Jonathan Allard charges to an exciting & emotional $6,000 victory in the inaugural Peter Murphy Classic at Merle Stone Chevrolet Thunderbowl Raceway
By Gary Thomas
Tulare, CA – July 27, 2014…Competing together with KWS and in New Zealand during recent seasons, as well as through various life occurrences, Peter Murphy & Jonathan Allard have formed a special bond over the last few years.
On Saturday at the inaugural Peter Murphy Classic, Allard reminded everyone why he is a three-time King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series champion, by riding the wall in wild fashion to get by 13-time titlist Brent Kaeding on lap 19, en route to the big $6,000 victory. It marked Allard’s first KWS win at the Thunderbowl Raceway since 2006 & the third 410 triumph of his career at the track.
“This is a pretty special win for us tonight no doubt about it,” commented a very happy Allard on the victory podium surrounded by fans. “Peter & I are really close and I can’t thank him enough for making this event happen tonight. When it comes to big wins in my career this one ranks right up there near the top. I’m going to cherish this trophy. I also want to give a big thanks to Clyde & Marion Lamar and the whole Tri-C team for all their support.”
The main event took a little time to get going, but once it did the racing was fantastic on the Thunderbowl Raceway one-third mile clay oval. Following a couple of red flag periods on the first couple starts, Lemoore’ Carson Macedo shot out to the lead aboard the WFO Apparel/ Tarlton & Son Inc. No. 21x machine. Pole sitter Kyle Hirst, driving the Roth Motorsports Tribute to Peter Murphy car during the night, soon made his presence known coming after the lead.
Macedo and Hirst would thrill the crowd over a few laps trading slide jobs for the top spot at each end. Around lap 12 Hirst would pull off a super slider in turn three, but caught the wall and rode it all the way through turn four, amazingly bringing the car back down and continuing on. He dropped a few spots however, and would spin in the second corner with a flat right front tire on lap 14. On the ensuing restart Campbell’s Brent Kaeding showed his muscle, taking the lead shortly after, with Allard following along in second.
Allard hounded the rear bumper of Kaeding while running the extreme high-side through the first and second corners. The duo put on a great show until Allard finally got the run he needed off turn two and rocketed by Kaeding into the lead. After that it was smooth sailing for Allard up front, as he crossed the checkered flag by a little over two seconds to score victory aboard the Tri-C Manufacturing/ Red Line Oil No. 3c Sprinter. For the Chico, CA driver it marked his 38th career Golden State/ King of the West Series win, which places him third all-time.
Macedo was able to battle his way back by Kaeding in the closing laps to record a career best King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series finish of second in the 30-lapper. The 19-year-old has been impressive all season long and takes home $3500 for finishing runner up. “This is pretty awesome to be up here on the podium tonight. Peter Murphy is a legend and means so much to our sport that it’s an honor to run so well at his race. I really want to thank WFO Apparel, the Tarlton’s and my dad for everything they do for me. It’s pretty cool to be standing up here with guys like Jonathan Allard and Brent Kaeding.”
Kaeding was able to fend off a furious late race challenge from his son Bud Kaeding to record his second straight podium finish with the King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series. “This was a great event tonight and I really have to give thanks to Peter Murphy for all of his hard work on it,” said the driver of the Al’s Roofing Supply/ Williams Roofing No. 69 mount. “I just messed around there for a little too long and Jonathan (Allard) got by me for the lead. Still it’s another solid night for the 69 team though and I owe a lot to my guys for giving me some great cars this year.”
Bud Kaeding finished just inches behind his dad to score fourth aboard the Williams Motorsports/ BZE No. 0 Sprinter. The Campbell driver also set fast time to earn $500 extra and added in to his finishing money takes home $2200 for the night. Fresno’s Cory Eliason had a strong run in the feature and rounded out the top-five at the helm of the Angius & Terry/ M&S Racing Engines No. 27 machine. Princeton’s Mason Moore capped a solid night by finishing in sixth, with Fresno’s Craig Stidham claiming the KSE Hard Charger Award coming from 20th to seventh. With the $800 hard charger bonus plus his purse winnings, Stidham goes home with $2200. The remainder of the top-10 was completed by Hanford’s DJ Netto, Hirst and Tipton’s Mike Faria.
Clarksburg’s Justyn Cox was the highest finishing 360 in 15th and goes home with $1100 for his impressive efforts. Sedro Wooley, Washington’s Kevin Smith captured the longest tow award worth $500. First non transfer in the B-main Luca Romanazzi took home a free right rear tire compliments of Hoosier Racing Tires. Eighth place in the B-main Shawn Wright took home a Vortex Front Wing and ninth place Anthony Simone won a KPC Parts Package. Dominic Scelzi earns a drum of fuel from Western Performance Products for wheel packing the longest at the start of the night.
Justyn Cox won the 15-lap B-main, with Kyle Hirst winning the $400 Joe Hunt Magnetos Pole Shuffle by beating Carson Macedo in the final round. The Australian/ New Zealand Pole Shuffle added a nice and unique element to the night of racing. All drivers in the Pole Shuffle also received a certificate for Joe Hunt Magnetos. The four 10-lap heat races were picked off by Carson Macedo, Brent Kaeding, Sacramento’s Willie Croft and Mike Faria. Bud Kaeding as noted kicked off the night by earning fast time in the 35-car field by touring the Thunderbowl Raceway in 14.004 seconds. Full results when available will under the results tab on www.kwssprints.com
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will head next for the Stockton Dirt Track this coming Saturday night August 2 for round 14 in the battle for the title.
A-main finish: 1. 3c Jonathan Allard, 2. 21x Carson Macedo, 3. 69 Brent Kaeding, 4. 0 Bud Kaeding, 5. 27 Cory Eliason, 6. 22 Mason Moore, 7. 3 Craig Stidham, 8. 88n DJ Netto, 9. 1nz Kyle Hirst, 10. 4f Mike Faria, 11. 21 Tommy Tarlton, 12. 25 Bobby McMahan, 13. 35m Sean Becker, 14. 33e Evan Suggs, 15. 31c Justyn Cox, 16. 21j Richard Brace, 17. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 18. Ob1 Kurt Nelson, 19. 00 Jason Statler, 20. 22k Shane Golobic, 21. 37 Mitchell Faccinto, 22. 29 Willie Croft
Photos courtesy of Collin Markle & Paul Trevino