Photos courtesy Tim Holland
Willie Croft scores an emotional win to park the Tri-C Machine Sprinter in KWS victory lane at the 2013 season opener in Antioch
By Gary Thomas
Antioch, California – April 20, 2013…In late-January Sacramento, California’s Willie Croft received the biggest opportunity of his career by getting the chance to pilot the famed Clyde Lamar owned No. 3c sprinter. Over the years the Tri-C Machine mount has remained one of the more well known cars throughout California, but it hadn’t made a trip to 410 Sprint Car victory lane since 1996.
That all changed on Saturday night at the King of the West Series season opener however, when Croft drove a flawless 30-laps to pick up one of the biggest victories of his career. Croft’s most recent KWS win had come in 2011 at Marysville Raceway Park and his triumph on Saturday was the second time he has kicked off the Golden State/ King of the West season in victory lane, with his win at the 2004 “Mini Gold Cup” being the first.
“This is just so unreal I don’t even know what to say,” said an emotional Croft on the front stretch. “I can’t thank Clyde & Marion Lamar and the whole Lamar family enough for the opportunity to drive the Tri-C Machine. Lee Lindgren gave me a great car tonight and I really focused on hitting my marks. I truly know that we had an angel riding with us tonight with Stephen Allard looking down on us, so to get this win is so special I can’t even put it into words.”
The 30-lap feature came to the line with St. Helena’s Rico Abreu on the pole and Croft to his outside. The original start had seen Abreu get the jump, but would be penalized one row, after being deemed to have picked up the throttle a little early in turn four.
The ensuing complete restart then saw Croft get the advantage over new pole sitter Bobby McMahan of Elk Grove. As the night wore on the track surface had gotten extremely slick and treacherous and drivers fought for the bottom side of the speedway at both ends.
Abreu was able to get back up to second early on and try his best to close in on Croft, but each time traffic came into play the yellow lights of caution would seem to flash on. In the open track there was no catching the fast moving Tri-C Machine as Croft distanced himself from the rest of the pack with ease. The 41-year-old veteran hit his marks all race long and drove off to claim the checkered flag and pick up his fourth career Golden State/ King of the West 410 victory.
Croft’s other previous Golden State/ King of the West 410 Series wins as mentioned came at the Silver Dollar Speedway in the 2004 “Mini Gold Cup” & the Marysville Raceway Park in 2011, along with a triumph at Quincy’s American Valley Speedway in ’07. Other drivers with four career victories under their belt with the series’ include Kyle Hirst, Peter Murphy, Andy Forsberg, Chuck Miller and Darrell Hanestad.
Abreu crossed the line in second to record a podium finish for the second straight year at the King of the West Sprint Car Series opener aboard his Abreu Vineyards, Stadelhofer Construction No. 24 mount. “It’s nice to bring home a strong finish tonight, but I’m disappointed we couldn’t win this thing because whoever got the start had a good shot at it. Paul Silva is doing a great job with this car and it’s giving me more confidence each week. I wanna congratulate Willie Croft on the win and we’ll go on to Placerville and try to get one there.”
Sacramento’s Kyle Hirst made some nice moves as the race went on and carved his way from 11th to third at the finish line behind the wheel of the Roth Enterprises, 3-H Cattle No. 83jr sprinter. It also earned the 25-year-old the Pit Stop USA Hard Charger Award in the main event. “The track was tough tonight in the feature, but my guys made the right adjustments and this was a nice way to start out the year. I wanna thank Dennis & Teresa Roth for the opportunity this season and we’re looking forward to Placerville next week.”
Bobby McMahan continued his strong prowess at the Antioch Speedway by claiming fourth at the checkered flag in his American Tool & Mfg No. 25 machine. The former NARC Speedweek champion has now finished among the top-five on five consecutive occasions at the track with the King of the West Series. Scotts Valley’s Evan Suggs rounded out the top-five to cap a solid night that also saw him qualify second fastest aboard the S&S Automotive No. 33e mount. It also marked the KWS debut for Suggs having veteran crew chief Scott McMillen turning the wrenches.
Completing the top-10 in the season opening main event were Campbell’s Brent Kaeding, Sydney, Australia’s Peter Murphy, Fresno’s Craig Stidham, Grass Valley’s Jason Statler and Queensland, Australia’s Todd Wanless.
The 12-lap Last Chance Qualifier was picked off by veteran Doug Gandy from Oakhurst, with the six-lap Dash being won by Rico Abreu. The four 10-lap Kaeding Performance Heat Races were captured by Fremont’s Shane Golobic, Bobby McMahan, Todd Wanless and Brent Kaeding. Defending King of the West champion Jonathan Allard earned the first BR Motorsports Fast Time Award of the year by pacing the 30-car field in qualifying with a lap of 11.940 seconds.
The King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series will return to action next Saturday night at the Placerville Speedway in Placerville, California. Adult tickets will cost $20, seniors $16, juniors $12 and children $6. The front gate will open at 5pm and an early arrival is recommended to get the best seat possible at the action packed red clay quarter-mile bullring. More information can be found at http://www.placervillespeedway.com
More information on the traveling King of the West 410 Sprint Car Series can be found online at [url=http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2F]http://www.kwssprints.com%2F&h=sAQH0L_ra&s=1]http://www.kwssprints.com/ and by tuning in to “KWS Tonight” every Thursday evening throughout the season on the homepage of the website.
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