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Gary Thomas
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Several youngsters expected
to invade Trophy Cup
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, California -
November 6, 2007...There has been much talk the last couple seasons about
the influx of young talent scattered throughout California
and when the Tulare Thunderbowl
Raceway hosts the 14th annual Trophy Cup on November 16-17,
several of those young guns are expected to compete. Some of the young
fresh talent from the Golden State is
just starting out, whereas a few of them have already traveled to and had
success in the Midwest
open wheel dirt track scene.
Grass Valley’s Brad Sweet has gained vast
experience in his five year sprint car career and it sometimes makes people
forget that he’s still only 21 years-old. The talented driver is set to
compete in the stable of Kasey Kahne Racing next year as he makes the move to be a
full time competitor in the Midwest.
Sweet has driven for marquee owners this season such as Keith Kunz, Cruz Pedregon & Gary Perkins among others, and has done
well with all of them. The word through the street also has him filling in
for Kasey Kahne Racing
driver Kevin Swindell during this weekend’s USAC
National Sprint Car Western World Championships at Manzanita
Speedway.
Sweet’s versatility as a driver is perhaps his biggest asset as he’s driven
both a winged and non-winged sprint car, as well as a midget this season
and has had success with each of them. He finished third with the World of
Outlaws at the Gold Cup Race of Champions and finished fourth in a wingless
sprint car at Eldora’s 4-Crown Nationals. Sweet was also leading the Midget
portion of the 4-Crown Nationals before contact put him out of contention.
He was also running second at the Bellville Midget Nationals when
mechanical gremlins took him out of that race as well. In 2003 Sweet set
fast time at the Trophy Cup aboard his family owned mount, which was also
during his first full season behind the wheel of a sprint car. With what
he’s done this season he should no doubt be a factor in this year’s running
of the event.
The most talked about youngster this season in the California
sprint car scene has been Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson who drives the Parkerstore Racing, Vertullo
Motorsports No. 83v. At just 15 years of age Larson has put together a
great rookie season and has seemed to improve each and every week with the
added experience. He finished seventh in the California Civil War Series standings and picked up his
first career win with the series’ in August at Placerville. Larson also tallied a pair
of top 10 finishes with the Golden
State Challenge 410 sprint car series at the Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico. He also picked
up a ninth place finish in October at the Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals in Chico, an event that
saw 90 cars compete over three days.
19 year-old Loomis resident Kyle Hirst has had a solid season while driving
for multiple different car owners. The son of former NARC champion Rick
Hirst picked up two wins with the Civil War Series this season, including a
triumph in the third annual Tribute to Al Hinds that awarded him $3,000 for
his efforts. He also won a pair of 410 point races at Silver Dollar
Speedway in August driving for Gary Perkins. Another former Golden State Challenge Series Rookie of
the Year, Robert Ballou, who now resides in Indiana
but is originally from Rocklin, is a possibility to drive the Mike
Stallings owned No. 83m machine at the Trophy Cup. The 18 year-old has had
a great first full year of racing a wingless sprinter and has picked up
nine wins this season including a pair of victories at the scary fast
Eldora Speedway ½ mile.
Last season saw Chico’s Brett Miller miss the Trophy Cup main event on
Saturday night by just four spots in what was his first time competing at
the 1/3 mile Thunderbowl Raceway. The 18 year-old
will come back this year with the added experience of becoming one of just
two drivers in California
this season to compete in every Golden
State Challenge Series race as well as every 410 point event at Chico’s Silver Dollar
Speedway. Miller finished fourth in Silver Dollar Speedway points and
picked up his second career 410 sprint win in April at the track. He
finished seventh in points with GSC and was the series’ highest finishing
rookie in 2007.
Another youngster who gained valuable experience with the Golden State Challenge Series this year
is 20 year-old Evan Suggs of Scotts Valley.
The former non wing driver made the jump to the winged ranks this year and
showed vast improvement as the season went on. Suggs won his very first
winged sprint car race in June when he put it all together to pick up
victory during a preliminary night of action at the Dirt Cup. He also
impressed many with a fast qualifying effort during the second night of
action with the World of Outlaws at the Gold Cup aboard the Suggs Racing
No. 33e.
Penngrove’s Alissa Geving has won multiple times in Petaluma
and Antioch Speedway action this season and will make her first Thunderbowl start at the Trophy Cup. The 16 year-old
driver of the Chick-O Motorsports No. 3x finished
sixth in the Petaluma Speedway point standings and has shown to have no
fear while out on the track. This was no more evident than her first night
of action on the Calistoga Speedway ½ mile in August with the Civil War
Series. Geving qualified 10th fastest,
won the B-main and finished a very solid ninth in the main event. She has
gained a huge fan following this season and should be fun to watch at the
Trophy Cup.
Princeton’s Mason Moore had a fine rookie
season in his own right driving the Moore Financial Services No. 22. The 16
year-old Moore
finished eighth in both the Civil War standings and the Silver Dollar
Speedway points. In October he had an outstanding run at the Fall Nationals
in Chico
where he ran the alphabet to come from the C-main to finish an impressive
11th in the Saturday night feature.
Fremont’s Shane
Golobic has shown promise this season driving
both with and without the wing. Golobic has run a
mixed schedule of winged and non winged action and even had the opportunity
to compete in Indiana
during the Summer. The 16 year-old not only gained a ton of experience but
he was also rewarded with his first sprint car win, which came in August at
Lawrenceburg. Golobic also picked up a BCRA
Midget win at Ukiah in June and finished second at the BCRA sanctioned
Harvest Classic in Madera.
The Golobic Construction No. 57 is one to keep a
watch of as he’s already shown the patience of a veteran which is a huge
asset to any young driver. The state of California is oozing with young
talent and other names to keep an eye on that will be in action at the
Trophy Cup include: Rohnert Park’s Brett Rollag; San Jose’s Jeff Delte,
Chico’s Tyler Spath, Napa’s Richard Bailey, Placerville’s
James Sweeney and more.
The Trophy Cup goes green on Friday night November 16 with general
admission bleacher tickets costing $22 and reserved grandstand seats
costing $24. The 14th annual Trophy Cup will conclude the
following night with general admission bleachers being $24 and reserved
grandstands $26. Visit http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com
for a seating chart and then call (559)
688-0909 to reserve your tickets now.
The Tulare Thunderbowl
Raceway is located on the Tulare County Fairgrounds at the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare, California.
Ideas, suggestions, questions or comments can
be sent to: SprintCar PR.
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