Veteran Racers Kaeding And Kent Share Calistoga Honors

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.

Kaeding And Howard Share Calistoga Honors

By Gary Jacob

Calistoga, CA -- The annual two day Memorial Day weekend of Golden State Challenge winged 410 sprint car racing at Calistoga Speedway saw Tim Kaeding put on an outside groove exhibition on Saturday night to win the Walt Ross Memorial. T Kaeding started 9th in his winning drive and season point leader Jason Statler finished 2nd. Brad Furr returned to Golden State action and set fast time both nights, finishing third on Saturday night. The victory was T Kaeding's fourth in the ten appearances that he has made in the 13 completed races here in 2004. Sunday night saw a very emotional win as Sparky Howard from Santa Rosa achieved a 20 year dream of winning a feature race at his home track. Howard started on the pole for a second straight night and led every lap to win the Gary Patterson Memorial. Over the years, he has been fast qualifier at the lightning quick half-mile several times and once led a feature for 17 laps before losing his muffler. Third starting Blake Robertson and 12th starter Brent Kaeding put a lot of pressure on Howard in the closing laps, but settled for 2nd and 3rd. Howard has only made four appearances in the 13 races for the traveling series, but the win was his third top five finish as he ran fourth on Saturday night. T Kaeding had a tough Sunday night as he broke a motor in hot laps. After changing motors, he timed in 11th quick, but continued problems forced him to start last in the 23 car feature. He made it all the way to 6th before the new engine threw a rod with six laps to run.

The second car to run, Furr posted quick time on Saturday night with his 17.162 lap. That nipped the 17.249 that T Kaeding had posted as the first car out the gate. They easily outran third quick Andy Forsberg, who timed in at 17.507. With Dennis Moore Jr ready to return to action, the Morrie Williams team fielded two cars, one for Iowa's Moore and the other for Australian Trevor Green. Moore was fourth quick at 17.512 and Blake Robertson ran a 17.534. Jim Skinner, Brian Coelho and Statler rounded out the top 8 times in the 23 car field. Green won the first heat race from the pole with Calistoga's own Mike Benson second ahead of Coelho and Moore. Outside front row starter Jason York won heat 2 with T Kaeding charging from 6th to 2nd ahead of Statler and Robertson. Steve Kent also turned an outside front row start into a win in heat 3 as Sean Becker ran second ahead of Kevin Pylant, who won the previous Calistoga race. The fact that both Skinner and Johnny Key failed to finish top five in their heat races put 12th quick Howard on the pole for the 30 lap feature when a ten car inversion came up. B Kaeding won the B Main ahead of Key, Skinner and Craig Stidham, but all 23 cars on hand lined up for the 30 lap feature. Howard and Benson shared the front row ahead of Pylant, Statler, Coelho and Robertson. At the drop of the green flag, T Kaeding made a quick charge from 9th to fifth using the inside line. With the field racing nose to tail on the bottom line, T Kaeding decided to leap up high and it only took him four more laps to race into the lead. Statler was startled to see T Kaeding race around him up high, but he changed lines and hung on to finish second. Furr raced from 10th to finish third and pole starter Howard was fourth. Benson got his first top five of the season and Pylant ran sixth ahead of Forsberg, B Kaeding, Coelho, Kent, Skinner and York.

The track was quicker on Sunday night and Furr dipped into the 16's as the fourth car to time. His quick time was a 16.808. Kent had earlier posted a 16.815 and Coelho ranked third with his 16.842 run. The only other car in the 16's was Moore at 16.962. Andy Gregg appeared for the second day, but broke in hot laps to end his night. York was fifth quick ahead of Statler, Benson and B Kaeding. T Kaeding managed to get the car running long enough to time in 11th quick at 17.488. Outside front row starter Trevor Green won the first heat race ahead of pole starter Skinner and Benson. Pylant turned a pole start into a win in heat 2 ahead of B Kaeding, sixth starter Kent and York. Sean Becker won heat 3 from the pole as Howard ran second ahead of Robertson and Forsberg. Howard had timed in 15th quick, but problems for five teams in the heat action allowed him to be on the pole for the 30 lap feature for a second straight night. Coelho won the B Main ahead of Stidham, Wayne Williams and Key. The feature lineup had Howard, Green, Robertson, Forsberg, Benson and Statler in the front 3 rows and T Kaeding started dead last after failing to race in the heat or B Main. Howard was never headed in his charge from the pole this night. Third starter Robertson and 12th starting B Kaeding put heavy pressure on Howard as the laps ran down, but Howard was able to use a lapped car as a pick as they came off the final corner. The excited winner leaped from his car on the front stretch and ran up and down the track as he drew a standing ovation for the crowd. Robertson ran second and B Kaeding was disappointed that he was unable to pull off a win for his long time crew chief Billy Albini who was unable to be at the track due to a battle with cancer. Forsberg finished fourth ahead of Statler, Kent, Furr, Green, Moore, Becker, Pylant and Stidham. T Kaeding turned a lot of heads in his feature drive from 23rd to 6th before throwing a rod out of the new powerplant for the Beef Packers team.

The busy series sees two nights of racing at action filled small tracks to open June as they make their only visit to Watsonville Speedway on Friday, June 4th and then make their final 2004 visit to Placerville Speedway on Saturday, June 5th. With 9 top fives in the 13 races, Statler has built his point lead to 43 points over Forsberg. Robertson is another 31 points back in third, just 12 ahead of Becker. Pylant is just one point behind Becker and just 4 ahead of B Kaeding. Seventh ranked Stidham is 105 behind leader Statler and just 8 ahead of York. Williams and Skinner round out the top ten.

Summary

Saturday Fast Time-Brad Furr 17.162 Heat 1-Trevor Green, Mike Benson, Brian Coelho, Dennis Moore Jr, Furr. Heat 2-Jason York, Tim Kaeding, Jason Statler, Blake Robertson, Wayne Williams. Heat 3-Steve Kent, Sean Becker, Kevin Pylant, Sparky Howard, Andy Forsberg. B Main-Brent Kaeding, Johnny Key, Jim Skinner, Craig Stidham, Ivan Worden, Doug Lippincott, Rich Vant. A Main-T Kaeding, Statler, Furr, Howard, Benson, Pylant, Forsberg, B Kaeding, Coelho, Kent, Skinner, York, Becker, Stidham, Green, Moore, Williams, Lippincott, Key, Worden, Robertson, Vant.

Sunday Fast Time-Furr 16.808 Heat 1-Green, Skinner, Benson, Moore, Furr. Heat 2-Pylant, B Kaeding, Kent, York, Stuart Krum. Heat 3-Becker, Howard, Robertson, Forsberg, Statler. B Main-Coelho, Stidham, Williams, Key, Lippincott, Worden, Vant, T Kaeding. A Main-Howard, Robertson, B Kaeding, Forsberg, Statler, Kent, Furr, Green, Moore, Becker, Pylant, Stidham, Benson, Skinner, York, Coelho, Lippincott, Key, Worden, T Kaeding, Krum, Williams, Vant.

Pylant Wire To Wire From Pole

By Gary Jacob

Calistoga, CA -- Veteran Golden State Challenge Series competitor Kevin Pylant from Santa Cruz turned a pole position start into a feature win Saturday night as the Calistoga Fairgrounds Speedway half-mile opened it's 2004 season. Pylant became the sixth different winner in 8 races on the Golden State Challenge schedule in 2004 as only the absent Tim Kaeding has more than a single victory with three. Pylant outdueled fellow front row starter Andy Forsberg for the win with series point leader Jason Statler finishing 3rd after starting third. Fifth starter Brian Coelho and 7th starting Brent Kaeding rounded out the top five finishers.

Wheeling the Henderson mount, Steve Kent was quickest of the 24 cars on hand with a 16.893 clocking. The only driver to break into the 16's was Kaeding at 16.985. Friday night Chico winner Blake Robertson stood third at 17.082 and Coelho ran a 17.154. Jim Skinner was fifth at 17.160 and the top 8 was rounded out by Jason York, Statler and Forsberg. Pylant ranked ninth. Series point challenger Dennis Moore Jr had to race with a special arrangement on the car after a four wheeler accident during the week and he timed in 10th quick. The cars were divided into three invert six, take five heat races. Mike Benson won the first from the pole as fellow front row starter Sparky Howard ran second ahead of 4th starter Statler and Coelho. John Gray turned an outside front row start into a win in heat 2 as 4th starter Forsberg battled to 2nd ahead of fifth starter Skinner. Outside front row starter Doug Lippincott from Nevada won heat 3 with 4th starter Pylant second ahead of Craig Stidham. When York struggled to a sixth in this event, that allowed 9th quick Pylant to gain the pole for the feature race when the inversion option came up 8. Front row starters York and Moore ran 1-2 in the B Main ahead of Rob Johnson, Stuart Krum and Andy Gregg.

The A Main started all 24 cars and the 8 car inversion put Pylant, Forsberg, Statler, Skinner, Coelho, Robertson, Kaeding and Kent in the front four rows. Calistoga has dramatically improved it's lighting system for 2004 and turn 3 is no longer the black hole that it was. Pylant charged to the win with fellow front row starter Forsberg second. Statler's third place run allowed him to improve his point lead to 18 points over Moore Jr who ran to 15th place. Forsberg moved up into a tie with Robertson for third in points, just 22 tallies behind Moore Jr. Coelho was fourth in the feature ahead of Kaeding, Kent, Robertson and 9th starting York. The top 12 were rounded out by Stidham, Benson, Howard and Gray. With a 23rd place finish, Sean Becker dropped back into a tie with York for fifth in points, 15 behind the tied Robertson and Forsberg. Pylant is now 9th in points behind Stidham and the departed Tim Kaeding, who is now racing on the World of Outlaws series.

Next up for the Golden State Challenge Series is the prestigious Dave Bradway Memorial race in Chico which pays $4000 to win and $50 a lap to lead in the 40 lap main event. Many of the teams will also run the regular Friday night point show at Silver Dollar Speedway on May 7th before racing the Bradway event on May 8th.

Summary Fast Time-Steve Kent 16.893 Heat 1-Mike Benson, Sparky Howard, Jason Statler, Brian Coelho, Kent. Heat 2-John Gray, Andy Forsberg, Jim Skinner, Brent Kaeding. Heat 3-Doug Lippincott, Kevin Pylant, Craig Stidham, Blake Robertson, Shain Matthews. B Main-Jason York, Dennis Moore Jr, Rob Johnson, Stuart Krum, Andy Gregg, Ricky Richardson, Josh Blakely. A Main-Pylant, Forsberg, Statler, Coelho, Kaeding, Kent, Robertson, York, Stidham, Benson, Howard, Gray, Williams, Matthews, Moore, Lippincott, Blakely, Rob Johnson, Krum, Gregg, Richardson, Skinner, Sean Becker, Carl Enns.