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Photos by M&M Racing Photos
Kyle Hirst kicks-off his title defense with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series in victory lane at Placerville Speedway on Saturday
By Gary Thomas
Placerville, CA – April 4, 2015…Two-time & defending King of the West Sprint Car Series champion Kyle Hirst of Chico fired-off his bid for a three-peat the very best way possible on Saturday evening by racing to an opening night victory at Placerville Speedway’s Gold Country Shootout.
It was Hirst’s 12th career series win and tied him with Santa Cruz, CA’s Kevin Pylant for eighth on the all-time King of the West win list. It came during a rough and tumble 30-lapper on the challenging quarter-mile bullring aboard the Main Motorsports/ HAM Construction No. 35m machine. For Hirst it was the second time he has won the April event at Placerville with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series. It was also the second consecutive win in KWS action at the track for car owner Kyle Main.
“It’s awesome to come out here and get a win right out of the box with the King of the West Series,” said Hirst on the front stretch. “I can’t thank the whole Main family enough for giving me the opportunity to drive this car and want to give big thanks to Rod Tiner and Brad Sweet for their help tonight. I would love nothing more than to win a third championship in a row. I had a great tour in Australia and have a lot of confidence going into this season. Hopefully we can come back on Wednesday and have a good run with the World of Outlaws.”
Hirst started on the front row alongside Cory Eliason from Visalia. Early on Hirst would set the pace until Eliason made a hair raising move to get by up high off the fourth corner. Eliason looked poised to scoop up his first career King of the West win as he set a torrid pace out front running the high scary side. A number of slowdowns and stoppages plagued the flow of the 30-lapper, as numerous reds and yellows appeared, which didn’t allow the race to get into a constant groove.
Eliason’s strong run then came to an end unfortunately on lap 18 when he spun off the third and fourth corners, which handed the lead back to Hirst. Fremont’s Shane Golobic was a player up front all race long and tried to keep pace with the fast moving Hirst. A green-white-checkered restart would conclude the main event and Hirst got a great jump to give himself enough breathing room to hold off Golobic by 0.444 seconds for the victory. Hirst is now just two wins away from tying former KWS champ Tyler Walker & two-time World of Outlaws titlist Jason Meyers on the all-time series win list.
For Golobic it was yet another podium finish with the King of the West Series in Placerville and came behind the wheel of the Keith Day Trucking/ Gabilan Ag No. 22 Sprinter. “It seems like we’ve made a habit of these second place finishes with KWS in Placerville, but nonetheless it was a good run,” said Golobic, who has now earned three runner up finishes with the series in Placerville over the last three seasons. “I’m really excited about the season in this 22 car and can’t thank them enough for allowing me to do more racing in it this year. We can’t wait until Wednesday night with the World of Outlaws.”
Lemoore’s Carson Macedo started his first full-time season with the King of the West Sprint Car Series by rounding out the podium after starting from the sixth row at the helm of the WFO Apparel/ Tarlton & Son No. 21x mount. “I don’t have a lot of laps here at Placerville, but it’s a fun place to race and we’re really happy to have a good run in the feature tonight,” Macedo commented. “We’re going after the KWS title and I want to focus on being consistent as always, so to get a podium the first night out is pretty good. I want to thank Paul Baines and this whole Tarlton Racing team for everything they do for me.”
Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi also started from the sixth row and had a nice run in the feature to finish fourth, with Sacramento’s Willie Croft, the night’s fastest qualifier, completing the top-five. Rookie of the Year contender Chase Johnson did a solid job and scored his career best King of the West finish by crossing the stripe in sixth after starting 17th, with Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto in seventh, 22nd starter Billy Butler had an excellent finish in eighth, Chico’s Jonathan Allard was ninth and Elk Grove’s Bobby McMahan finished 10th. The finish for Butler was impressive after earning the final transfer spot in the LCQ.
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will return to action next weekend in another co-sanctioned outing with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at Calistoga Speedway. Tickets for the event on Saturday & Sunday April 11 & 12 can be purchased by logging onto http://dirtcar.ticketforce.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=163 or by calling 1-877-395-8606. The next full point race for the series will take place on Saturday May 2 at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, which marks the 25th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. Lap money for the Bradway can be acquired by contacting Dave & Dianne Durica at 916-988-5958.
Gold Country Shootout Results – Placerville Speedway April 4
31-cars
Fast time: Willie Croft 10.486
Heat one: 1. 83jr. Tim Kaeding, 2. 29 Willie Croft, 3. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 4. 68 Chase Johnson, 5. 20j James Sweeney, 6. 45 Jake Morgan, 7. 94 Gordon Rodgers, 8. 31c Justyn Cox
Heat two: 1. 88 Tanner Thorson, 2. 22 Shane Golobic, 3. 69 Brent Kaeding, 4. 88n DJ Netto, 5. 37 Mitchell Faccinto, 6. 57 Billy Butler, 7. 69c Chad Compton, 8. 3 Craig Stidham
Heat three: 1. 00x Cory Eliason, 2. 7 Jo Jo Helberg, 3. 99 Shawn Wright, 4. 0 Bud Kaeding, 5. 25 Bobby McMahan, 6. 2 Cody Spencer, 7. 8 Jim Richardson, 8. 5v Colby Copeland
Heat four: 1. 35m Kyle Hirst, 2. 22m Mason Moore, 3. 3c Jonathan Allard, 4. 21x Carson Macedo, 5. 00 Jason Statler, 6. 12 Jarrett Soares, 7. 15 Pat Harvey
Dash: 1. Kyle Hirst, 2. Cory Eliason, 3. Bud Kaeding, 4. Tim Kaeding, 5. Mason Moore, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Willie Croft, 8. Tanner Thorson
LCQ: 1. Craig Stidham, 2. Mitchell Faccinto, 3. Bobby McMahan, 4. Jarrett Soares, 5. Jason Statler, 6. Billy Butler
A-main: 1. Kyle Hirst, 2. Shane Golobic, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Dominic Scelzi, 5. Willy Croft, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Mitchell Faccinto, 8. Billy Butler, 9. Jonathan Allard, 10. Bobby McMahan, 11. Shawn Wright, 12. Bud Kaeding, 13. Cory Eliason, 14. Jo Jo Helberg, 15. Jason Statler, 16. Brent Kaeding, 17. Jarrett Soares, 18. DJ Netto, 19. Mason Moore, 20. Craig Stidham, 21. Tim Kaeding
Info on the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series can be found at www.racepmg.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
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