Brad Sweet has as awesome 3rd Place finish in the 54th running of the World of Outlaws "Gold Cup Race of Champions"  at Silver Dollar Speedway

September 8, 2007Chico CA – Brad Sweet was in action at the 54^th running of the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway this weekend and was the Top Finishing California Driver in a tough Field of World of Outlaw drivers, who are the best in the business of winged sprint car racing. 
         Brads week started off awesome with a great preliminary night of racing on Thursday with the 2^nd quick time of the night in qualifying.  Brad then Backed that up with a 2^nd place finish in his heat race, and then another second place finish in his Dash which placed him in the outside front row for the A Main event for Thursday night.  
           After it was all said and done, Brad would finish the A Main event on his qualifying night with a 3^rd place finish, and would also end up in with 537 points for the night, placing him 3^rd over all after both preliminary nights were over.
         On Saturday night it was back to business for Brad as he and his crew chief Rod Tiner kept a close look at the track all night to make sure that they had the correct setup on the car. “Me and Rod watched the track very close and made a few last min decisions but we kind of new where the track was heading so we had everything ready to go” says Sweet.  The set up proved to be good, as Brad was able to keep the car running up front.  “During the race the track changed a lot and we moved around a lot ” Brad said, “ it started on the cushion then the rubber started getting laid in the middle then at the end we were right around the bottom”, and Brad was able to manage those tires and Finish the race with a 3^rd place finish.
        Brad has really been learning a lot in the past two years, Brad says “I think we have success cause I have learned so much racing everywhere in so many different cars plus we have great equipment and a great crew everything just works together”. 
             Brad would like to thank car owner, Gary Perkins, and Crew Chief Rod Tiner, his Dad, Circle Wheels, LRB Mfg, Pizza Guys, JF McCray Plastering, and ART Ent. everyone else who helps out and the fans!!!

Late Caution in B Main takes away transfer spot from Hirst

September 7, 2007 Chico, Ca - Night two of 54th Gold Cup Race of Champions, saw 56 cars in qualifying at Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway.  Kyle was in the second group of qualifying and on his first lap, Kyle was loose coming off of turn four.  Kyle was able to save the car, and go through the infield giving him a fresh run for Lap #2 of his qualifying attempt.  He would come in with a time of 12.273 which was good for the 28^th fast time. 

After inverting the top 16 cars, and placing the rest of the field in the back those cars, Kyle would start in the 7^th position of the 4^th heat of the night.  Kyle would make a run to get to the front, but with little passing in Heat Races tonight, Kyle would only get to the 6^th place position missing the transfer spot by one position, placing him in the B Main event.
        Starting in the 10^th position for the B Main event, Kyle would work hard to get the car up to the top 4 to make the Transfer, and after picking off 5 cars and setting his sites on the 4^th place Transfer spot, Kyle would run the high line and set up for a last lap pass coming out of turn 4 making the pass only to have a caution come out for a car spinning in turn 4, negating the pass, and setting up for a green-white-checkered finish.  With all cars going to their pits not realizing that the Checkered Flag that was flying was actually supposed to be a yellow flay, All cars had to be called back to the track for the restart.  Once again Kyle tried the high line coming out of 4 only to be a half a car length short of the 4^th place transfer Spot. 
        Kyle would like to thank Gary Perkins for fielding a car for him this weekend, as well as all his supporters and sponsors that came out tonight as we could not have any of this possible with out you!!

Brad Sweet Pulls  off 3rd Place finish in Night one of Gold Cup

September 6, 2007 Chico, Ca -Brad Sweet was in action at Silver Dollar Speedway for the 54th running of the Gold Cup Race of Champions.  Brad kick the night of well with a qualifying lap of 11.845 giving him the second fast time of the night against the World of Outlaws.  This place Brad in the Outside 2nd Row of his heat race where he quickly moved into the 2nd place position where he would take the Transfer to the A Main Event and into the Dash as well.  
     In the Dash it was Allard on the inside Front Row, and Brad was on the outside of Jonathan Allard.  Allard and Sweet both took off at the start of the Dash, with Allard leading and Brad in hot pursuit.  Brad would finish in Second place putting him on the outside front row of the main event. 
     In the Main Brad was a little slow on the short runs, but would real in the leader, only to have cautions come out every time Brad was in Passing position.  Brad would continue to remain in the second place position until Lap 26 only to be passed by one of Brad Sweets heroes, Sammy Swindell.  Brad would not let Sammy go by with out a fight and stayed on his bumper for the next 4 laps finishing the night off with a 3rd place finish.  With Brads Qualifying, Heat Race Finish, and A Main event Finish,  He would be 2nd in points and only one behind Jonathan Allard.  This will definitely give Brad Sweet and great starting position in the A-Main event for Saturday Night!!!   
    Friday Night Brad Sweets Team Mate Kyle Hirst will be running his qualifying night.

 Two in a row for Kyle Hirst  at Silver Dollar Speedway!!!

August 17, 2007 - Kyle Hirst take advantage of Front row starting position for the A Main event win to make it two in a row at Silver Dollar Speedway.  Kyle started off the night with a qualifying lap of 12.547 which was the 8th fastest lap of the night out of 31 410 sprint cars in the pits.  In the heat race, Kyle starting in the 4th position and had a great start as he would be in second place by lap 1 chasing Zach Mason.  Kyle would not be able to pass Zach, but would still come in with a 2nd place finish and the transfer spot to the A Main event.  Starting on the pole position, Kyle would take the lead and never look back as fellow competitors Greg DeCaires, Stephen Allard and Mason More would chase Kyle and not succeed as Hirst went on to take his 2nd consecutive win in the GP Development 6h.  The Team would like to thank all their Sponsors, and Fans who support them week in and week out.

GP Motorsports Has an awesome weekend in Chico !

May 12, 2007 - With two nights of racing on the cards for Brad Sweet and the GP Motorsports crew, Brad was on fire.  First night Brad went out and set down a lap of 12.219 which was good enough to put Brad in the 7th starting position.  Brad then went on to place 2nd in his heat race, and that put Brad in a great place for the Main event starting in the 4th position 2nd row outside.  On the start Brad lost a spot to Jonathan Allard, then on lap 6 Brad lost another spot to Sean Becker, and brad had had enough of that as he chased Becker up through the field then on lap 24 Brad made it past Stephen Allard for 3rd, and one more pass on lap 25 around Trevor Green Finishing in 2nd Place.
    Night 2 with the Golden State Challenge, it was Time for the Bradway.  With 39 cars on hand, Brad Qualified with a lap of 12 598, good enough for the 5th position in qualifying.  Brad then went on to start 5th in the heat race #1 where he lost one position on the start, but quickly got the spot back then by lap 3 was up to 4th, where he was racing Willie Croft who he passed on lap 5.  Then on laps 9 and 10 Brad made his final passes for the heat race Victory.  Brad went on to finish 4th in the Dash.  Brad then started 3rd in the Main event, where he quickly jumped into 2nd place chasing Brent Kaeding for the rest of the race.  With a Top 5 in qualifying, and two Brides Made finishes, it was a successful weekend of racing for the Gary Perking owned GP Development Racing Team.      Next up for the team is the Tulare Thunderbowl on May 19th. 

Sweet  Brings Home 2nd Place Finish @  Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare.
 

April 28, 2007 - Brad Sweet and the GP Motorsports were in action at Tulare's Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday night, and had a pretty successful Outing.  After a night at Silver Dollar that was plagued by some Mechanical issues, the team was able to find the problem and really get focused for the Pombo / Sargent Classic.  Brad qualified in the 5th position with a time of 13.765.  That placed Brad in the 5th starting position for his heat race where he was able to make it into the 4th Transfer Position and also put Brad in the Dash. (The Dash sets up the front 4 rows of the A Main event and it consist of the top 8 in Qualifying that make it to the main from their heat race.)  Brad finished in second place putting him on the Front Row Outside for the start of the Feature.  Brad was able to keep the car out of trouble on a track that was one grooved and on the bottom in turns 3 and 4 and much nicer in 1 and 2.  In the end Brad made a charge at Brent Kaeding but was unable make the pass and finished 2nd.  Another Great night of racing for the Team, and they are looking to take their momentum with them into next weekends race at at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, CA.  Come look for us in the Winners Circle.    

Points Race Number Three Serves as GP Development Night at the Races
By Troy Hennig

April 6, 2007 - The 2007 Feather Falls Casino / Hoosier Race Tire / Coors point championship season continues this Friday night at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico.  Four divisions will highlight the night of racing.  The 410-winged sprint cars, dirt modifieds, pure stocks and wingless spec sprints all will compete on the same night for the first time in 2007.  The night will feature a $2,000 payday for the winged sprint car main event winner.  GP Development, of Sacramento, is owned by Gary Perkins and is the night’s individual sponsor of the sprint car main event. 

After years of sponsoring all forms of racecars, this year Perkins formed his own sprint car team and hired Brad Sweet to drive.  The team has a website and it is located at www.garyperkinsracing.com/.  Sweet and Perkins currently sits only a few points out of the championship lead as they head into this weekend’s race.  Sweet wants nothing more than to give his car owner the win on their night of sponsorship.  “It would mean a lot to this team to be able and get GP Development / LRB Manufacturing / Circle Race Wheels #6 into victory lane, especially on the night we are sponsoring,” said Sweet.  On opening night Sweet finished second to Jonathan Allard and last Friday night they ran seventh.  “Silver Dollar Speedway has always been Gary’s favorite place to go and so far we have ran real good up there,” said Sweet.  The team is also following the Golden State Series King of California tour before heading to the Midwest sometime in early June.  They plan on spending a few months on the road before heading home and racing at the Gold Cup Race of Champions in September.    

          Front grandstand gate will open at 6 pm.  Sprint car qualifying is slated to start at 7 pm with racing to follow.  Adult general grandstand admission is $10.00.  Juniors and senior’s are $8.00 while children are $4.00.  Pit gate will open at 4 pm.   

Sprint car driver Brett Miller scored his second career main event victory of his career at Silver Dollar Speedway last Friday night.  With the win he unofficially moved into a tie for third in the point standings.  Leading the point battle is the defending champion Andy Forsberg of Auburn.  Forsberg and second place driver Jason Statler of San Jose are the only two drivers to finish in the top five on both nights of competition this year.  Statler is only three points behind Forsberg for the lead.  Miller is currently tied with Robbie Whitchurch of Chico.  Whitchurch is in his second season of driving sprint cars at Chico and right now is the leading candidate for most improved driver of the early season events.  Whitchurch drives for Lowell Moural Sr., owner and operator of Cycleland Speedway just South of Chico.  Cycleland is a feeder system for many of the sprint car drivers at Silver Dollar Speedway.  Whitchurch is also one of those drivers who enjoyed success driving outlaw karts.

The dirt modifieds will return to the speedway after taking a week off.  Durham’s Mike Sohnrey leads the division into this Friday night’s race.  Sohnrey is in search of his first ever championship in the modified division.  Right on his tail and only one point behind is Chico’s Joe Flower.  Chico’s Richard Papenhausen and Scott Lenz are tied for the third spot.  Chico’s Mark Abouzeid rounds out the top five.  Look for Abouzeid to get a win soon as he continues to get acquainted with the modified division after sporadically racing the past few years. 

Grass Valley’s Billy Wallace won the most recent main event in the wingless spec sprint division.  Wallace is known as a winged driver for most of his career, however, this year he is concentrating on the wingless series this year.  Wallace has always been in my opinion one of the most under appreciated and over-looked drivers in Northern California racing.  Always a front-runner, Wallace has earned championship at Placerville driving a winged sprint car.  Billy is a second-generation driver who learned the ropes from his father Larry.  

Marysville’s Jeremy Blackshere is back at Silver Dollar and winning races.  Blackshere led and dominated the pure stock main event.  He also drove in the Dwarf Car division last Friday.  Blackshere finished second in the pure stock division last year and won a handful of main events.  He made his 2007 debut at Chico a success and looks to continue his winning ways.  Heather Bartlett of Orland seemed to be the crowd favorite in this division.  She received most of the applause during introductions and racing.  Hopefully she will continue racing at Silver Dollar Speedway.  It’s hard to miss her hot pink colorful #99. 

         For more information and updated points check out www.johnpadjenmotorsports.com

Sweet  Brings Home 2nd Place Finish @ Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday  Night and  Sets Fast Time on Saturday Night @ Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare.
 

Silver Dollar Speedway, March 30, 2007 -Brad Sweet and Crew Chief Rod Tiner took the GP Development, LRB Manufacturing, JF McCray Plastering, Circle Wheels, Pizza Guys, ART Sprint Car to Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday night and had a really good night. The Night started of pretty well as Brad clicked off the 6th fast time of the night with a time of 12.868.  That put Brad in the 5th starting position for the Heat race which he was able to maintain, and get a transfer into the Main event, starting in the 5th position.  Rod Tiner went to work getting the car fine tuned and ready to move to the front, which is exactly where Brad had his eyes set.  Brad was on the move all the way to the second position and made a pass on Jonathan Allard for the lead only to have it called back for a Red flag brought out by Sean Becker.  Brad would have to settle for Second Place.
Thunderbowl Raceway March 31, 2007 - Sweet and Tiner took their momentum with them to Tulare to compete with the Golden State Challenge series and have a nother good night of racing.  It all started off by setting fast time @ 13.429 seconds.  Brad then went on to capture 2nd place in the Dash 2nd in his heat race, then he went on to finished 7th in the main event.  Over all it was a great weekend for the Team.  Brad is looking forward to taking all this consistency on the Road with them to Antioch Speedway on April 7th to compete with the Golden State Challenge.

Brad Sweet Gets 3rd Top 5 in Qualifying!!
 

Placerville Speedway March 24th 2007 -Brad Sweet and his GP Development, LRB Manufacturing, JF McCray Plastering, Circle Wheels, Pizza Guys, ART Sprint Car was in action at Placerville Speedway this weekend for the Civil War season opener race for 2007.  Brad had some highs and lows this weekend, the highs being another top 5 qualifying spot, making it the third time he has done that so far this year.  The down side of the weekend was that Brad was in the back of his heat-race because he qualified so well and he was got into a little trouble trying to ride the top of the cushion in turns 3 and 4 and ended up going for a ride, taking his car up and over.  The good news was that Brad was OK after the Flip, and the top wing on the car was also OK.  The #6 GP Development racing team the went to work and was able get the car back out for the B Main where he finished 2nd, and then he finished 8th in the main event.  Over all it was not too bad of a night.  Next race for Brad and Rod Tiner will be Friday March 30th at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico and then  Saturday March 31st at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare CA with the Golden State Challenge.

Brad Sweet Enjoys a Sweet Weekend of racing!!
By: Troy Hennig, Gary Perkins Motorsports PR Director

Loomis, CA-March 19, 2007 -Grass Valley, California driver Brad Sweet enjoyed one of his best racing weekends in recent memory. The 21-year-old sprint car driver won his first career Golden State King of California Series main event victory on Friday night at Kings Speedway in Hanford, CA. Sweet, driving the GP Development / LRB Manufacturing / Circle Race Wheels / A.R.T. Enterprises #6 passed reigning King of California champion Jonathan Allard on a late race restart to get the win. “It's exciting to get my first Golden State win but I think I'm more proud of how our team responded after a tough start in Chico the weekend before,” said Sweet. “Gary Perkins has put a lot into his team and I'm so happy we got out first win together in just a short amount of time.”
    Sweet backed up his win on Friday by finishing fifth on Saturday night after starting in the 13^th spot. “This weekend we seemed to just click at Kings Speedway,” said Sweet. “We also have brought on board Rod Tiner the last two weekends and the car has been just so good for me to drive.”
    Friday night Sweet qualified 5^th out of 30 drivers. He finished second in his heat race and also second in the dash. Saturday night Sweet timed in at 14^th quick. He won heat race two but did not make it into the dash. On Saturday night he passed eight cars to record the top five finish.
    The team is getting ready for Placerville Speedway this weekend, round number five for the Golden State Series. Sweet has two wins at this track, both in the 360 division. “I'd have to say Placerville is my favorite track in California and I am looking forward to putting on a good show for all the fans this weekend.”

Sweet Sets 2nd Fast Time on night 2 of Mini Gold Cup!!

    Night 2 of the Mini Gold Cup started off great for the #6 GP Development machine of Brad Sweet.  Brad went out in Hot Laps getting a feel for the new motor, and knew that he was going to be able to put down a screaming fast lap.  A fast lap indeed which was good enough for 2nd fast time @ 11.923.  This set Brad in 6th starting spot of the 2nd heat race.  This race did not go so well as Brad was involved in a flip bringing out a Red Flag.  The team scrambled hard to get the car back together, and made it into the C main where Brad was able to get the win and transfer to the B main event.  As Brad started in the B Main he was in the second position and he immediately took the lead for the first 11 laps where he had to pull off with on lap to go as the U Joint (which was damaged in the flip of the heat race) finally let go stranding Brad on the infield of turn one.

Engine Woes for Night One of the Mini Gold Cup for Brad Sweet!

    March 9th 2007 Chico CA. - Night one of the Mini Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway, started out promising for Brad Sweet and the #6 GP Development race team.  Brad was the 3rd car out in qualifying and came in with the 20th quick time of the night which put him on the front row of the heat race.  At the drop of the Green Flag, Brad was out front with a nice lead, then on lap 5 the motor let go ending the night for the team.  The team is hard at work switching out motors and will be back for redemption on Day #2 of the mini Gold Cup.  Be sure to visit the team in the pits after the races on Saturday night. 

Young Drivers Turn Heads During DIRTcar Nationals

Barberville, FL-Feb. 11, 2007--By: Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director

Several young drivers turned many heads in the pit area and grandstands over the last six nights of sprint car racing during the 36th Annual DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Mopar Speedshop at Volusia Speedway Park. Two of these drivers will do battle all season long for the World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award.

Brad Sweet wrapped up the week as the Florida DIRTcar Nationals Rookie of the Year for the sprint car portion. He had one Top-10 finish with the O'Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions. He also was the second fastest in time trials for the World of Outlaws event on February 9, where he finished 12th in the 25-lap A-Feature. He was in the Top-15 at the conclusion of a number of events.

"We learned a lot racing with these guys," said Sweet. "It's always good to come out and do well when you race against the best, and that is what we are racing with now. I've learned that you have to have the car just right and you have to run the car as hard as you can every lap if you want to compete. I'm learning more every time I get onto the race track."

The native of Grass Valley, California is used to running against top notch competition in the Golden State. He also frequents the tracks of the Midwest, where he takes the wing off the car and shows his versatility as a driver.

"The last thing you want to do when you get here is beat youself before you get onto the track," said Sweet, when asked if he ever felt intimidated in a race car. "I've always believed in myself that I can run against anybody and I hope I have proved that. I do the best I can and we seem to do well."