SCRAFAN.COM - Press Release

Santa Maria, CA - May 18, 2002... The father and son duo of Brent and Tim Kaeding made it clear that they were out for the crown in the Golden State Challenge "King of California" winged 410 sprint car series Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway.
    Brent, of Campbell, led the 30-lap "A" main event from the drop of the green until the dual checkers waived. Tim, from Morgan Hill, ran third for most of the event before April 20 feature winner Peter Murphy, of Oakhurst, bobbled in turn two, three laps from the end, allowing the younger Kaeding to pass. Fourth place went to Eric Rossi, of Gilroy, and fifth to Jason Statler of San Jose.
    Statler and Steve Kent, of Fresno, captured 10-lap heat races, Kevin Pylant, of Santa Cruz, the 10-lap "B" feature, and Murphy set fast time of 12.080 seconds.
    San Luis Obispo's Steve Drake extended his lead in the Late Model Stock division in another wire-to-wire run. It was Drake's second consecutive 30-lap victory and his third of the season. Rick Coffey, of Santa Maria, ran second to Drake until he was hit from behind and spun out. Re-starting at the back of the pack, Coffey worked his way back to a fifth place finish behind Drake, Craig Gardner, of Paso Robles; Jimbo Clark, of Oceano; and Vance Beltran of Los Banos.
    Jerry Stewart, of Bakersfield, set fast time of 15.685 seconds and won an 8-lap heat race before over-heating problems dropped him out of the main event. Nipomo's Doug Jeffers won the other heat.
    Next Saturday night the track will be dark. The racing will be on Sunday night instead, with the running of the 9th Annual Danny Simkins Stock Car Memorial. The event will feature the CARQUEST Late Model Tour plus round 2 of the California Street Stock Championship.
    Spectator gates will open at four, with qualifying at six and racing at seven. Ticket prices will be $17.00 for adults, $11.00 for seniors 65 and over, and $3.00 for children 6 to 12.
    The Speedway is located 1/4-mile north of the 101/166 interchange on Hutton Road. Their web address is SantaMariaSpeedway.com.

Race Summaries

Budweiser Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series:

Heat 1 - Jason Statler, Mike Faria, Jason York, Peter Murphy, Tim Kaeding, Tommy Tarlton, Lawrence Edlund, Craig Stidham, Jason Meyers.
Heat 2 - Steve Kent, Ricci Faria, Eric Rossi, Brian Coelho, Brent Kaeding, Kevin Pylant, Garrett Ishii, Danny Faria, Jr.
"B" Main Event - Pylant, Tarlton, D. Faria, Meyers, Ishii, Stidham, Edlund.
"A" Main Event - B. Kaeding, T. Kaeding, Murphy, Rossi, Statler, M. Faria, Coelho, Tarlton, Pylant, R. Faria, Edlund, Meyers, Kent, D. Faria, Ishii,
York, Stidham.

Century 21 Filer Realtors Late Model Stocks:

Heat 1 - Jerry Stewart, Steve Drake, Tom Johnson, Craig Gardner, Devin Crockett, Brian Whitford.
Heat 2 - Doug Jeffers, Rick Coffey, Donnie Hampl, Jimbo Clark, Mike Riccardi, Roger
Wesney.
Main Event - Drake, Gardner, Clark, Vance Beltran, Coffey, Whitford,
Riccardi, Hampl, Jeffers, Crockett, Johnson, Wesney, Stewart.

Point Standings

    CAR# DRIVER - 5/18/02 Late Models    POINTS
1    11 Steve Drake                214
2    55 Rick Coffey                180
3    21 Devin Crockett            144
4    20 Craig Gardner            140
5     7 Doug Jeffers                132
6    3c Jimbo Clark                126
7    30 Donnie Hampl            120
8      4S Jerry Stewart              90
9    15 Mike Riccardi                  86
10      4 Vance Beltran              82
11      3 Tom Johnson              76
12    27 Brian Wirtz                  74
13    78 Casey Johnson              54
14    29 Phil Barrow                  54
15    17 Tim Esmay                  48
16    25 Steve Vogt                  36
17      8 Brian Whitford              28
18    47 Chet Buckley                  20
19    99 Roger Wesney              16
20    32 Pete Van Iderstine              12
21    87 Doug Powell                  10
22    57 Dana Beattie                    0