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2006 Golden State Challenge Series season recap
 by Gary Thomas
Sacramento, Ca - August 3, 2006... The 2006 Golden State Challenge Series season has come and gone and saw some of the best racing this decade. 19 races were held this year at eight different tracks in two states. It would have been nine tracks in three states had the weird weather not claimed the event scheduled for Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford on June 12.

First off we would like to thank all the tracks that were involved and had Golden State Challenge Series events scheduled this year. They include Tulare's Thunderbowl Raceway, Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway, Calistoga Speedway, Placerville Speedway, Watsonville's Ocean Speedway, Petaluma Speedway, Reno-Fernley Raceway, Antioch Speedway and Medford's Southern Oregon Speedway.

As always John Padjen Motorsports deserves huge kudos for all their work organizing and promoting the Golden State Challenge King of California Series. It's hard to imagine where 410 sprint car racing would be in California without John Padjen and his hard working staff.

Big thanks are also up for Steve Faria and his Thunderbowl Raceway staff for their support of the Golden State Challenge Series in 2006. The Thunderbowl had seven dates originally scheduled but lost two races due to the rainy early season weather. The track officially held five night's of GSC action in 2006. There isn't a more fan friendly facility in Northern California than the Thunderbowl and good track prep is almost always seen which makes it a great thing having the Thunderbowl involved with GSC. Track officials have stated that if given the same number of dates next year they will take them.

We would also like to thank director of competition Dan Belton & his wife Laurel, flagman Jake Vickers and announcer George Hague for their dedicated involvement with GSC this season.

Coming into the 2006 season it looked to the one of the finest in recent memory for the Golden State Challenge Series. A talented roster and a great schedule made everyone look forward to the year ahead, and what transpired sure didn't disappoint. Great racing, stout competition and some brilliant drives made 2006 one of the best year's ever for the Golden State Challenge King of California Series.

At the end of 19 races a new King of California emerged. Chico's Jonathan Allard won the season opener at Petaluma Speedway in April and never looked back. He officially led the series point standings the whole way and had one of the most impressive seasons ever for a Northern California sprint car driver. He drove the Morrie Williams owned, GT Trends, Katie's Country Kitchen, K & N Filters backed No. 0 to seven wins, 13 top fives and 15 top tens. He also set quick time on 10 different occasions which was a brand new single season record. Allard also led GSC with 10 heat race victories. The 30 year old driver was fast at every event and his seven feature wins moved him up to fifth on the all time win list. Possibly Allard's most impressive run was in the Walter T Ross Memorial at the big Calistoga Speedway ½ mile where he flipped on the opening lap and was forced to restart at the rear of the field. He proceeded to charge all the way back to fourth by the checkered. Allard's wins this season came at Silver Dollar Speedway(twice), Petaluma Speedway(twice) and single wins at Placerville Speedway, Tulare Thunderbowl and Reno-Fernley Raceway. Allard's final margin of victory in the season long point standings was 56.

Salinas veteran Ronnie Day drove the Elite Landscaping, Pacific Union Homes, Country Builders Construction No. 1 to a second place finish in the point standings. 2006 was the first full time season for the 47 year old since 2000, the year he was crowned King of California. Day was unable to capture a win this season with GSC but his 16 top 10 finishes led the series. Day also finished in the top five 10 times and won two heat races. He set quick time at Calistoga Speedway in the Tribute to Gary Patterson and during Saturday night of the Pombo/Sargent Classic at the Tulare Thunderbowl. It was nice to have the hard charger back full time with GSC and he seemed to pick up the pace as the season went on. He finished runner up in the last three GSC races and won a $1,000 bonus as high point man during the GSC finale weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico.

Finishing third in points this year was 2004 King of California Jason Statler of San Jose. Just like Day, Statler failed to pick up a win on the season but seemed to pick up strength as the season wore on. The Big Guy drove the Pheasant Run Shopping Center, DF Rios Construction, Yak Vinyl Graphics No. 00 to 5 top five finishes and 15 top tens. He also picked up four heat race victories. There is no driver on the west coast that charges harder than Statler and several impressive runs show that. Some his nice passing performances were as follows: 12th to 5th on May 10 at Placerville, 17th to 6th on May 20 in Tulare, 18th to 5th on July 22 in Tulare and 21st to 7th on July 28 in Chico. Statler nearly won on July 15 at Ocean Speedway, but a last turn pass by Bud Kaeding took it away.

Golden State Challenge rookie Robert Ballou of Rocklin finished the year a solid fourth in points. The 17 year old driver drove his family's Gardemeyer Finish Carpentry, THR & Sons, Gliko Hardware No. 12 for the first 14 races before switching over to the Tom Rolfe Trucking, GP Development, Platinum Powder Coating No. 10 for the final five races of the season. Ballou's GSC rookie season shows two wins and an impressive 8 top five finishes. He had a string of four straight finishes of second or better from May 28 to June 10. In that period he won back to back races in Watsonville and Placerville. Possibly most impressive was his run in the Tribute to Gary Patterson at Calistoga Speedway where he led 14 laps before finishing runner-up to seven time Calistoga track champion Steve Kent. That was just his second time ever running a 410 on the historic ½ mile track. Ballou had a rough go of it in the final four races of the season, however, as he failed to score a top 10 in the last four events. All in all it was a learning season for the young gasser and he proved that he could hang with the best of them. Ballou also won five heat races.

Grinnell, Iowa's Dennis Moore Jr. rounded out the top five in points. He drove the Katie's Country Kitchen, Weld Racing, Mountain View Mortgage No. 0k to one win, 8 top five finishes and 13 top tens. DMJ's win came on July 1st at the Antioch Speedway where he led all 30 laps. He missed tying Ballou for fourth by just one single point.

12 time King of California Brent Kaeding missed two races and finished sixth in points driving his Al's Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance, High Five Pizza No. 69. The Campbell veteran won two races, finished in the top five 11 times and in the top ten 13 times. It took him until the Pombo/Sargent Classic in Tulare on July 21-22 to win his first race of the year. That weekend sweep of the Pombo/Sargent Classic, however, showed that BK still has what it takes and he continues to be one of the guys to beat on a nightly basis. With his two wins on the season it bumped BK's GSC career win total to 70 which makes him the first driver to hit the 70 win plateau.

Chico's Stephen Allard missed four races but still was able to finish seventh in points. Allard ran the first 13 races for RPM Motorsports before driving the Skip Jones No. 1m in the last two. S. Allard's season totals show one win, 4 top five finishers and 11 top tens. Allard's win came on May 20 in the Chris Faria Memorial at Tulare's Thunderbowl Raceway. He drove his heart out that night and held off Brent Kaeding who got around him on two separate occasions. Allard also had an extremely impressive two night's of action in the GSC finale weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway. He drove the Skip Jones 1m special to finishes of third and fourth. The spectacular part is the fact that the No. 1m car had sat in a garage for three years before being brought out on July 14 for S. Allard to compete in a track points race. The talent that lies within S. Allard was shown during the finale weekend and for fans of the Golden State Challenge Series we can only hope he finds a full time ride for next year.

Johnny Gray of Chico drove the Jessee Heating & Air, Four Season's Roofing, Ritchie Homes No. 71 to an eighth place finish in the final standings. Gray competed in 16 events and tallied 5 top ten finishes with six heat race wins.

Elk Grove's Kyle Hirst struggled through a season filled with bad luck and ended up ninth in the final standings. The 2005 GSC Rookie of the Year piloted the Wright Process Systems, ART Enterprise, D & D Roofing No. 99 to one top five finish and 6 top tens in 15 starts. Hirst is a driver that holds immense talent and this season was definitely not indicative of the potential he has. Hopefully the likable driver will be back full time with GSC next year.

Gilroy's Jon Maiwald competed in all but one GSC race this season and rounds out the top 10 in the final GSC point standings. Maiwald drove the Klub K9 Play Center, NOS Energy Drink, Nor Cal Contractors No. 6m to three heat race wins in his rookie season with GSC.

Other main event winners on the season include 2005 King of California Sean Becker who captured two wins, both of which came at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. One of them included his biggest career victory when he captured the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial driving for Main-Fisher Motorsports. Becker's other win also came aboard the Main-Fisher Motorsports No. 35m when he won the final night of action on July 29. In total he ran with GSC 13 times, five with the No. 35m team and eight in the Family Auto Service No. 98x. Becker tallied one top five in the No. 98x which came in the Tribute to Gary Patterson at Calistoga Speedway. The easy going driver is always a welcome addition to have on hand with GSC. Hopefully he can get the needed sponsorship to run with GSC full time next season.

Fresno's Steve Kent drove the Island Muffler & Brake No. 7n to a pair of victories at the Calistoga Speedway over Memorial Day weekend. The former two time King of California competed with GSC seven times earning 4 top fives and 6 top tens.

Campbell native and current Indiana resident Bud Kaeding scored one victory. The win came aboard father Brent's Al's Roofing Supply No. 69 at the Ocean Speedway on July 15. Clovis's Jason Meyers also earned one win coming aboard the Elite Landscaping No. 14 at Tulare's Thunderbowl Raceway on April 29.

Finally we'd like to thank all the fans for their continued support of the Golden State Challenge King of California Series. Next year should be bigger and better than ever so stay tuned.