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Photo by Shane Muir
Seventeen-year-old California racer Kyle Larson heads for first career Short Track Nationals this coming weekend in Little Rock, Arkansas
By Gary Thomas
Elk Grove, CA – November 1, 2009…With the Northern California winged sprint car season in the record books 17-year-old Elk Grove driver Kyle Larson will travel east this coming weekend to compete in the prestigious Lucas Oil ASCS National Series sanctioned Short Track Nationals at the I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The 22nd annual O'Reilly Short Track Nationals was originally scheduled to be held on October 29-31, but with Mother Nature not cooperating it forced race officials to re-schedule the event for the following weekend November 5-7. With that occurring it opened up a seat in the Jesse Hockett Racing No. 77, which was originally to be driven by fellow Californian Kyle Hirst, however, prior commitments for the weekend will not allow Hirst to make the trip.
With help from Stadelhofer Construction and Phoenix ParkerStores Larson will now get the opportunity to make his first career sprint car start further east than Arizona this coming weekend aboard the JHR No. 77 sprint car. "I'm really excited to run Jesse's car at the Short Track Nationals because it's pretty much the biggest 360 race there is along with the Trophy Cup," said Larson. "I really have to thank Rich Stadelhofer of Stadelhofer Construction, Steve Stroud of Phoenix ParkerStores and Jesee Hockett for giving me a chance to compete at the Short Track Nationals and race with some of the best 360 drivers in the country."
Larson is also coming off a solid showing during the 16th annual Trophy Cup at the Thunderbowl Raceway less than two weeks ago, where he brought home a fifth place finish in the final event standings, as well as a third place result in the 50-lap main event on Saturday night. "The car was perfect every time I hit the track at Trophy Cup and we had a really good weekend overall," commented Larson, who was in action at the event behind the wheel of the Stadelhofer Construction, BK Racing No. 99 sprinter. "It was really cool to be able to drive a car for Brent Kaeding and I really appreciated the opportunity to drive one of his cars because his equipment is second to none and he has an amazing crew behind him as well."
The 2009 season also saw Larson make the jump to the Golden State Challenge King of California 410 Series and it saw him finish fifth in the standings, having tallied eight top-5 finishes and 13 top-10's during the 21-race schedule. "It was a great experience to run with GSC this year and I think it definitely helped my progression as a driver being able to run with guys like Tyler Walker, Jonathan Allard and Brent Kaeding every week," Larson said. "I think we could have even run a little better than we did, but we had some engine problems and got caught up in some crashes that hurt us in the points, but being the Rookie of the Year is still an accomplishment so we're happy with that."
The biggest Golden State Challenge event of the season for Larson came on May 29 at the Ocean Speedway when he drove to his first career series victory, in which he beat out two-time Silver Crown Series champion Bud Kaeding and two-time GSC champ Jon Allard to the line. "It meant a lot for me to get my first GSC win that night and it was pretty awesome to have Bud and Jonathan on the podium with me when you think about all the accomplishments they have," said Larson, who backed up that performance by returning to the quarter-mile bullring in July and scoring a huge victory during a GLR Investments/Civil War Series event that saw 41-cars in competition. "That Civil War win at Ocean was really big too because there was some tough competition that night and we started from the fourth row in the feature so I really had to work for it."
Larson also goes into the 22nd annual Short Track Nationals with momentum on his side following a number of impressive runs during some of the special post-season events held in Northern California including the Johnny Key Classic, the Louis Vermeil Classic, the Gold Cup Race of Champions, the Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals and the aforementioned Trophy Cup. "Running good in the big races this year has definitely given me more confidence and I think it has helped get my name out there more," Larson said. "Doing well in the special races is what everyone wants to do because you seem to get more exposure when those events come up and even though some of the results didn't turn out how I wanted them to I'm still happy with our performances in them."
The Short Track Nationals will award $15,000 to the winner of the Saturday night finale and will also pay a solid $2,200 to start. There are currently 120 entries for the prestigious event with the list being headed by a number of the country's top sprint car drivers, including current Lucas Oil ASCS National point leader Shane Stewart of Bixby, Oklahoma, who drives a car for California based owner Paul Silva.
Larson will be one of a handful of California drivers in the field looking to represent the West Coast with a good showing. "I think we've got a good shot at making the show on Saturday night and even running up front because we've been pretty successful whenever a lot of those guys have come out here and run," stated the Elk Grove resident. "There will be some tough competition though so it should be a fun challenge and just getting the experience is what I'm looking forward to the most. Hopefully all of the drivers from California can do well for everyone back home and I know we're really looking forward to it."
For fans unable to make the trip to the I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Arkansas all of the action will be available via live audio at http://racinboys.com/
For more information and news on 17-year-old racer Kyle Larson please visit http://www.kylelarsonracing.com and for more on the 22nd annual O'Reilly Short Track Nationals log onto http://www.ascsracing.com/
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After finishing fifth in the overall points at the Trophy Cup Elk Grove, CA's Kyle Larson will set his sights next on the 22nd O-Reilly Short Track Nationals this coming weekend in Little Rock, Arkansas. The $15,000 to win ASCS National event at the I-30 Speedway will see the 17-year-old competing in the Jesse Hockett Racing No. 77 sprint car. Photo by http://www.johnsracingphotos.com
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