5/5/2010
Sprint Source
GSC Sprints set for big night at 20th Bradway Memorial
Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series heads for biggest event of the year with 20th annual Dave Bradway Jr. on deck this Saturday May 8 at Silver Dollar Speedway
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA – May 5, 2010…Many of the top 410 sprint car drivers in Northern California will focus in on the Silver Dollar Speedway this Saturday night as the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series heads for the 20th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial at the famed quarter-mile clay oval located in Chico, California.
The Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial pays tribute to fallen race car driver Dave Bradway Jr., who lost his life during a sprint car crash in Washington at Skagit Speedway's Dirt Cup in 1987. It is the biggest event of the season for the Golden State Challenge Series and packs extra money and goodies all night long. The track has also added an extra $1,000 to the winners share once again to bring the winning take up to at least $4,000.
In addition to that Dave and Diane Durica have once again collected lap money and each lap of the main event and B-main will pay $100 to be distributed among the top three each lap. The leader of the lap gets $50, second $30 and third $20. Matthew Durica has also produced a special Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial program to commemorate the 20th running of the prestigious event. The collector programs will be available for $2 this weekend. Dan Simpson of DES Inc. has also put up $500 for fast-time and $500 for the hard-charger in the 40-lap main event.
Sponsoring the heat races for the eighth consecutive season will be the internet based fan group known as Hoserville. Each heat race winner will stop on the front stretch to be interviewed and will receive a right rear tire & five sleeves of tear offs from Hoserville. Each driver will also receive a trophy to keep and one to give to a child in the stands. Hoserville has been a part of 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. Visit the home of Hoserville at the Northern California Sprint Car Forum located at http://www.hoseheadforums.com/forum.cfm?forumId=10
The tightly bunched Golden State Challenge point race will resume at the 20th running of the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial on Saturday, with the top-three drivers separated by just 14-markers going into the seventh race of the season for the series. The two drivers at the top of the GSC standings also happen to be the two winningest drivers in the history of the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial, with those being Campbell's Brent Kaeding and Chico's Jonathan Allard, who each have four victories apiece in the event.
Kaeding currently holds a slim six-point advantage at the top of the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series standings going into the weekend aboard his famed Al's Roofing Supply, High Pizza No. 69 and will be in search of his first win of the year on Saturday. "BK" has began the year showing the type of consistency that has made him one of the all-time great point-chasers in sprint car racing, as he has finished among the top-10 in all six events so far this season. The living legend is one of the lone remaining drivers who raced against Dave Bradway Jr. and the Bradway Memorial is always a special race that the 13-time King of California wants to win.
Allard last season tied Kaeding with his fourth career Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial win and did it in grand fashion by opening the evening by setting a new GSC track record at Silver Dollar Speedway, before making a last lap pass of Brad Sweet to claim the 40-lap feature. This season the two-time King of California leads the traveling 410 tour with three wins in his Williams Motorsports No. 0 and will be looking to rebound on Saturday, after the last couple events didn't end quite how he had wanted. Allard's very first GSC victory came at the Bradway Memorial in 2001 and with his three triumphs so far in 2010 he has ran that total up to 22 for his career, which places him fourth on the all-time series win list.
Whereas Allard won his first Golden State Challenge main event at the event, Elk Grove's Kyle Larson made his first career series start at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial in 2007 and goes into Saturday sitting third in the standings, just 14-digits behind Kaeding for the lead. The 17-year-old has had a strong start to the campaign so far and already has one victory to his credit in his first season driving the Stadelhofer Construction, Peppermill Resort Casino-Reno No. 99. On this very same weekend last year Larson also claimed his first ever 410 sprint car win during the Friday portion of the event and on Saturday he will be looking to add the Bradway Memorial to his resume, in what will be his first start at the track with BK Motorsports.
Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs comes into the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial ranking fourth in the Golden State Challenge Series standings and is still only 22-points back of the lead. Last season the 23-year-old driver of the Suggs Racing, HoservilleCA No. 33e machine scored a career best Silver Dollar Speedway finish of third in July and this Saturday will be looking for his first ever GSC victory. So far this year Suggs has tallied a pair of top-five finishes, including tying his career best series finish of second earlier this season in Antioch.
Defending Silver Dollar Speedway 410 track champion Bobby McMahan currently rounds out the top-five in the Golden State Challenge Series standings going into the 20th Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. The Elk Grove veteran returned to full-time racing last year and picked-up one win en route to his first ever Chico title aboard the Racing for the Troops, C&H Veteran Enterprises No. 26b. McMahan came closest to winning the Bradway in 1996 when he battled his brother Paul over the final laps, before crossing the stripe in second while driving the Bumgarner Racing No. 88.
Fresh off a career best Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car finish of second last weekend in Santa Maria, 15-year-old Zach Zimmerly will head to the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial looking to breakthrough for his first ever series win aboard the Christian Stover Foundation No. 94. The Vancouver, Washington driver sits sixth in the GSC standings and will certainly be in capable hands this weekend, as car owners Duke and Scott McMillen know the Silver Dollar Speedway bullring as well as anyone.
Penngrove's Alissa Geving will continue her inaugural campaign with the Golden State Challenge Series on Saturday at the helm of her Pit Stop USA, Matt Cordeiro Enterprises No. 3x sprinter. The 18-year-old is seventh in the GSC points and has experienced motor problems for a good part of the season so far, but looks to have them resolved and will be searching for a strong run on Saturday at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. Geving last week looked solid in Santa Maria, until brake issues forced her out of the feature on the opening lap.
Campbell's Bud Kaeding has been one of the strongest cars this year in Northern California sprint car racing thus far and sits eighth in the Golden State Challenge Series standings, having competed in five of the six events so far this season. The three-time & defending USAC Silver Crown champion last year captured a GSC win at the Silver Dollar Speedway on the 4th of July and just two week's back won with the traveling 410 series at Watsonville's Ocean Speedway. Kaeding is coming off a fourth place finish in Santa Maria last Saturday aboard the Roth Motorsports No. 83jr.
American Canyon's Matthew Davis goes into the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial ninth in the Golden State Challenge standings, as he's been running full-time with the series in 2010 and gaining vast experience at the different tracks. The driver of the Matthew Davis Racing No. 11md has put together a pair of top-10 efforts and goes into the Silver Dollar Speedway this Saturday looking for a solid outing at the track he started his sprint car career at a couple years ago.
Rounding out the top-10 in the Golden State Challenge Series standings going into the Silver Dollar Speedway is 2004 Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial winner Jason Statler of Grass Valley. "The Big Guy" wasn't in action at last weekend's event in Santa Maria and his familiar DF Rios Construction, YAK Graphics No. 00 was missed. During his two prior starts with GSC bad luck had left Statler with dnf's and the former King of California will be looking to change that this weekend.
A couple of special drivers on hand for the event will include Bixby, Oklahoma's Shane Stewart and Kyle Hirst formerly of Loomis. Stewart has much experience under his belt having been traveling nationally the last handful of years and is coming off a season that saw him claim the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series title aboard the Paul Silva Motorsports No. 57 sprinter. Stewart is also the current leader with the Lucas Oil tour, as he holds a three-point advantage at the top of the standings over Jesse Hockett and will be searching for his second career Chico win this weekend in his Rockstar Energy Drink sponsored mount.
Hirst is returning home for the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial to compete for Vertullo Racing, with the team also utilizing a special DuWayne Starr, Tognotti's Auto World No. 18 paint scheme for the event. The 22-year-old driver last season had a strong year at Silver Dollar Speedway scoring five victories, including the Golden State Challenge Series sanctioned Tribute to Gary Patterson in July. The Bradway Memorial is always a race that Hirst wants to win as much as any other and he'll be looking to accomplish that for the first time in his career on Saturday. For more on the special scheme used for this weekend visit http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com/2010/news/05/04a.php
Other possibilities this Saturday night will include 2006 Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial champion and '05 King of California Sean Becker of Oroville, Medford, Oregon's Roger Crockett, Placerville's Andy Gregg, Roseville's Colby Copeland, Chico's Brett Miller, Brad Bumgarner, Jason York, Kevin Sharrah, Kenny Allen and Robby Whitchurch, Sacramento's Willie Croft, Grass Valley's Mark Hall and more.
Handy Racing Promotions, the Silver Dollar Speedway and Silver Dollar Fair will also be offering free camping to fans and teams this weekend at the 20th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. Everyone is encouraged to take advantage of this great deal and have some fun with us at this weekend's huge event in Chico.
The front gate of the Silver Dollar Speedway will open at 5pm on Saturday with adult tickets being $17, juniors $12 and children $5. The Silver Dollar Speedway is a quarter-mile clay oval and is located on the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, California. For more info on this weekend's events visit http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com and http://www.silverdollarspeedway.com
Coming up- The Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series will head next for the annual Pombo/Sargent Classic next Saturday night May 15 at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare. Following that the tour will then make its return to the Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford on Friday night May 21.
Submitted By: Gary Thomas