HANFORD, Calif. — Carson Macedo won both the sprint car and midget portions of the inaugural Tom Tarlton Classic at Keller Auto Speedway on Friday night.
Macedo drove both divisions for Tarlton Motorsports in the race honoring his grandfather, a longtime California racing car owner. Combined, the wins were worth more than $23,000 for the World of Outlaws regular.
Sprint car sensation Kyle Larson returned to his native California to bring home Paul Silva’s No. 57 in the runner-up spot, followed by another returning Californian in Brad Sweet.
Dominic Scelzi and Daryn Pittman completed the top five.
Macedo started on the pole of the Main by virtue of winning the dash and quickly moved out front. His effort was immediately negated when Craig Stidham brought out a caution after stopping in the first turn with a shredded left-rear tire.
Chase Majdic, who started in the second row, lost a bunch of spots when he went high going around the first turn. Aaron Reutzel in the Roth Motorsports No. 83 also had difficulty in the first run when he went over the banking and fell back to the 14th spot after the fast qualifier had started fifth.
Tough luck also for Ryan Robinson who was scheduled to start sixth. The winner of the first heat race pulled off during the dash, ending his night.
The race would go three laps before the next caution period. Majdic spun coming out of the second turn. On the restart, it would be Brad Sweet who would pass Scelzi for the second spot. While they were battling, Macedo was able to pull away to slowly build a noticeable lead. Scelzi would soon lose another spot when Larson passed him.
By the eighth lap, the high-flying Macedo would catch the rear of the field and put Kalib Henry a lap down. Henry pulled off the track and into the work area during the warmup period and was penalized to the rear of the field.
Colby Copeland’s mount began to smoke and he spun around attempting to get off the track using the turn-three pit entrance. Macedo lost his comfortable lead over Sweet, Larson, Scelzi, Justin Sanders and Justyn Cox.
On the restart, it would be Sweet who would suffer by a failed pass for the lead, as he also had a big bobble in the first turn. This allowed Larson to move into the second spot as the race approached the halfway mark. Macedo’s black No. 21 would be leading Larson’s white No. 57 a full straightaway. J J Ringo’s race would end on lap 19 when he pulled off and into the infield.
With the leader now dealing with slower traffic, Larson was able to close in and would also benefit from Majdic’s second spin of the race, causing another caution. The lap-20 caution ended Rico Abreu’s race as he pulled off the track and entered the pits.
After the restart, the only position change resulted in Daryn Pittman moving into the 6th spot. The last 10 laps boiled down to a duel between Macedo and Larson who were both comfortably ahead of Sweet. As Macedo once again caught the lapped cars, the two wide jam up allowed Larson one last chance at the lead with just two laps remaining.
A determined Macedo would take the popular win in front of his home track fans.
The Finish:
Carson Macedo, Kyle Larson, Brad Sweet, Daryn Pittman, D.J. Netto, Justin Sanders, Justyn Cox, Shane Golobic, Bud Kaeding, Mitchell Faccinto, Aaron Reutzel, Rico Abreu, Chase Majdic, Kyle Hirst, Chase Johnson, J.J. Ringo, Colby Copeland, Kalib Henry, Sean Becker, Craig Stidham