weekend and picking up his first two GSC wins of the season. The back to back wins have made BK the first driver in the history of the Golden State Challenge Series to reach 70 career wins. To put BK’s dominance in perspective, the next closest drivers on the career win list are Tim Kaeding and Steve Kent who have respectively won 28 GSC features apiece.

Back to back wins have been a common theme this year with the Golden State Challenge Series. Jonathan Allard won back to back races on May 6 and 10 at Placerville and Reno-Fernley, then he did it again on June 10 and June 24 at Petaluma and Tulare. Steve Kent won back to back races on Memorial Day weekend in Calistoga and Robert Ballou won back to back in Watsonville and Placerville on June 2 and 3. Kaeding becomes the fourth driver to score back to backs with his sweep of the Pombo/Sargent Classic at the Thunderbowl which was kicked off on Friday evening with humid and hot temps prevalent.

Friday’s 30 lap feature saw the night’s fast qualifier, winner of the dash and current Golden State Challenge Series point leader Jonathan Allard of Chico and Visalia’s Blake Robertson on the front row. Allard got the jump and pulled away quickly but it all changed on lap six when he spun a 360 in turn’s three and four. He was able to keep it going but that allowed Tipton’s Mike Faria to grab the lead. Faria, who was making just his second sprint car start of the season, looked very strong as he held a straightaway advantage over the rest of the field after inheriting the lead. The action was hot and heavy as green flag laps ticked away and traffic began to come into play. Robertson closed in on Faria and made a bid for the lead around lap 13 but Faria was able to shut him down. As Faria and Robertson diced it up Kaeding started to close as he was running the high scary side of the racy 1/3 mile oval. Kaeding ran up right next to wall banging off the cushion like he was the BK of old and made it a three car battle for the lead. As the front runners came out of turn four around lap 18 they miraculously went three wide which saw BK take the lead heading into turn one. Robertson then moved into second and tried to make a move on Kaeding. Lap 23 saw Robertson right on the tail tank of the Al’s Roofing Supply 69 and going into turn three he appeared to have the momentum to make the pass of Kaeding but John Gray tipped over simultaneously right in front of the two leaders. This brought out a red flag and Kaeding would pull away on the restart and drive away to his first GSC win of 2006. The win came less than a week after son Bud won at Ocean Speedway subbing for Brent in the Kaeding Performance 69.

Blake Robertson held on to finish a strong second in his first States side race since June 11 of last year. The 2001 winner of the Pombo/Sargent Classic and former Silver Dollar Speedway track champion looked strong in the BR Motorsports, Tom Rolfe Trucking 15.

Finishing third and scoring his first top five finish of the season was the Darrell Green Trucking, Reedley Irrigation 89 of Ricci Faria. Faria has made limited starts this season but looked the best he has all season.

Early leader Jonathan Allard ended up fourth in the GT Trends, Katie’s Country Kitchen 0 and the Pheasant Run Shopping Center, DF Rios Construction 00 of Jason Statler rounded out the top five.

Finishing fifth through tenth were the Duchem Industries 4 of Mike Faria, the Brad Johnson Trucking 3 of Craig Stidham, the Tachi Palace 21 of Tommy Tarlton, the Elite Landscaping 1 of Ronnie Day and the Island Muffler and Brake 7n of Steve Kent.

Saturday brought about another scorcher and saw Brent Kaeding start on the pole of the 30 lap Pombo/Sargent Classic 30 lap main event. Kaeding earned the pole by winning the six lap dash earlier in the program. Starting on the outside of Kaeding was former King of California Steve Kent.

Kaeding jumped to the lead at the waving of the Jake Vickers green flag and held a comfortable advantage in the early stages of the race. BK’s only real threat came from fast qualifier Ronnie Day of Salinas. Day was originally scheduled to start ninth in the field, but a first lap incident involving Jonathan Allard and Robert Ballou bumped him up to the inside of row three. Day settled into fifth early on and then got around Sean Becker for fourth after a handful of laps. He then set his sights on second and third running Dennis Moore Jr. and Steve Kent. Moore, Kent and Day ran nose to tail for a good five laps before Day made a great inside move to pass both Moore and Kent in one fell swoop. Day closed in on Kaeding through traffic but late race cautions allowed BK to have a clear track ahead of him. A caution flew on lap 26 which set up the final restart of the night. Day attempted an inside move through turn’s one and two but it didn’t stick and Kaeding drove off to record his second win in two night’s and pick up yet another Pombo/Sargent Classic title.

Day finished second in the Elite Landscaping, Pacific Union Homes 1 and was able to shave off some of Jonathan Allard’s point lead because of Allard suffering a dnf. Day will head into the final weekend of action sitting second in points.

Dennis Moore Jr. and Steve Kent held an unbelievably exciting battle for third as the two traded sliders multiple times and put on a good clean show. At the checkered it was Moore Jr. bringing the Katie’s Country Kitchen, Weld Racing 0k home in third with Kent finishing fourth in the Island Muffler & Brake, Henderson Motorsports 7n.

Jason Statler drove his way from 17^th to fifth in the Pheasant Run Shopping Center, DF Rios Construction 00. Statler is one of the hottest drivers in the state of California and will be a strong threat to pick up his first win of the season next weekend in Chico.

The top ten was rounded out by the Brad Johnson Trucking 3 of Craig Stidham, the Darrell Green Trucking 89 of Ricci Faria, the Family Auto Service 98x of Sean Becker, the Wright Process Systems 99 of Kyle Hirst and the Jessee Heating and Air 71 of John Gray.

Extra money was on the line for each night’s hard charger. On Friday night Florie Filapich put up $500 and that was won by Dennis Moore Jr. Saturday night the family of Frank Carrier also put up $500 and that was won by the "Big Guy" Jason Statler.

Cherry Street Mini Storage of Ukiah put up $500 for the high point earner from both night’s and that driver was unofficially Brent Kaeding.

Full results will be available on http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com

The Golden State Challenge King of California Series will head for it’s final two night’s of action next Friday and Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. The King of California will be crowned Saturday night on the front stretch. Don’t miss this coming weekend, it will definitely be exciting.