Lakeport, CA – Kyle Larson opened 2005 with a victory in the 125cc division inside the Lakeport Indoor Speedway at the Lake County Fairgrounds on New Year’s Day. However, the victory didn’t come easy as the ParkerStore QRC Factory Kart driver needed a dose of racer’s luck to get the win.

With a break in the schedule at the Red Bluff Indoor Winter Series Larson was able to venture over to the nearly round high speed oval in the beautiful Clear Lake region. The format at Lakeport calls for two sessions of heat races for each division with the lineups determined by a draw. Drivers race against the same competitors in each of their two heats and in the first heat line straight up with lowest number drawn on the pole and highest number starting last. For the second heat the lineup is inverted and when both heats are complete finishing points are tallied to set the dash and feature lineups.

Larson started fourth in his first heat and quickly moved into second behind track point leader Troy Foulger. The ParkerStore pilot tried moving his Banke powered ride high and low while applying heavy pressure on Foulger, but was unable to get by before the lap 10 checkered.

In the second heat Larson started third and fell in behind polesitter Kayla Mincey at the drop of the green. As in the first heat Larson tried multiple times to get by Mincey but the leader was able to protect the bottom groove each lap. As the duo was coming to the white flag out of turn four, Mincey clipped the berm and spun directly in front of Larson. Larson had nowhere to go and drilled Mincey, straightening her kart and leaving him without power as the field completed the final lap.

At the conclusion of the heats Larson found himself a disappointing seventh in points of the 14 karts assembled. Starting inside the fourth row of the main event Larson got a fast start and moved into fourth on the second lap behind leader Mincey. On lap four Mincey tangled while lapping another kart and nearly flipped as Foulger inherited the lead. On the restart third place Larson set his sights on runner-up Trevor Cristiani and passed him in turn one, but a yellow flag came out to nullify the move. During three successive restarts the same thing happened until finally Larson made it stick as the field ran several laps caution free. After moving into second Larson camped on Foulger’s tail and stayed there hoping for a mistake from the local driver. Foulger continued to run a flawless race and held the door shut on the little ParkerStore leadfoot. However, while exiting turn four Foulger caught the berm and executed a quick spin to bring out the yellow flag and hand the lead to the surprised Larson with two laps to go. Larson held the lead to the lap 30 checkered and registered his first win of 2005.

After the race Larson said, “We came here to try out a new QRC kart with our backup Banke engine and the kart was really fast. But it can be really hard to pass here, especially on someone who is protecting the bottom, because there isn’t a top groove. Foulger has this track figured out pretty good and probably deserved to win but we’ll take any win that we can get.”

Race: January 1, 2005