Hirst drives Tarlton car to King of the West sprint car win
Kyle Hirst got his first victory with Easton-based Tarlton Racing on Saturday night, winning the 26th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial in Chico.
It was a popular win at Silver Dollar Speedway for the hometown driver, making his second start with his new team in the King of the West sprint car series. Hirst’s parents were close with Bradway, killed in a 1987 sprint car racing accident, and helped start the Bradway memorial.
The 40-lap race on the quarter-mile clay oval went nonstop. Hirst started third and paced front-row starters Sean Becker of Roseville and Andy Forsberg of Auburn for the first half. He got past Forsberg on lap 19 and passed Becker on lap 38, which was also his fastest lap of the race. Hirst got stuck behind lapped traffic on the last lap but was able to hold off Becker at the line.
Rico Abreu of Rutherford was third. Bud Kaeding of Campbell in the Oakhurst-based Williams Motorsports car was seventh, DJ Netto of Hanford 10th, Cory Eliason of Kingsburg, 11th and Dominic Scelzi of Fresno, 18th.
World of Outlaws: Joey Saldana of Indiana in the Fresno-based Roth Motorsports sprint car had a 1-2 weekend April 22-23 at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, winning Friday night and finishing second Saturday.
Saldana was eighth April 26 in Little Rock, Ark., in the series’ last event and stands fourth in a tight overall-season points battle.
Carson Macedo of Lemoore, last season’s King of the West champion in the Tarlton car who’s racing for several car owners in the Midwest this season, started 22nd in the Little Rock feature and finished 13th.
Madera Speedway: Matt Erickson of La Grange started eighth, took the lead for good on lap 37 and won the 100-lap Late Model stock car feature Saturday night.
Ryan Philpott of Tracy, who battled Erickson for the lead in the middle of the first 50-lap segment, finished second and Glen Cook of Fremont was third. Del McIntosh of Madera was eighth and Dillon Tucker of Madera Ranchos, 11th.
Other feature winners were Austin Edwards (Junior Late Models), Kevin Thompson (MSTs), Joseph Riechmuth (Super Hobby Stocks), Tim Curtis (Toyota Sedans), Adam Lemke (Mini Cups) and Robbie Czub (Legends).
Keller Auto Speedway: Steven Tiner of Rio Linda made it 2 for 2 at the Hanford track, winning Friday night’s King of Kings 360 sprint car feature. Tiner passed pole-sitter Blake Robertson of Hanford on lap 19 and led the rest of the 30-lap feature.
Craig Stidham of Fresno was second, Mitchell Faccinto of Hanford third, Giovanni Scelzi of Fresno, fourth, and Robertson was fifth.
Other feature winners were Cody Laney (Modifieds), Nick Spainhoward (Sport Mods) and Steven Johnson (Stocks).
USAC Western States midgets: Michael Faccinto of Hanford was the fastest qualifier and finished second in the main event Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway.
Faccinto led the first 27 of 30 laps before points leader Ronnie Gardner of Corona got past for the win. Faccinto is second in points heading to the series’ next race May 21 at Ventura.
This story was originally published May 1, 2016 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Hirst drives Tarlton car to King of the West sprint car win."