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Hawkeye Moore Wins at Watsonville - By Bobby Gerould, 05/17/03, Watsonville, CA. …Dennis Moore JR. of Grinnell Iowa felt right at home at Watsonville Speedway despite the fact that he had never even seen the place before Saturday night's round nine of the Golden State Challenge sprint car series. Moore, who is spending his racing season in the Golden State driving for the Williams MotorSports team, claimed his second feature win of the 2003 "King of California" series by taking advantage of a final lap tangle between Brent Kaeding and Jason Meyers.
When Moore accepted the white flag he was running third on the quarter-mile dirt oval. Kaeding was leading and Meyers was second, both racing in traffic for the win. As the two headed for the final set of turns, Meyers' Elite Landscaping #1 made a low dive, and Kaeding protected his groove in the BK Racing #69. The result was hard contact, with Meyers driving over the front of Kaeding's machine. The front wing on Kaeding's mount was broken off, and he suffered a flat left front tire, and front-end damage. As Kaeding came to a stop, Meyers was able to continue. However, under caution, Golden State Challenge officials penalized Meyers for rough driving and sent him to the tail of the field. Suddenly, Moore JR. found himself in the lead with just a restart and two quick laps to handle.
The 'Hawkeye' pilot held Tim Kaeding off to win his second career GSC feature. Said Moore, "The old saying is 'A race ain't over until the checkered falls', and that is what happened tonight. Meyers and Brent were decent, and we were just off a bit. I don't know what happened there with those guys, and really, I don't care", said the smiling winner. "Morrie Williams gives me a helluva car, and I saw some pressure from Tim but I just tried to run two consistent laps at the end."
The feature started with eight cars inverted, placing Brent Kaeding and Moore on the front row. With a temperature of 48 degrees Fahrenheit at feature time, Moore said he felt like the Iowa cold had followed him to California. Before the original green, Nevada's Doug Lippincott stalled, and did not start the feature 30 lapper. After two non-starts, Brad Furr spun to a stop just after green flag number three. Kevin Pylant followed another false start with a turn two spin. Tommy Tarlton, and Brian Coelho also stopped in turn two. All cars resumed but at the rear.
Finally, on the sixth green flag with no laps scored, Brent Kaeding and Moore raced evenly into turn one and two, and Kaeding emerged with the lead on the backchute. However, after just one lap of racing, the caution flag appeared. A three-car tangle in turn three between Steve Kent, Blake Robertson, and Kirk Sargent was the cause. As the green replaced the caution, Meyers passed Moore on the low side of turn four for the runner-up spot. It was Kaeding, and Meyers one-two from laps 2 through 29.
After five more yellow flags, the race finally developed a rhythm. On lap 20 as the leaders approached traffic, Kaeding slid up the track in turn two, allowing Meyers to make a run going into turn three. However, the 11-time Golden State "King of California", Kaeding, shut the door and continued to lead. Kaeding held on to the point as an enthusiastic, and large crowd cheered wildly for the entertaining racing up front. Meyers pressured Kaeding each lap, with both cars 'upstairs' in the first set of corners, and glued to the bottom in three and four.
The disappointing ending for both Meyers and Kaeding left Moore and the Williams #0 team in the winners circle. The top five was rounded out by T. Kaeding, eleventh starting Forsberg, Pylant, and Jason Statler. Pylant, a three-time stock car champion at Watsonville, roared all the way back up to fourth following his spin at the start. Sixth through tenth were, Jon Allard, Jason York, Davey Key, Tommy Tarlton, and Shain Matthews. The 20-year old Matthews notched his third consecutive top ten in GSC action. Key was the hard charger of the night, starting 19th and finishing eighth. Allard (16th to 6th) and York (17th to 7th) also performed stellar drives.
Tim Kaeding set quick time to earn the BR MotorSports qualifying award. Tim's lap of 12.270 seconds was good enough to outrun 30 other teams. York won the B&B Oval track products heat race. Other heat winners included Kent, Stidham, and Statler. Robertson was the winner of the Last Chance race which also transferred, Lippincott, Wayne Williams, Garrett Ishii, Kirk Sargent, and Nick Rescino JR.
Unofficially, only one point separates the top three drivers in the Golden State Challenge points standings as the series heads for a double dip at Calistoga Speedway, Saturday May 24th, and Sunday May 25th. Brent Kaeding is one point ahead of Moore Jr., and Statler. The Golden State Challenge "King of California" series is sponsored by Hoosier Tires, CL Bryant, BR MotorSports, and B&B Oval Track Products.
May 17, 2003
Watsonville Speedway, Watsonville CA.
Golden State Challenge Round Nine
BR MotorSports Qualifying: Driver Hometown Car Time
B&B Oval Track Products Heat One: 1. 1. York, 2. B. Kaeding, 3. T. Kaeding, 4. Key, 5. Robertson, 6. Williams, 7. Fowzer
Heat two: 1. Kent, 2. Furr, 3. Coelho, 4. Pylant, 5. Ishii, 6. Lippincott, 7. B. Maiwald, 8. Giffin
Heat three: 1. Stidham, 2. Forsberg, 3. Tarlton, 4. Meyers, 5. Shriver, 6. Sargent, 7. Ringo
Heat four: 1. Statler, 2. Allard, 3. Moore, 4. Matthews, 5. Binstock, 6. Rescino JR., 7. J. Maiwald.
Last Chance Race (12 laps. Top 6 transfer.): 1. Robertson, 2. Lippincott, 3. Williams, 4. Ishii, 5. Sargent, 6. Rescino JR., 7. Shriver, 8. Quigley, 9. B. Maiwald, 10. Fowzer, 11. Giffin
Feature (30 laps) 1. Moore JR., 2. T. Kaeding, 3. Forsberg, 4. Pylant, 5. Statler, 6. Allard, 7. York, 8. Key, 9. Tarlton, 10. Matthews, 11. Ishii, 12. Stidham, 13. Rescino JR., 14. Robertson, 15. Coelho, 16. Williams, 17. B. Kaeding, 18. Meyers, 19. Sargent, 20. Furr, 21. Kent, 22. Lippincott.