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March 30, 2008 at
04:28:34 PM by Gary Thomas
Crockett wins GSC Round 5 at Tulare Thunderbowl
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – March 29, 2008…When Fresno veteran Steve Kent hung up his racing shoes at the end of the ’06 racing season, it left the Henderson Motorsports team searching for a new driver. The decision was made to put Medford, OR’s Roger Crockett in the seat for the second time in his career and it paid off as the team was one of the most potent combos on the west coast.
Coming off a great ’07 season the Henderson Motorports team then moved their shop to Grants Pass, OR to be closer to Crockett’s home base of Creswell. Debuting Saturday night at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway with a new paint scheme, Crockett and No. 7n team put it all together to claim an impressive 30 lap victory aboard their new KPC Chassis. It marked Crockett’s third career Golden State Challenge Series main event win and first at the Thunderbowl.
The main event Saturday night started out with drama as outside front row starter Kyle Hirst of Loomis came to a stop in turn four during the A-main warm up laps. He then attempted to re-fire the GP Development No. 6 but the car wouldn’t respond and he was unfortunately pushed to the pits and his night came to an end. This allowed Crockett to move up to the front row and he did not waste the lucky break as he powered his way into the lead aboard the Omlid & Swinney, Island Muffler & Brake Sponsored KPC.
Moving into second at the start however was fellow KPC Chassis competitor Jason Meyers of Clovis. The driver of the GLR Investments No. 14 gave chase to Crockett early on and the pair put on a show running through traffic while riding the rim of the hooked up 1/3 mile clay oval. Everything came to a halt though when Meyers and the lap car of Danny Faria Jr. made contact off turn four, which resulted in Meyers suffering a flat tire and having to pit and then go to the rear.
The next number of laps then saw Bixby, OK’s Shane Stewart try his best to run down the Oregon racer, but just as he had caught up to him another caution appeared on lap 14 for Craig Stidham who slowed to a stop in turns three and four. The restart saw pole sitter Blake Robertson of Visalia step up his challenge and he pulled off a slide job of Stewart to take over second. Chico’s Jonathan Allard then went to work on Stewart during the 15th lap and pair put on a great show exchanging the spot multiple times over the next couple laps until Allard caught the wall in turn one on lap 17.
The red flag was unveiled on lap 22 for Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs who got upside down in turn one. During this stoppage the pits were opened up for fuel only and Stewart, who was running third aboard the Roth Motorsports No. 83, added air to a tire and was sent to the rear of the field. After going back green a few more laps would be clicked off before Campbell’s Bud Kaeding slowed to a stop with a flat right rear tire.
The final restart of the night saw Robertson make a wild move to get underneath Crockett in turn one, but the driver of the Red Line Oil No. 7n executed a beautiful cross over off the second corner to reclaim the lead that he would never relinquish. Crockett drove off from their for his third career GSC win. “This is great to come out here and win in our first race of the season,” Crockett said. “I have to thank Roger Henderson for giving me a great car tonight as well as Chris, Tony and this whole team. I have to thank Steve Kent for building these cars because this thing was fast all night and also all the fans for coming out and supporting us,” the defending NSCS champ concluded.
Robertson held on to score a very solid runner-up finish in the Doyle’s Harley Davidson, Screaming Eagle No. 1. “I have got to thank the Doyle’s, Paul Silva and this team for giving me the opportunity to drive this great car,” Robertson said. “I haven’t driven a car for more than a year and I can’t be happier to come out here and finish second in my first night back and hopefully we’ll be back out here more as the year goes on.”
Coming on strong at the end of the race was Campbell’s Brent Kaeding who brought home a third place finish aboard the Al’s Roofing Supply, Kaeding Performance No. 69, marking his first podium of the year. “We’ve kind of struggled here at the start of the year and it was good to get a podium tonight, but we’re still fighting some gremlins with the motor so hopefully we’ll get them straightened out here before too long.”
Current GSC point leader T. Kaeding challenged father Brent late in the race but settled for a fourth place finish at the checkered in the Tom Rolfe Racing, J.F. McCray Plastering No. 10. TK has now finished in the top five in all of the GSC races held so far this year. Rounding out the top five was Allard in the Williams Motorsports, K & N Filters No. 0. Allard had made it up to as high as third at one point, but after making contact with the wall he fell back, then rebounded for his fourth top five finish in five starts. Completing the top 10 was last weekends winner Mike Henry, Brad Sweet, Stewart, Meyers and Bud Kaeding.
The 12 lap B-main was dominated by Jon Maiwald who led much of the event by nearly half a lap. Pole sitter Tyler Walker’s car didn’t respond for the semi and he was pushed back to the pits to put an end to a tough night for the Los Angles racer who came into the evening third in points. The six lap dash was won with another dominating performance, this one by Blake Robertson. Four 10 lap heat races were run and they were snagged by Robertson, Stewart, Allard and Henry. Quick time was turned by Meyers who got down near the track record with a blistering lap of 12.876.
The Western States Modified main event was captured by Brian Cass and he was followed across the line by Paul Stone. Full results and more info can be found at http://www.westernracer.com
The Golden State Challenge Series and Western States Modifieds will be back in action at the Thunderbowl on April 26.
Trophy Cup info: Earlier it had been reported that a 3 day reserved ticket package for the Trophy Cup would be $65, but that has been changed to $75. Keep in mind this is just for reserved tickets and it also gets you into the BBQ on Friday and the Spaghetti feed on Saturday for free.
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Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway Results, March 29, 2008
Golden State Challenge Series
Fast time: Jason Meyers 12.876
Heat 1: Blake Robertson, Bud Kaeding, Craig Stidham, Jason Meyers, Tyler Walker, Tommy Tarlton, Shain Matthews, Mark Barroso
Heat 2: Shane Stewart, Tim Kaeding, Charlie Louden, Brad Sweet, Jon Maiwald, Toni Lutar, Brett Bjork, Ken Fredenburg
Heat 3: Jonathan Allard, Danny Faria Jr, Roger Crockett, Brent Kaeding, Taylor Malsam, Jason Botsford, Dan Simpson, Mike Stallings
Heat 4: Mike Henry, Evan Suggs, Kyle Hirst, Peter Murphy, Garrett Ishii, Anthony Simone, Jim Skinner
Dash: Blake Robertson, Kyle Hirst, Shane Stewart, Roger Crockett, Tim Kaeding, Jason Meyers, Brad Sweet, Mike Henry
B-main: Jon Maiwald, Tony Lutar, Taylor Malsam, Tommy Tarlton, Garrett Ishii, Brett Bjork, Ken Fredenburg, Mark Barroso, Dan Simpson, Mike Stallings, Anthony Simone, Tyler Walker, Jim Skinner, Shain Matthews
A-main: Crockett, Robertson, Brent Kaeding, Tim Kaeding, Allard, Henry, Sweet, Stewart, Meyers, Bud Kaeding, Suggs, Murphy, Tarlton, Louden, Lutar, Ishii, Malsam, Maiwald, Fredenburg, Stidham, Bjork, Faria Jr, Hirst(dns)
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