Red Bluff, CA – ParkerStore Outlaw Sprint Kart driver Kyle Larson ended the Red Bluff season by defending his championship in the 125cc division with a second place finish in the feature race inside the Pauline Davis Pavilion at the Tehama County Fairgrounds Saturday night. The little leadfoot also competed in the 500cc Open Intermediate division and came away with an eighth place finish.

Needing only to qualify to earn enough points to clinch the championship Larson settled for fourth fast out of 29 karts assembled while Dillon Silverman claimed fast time honors. Larson started seventh in the fully inverted heat race and passed Cody Miller for the lead on lap six. Larson then drove his QRC Factory Kart to a wide lead over the last four laps to capture his ninth heat race victory of the fourteen contested at Red Bluff.

Larson started third in the six kart six lap trophy dash and held that place until lap five when second running Kenny Allen abruptly closed the door on the fast approaching Parker pilot in turn three causing the two to make contact. Larson was able to break free but Allen couldn’t keep going and brought out the yellow. Larson restarted fifth and passed Riley Gomes out of turn four on the last lap as Jonny Lentz garnered the victory.

Larson began the A-Main inside row two in the 16 kart field. Andrew Cumpton started on the pole and took the lead as the green flag appeared. Larson got underneath Lentz for third in turn two and passed Allen for second in turn four. After several yellow flags Cumpton still maintained a slight margin over Larson’s Banke powered mount as Brian Southers moved into third on lap 13. From lap 14 through the lap 25 checkered the lead trio put on a non stop high speed driving display as they separated themselves from the field and began a furious lapping process. Although Cumpton had never won a feature in any division before he never wavered under the pressure applied by Larson and Southers and went on to his first career win.

In the 500cc Open Intermediate kart Larson qualified fifth fast as Brett Hamilton topped the 29 racers on hand. In heat two Larson started fourth and jumped into second on lap two with a pass of Garrett Mills in turn four as Tyler Richeson led. David Chaves spun for a yellow on lap five and on the restart Larson allowed his kart to get sideways coming out of turn four, dropping him back to eighth. By the lap ten checkered he had moved back to fifth but missed the transfer to the A-main.

The trophy dash began with Larson starting outside the front row. In a prelude to a later main event confrontation point leader Chadd Noland and second in points Mackena Bell tangled in turn four to cause a restart. Keith Bloom took the lead at the start as Larson settled into second. While still in second on lap four Larson half spun in turn four, dropping him to sixth as the race continued without a yellow. Larson completed the race in sixth as Bloom captured the win over Mason Moore.

The B-Main saw Larson start third but in turn four of the first lap he caught the inside berm and dropped back to 11th. By lap four Larson advanced to sixth, two places from a transfer to the A-main. On lap 15 Larson’s Grandpa George powered ride slipped by fifth place Christopher Phillips in turn two and then quickly passed Kenny McArthur in turn four to move into the final transfer spot. Lap 17 saw Larson get past Ryan Gomes in turn three and he held steady there to the lap 20 checkered behind Moore and Hamilton.

Larson started 12th in the 20 lap feature event and by lap eight he had only advanced to tenth as the pack saw little changing of positions. On lap nine Larson clipped the berm in turn two and fell back to 12th. By lap 17 Larson got back to tenth. Lap 19 saw a yellow flag after a collision on the backstretch involving Bell and Noland. After being restarted Bell intentionally spun Noland under yellow and Noland again restarted and tapped Bell from behind. Both were then black flagged as tempers carried over into the pit area. Larson inherited eighth during the yellow period and when the green and white finally appeared he maintained the position to the checkered behind race winner Bloom, who led every lap.

After the races Larson said, “I was really impressed with Andrew Cumpton tonight as I tried everything I could to get by him and he was just too fast. I thought I almost had him going into turn three on the last lap. We touched just a little, but I backed off because I didn’t want to take us both out and take away Andrew’s chance for his first ever win. It feels really good to defend my 125 championship here at Red Bluff. I’m kind of disappointed to see the Red Bluff season end because this one has really been special for me, having ParkerStore along with me and getting the All Star Tour championship here also. I really want to thank John Strand and ParkerStore for all of their support. Now I’m going to try to get a championship for them on the All Star Tour in both the 125 and 500 divisions.”

Race: February 19, 2005
Photo Courtesy of Jack Waterman