Lakeport, CA - Kyle Larson returned to action in his ParkerStore Outlaw Sprint Kart Saturday at Lakeport Indoor Speedway and came away with the six foot Perpetual Trophy in the 125cc division in the Annual Hillside Honda event. Larson also ran in the 500cc Open Intermediate division but experienced motor problems in the feature race and was an early retiree.

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.

After the heats were completed in the 125cc division Larson had the most points due to winning both events. The trophy dash saw the top four in points inverted with Larson starting last. His third place finish in the dash translated into the third starting spot in the A-Main.

In the main dash winner and pole sitter Jonny Lentz got the jump out of turn four over Mason Moore but half spun in turn two as Moore took over. Larson moved his QRC Factory Banke powered kart into second and began to reel in Moore in his 250cc four-stroke. By lap five the Parker pilot was attempting high side passes in each turn. On lap seven the pass was made in turn two when Moore tapped his brake to avoid two lappers who briefly tangled. As the race continued Larson began to show his dominance and easily pulled away from the field. The 12 year old Larson went on to his third consecutive win at Lakeport this season and won his first Perpetual Trophy race there. Larson now has in his possession all three of the perpetual trophies in the 125cc division which also includes Red Bluff and Cycleland Speedway.

The 500cc open intermediate division saw Larson eighth in points after the heat races and that is where he started in the A-Main. On lap two Larson’s kart lost power and brought out the yellow flag. After restarting at the rear Larson found himself with nowhere to go when Alex Cartwright spun in turn three of lap three to bring out another yellow. When the race restarted Larson again had a kart get out of shape in front of him in turn four and when he tapped the brake his engine lost power again. At that point Larson was black flagged from the race due to Lakeport’s three stop rule and was credited with a 13th place finish.

After the race Larson commented “I’m a little worried about the 500 motor. It just didn’t want to stay running if I had to get on the brake. This was a tune up today for the opening All Star Tour race that is here next week and it will be my first time running with the open’s for the Tour championship. I want to get off to a good start. My 125 was fast like always and I’m hoping to come out and defend my Tour championship with that kart also. Somebody told me they were clocking me doing 8.4 second laps in the main while the fastest opens were turning 8.9. I sure am glad to bring home the six foot trophy because this was the only one that I had never won and now I have all three of the six foot trophies. That feels pretty cool to me.”

Race: March 19, 2005
Photo Courtesy of Jack Waterman