Gould brings broom to Kennedale for Spring Kick Off sweep

William Gould got the best of familiar foes, winning Friday and Saturday Friesen Performance IMCA Modified features during Kennedale Speedway Park’s Spring Kick Off Weekend. The checkers were the 180th and 181st of his career in the division. (Photo by Mike Frieri)

KENNEDALE, Texas (Feb. 24-25, 2023) – William Gould brought the broom to Kennedale Speedway Park’s season-opening Spring Kick Off. 

The defending GRT Race Cars South Central Region, Texas State and track champion started the weekend with Friday’s $1,000 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified checkers. Looking to complete the sweep on Saturday, he paced the field back to green following a late caution with familiar foes Jake Upchurch and Jacob Pirkle lined up right behind.

“I had led every lap from the pole but that caution turned the race into a dash for cash, with two of the same fast guys I raced here with last season,” Gould said. “It was good to be able to hold on for the win. The track is always good, there’s always at least two lanes, and it was fast.”

That win was also good for $1,000 and was Gould’s career 181st, tying him for 12th all-time in the division with Cory Sample. 

He ran his own Kerry Fryar Motorsports Gould Chassis for the first this season at KSP, after shaking down a car he’d built for a customer at Abilene Speedway’s Ice Breaker. 

“It’s a little different when you don’t have to worry as much about tearing something up,” said Gould, runner-up in the Saturday show at Abilene and already been eligible to qualify for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “The car was good and the track was good. We had a couple pretty nice rides.”

Pretty nice IMCA Sunoco Stock Car rides by Brandon McElroy and Jason Gore paid $750 and $1,000, respectively, and made both winning drivers eligible to qualify for the B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational. 

McElroy won his first feature start of the season on Friday after drawing 87 and topping his heat race from the third row while “trying some stuff out” for the upcoming Sunoco Race Fuels Lone Star Tour. 

Gore, also tour-bound, started outside the front row and fell back a spot before rallying to score the Saturday win in just his second outing in a 2021 Sniper ride. 

Austin Gooding’s $600 Friday night Smiley’s Racing Products IMCA Southern SportMod win was his career second and first-ever at KSP. 

“I’ve been chasing this for a long time,” said Gooding, guesstimating he’d raced 10 years in a Modified or SportMod at Kennedale. “There was such a range of emotions afterwards. I was happy, I was excited and I was relieved.”

“I knew I had to stay patient. I knew I didn’t have the fastest car out there,” added Gooding, who had started fourth. “We have always brought our best to the track. I’ve got a heck of a hot rod (a 2021 Western Flyer) and good help.”

Runner-up in the Friday Stock Car feature, Cody Smith started first and finished first in Saturday’s $1,000 to win Southern SportMod main. 

Mach-1 Sport Compact winners were Keagan Haralson and Steven Bevills.