FINISHES THIRD IN 125/250 MAIN

Chico, CA – ParkerStore driver Kyle Larson had a bit of an off night Saturday July 9th at Cycleland Speedway as he combined a third place finish in the Intermediate 125/250cc division with a 13th in the 500c Open Intermediate after a last lap spin dropped him in the final rundown. Larson, the winner of five of the ten 125/250 races so far this season at Cycleland, lost by inches in a near three way dead heat behind winner Thomas Bruckenstein and runner-up Mason Moore.

Larson qualified his ParkerStore/Predator Motors/QRC Factory kart sixth of the 30 karts gathered in the 125/250 division and then started on the pole of the dash, leading every lap. The finished lined Larson fifth on the grid for the A-main. Front row starters Bruckenstein and Moore assumed the top two positions as the green appeared. Larson moved into third on the second lap and the top trio began to pull ahead of the rest of the pack. Although the bottom groove suited Bruckenstein, Moore and Larson ran nose to tail on the top in turn three and four, but neither could get closer than a couple of kart lengths of the leader. After the white flag appeared Larson dove under Moore down the back straight and pulled ahead entering turn three. As Larson then got inside of Bruckenstein in turn four Moore made a charge in the high groove to make it a three way race to the checkered. Bruckenstein was able to hold the lead to the very exciting finish while Moore slipped by Larson to trail by 15 hundredths of a second as the ParkerStore ride was 25 hundredths behind in third.

Larson qualified second of the 30 karts in the 500cc open intermediate division and started fifth in the six kart six lap dash. Larson used the bottom groove to move forward to a second place finish behind James Sweeney. As a result Larson started sixth in the feature and by lap seven he advanced to third. On lap ten Keith Bloom got by Larson as Sweeney took over the lead from Josh Keheley. Moore passed the ParkerStore kart on lap 17 to drop it to fifth and as the white flag appeared Larson exited turn four and allowed his kart to spin and stall. The rest of the field continued to the finish, with Sweeney winning over Keheley and Bloom, while Larson was scored 13th.

At night’s end Larson commented “It was kind of disappointing with the finishes we had tonight because during the dashes both karts felt so good. In the 125/250 division I thought when I got to third I would be able to run Thomas and Mason down but they were fast too. I gave it everything I had and it sure was an exciting finish. I think the fans really enjoyed it. In the 500 kart the track had changed a lot since the dash and we just missed the setup a little for the main. We were set up to run the top but there was nothing left up there and it was hard to get a good run off the bottom with a gear we had. That happens sometimes with dirt racing but we’ll be back here next week and try to get another win or two.”

Race: July 9, 2005
Photos courtesy of Jack Waterman
www.kylelarsonracing.com