Red Bluff, CA – ParkerStore hotshoe Kyle Larson took home the coveted six foot trophy in the 125cc Division on Perpetual Trophy Night as the Red Bluff Winter Indoor Series began its 2005 portion of the schedule inside the Pauline Davis Pavilion Saturday night. The win came aboard his ParkerStore QRC Factory Kart and was the Elk Grove resident’s first six foot trophy in six seasons of racing at the Tehama County Fairgrounds facility. Larson also competed in the 500cc Open Intermediate Division but struggled in the main event and finished eighth.

In the 125 division Larson again lowered the track record for that division to 8.842 over 24 other competitors. The impressive time would have put Larson on the pole of the dash for the Open 500cc division. Larson started fourth in the first heat and fell in behind leader Shane Graham and Andrew Cumpton. As Graham set a furious pace Cumpton did his best to hold the ParkerStore pilot in third. On lap seven Larson made an inside pass on Cumpton in turn two and began to close on Graham. However, Graham proved too tough to catch and Larson settled for second.

The Trophy Dash saw Larson start last in the six kart six lapper. At the drop of the green Larson quickly moved into third. Exiting turn four of the first lap he attempted to pass Sean Martin but was forced into the infield and dropped to fourth. At the exit of turn 2 on lap two, Martin made contact with Jonny Lentz and collected Larson and Dillon Silverman who became the only victims of the yellow flag. Silverman and Larson restarted in fifth and sixth with four to go. As Colby Copeland continued to lead the race on the restart Larson raced by Silverman into fifth. He could advance no further as Copeland held on for the win over Brian Southers.

The Main Event inversion found Larson starting fourth in the thirteen kart field. As the race got underway polesitter Lentz led as Larson fell into fourth and stayed there as the yellow appeared for Kenny Allen on lap three. On the restart last years Perpetual Trophy winner Silverman bobbled in turn four and after minor contact Larson got by into third, where he remained until lap sixteen. At that point Allen contacted the backstretch wall just as Lentz and runner-up Southers fought to lap the kart of Kyle Johnson in turn four. As they raced to the yellow Lentz went high just as Johnson did and lost the lead to Southers as Larson nipped Lentz at the line for second. After the restart Southers held off Larson until lap 22 when, while attempting to lap Johnson in turn four, Southers made contact and Larson slid his Banke powered mount by. Larson held the lead to the lap 25 checkered to take his fifth win in ten tries at Red Bluff this season.

In the Open Intermediated Division Larson was second quick qualifier at 8.886 as Southers set fast time while subbing for basketball tournament bound Mason Moore in Moore’s regular ride.

Larson started his ParkerStore Grandpa George powered kart fourth in the second heat. Derek O’Bannon took the early lead while Larson moved into third and battled Tyler Ritcheson for second. On lap 3 Larson made the pass and began to close in on O’Bannon. Coming to the white flag O’Bannon lost power and Larson made hard contact with him while trying to avoid the disabled kart. Larson was able to regain control of his machine and brought it around first to the lap ten checkered with slight front end damage.

Larson started fifth in the six lap trophy dash and stayed there until lap five when point leader Chadd Noland bobbled in turn four. Larson could advance no further as Mackena Bell led the distance to capture the win.

The inversion saw Larson again start fourth, as he did in the 125cc division. On lap one Larson moved into third as Bell led. Larson allowed his kart to spin in turn two of lap two and collected Garrett Mills. Larson restarted last but began to march forward and found himself in seventh by lap 5. By lap eight he had moved to sixth but spun his kart again, but this time kept it going after falling to tenth. By lap 11 Larson had moved back to seventh only to have Mills lose control of his kart in turn three and slide up carrying the ParkerStore chauffeur into the crash wall. Due to the two stop rule Larson had to exit the race and was credited with an eighth place finish. Bell was able to lead every lap to also pick up her first perpetual trophy win.

At the end of the night Larson said “it sure feels good to win this trophy. I’ve never had this one before. Early on I didn’t know if I could win but the breaks went my way and my crew, my dad and Sean Sheppard, really had the ParkerStore kart handling great. The open intermediate kart was really fast but sometimes it isn’t easy to jump right into it after just getting out of the 125. It felt a lot looser with all that power but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Maybe we’ll put a stiffer throttle return spring on it and get them next time.”

Race: January 8, 2004
Photos Courtesy of Jack Waterman