CHICO, CA (5-6-09) - When the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series heads for the 19th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial this Saturday night at Silver Dollar Speedway, current Feather Falls Casino point leader Kyle Hirst will come into the night not only as a sentimental favorite, but an overwhelming favorite to win the event for the first time in his career.Hirst has had a strong start to the season and has already captured three main event victories, including the Bill Brownell Memorial held at Silver Dollar Speedway on April 24. "I just have a really great car owner in Gary Perkins and an awesome crew led by Rodney Tiner because they have given me a car to win night in night out," said Hirst, who also had an impressive charge from the back to sixth during the Chico 410 opener.

Last year's Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial saw Hirst win the evening's dash and lead a number of laps in the main event until contact took him out of contention just nine laps shy of the finish. "I thought we were going to have a shot at winning it last year, so it was disappointing with how it ended, but we've moved on and are really focusing on this weekend," the 21 year-old said. "The Bradway means so much to me and my family and I really hope to add my name to the winners list someday. It's the one race that always sticks out in my mind and the one I always have circled on my calendar."

The Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial has grown to be the cornerstone of the Golden State Challenge Sprint Car Series season and the Hirst family was very instrumental in organizing the first running of the event and along with Dave & Diane Durica are major reasons why the event has grown to be as big as it is today. "My mom & dad were such good friends of David and put so much into this race for so many years that I definitely would love to win it for them," commented Hirst, whose middle name is David in tribute to "Junior."

In his young career Hirst has had success at the Bradway Memorial, including seventh place finishes in 2005 & '07, as well as a fifth place finish in '04 while he was just a 16 year-old rookie in sprint cars. "The best thing about having some momentum right now is the fact that it's coming right around the Bradway and I really feel that my team and I are off to a great start this year. It's been a lot of fun so far this season, but it would be even better if we could end up in victory lane on Saturday night," Hirst said.

In addition to his three victories this season Hirst also drove the GP Development, Summit Airworks, Killorn Construction No. 6 to a fifth place finish with the Golden State Challenge Series in Antioch and made all four main events with the World of Outlaws at Chico & Tulare in March. "We've been real fast at every race so far and I'll definitely be giving it everything I have on Saturday to get the Bradway on my resume. There will be a lot of good cars there so it should be a fun and competitive night," Hirst concluded.

The Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial pays tribute to fallen race car driver Dave Bradway Jr. who lost his life in a sprint car crash at Skagit Speedway's Dirt Cup in 1987. It is the biggest event of the season for the Golden State Challenge Series and packs extra money and goodies all night long. The track has also added an extra $1,000 to the winners share once again to bring the winning take up to $4,000. In addition to that Dave and Diane Durica have once again collected lap money and each lap of the main event and B-main will pay $100 to be distributed among the top three each lap. The leader of the lap gets $50, second $30 and third $20.

Don't forget to stop by and see the Durica's to purchase your Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial T-shirt. Stickers will also be available to commemorate this years event.

The Bradway Memorial will mark the seventh race of the season for the Golden State Challenge King of California Sprint Car Series following a rain-out last weekend in Tulare. Coming into the night Los Angeles, CA's Tyler Walker holds a six point lead in the standings over Chico's Jonathan Allard and an 11 point advantage over third place Brent Kaeding from Campbell. Elk Grove's Kyle Larson and Grass Valley's Jason Statler round out the top five in the current points heading into this Saturday.

The front gate will open at 5pm on Saturday night with adult tickets being $17, juniors $11 and children $5. The Silver Dollar Speedway is located on the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, California. More info can be found at http://www.silverdollarspeedway.com and http://www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com