(WOMR file photo)
Once again, stop me if you have heard this before! Kyle Larson dominates most of the feature event at the Silver Dollar Speedway.
Well folks, it happened again Saturday night for the fourth night in a row, however, there was one major difference. On Saturday night Larson took the lead on lap number 8, and thereafter, he thoroughly put an old fashion, blue collar, butt-whippin’ on the 24 car filed!
He is race car was so strong that he lapped all of the field, with the exception for the first seven finishers! The win Saturday night came with a $20,000.00 first place pay check, not too bad for a 20-year-old race car driver! It was his second straight Gold Cup victory!
“I don’t know if we could have been any better at all,” Larson said. “We could really maneuver around the bottom or the top and get through traffic pretty easily. That’s just all Paul Silva right there. He’s one of the greatest and I’m just so lucky to be able to drive for him. It’s even cooler to have Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation on the side of the car and to get a win for those guys.
“To get two in a row makes it feel even better and hopefully we can come back out next year and go for the three-peat.”
California was well represented from the initial green flag. Tim Kaeding powered around Schatz on the opening lap and held a sizeable advantage until his left front wheel came off the car as he entered turn one on lap four. It spun him out to cause the first of three cautions and Kaeding was unable to continue.
That gave Donny Schatz the lead, which he maintained before Larson hunted him down. As the duo entered turn one on lap eight, Larson slid Schatz for the top spot. One lap later, Shane Golobic flipped in turn three just as Larson was nearing traffic.
Once the race resumed, Larson quickly built a solid advantage until he had a close call on lap 15 as he was about to lap Jason Statler. Statler’s car bounced in the ruts and kicked sideways on the bottom of turn two, forcing Larson to swerve up the track as the caution lights blinked.
It only took four laps after the restart for Larson to reach traffic, which never seemed to slow him. As the laps clicked on the scoreboard, Larson continued to increase his lead and lap cars. By the time the checkered flag was waved, Larson ended only a handful of feet away from putting two more top-10 cars a lap down
Friday night’s winner, Donny Schatz finished second to Larson, about 8 seconds back. Sean Becker, Saturday night’s winner, finished in third place. Rounding out the top five was, Jason Sides, and Sammy Swindell.
I will reiterate what I have said previously, the Gold Cup is some of the finest sprint car racing that you will see on the West Coast! Put that event on your “bucket list”!
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
Larson, now with two Gold Cup wins in a row, has his “Gold on the Ceiling”!
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yCIDkFI7ew
