Larson Turns Over In USAC Gas City Sprint Car Debut
Gas City, Indiana – April 29, 2011. Finally getting a break in the weather that has been wreaking havoc on the Indiana sprint car scene, Elk Grove California’s Kyle Larson arrived there just in time to make his first sprint car start in the Hoosier State at Gas City Speedway Friday night. Driving Jeff Walker’s potent machine in the first USAC sprint car race in over two months, Larson may look back and wish that it had never happened, as the 2010 Golden State King of California in 410 winged sprint cars took a hard tumble in the feature and ended his night on the hook.
With a quality field of 46 cars on hand Larson qualified a respectable 18th in the final rundown. Things perked up for the 18 year old in the second heat as he started fourth and drove by defending USAC National Sprint Car Champion Levi Jones to secure the victory in impressive fashion.
“Jeff and his crew had the car set up great in the heat race,” Larson said. “For my first time here I was really happy with the way the car and track were and felt a lot better heading into the main event.”
Prior to the feature race, however the track operators decided to rework the track, which presented setup decisions for all teams heading into the feature.
From his 16th place starting spot Larson and his fellow competitors found a considerably different racetrack when the green flag unfurled. A much stickier track surface presented many drivers, including Larson, challenges not there earlier in the night.
On lap 20 Larson attempted to go to the bottom entering turn three and made contact with fellow Californian Robert Ballou, launching the “Jam-It-In Storage” sponsored Maxim into a series of hard flips. As the red flag was displayed Larson emerged unscathed, although the same could not be said for the car. As Larson and car headed pit side Hunter Schuerenberg completed a dominating run in the feature as he led flag to flag to claim his first USAC sprint car feature in 2011.
With the USAC Sprint car race scheduled for Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway already cancelled earlier in the week due to wet grounds Larson was hoping to redeem himself Sunday at Kokomo Speedway. However, that event was also added to the list of disappointing rainouts in the early season in the Hoosier State. Larson will now head back to California for a weekend of racing in Chico, highlighted by the running of the prestigious 21st Annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial Race at Silver Dollar Speedway Saturday night.
For more information and news on Kyle Larson visit his website at
www.kylelarsonracing.com.
Race: April 29, 2011
Photos Courtesy of Dave Merritt
www.davespitpassphotos.com
