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Larson Pulls Off Big $15,000 Win In Debut With Hoffman Team

Oskaloosa, Iowa – August 9, 2011. The impressive hot streak of Kyle Larson continued Tuesday night in his maiden voyage in the Hoffman Auto Racing Dynamics, Inc. Mean Green #69 sprint car as the 19 year old ruled in Terry McCarl’s McTwo Promotions – Casey’s General Store Ultimate Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa. The driver from Elk Grove, California won every event he entered, highlighted by his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Series win in the highest paying non wing sprint car race in the country. The only event Larson was unable to capture was the foot race for a Winters rear end for the night’s heat race winners, where he finished third.

The Hoffman’s, looking to make a driver change after the Knoxville Raceway USAC event two nights previous, tabbed Larson – coming off a huge win in the Belleville Midget Nationals last weekend – to fill the seat of the most victorious sprint car in USAC history. The triumph, which marks the 77th for the team and their first USAC trophy since May of 2010, was Larson’s fifth win in his last seven races.

“What an awesome car the Hoffman’s gave me,” said Larson. “With the dry slick conditions of the track tonight the setup was perfect. I could run the car high and low and pretty much put it wherever I wanted to. After the track began to take rubber the setup allowed me to conserve my tires and that was the key to winning the race. Joining together with the Hoffman’s for the first time is a great way to win my first USAC sprint car race. I can’t believe I just won the Ultimate Challenge.”

The night started off without qualifying as this unique event used a draw format combining passing points in a two heat system to set the field for the feature race. Larson, who elects to only run a handful of non-wing sprint car events each season, drew the outside front row position in the fourth heat and drove away to a convincing win. After the first set of heat races points were tallied and Larson sat fifth in the rundown of the 31 cars entered.

For the second round of heats cars were inverted by six, with the top point earners slotted in the outside of the third row. Larson began heat number one from fifth and provided a sign of things to come by powering to the front, as he sliced through the field to become the only driver to sweep both heat races. The result moved him to second in points behind Robert Ballou and placed the duo on the front row of the headline event.

At the drop of the green flag both drivers raced side by side going into turn one. Larson briefly went ahead off of turn two before Ballou drew even going into turn three. Out of turn four Larson surged ahead and maintained a five car length advantage. On lap three Justin Grant took a big tumble down the back straightaway to bring out the red flag.

After the restart Brady Bacon slipped by Ballou for second on lap four, as Larson began to distance himself from the field. For the next several laps Larson opened up a straightaway advantage on Bacon. However, as Larson ran the low side in turn one and two and the high side in turn three and four Bacon found the emerging rubber that was being laid down on the bottom of three and four.

Bacon, Sunday night’s USAC winner at Knoxville Raceway, quickly reeled in Larson and went to the front to lead lap 13. Larson immediately tucked in behind a tire smoking Bacon and utilized the bottom of the racetrack also. Four laps later Dustin Morgan brought out another red flag to draw a halt to the race. Under the open red flag several teams were concerned enough to mount new right rear tires before the resumption of the 30 lap event.

When the race resumed Larson wasted no time as he drag raced Bacon down the front straightaway and slid under entering turn one. However, Larson’s momentum carried him a bit high and Bacon retook the point. Larson would not be denied though, and got back underneath Bacon out of turn two and had the lead by turn three. Out front again, Larson’s superior tire wear allowed him to cruise at the head of the pack. A little drama was added as the yellow flag came out on the final lap for Bryan Clauson’s flat tire on the backstretch. With the race reverting back a lap Larson reasserted command over the final two circuits and drove to a comfortable lead at the checkered flag.

For more information and news on Kyle Larson visit his website at www.kylelarsonracing.com.



Race: August 9, 2011
Photo Courtesy of Steve Gomez