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Larson Races To Third In Return To Ocean Taco Bravo
Watsonville, CA June 3, 2011. Hopping back into the Stadelhofer Construction #99 sprinter for his second consecutive race after an extended period of competition in Indiana, Kyle Larson returned to one of his favorite haunts last Friday at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway. The race against his fellow competitors, and incoming rain, saw the Elk Grove, California driver finish a fast closing third as the track held round number six in the Taco Bravo 360 Sprint Car Series.
At the conclusion of the group qualifying for the 23 cars on hand Larson found himself in a sandwich between fellow Kaeding Performance teammates, as Brent Kaeding, Larson and Rico Abreu set the top three times. Larson then drove to a third place finish from fourth starting in heat number two to secure a spot in the inversion for the night’s feature race.
When the inversion came up six Larson was placed fifth on the grid next to Kaeding, as Tommy Tarlton and Andy Forsberg filled the front row, with Ronnie Day and Abreu in row two. At the drop of the green flag Tarlton and Forsberg set the pace with Abreu right behind. With the early laps hampered by several caution flags on the somewhat slick track, Larson was losing ground to the leaders as he sat eight after getting passed by Justin Sanders and Shane Golobic by lap three. After Abreu fell back with mechanical issues, and trading slide jobs with Golobic, Larson had climbed back to sixth by lap five. When Sanders spun in turn three of lap seven Larson returned to his original starting position of fifth.
Resuming the race Larson engaged in a spirited duel with “Cowboy” Craig Smith as the veteran showed his muscle to the 18 year old by stealing fifth on lap eight. Over the course of the next two laps both drivers went at each other with slide jobs at each end of the track. Finally, on lap ten, Larson regained fifth and set out for the leaders, who were led by Tarlton over Day, Forsberg and Kaeding.
The top five stayed in that order for the middle third of the race until Larson swept underneath Kaeding on lap 20. Three laps later he dropped Forsberg to fourth and began to close on Tarlton and Day. With lapped traffic coming into play Larson began to make it a three way fight at the front.
On lap 28 Tarlton slid over the cushion in turn two and lost the lead to Day. Tarlton made a valiant effort to reclaim the lead with a slide job in turn three but Day crossed under to hold the top position. When the race’s final caution came out on lap 29 Tarlton had gotten past Day only to see it nullified when the lineup reverted a lap.
When the race resumed for a green, white, checkered finish the top three raced the distance under the proverbial blanket. Going into turn three on the final lap Tarlton made one last slide job attempt at Day. With Tarlton ahead, Day once again crossed under and beat the two time defending Taco Bravo series champ to the line, albeit with contact just prior to the flag stand. Day, the current point leader, earned the popular win, which was his first in series competition. Larson finished just behind the lead duo, with a hard fought third place effort.
Larson now heads back to the Midwest where he will compete over the next several weeks. His first action will be during Indiana Midget Week which commences this Wednesday night at I-69 Speedway in Gas City. The five straight night series of USAC Mopar National Midget races will then move to Lincoln Park Speedway in beautiful downtown Putnamville on Thursday, before dropping down to Bloomington Speedway on Friday. The contingent of racers will then grace Lawrenceburg Speedway on Saturday night, before wrapping it all up at Kokomo Speedway on Sunday. Larson currently sits eighth in points after a solid fifth place finish in his first pavement midget race at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis last weekend.
Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by Stadelhofer Construction, Bullet Chassis, Toyota Racing Development, IWX Motor Freight, Peppermill ~ Resort ~ Spa Casino ~ Reno, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Simpson Race Products, RJ’s Race Graphics, Abreu Vineyards, JW Web Design, Kaeding Performance, Safety Solutions and All Star Performance.
For more information and news on Kyle Larson visit his website at www.kylelarsonracing.com.
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