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Money & prestige on the line when the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series invades Silver Dollar Speedway this Saturday May 3 for the 24th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – April 29, 2014…If you’re a Sprint Car enthusiast in Northern California then the place to be this Saturday night is the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, when the King of the West 410 Series invades the famed bullring for the prestigious 24th annual “Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.”
The event pays tribute to race car driver Dave Bradway Jr., who lost his life in a Sprint Car crash at Skagit Speedway's Dirt Cup in 1987. Bradway Jr. was a driver destined for stardom in Sprint Car racing and the event held in his memory has become a cornerstone for the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series each season at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico.
Dave and Diane Durica have once again collected lap money and each lap of the 40-lap A-main and 12-lap Last Chance Showdown will pay $100 to be distributed among the top three each lap. The leader of the lap gets $50, second $30 and third $20. Lap money has been a staple of the Bradway Memorial over the years and always adds a special element to the event. The A-main will also pay a minimum of $3500-to-win, courtesy of a $500 donation from Roth Motorsports.
The fan group HoservilleCA will be partnering with the heat races for the 12th consecutive season. Each 10-lap heat race winner on Saturday May 3 will receive a free Hoosier Right Rear Tire plus Five Sleeves of Tear Offs. HoservilleCA has been involved with the heat races at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial since 2003 and it has grown to be a major part of the event each year. Each heat race winner will also stop on the front stretch for an interview & will receive a trophy from Trophy City to give to a child in the stands.
Red Line Oil is also donating a Red Line Sprint Car oil change of Motor Oil, Gear Oil and WaterWetter to each heat race winner. Red Line Oil will also be partnering with the pre-race autograph session/ meet & greet once again that will feature Dominic & Gary Scelzi, Kyle & Rick Hirst and Bud Kaeding! The session will take place from 5pm to 5:45pm inside the grandstands. We also have $50 on the line to the driver running 15th on the 15th lap of the feature with details on that to be released later. There is also $200 on the line for a hard luck award courtesy of Dan & Laurel Belton.
It’s also become a tradition at the start of the night to hand out the Carwash Mike Fast Time Award at the Bradway. The winner of the award will take home a custom one of a kind Jagermeister Trophy & a Coors Light Cowboy Hat, in honor of super fan Carwash Mike Avilla, who passed away a few years ago. As of press time there was also $1325 cash on the line for the award! Donations have been from 50th Stater, Gloria & Manny Avilla, Hoseheads.com, Terry & Lori McCarl, F&F Racing, Top Wing, Sheree & Loree Toller, Stephen’s Scrap Metal, Andrew Kunas, Jigga Jay Motorsports and anonymous.
Last season’s edition of the event saw history be made when Rutherford’s Rico Abreu became the youngest winner ever of the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial and also took home the most money in the history of the show, pocketing over $8500. The 22-year-old will be in action once again at the event this weekend and looks to continue his red hot start to the season, which has seen him win eight main events already, including the April 19 KWS race in Placerville.
Always one of the sentimental favorites at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial also happens to be the man sitting atop the King of the West standings going into Saturday, with that being Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst. The defending KWS champion and driver of the Roth Motorsports No. 83jr last season finished runner up at the Bradway and has been close in the past, but the event has eluded his grasp each time. This weekend he looks to change that however, and pick up his first King of the West Series win of the season at one of the biggest events all year.
"The Bradway means so much to my family that I really hope to add my name to the winners list this year,” said Hirst, whose middle name is David in tribute to Junior. “It's the one race that always sticks out in my mind and one that I always have circled on my calendar. My mom & dad were such good friends with David and put so much into this race for so many years that I would love to win it for them. We’ve also been really close with Dave & Dianne Durica, who organize everything now, so I’ll be trying hard on Saturday to finally get this race under my belt.”
Campbell’s Bud Kaeding is in his first season driving the Williams Motorsports No. 0 and goes into the Bradway ranking second in the KWS standings, 20-markers back of Hirst for the lead. The three-time USAC Silver Crown champ earned his best career Bradway Memorial finish in 2010 when he charged from 13th to third at the event. Fremont’s Shane Golobic is in his first full-time season with KWS and currently stands third in the points going into Saturday, 23-digits out of the lead. The talented & versatile driver will be gunning for his first career Bradway win this weekend aboard the Joe VonSchriltz Racing No. 121 mount.
Princeton’s Mason Moore goes into his home track on Saturday sitting fourth in the points after two rounds of action. The driver of the Moore Insurance Services No. 22 Sprinter is 24-markers out of the lead in the standings. Last season Moore picked up a big win at Silver Dollar Speedway during the annual Fall Nationals in September. Rounding out the top-five in the King of the West standings coming into Saturday and 25 out of the lead is four-time Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial winner Brent Kaeding of Campbell. The 13-time series champion is fresh off a fourth place finish in Placerville, where he charged from 12th starting in the Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69 machine.
Completing the top-10 in the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series standings going into the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial are 2004 Bradway Memorial winner Jason Statler of Grass Valley, reigning KWS Rookie of the Year Dominic Scelzi from Fresno, 2006 Bradway Memorial winner Sean Becker of Oroville, past Mini Gold Cup champion Willie Croft from Sacramento and former Trophy Cup titlist Craig Stidham of Fresno.
Other drivers expected at the 24th Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial include five-time Bradway Memorial champion Jonathan Allard from Chico, Elk Grove’s Bobby & Sean McMahan, Hanford’s DJ Netto, Visalia’s Cory Eliason, Medford, Oregon’s Roger Crockett, Placerville’s Andy Gregg, New Zealander Michael Pickens, Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs, Chico’s Brad Bumgarner & Jason York, Auburn’s Richard Brace Jr., Fair Oak’s Chad Compton, Anderson’s Keith Bloom Jr., Roseville’s Colby Copeland, Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox, Australian Todd Wanless, Corning’s Bud Walberg, Gilroy’s Jarrett Soares and many more.
The Silver Dollar Speedway front gate will open at 5pm on Saturday May 3, with adult tickets costing $20, juniors 12-15 will be $15 and kids 6-11 are $5. All seating is general admission during the night. The track is a high-banked quarter-mile clay oval and is considered one of the most famous dirt track venues in the country. Camping is available for the weekend and is $30 a night that is collected by the fairgrounds. On Saturday the Northern California Auto Racing Alumni will hold their annual racers barbeque at the garden court area inside the fairgrounds. The lunch takes place at noon.
The Silver Dollar Speedway is located on the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, a half-mile west of SR 99 on Park Ave in Chico, California. For directions and a map visit http://www.silverdollarspeedway.com/location.php
Info on the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series can be found at http://www.kwssprints.com
Be sure to like the KWS Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/kingofthewestsprints and become a member of our Twitter community at https://twitter.com/KwsSprintRacing for all the latest breaking news regarding the series
Upcoming events after Chico May 3
Saturday May 10: Petaluma Speedway
Saturday May 17: Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway (Chris & Brian Faria Memorial)
Friday June 6: Silver Dollar Speedway (David Tarter Memorial)
Saturday June 7: Marysville Raceway Park
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Always one of the sentimental favorites at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial also happens to be the man sitting atop the King of the West standings going into Saturday, with that being Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst. Photo by Chuck Fry of the defending KWS champ in the Roth Motorsports No. 83jr
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