9/9/2011
Sprint Source
LARSON CHARGES TO TINER FAMILY CLASSIC WIN DURING GOLD CUP
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA (September 9, 2011) – 2010 King of California and 2011 USAC Midget standout Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, CA charged from 14th win the “Tiner Family Classic” during the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway on Thursday night. The inaugural running of USAC during the Gold Cup attracted 50 Sprint Cars and 24 Midgets before a strong crowd in Chico.
The night of action paid Sprint Car points for both the USAC/CRA and Western Classic Racing Series honoring the rich racing tradition of the Tiner family.
Fremont’s Shane Golobic led the 24 car field to green while Sebastopol’s Geoff Ensign leapt forward to challenge him quickly. Ensign bounced into Chico’s Jason York for second in a hard impact but both cars were able to continue.
On a lap four restart Golobic really felt the pressure from Ensign with Ensign taking over the point on lap eight in his Ted Finkenbinder #3F.
The USAC Western Classic Racing Series points leader led through lap 10 when the caution came out again. On the single-file restart, Yorba Linda’s Matt Mitchell sliced to the inside to take the lead away. One lap later Ensign threw away the lead as he jumped the turn four cushion and had to be towed off the track.
Ensign’s crew feverishly worked on the car while the race restarted. The fans were brought to their feet in a wild three-wide battle down the backstretch between Mitchell, Larson, and Loomis’ Kyle Hirst. Hirst nearly came off the track down the backstretch but the caution came out for a stalled car in turn two.
That caution allowed Ensign time to rejoin the field still on the lead lap and on the restart Hirst swept past Mitchell to take over the lead. While “The Wild Child” Jac Haudenschild worked the cushion into the top-five, Larson moved into second and the Kyle & Kyle show ensued up front.
Hirst and Larson, Outlaw Kart graduates, put on one of the best races for the lead that many observers have seen all season, with Larson finally taking over the lead in lapped traffic on lap 21.
Yellow flags flew on lap 23 as Austin Williams and Browns Valley’s Cody Myers crashed out of top-ten runs. Larson had a fine restart but the red flag came out on lap 25 when Williams and Gregg Bragg tumbled upside down in turn four.
Larson had a brilliant restart to rocket away to the victory while Haudenschild moved to second at the line. Mitchell, Hirst, and USAC/CRA points leader Mike Spencer rounded out the top-five. Ensign came back to 13th ahead of rival Tony Hunt to enhance his USAC Western Classic points lead. Ensign also emerged from Chico as the USAC Western Classic dirt champion on the strength of two runner-up finishes and a win in the eight race season.
Grass Valley’s Billy Wallace won the qualifying race with heat races going to Haudenschild, Spencer, Larson, and Richard Brace, Jr. Myers won the semi. Haudenschild took quick time in the Paul Silva #57 at 13.60 seconds.
In USAC/BCRA Western Midgets, it was Fresno’s David Prickett that led all 25 laps to grab the victory and make up some ground on USAC points leader Cory Kruseman. Kruseman came home second in a close finish with Golobic, Matt Streeter of Galt, and Oklahoma’s Michelle Decker. No qualifications were held with heats going to Cody Swanson, Jake Swanson, and Shannon McQueen.
The USAC Western Classic Racing Series will continue on Saturday September 17 on pavement at the Madera Speedway with the final three races of the season to be contested on asphalt.
More information on the USAC Western Classic Racing Series is available on Facebook at keywords “USAC Western Classic Racing Series”. The United States Auto Club is online at www.usacracing.com
The USAC Western Classic Racing Series is brought to you by: Amsoil, Hoosier Tires West, and Kaeding Performance.
AMSOIL USAC/CRA/WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 8, 2011 – Chico, California – Silver Dollar Speedway – “Tiner Family Classic”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jac Haudenschild, 57, Silva-13.60; 2. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-13.84; 3. Kyle Hirst, 14S, Smith-13.93; 4. Cody Myers, 7, Snow-13.97; 5. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Finkenbinder-14.03; 6. Nic Faas, 4, Alexander-14.06; 7. Andy Forsberg, 92N, Forsberg-14.06; 8. Jeff Parady, 6C, Parady-14.18; 9. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-14.19; 10. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-14.19; 11. Kirk Simpson, 84, Simpson-14.22; 12. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-14.25; 13. Jason York, 25, York-14.25; 14. Tom Baker, 93, Kobza-14.25; 15. Eddy Lewis, 7X, Prior-14.35; 16. Shane Golobic, 121, Von Schriltz-14.40; 17. Greg Bragg, 92, Sertich-14.44; 18. Todd Miller Jr., 96, Miller-14.50; 19. Kyle Larson, 99, BK-14.50; 20. Trent Canales, 2T, Grode-14.50; 21. Mark Tabor Jr., 38N, Tabor-14.53; 22. Tim Sherman Jr., 1JR, Sherman-14.53; 23. Shawn Wright, 99X, Wright-14.54; 24. Richard Brace Jr., 21J, Adel-14.57; 25. Marty Hawkins, 3M, Hawkins-14.59; 26. Steven Tiner, 94, Tiner-14.59; 27. Scott Hall, 56X, Hall-14.60;
28. Gary Paulson, 3T, Finkenbinder-14.60; 29. Jeff Griffin, 50M, Griffin-14.65; 30. Tony Hunt, 56, Phulps-14.65; 31. Jimmy Trulli, 33T, Trulli-14.69; 32. Scott Pierovich, 14, Pierson-14.72; 33. Billy Wallace, 1, Moore-14.75; 34. Rusty Baglin, 44X, Baglin-14.79; 35. Herman Klein, 91, Wondergem-14.81; 36. Mark Beck, 50S, Shurley-14.81; 37. Brett Rollag, 27, Rollag-14.85; 38. Taylor Simas, 7T, Simas-14.87; 39. Kody Smith, 3S, Smith-14.91; 40. Jim Richardson, 8, Richardson-14.96; 41. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-14.97; 42. Jay Waugh, 14K, Kruseman-15.12, 43. Jerry Cisco, 4B, Basden-15.13; 44. Josh Bates, 94X, Pronol-15.16; 45. Colby Copeland, 24C, Copeland-15.25; 46. A.J. Martin, 70, Martin-15.28; 47. John Michael Bunch, 11VS, Bunch-15.41; 48. Matt Sherman, 00Z, Sherman-15.81; 49. Jimmy Steward, 16, Steward-24.72.
QUALIFYING RACE: (8 laps) 1. Wallace, 2. Klein, 3. Simas, 4. Smith, 5. Rollag, 6. Baglin, 7. Richardson, 8. Waugh, 9. Copeland, 10. Hogg, 11. Cisco, 12. Beck, 13. Bates, 14. Martin. NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Haudenschild, 2. York, 3. Ensign, 4. Bragg, 5. C.Williams, 6. Hawkins, 7. Wallace, 8. Tabor, 9. Griffin. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Mitchell, 3. Tiner, 4. Hunt, 5. Faas, 6. Klein, 7. Miller, 8. Baker, 9. Sherman. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Larson, 2. Hirst, 3. Trulli, 4. Wright, 5. Simpson, 6. Simas, 7. Lewis, 8. Forsberg, 9. Hall, NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Brace, 2. Golobic, 3. A.Williams, 4. Smith, 5. Canales, 6. Parady, 7. Paulson, 8. Pierovich, 9. Myers. NT
SEMI: (9 laps) 1. Myers, 2. Faas, 3. Hawkins, 4. C.Williams, 5. Baker, 6. Simas, 7. Wallace, 8. Pierovich, 9. Canales, 10. Parady, 11. Miller, 12. Paulson, 13. Lewis, 14. Sherman, 15. Griffin, 16. Simpson, 17. Klein, 18. Tabor. NT
FEATURE: (28 laps) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Jac Haudenschild, 3. Matt Mitchell, 4. Kyle Hirst, 5. Mike Spencer, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Nic Faas, 8. Jason York, 9. Jimmy Trulli, 10. Taylor Simas, 11. Richard Brace Jr., 12. Steven Tiner, 13. Geoff Ensign, 14. Tony Hunt, 15. Cody Myers, 16. Cody Williams, 17. Marty Hawkins, 18. Scott Pierovich, 19. Shawn Wright, 20. Austin Williams, 21. Greg Bragg, 22. Kody Smith, 23. Tom Baker, 24. Todd Miller Jr. NT
**Steward flipped during qualifications. Hall and Forsberg flipped during the third heat. Griffin and Klein flipped during the semi. A.Willliams and Bragg flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Golobic, Laps 8-11 Ensign, Lap 12 Mitchell, Laps 13-20 Hirst, Laps 21-28 Larson.
NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Spencer-810; 2-Mitchell-773; 3-Faas-754; 4-A.Williams-570; 5-Bragg-508; 6-C.Williams-463; 7-Danny Sheridan-412; 8-Rip Williams-387; 9-David Cardey-380; 10-Ronnie Gardner-370.
NEW USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Ensign-745; 2-Hunt-730; 3-Pierovich-629; 4-Shauna Hogg-579; 5-Tim Barber-522; 6-Jerry Kobza-211.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: September 24 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway
NEXT USAC AMSOIL USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR RACE: September 17 – Madera (CA) Speedway
Article Credit: Steven Blakesley / Blakesley Sports Media
Submitted By: Steven Blakesley