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Chris & Brian Faria Memorial on tap for Thunderbowl Raceway this Saturday May 16 By Gary Thomas |
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Tulare, CA – May 12, 2009…When the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway returns to action for another exciting three-division show this Saturday night we will be honoring the memory of brothers Brian & Chris Faria with the running of the annual Chris & Brian Faria Memorial. This will be the third season in a row that the event, which started out as the Chris Faria Memorial, pays tribute to both brothers who lost their lives far too early. In competition during the evening will be the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series, the Bandit 360 Wingless Sprint Series and the Western States Modifieds. Chris Faria was an up and coming driver who was the youngest of five children to Danny Sr. & Arlet Faria. Chris grew up on their farm in Tipton and was known as the prankster of the family. He unfortunately lost his life at the age of 21 during a farming accident and his memory has been kept alive with a memorial race at the Thunderbowl Raceway ever since. Brian was the oldest of the five Faria children and was taken from us in January of 2006 when a fallen tree hit his truck while driving on a highway. Brian enjoyed helping out with the track preparation at the Thunderbowl Raceway as he drove the water truck and the grader among other things. The extremely tight Golden State Challenge Series point battle will be led into the Thunderbowl Raceway by three former Chris & Brian Faria Memorial winners. Defending event champion Tyler Walker will bring a slim two point advantage into the 1/3 mile clay oval and will look to improve upon his eighth place finish at the track during the GSC visit in April. The Los Angeles driver had a strong year last season at the Thunderbowl by winning three main events aboard his SC Motorsports No. 24 sprinter and also scored a fourth place finish with the World of Outlaws in March at the speedway. Walker has won three features this year with the Golden State Challenge Series and is coming off a fourth place finish at the Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial last weekend in Chico. Two-time & defending King of California Jonathan Allard of Chico comes into Tulare with momentum following his exciting last corner victory at the Bradway last weekend and has closed to within just two digits of Walker for the top spot in the GSC standings. The '03 Chris & Brian Faria Memorial champ finished fifth at the Thunderbowl in April aboard his Williams Motorsports No. 0 and has been part of an entertaining point battle with Walker for much of the season. Prior to his first win of the season last Saturday, Allard had finished runner-up on three different occasions. Multiple time Chris & Brian Faria Memorial titlist Brent Kaeding continues to keep his Al's Roofing Supply No. 69 in the thick of the point battle and comes into the Thunderbowl just 13 points back in third. The Campbell veteran picked up victory at the GSC season opener in March and finished sixth at Tulare in April. Kaeding last season scored a GSC win at the 1/3 mile clay oval during the running of the Pombo/Sargent Classic and will look to close the gap between himself and Walker on Saturday. Scotts Valley's Evan Suggs has moved to fourth in the Golden State Challenge Series point standings and will look to put his Suggs Racing No. 33e towards the front of the field on Saturday. The 22 year-old racer set fast time during the April event at the Thunderbowl and has seemed to be picking up speed at the Tulare County Fairgrounds track each time he comes back. Suggs finished ninth in last weekend's Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial. Rounding out the top five in the current GSC standings is Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Larson of Elk Grove. The driver of the Vertullo Racing No. 83v picked up his first career 410 sprint car victory last Friday during weekly action at the Silver Dollar Speedway and will look for another strong night at the Thunderbowl, following a third place finish at the track in April. Larson will look to rebound following a dnq last Saturday at the Bradway Memorial however, as he sits just six points behind Suggs for fourth in the standings. Other Golden State Challenge Series possibilities for this Saturday will include 2005 Chris & Brian Faria Memorial winner Jason Statler of Grass Valley, Ripon's Brandon Carey, Loomis' Kyle Hirst, Gilroy's Ken Fredenburg, Fresno's Tommy Tarlton, Fremont's Brent Bjork and more. The Bandit Wingless 360's will make their way to Tulare following an exciting main event in April at the Thunderbowl that saw USAC/CRA driver Danny Sheridan and current Bandit point leader Peter Murphy battle for the win right down to the end. At the checkered Sheridan was able to hold off the hard charging Murphy for the victory, with Richard Vanderweerd, Jace Vanderweerd and TJ Smith rounding out the top five. Murphy will bring his Tarlton & Son No. 21t into the Chris & Brian Faria Memorial holding a 12 point lead in the Bandit Series standings over Davey Pombo, who won last weekend's Gram Slam event in Bakersfield. Completing the top five in points are Rusty Carlile, Albert Pombo and Jonathan Logan. Visalia's Danny Faria Jr. will look for a strong night at his brothers' Memorial race as he competes aboard his No. 17v sprinter. Faria Jr. came close to winning the event in '05 with the Golden State Challenge Series, until contact took away any chances of that late in the feature. The Western States Modifieds are set for their second race of the season at the Thunderbowl Raceway and Chowchilla's Alex Stanford will look to make it back-to-back wins after putting his No. 98 into victory lane on April 11. Stanford used a strong lap 17 restart to charge past Richard Papenhausen and Brad Pounds en route to claiming victory in the 25 lap feature. A total of 43 cars were on hand for the WSM opener at the 1/3 mile clay oval. Stanford will be challenged by a number of other drivers on Saturday for the $1,200 top prize however, including Papenhausen, Pounds, Bobby Hogge, Paul Stone, Ryan McDaniel, Robby Jeppesen and many more. For the point standings and more information on the Western States Modifieds please log onto http://www.westernracer.com Due to having three classes on Saturday the event at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will be starting about 30 minutes to an hour earlier than usual, in an attempt to beat curfew and get everyone on their way home at a decent hour. The plan is to try and start everything about an hour earlier than usual. The drivers meeting is expected to start at 4- 4:30pm, with wheel packing and qualifying to follow after that. The first race is scheduled to go off at about 6:30. The pits will be open all day with pit passes being sold at 2pm. The pits will then be flushed at 3pm and then people with pit passes purchased will be allowed in. The front gate is scheduled to open at 4pm this Saturday night with Reserved grandstand tickets costing only $18 with general admission bleacher seats just $15. For more info please log onto http://www.thunderbowlraceway.com or call (559) 688-0909. More info on the Golden State Challenge Series can be found at http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com Upcoming events- Following this weekend's event the next scheduled race for the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway will be Saturday night May 30 when the USAC/CRA Wingless 410 Sprint Car Series invades the 1/3 mile clay oval. It's expected to be an exciting night of racing as a warm-up to November's Pacific Coast Nationals featuring the USAC National Sprint Car Series. The Thunderbowl Raceway is located at the Tulare County Fairgrounds on the corner of Bardsley and K Streets in Tulare, California. |
