By Gary Jacob
Calistoga, CA -- Since their Calistoga season opener had been rained out, the two nights of racing for the Golden State Challenge Series winged 410 sprint cars on Memorial Day weekend started the 2005 year at the famed half-mile clay oval. On Saturday night, Brent Kaeding had to change engines after his heat race but the feature inversion put him outside front row and he paced all 25 laps to get his first Calistoga win in four seasons. It was also the first 2005 feature win for the many time series champion. Steve Kent came from sixth moved into second with a half dozen laps to run and managed to cut Kaeding's full straight lead down to just 3 car lengths at the checkered flag. Kevin Pylant started on the pole and ran second for first 18 laps, but settled for a third place finish ahead of Jonathan Allard and Stephen Allard. In the Gary Patterson Memorial on Sunday night, Kent drove around early leader Blake Robertson at the midway mark and raced to the win. Kent crewed for Patterson before he started his driving career. Kent had started sixth and Kaeding battled from fourth to finish second. Kaeding took second on a late race restart and spent the final two laps trying to race underneath Kent for the win. Robertson ran third ahead of J Allard and Sparky Howard. This was also Kent's first Golden State win of 2005. After two nights of racing at the big Calistoga track, the traveling series now goes to the tight 1/4 mile clay oval in Watsonville on Friday night June 3 for the first of two 2005 visits there. A very tight championship duel exists with Kaeding coming out of the weekend just 3 points ahead of Sean Becker, 6 ahead of S Allard, 8 in front of Andy Forsberg and 20 ahead of defending champion Jason Statler. Sixth ranked Pylant grew up racing at Watsonville and is just 41 points out of the lead going into that race.
One of the earlier cars to time, Brian Coelho turned quick time on Saturday night with a 16.615 lap. In his first time at Calistoga, young Kyle Hirst was second quick at 16.973 and Jim Skinner ran a 17.090 lap. J Allard ranked fourth at 17.175 and Kent was fifth quick at 17.237. Calistoga's own Mike Benson broke an engine in time trials and his weekend was over. There was a 27 car turnout on Saturday. Five cars each advanced from the three invert 6 heat races. Robertson won heat 1 from the pole over third starter Jason York and fifth starter J Allard. In a new ride, Peter Murphy captured heat 2 from the pole as fellow front row starter S Allard ran second ahead of Kaeding. Pylant came from third to win heat 3 ahead of pole starter Roger Crockett and fifth starter Brad Furr. The Kaeding team elected to swap engines between the heat race and the feature and were rewarded when the pill draw produced the large ten car inversion. The final 7 feature starters were determined in the B Main and point championship contender Becker won that ahead of surprise visitor Rick Williams, Canada's Toni Lutar, Sparky Howard and Rick Fowzer. 2004 series champion Jason Statler had crashed in his heat, but ran 7th to end the last feature assignment. More car problems in the feature left Statler with a 20th place finish. The ten car inversion placed Pylant and Kaeding on the front row ahead of York and Garrett Ishii. Brad Furr and Kent were in row 3 ahead of J Allard, Skinner, Hirst and Coelho. Kaeding won the 25 lap race in wire to wire fashion, but was concerned as the new powerplant was on 7 cylinders and faltering as the laps ran down. Kaeding and Pylant ran 1-2 until sixth starter Kent joined the picture. Kent passed Pylant for second on lap 19 and proceeded to cut Kaeding's full straight lead down to the final margin of three car lengths. Pylant settled for third ahead of J Allard, S Allard, Ishii, Becker, Furr, York and Coelho.
Sunday night saw a 25 car turnout and again fast time was set early as Furr ran a 16.815 lap. The second car to time, Lutar had clicked off a 16.842 and J Allard came out near the end and began the final 16 second car at 16.970. Howard ran a 17.169 and Crockett was fifth at 17.182. Kent ranked sixth ahead of Coelho and Kaeding. Pylant captured heat 1 from the outside front row ahead of pole starter Statler and Furr. Becker also turned an outside front row start into a win in heat 2 ahead of fourth starting Kaeding and Robertson. Hirst came from fourth to capture heat 3 over pole starter Ishii and fifth starting Kent. Lutar was the B Main winner in front of Skinner, Tommy Fogarty and Fowzer. This 25 lap feature also had a 10 car inversion that put Gray and Robertson in the front row ahead of Hirst, Kaeding, Coelho, Kent, Crockett, Howard, J Allard and Furr. Robertson raced to the early lead. Kent leaped from sixth to third on the first lap. He raced underneath Gray for second and then sight his sights on Robertson. By midrace, Kent had passed Robertson for the top spot. Kent loves the high line at Calistoga but quickly discovered that the bottom was the place to be this night. A late race yellow saw Kaeding claim second on the green and make a spirited run at Kent for the win. Robertson's temperature gauge was pegged, but he still managed to salvage third. The fourth place duel was between J Allard and Furr. Furr broke on the last lap and ended the race up against the crashwall as Kent beat Kaeding, Robertson, J Allard, Howard, Coelho, Crockett, Hirst, Becker and Skinner. S Allard lost ground in the point race when his backup 360 engine couldn't get him into the feature.
Summary
Saturday Fast Time-Brian Coelho 16.615 Heat 1-Blake Robertson, Jason York, Jonathan Allard, Andy Forsberg, Coelho. Heat 2-Peter Murphy, Stephen Allard, Brent Kaeding, Steve Kent, Kyle Hirst. Heat 3-Kevin Pylant, Roger Crockett, Brad Furr, Garrett Ishii, Jim Skinner. B Main-Sean Becker, Rick Williams, Toni Lutar, Sparky Howard, Rick Fowzer, John Gray, Jason Statler, Stuart Krum, Tommy Fogarty, Josh Blakely, Shain Matthews. A Main-Kaeding, Kent, Pylant, J Allard, S Allard, Ishii, Becker, Furr, York, Coelho, Robertson, Hirst, Forsberg, Gray, Murphy, Howard, Lutar, Crockett, Fowser, Statler, Skinner, Williams.
Sunday Fast Time-Furr 16.815 Heat 1-Pylant, Statler, Furr, Coelho, Howard. Heat 2-Becker, Kaeding, Robertson, Forsberg, Crockett. Heat 3-Hirst, Ishii, Kent, Gray, J Allard. B Main-Lutar, Skinner, Fogarty, Fowzer, Johnny Key, Matthews, York, Krum, S Allard, Murphy. A Main-Kent, Kaeding, Robertson, J Allard, Howard, Coelho, Crockett, Hirst, Becker, Skinner, Pylant, York, Statler, Furr, Forsberg, Fowzer, Fogarty, Gray, Matthews, Ishii, Lutar, Key.