Chico,
Ca - July 30, 2006... On his final night
defending his 2005 King of California
championship, Oroville’s Sean Becker drove the
Main-Fisher Motorsports, Cherry Street Mini
Storage, A1A Muffler 35m to a hard earned victory
in the Golden State Challenge Series season finale
at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway.
Earlier
in the program Becker finished third in the eight
car dash to give himself an inside row number two
starting spot for the night’s 30 lap main event.
When the green flag was unveiled by starter Jake
Vickers, however, it was dash winner Ronnie Day of
Salinas jumping out to the lead. Day had finished
second in the past two races and was attempting to
win his first GSC race of the season. The caution
lights came on after one lap was complete because
of an incident that saw Chico’s Jonathan Allard
fly off of turns three and four. Simultaneously
Chico’s Brett Miller got into the wall in turn
four and went into the pits.
On the
restart Becker slipped underneath Stephen Allard
in turn two for second before a five car pile-up
which included Jason Statler, Kyle Hirst, Craig
Smith, Jim Skinner and Jason York brought out
another caution. The restart saw Becker sitting in
second and when racing got back underway, the
driver known as the Shark made his move. Becker
drove underneath Day going down the back stretch
and took over the lead in impressive fashion. Lap
four saw a wild end over end flip by Rocklin’s
Robert Ballou
down the front stretch and brought out the red
flag. Ballou
was okay, but done for the night. Under the red
flag period teams were allowed to add fuel.
Unofficially Ballou
will be the 2006 Golden State Challenge Series
Rookie of the Year and ends the season fourth in
the final standings.
The
fight for second heated up on lap seven when 12
time King of California Brent Kaeding of Campbell
got under Ronnie Day to take over the runner-up
position. Becker maintained a steady lead until he
started to struggle on the rough and tumble Silver
Dollar Speedway clay around lap 20. This allowed
Kaeding and Day to close in and make it a frantic
last ten laps. By lap 25 you could throw a blanket
over the top three cars and lap 28 saw Day
re-claim the second position from Kaeding. The
white flag flew and the three front runners ran
nose to tail while bouncing around through the
holes. As Becker rounded three and four he did a
terrific job to hold off Day and Kaeding to record
his second Golden State Challenge Series victory
of the season.
It was
a much needed win for Becker and the 35m team as
they’ve been on a bit of a cold spell after
starting out the season very strong. In total it
was Becker’s fourth main event win of the
season. All four have come at Silver Dollar
Speedway. The victory in the GSC finale was also
the sixth time Becker has won a GSC race which
ties him on the all time GSC win list with big
names such as Jason Statler, Randy Tiner and Bobby
McMahan. The Shark wasn’t able to run a full
season in defense of his 2005 title but it was a
joy to have the classy driver run as much as
possible nonetheless.
Ronnie
Day finished the race in second and in doing so
won a $1,000 bonus for high point man of the
weekend courtesy Mike and Carol McCann of Cherry
Street Mini Storage in Ukiah. As always the
Salinas veteran drove the wheels off of his Elite
Landscaping, Pacific Union Homes, Country Builders
Construction #1 but was unable to get by Becker
during the final few laps. It just goes to show
the amount of competition GSC has seen in 2006 by
the fact that Ronnie Day ends the season without a
win. However, a consistent season which included
10 top five finishes saw Day end up second in the
Golden State Challenge Series points in what was
his first full time year since 2000.
Campbell’s
Brent Kaeding didn’t even expect to run in Chico
during the GSC finale weekend due to the fact he
was competing in the Northern Sprint Tour
Speedweek, but a blown motor put an end to his
plans up in Elma and he and his team made the long
drive back down to Chico to compete in the final
night of action. After qualifying second quick BK
drove the Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding
Performance, High Five Pizza 69 to a hard fought
third place finish in the feature. After sweeping
last weekend’s Pombo/Sargent Classic in Tulare
it was BK’s third straight podium finish and
going back to Watsonville on July 15 when son Bud
won in the car, it was the fourth straight podium
for the 69 machine.
Chico’s
Stephen Allard drove an impressive race and
finished fourth in the Skip Jones 1m. Allard
started on the front row and did battle around
fifth place for most of the feature before passing
Brad Furr on the final lap. It capped off a great
weekend for the veteran as he finished third on
Friday. An interesting tidbit is the fact that
prior to this past weekend he had scored two top
five’s the whole year with GSC. Doubling his
season output of top five’s in one weekend is
pretty remarkable driving a car that was pulled
out of a garage with cobwebs on it less than a
month ago. S.Allard will run the 1m for the rest
of the month and try to claim the Silver Dollar
Speedway track championship.
Brad
Furr completed the top five in the Big O Tires,
Brad Furr Racing #2. The part time runner has
looked much better in his last few races and ends
the GSC season having finished in the top five in
the last three events he competed at.
Marysville’s
Shain Matthews looked strong and finished sixth in
the Alicia Check Cashing 67. Jason York came back
from the incident on lap two to finish seventh in
the York Racing 25. Two time Placerville Speedway
track champion Billy Wallace finished eighth in
the CRV Racing Products 83v with Jonathan Allard
ninth in the GT Trends 0 and Korey Lovell tenth in
the Yuba City Scrap and Steel 71.
The
evening belonged to Jonathan Allard however as he
became the first Chico driver to ever win the
Golden State Challenge King of California Series
championship. Allard’s dream season included
seven wins, 13 top five finishes, 15 top ten
finishes, 10 heat race wins and 10 fast times.
With only 19 total races this season those numbers
are staggering. Allard was also able to give car
owner Morrie Williams his second consecutive car
owner championship.
Although
Allard finished ninth in the feature, he had a
much more interesting night. To start things off
he set fast time and in doing so won $800 courtesy
of Mancamp Motorsports, Carwash Mike of Hoserville
and JP’s Paint and Body Works. Then after
restarting at the rear on lap one in the feature
he got charged back as high as sixth but on lap 22
he slid off the track and gave up several
positions. Allard becomes the ninth King of
California in the 20 year history of the series.
The
night’s B-main was picked off by Robert
Ballou
who passed and held off Brett Miller in an
exciting 12 lap race. It was fun watching the two
17 year olds battle it out and showed just how
healthy the future of sprint cat racing is.
Ronnie
Day won the six lap dash to earn the pole for the
30 lap feature.
Four
ten lap heat races were ran and the first one was
dominated by GSC rookie Jon Maiwald of Gilroy.
Maiwald walked away from a field that saw top
runners such as Jason Statler, Jonathan Allard,
Sean Becker and Robert
Ballou.
The second heat race was also won in impressive
fashion, this time by Silver Dollar Speedway
regular Robbie Whitchurch from Chico. Whitchurch
did a wonderful job holding off a very determined
Brent Kaeding over the last handful of laps. He
also was impressive in the feature running within
the top 10 most of the race and ending it in
eleventh. Whitchurch has quietly had a fine rookie
season in the 410 sprint car ranks and shows
improvement every week.
The
third heat race was won by Korey Lovell, another
Silver Dollar Speedway regular with the fourth and
final heat won by Jason York.
2006
King of California Jonathan Allard’s quick time
was a 12.193.
Full
results and the final 2006 Golden State Challenge
King of California Series point standings can be
found at _http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com_ http://www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com/
410
sprint car racing will continue every Friday night
in August at Silver Dollar Speedway. The World of
Outlaws Gold Cup is coming up quick so be sure to
call and order your tickets so you can witness the
first ever $50,000 to win Gold Cup Race of
Champions.
