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(Photos courtesy John's Racing Photos www.johnsracingphotos.com)
Tarlton Motorsports Has Tough Luck at the Trophy Cup; Murphy looks ahead to Chowchilla
By Gary Costa
Tulare, CA – (October 23-24, 2009) – Newly crowned GLR Investments champion, Tommy Tarlton and teammate Peter Murphy competed in the Trophy Cup held at the Tulare Thunderbowl this past weekend. Tarlton was coming off of a fifth place finish that he scored at Ocean Speedway on October 16, while Murphy was coming off of his eighth win of the season that came at Santa Maria Speedway in a dominating performance on October 10.
Tarlton started Friday night off by qualifying the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Tarlton & Son, Inc. No 21 in the third spot out of the 67 cars that tipped the clock. Tarlton unfortunately missed the transfer by one spot in his heat race, relegating him to the "B" main where he finished fourth in the 20 lapper. Tarlton then went on and finished 11th in the 30 lap preliminary feature.
Even with his 11th place finish in the feature, Tarlton accumulated enough points to place him ninth overall in the point standings going into Saturday's 50 lap finale.
Knowing that valuable points were up for grabs, Tarlton blasted through the field in his heat race on Saturday night from his seventh starting position, finishing a strong third. Tarlton was ready for battle in the 50 lap finale, and when the field took the green, he began his charge. Tarlton was moving up nicely from his 20th starting position, however, he would lose a right-rear tire on lap 19, while running 13th. Tarlton would start at the tail of the filed and eventually finish 15th.
"We had a lot of racing to do before we lost the tire. This is Sprint Car racing, so you just never know what to expect," Tarlton said. "We still had a great year, and I couldn't do it without the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, as well as all of our great sponsors. I want to thank the guys that work on this thing too. All year they have worked real hard and it's shown."
Peter Murphy would be in the Rick Eberhardt, Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Tarlton & Son, Inc. No 13 sporting a special paint scheme for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Murphy timed in with an uncharacteristic 41st on the field. In his heat race, Murphy finished fourth putting him in the "B" where he finished eighth, which put him on the trailer for the remainder of the evening.
Saturday, Murphy came with a vengeance. He had the fans screaming as he was driving the wheels off of the No. 13. He was putting on a show, by running the car up by the fence eventually finishing second in his heat. With not enough points accumulated, Murphy would have to come from the heavily-stacked "B", where he continued to put on a show for the fans charging from his ninth starting spot. Murphy went from ninth to fifth in one lap and had his sights set on race leader Randy Hannagan, but fell short and brought home an exciting second place finish, sending Murphy to the feature.
The feature would be short lived for Murphy however, as he lost a motor on the opening lap, and was hit by another car. Murphy was able to walk away from the incident.
"I had fun out there. I was having a blast in the heat race. The car was working real well, and I was just letting it hang out," Murphy said. "We obviously had more fun Saturday than we did Friday; I just wished it would've lasted longer."
Peter Murphy will look to clinch the Bandit championship this Saturday at Chowchilla Speedway in a Non-Wing Tarlton & Son, Inc. No. 21 Maxim.
Tarlton Motorsports efforts are supported by: The Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Ridgeline Framing, Shark Racing Engines, Matt & Glass, M & S Motorsports, Sharp Insurance, McLellan Equipment, Elite Racing, BG Products, Pro Signs, VMAC, Kaeding Performance, Pro Shocks, Sander Engineering, Astro Titanium, Simpson, BR Motorsports, Willwood, and Brown & Miller Racing Solutions.
Be sure to follow Tarlton Motorsports on the web at www.tarltonandson.com
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