Thursday, June 22, 2017

Sprint Cars, Late Models Headline Five Division Show At Antioch Speedway



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Sprint Cars, Late Models Headline Five Division Show 
At Antioch Speedway

Antioch, CA...Antioch Speedway is wrapping up the month of June with an exciting five division program on John M. Soares's fast three-eighth mile clay oval.  The fans are being treated to the faster divisions all on the same card.  All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Cars are there along with the DIRTcar Late Models, A Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Dwarf Cars.  This is sure to be an exciting night of racing from green to checkered.

Rookie Kyle Offill took the Winged 360 Sprint Car division by storm with two wins in his first three starts.  Then, he surprised the field by vacating the lead to complete elsewhere.  This opened the door for his three closest challengers, Marissa Polizzi, Jenna Frazier and Grants Pass, Oregon's Aaron Miller to make a move.  It wasn't a stellar night for any of the three, but Frazier broke in hot laps to end her night early.  Miller finished eighth with Polizzi behind him.  When the points were added, Polizzi found herself leading Miller by just six points, while Offill dropped 16 points back in third.  There is a question of whether Offill will be there this week with a big event scheduled elsewhere.

Two open wheel veterans used solid finishes in the most recent race to move closer to the leader.  Burt Foland Jr. notched a third place finish that night, while three time Sprint Car champion Art McCarthy won his heat race and finished fifth in the Main Event.  McCarthy is now just 29 points out of the lead.  He is making up ground from his non start at the season opener.  The unpredictability of this division makes things very interesting.  There are three winners in four races, and the last two winners, Offill and Dustin Golobic, won their races with last lap passes.  Other drivers to watch for this week include Jacob Tuttle, Emily Williams, Brent Dothage and Jason Paniagua.  Tuttle's first start at the track resulted in an impressive second place finish.

The Late Model battle so far is between the same two drivers we've seen battle for the last two championships, Jeff Decker and reigning champion Richard Papenhausen.  With one win and a third, Decker leads Papenhausen by just four points.  Papenhausen finished second to Bobby Hogge IV in the Larry Damitz Memorial.  At your typical Antioch races, these are the two drivers to beat, and the driver knocking on the door to victory is Late Model veteran Shawn DeForest.  Shawn finished a close second to Decker in the season opener and was the 2007 point runnerup.  DeForest leads the tied David Newquist and rookie Kimo Oreta by just two points, Chester Kniss by four and Joey Olschowka by six.

Racing fans in California Don't get much opportunity to watch a true Late Model race these days, and Antioch's show is the best supported thing going at the moment.  This marks the fourth straight year that Soares has featured them on the schedule, and they generally make two appearances per month.  2016 "Rookie Of The Year" Mike Hynes and Dennis Souza remain strong supporters of the class, and two time Petaluma champion Paul Guglielmoni, Terry Kuntz and Rob Norris are other drivers to watch for this week.

The A Modified division has competed four times this season, but they are coming up on a stretch of important races.  This week marks the start of three races in a row, followed by a July 1st race that is listed as $1,000 to win and the Jerry Hetrick Memorial on July 8th.  At the moment, Bobby Motts Jr., leads Mike Salazar by just two points, while Sean O'Gara is 30 points back in third.  All three are looking for their first wins of the season, and all have had Top 5 finishes this year.

Despite blowing a motor last time out, rookie Eric Berendsen is within 23 points of O'Gara for third.  At last report, Berendsen was scrambling to get a motor together.  These four drivers are all anticipated this week.  Two time winner Kellen Chadwick will be in the Pacific Northwest defending his Wild West Speedweek championship, but five time champion Scott Busby will hopefully be back to go for his 72nd career Antioch win.  Busby won the season  opener, but he had back to back bad nights that ended before the Main Event started.  One time winner Chester Kniss will be in action, and other drivers to watch for include Gregg McElhaney, Gary Herick and Sean Wilson.

If the first three Limited Late Model races are any indication, it's going to be a fierce battle for the championship.  Mark Garner, Kimo Oreta and Mike Gustafson have each won a Main Event.  Oreta reminded everybody that he is still a player in this game with an impressive victory last time out.  Garner leads Oreta by just four points, while consistent Top 3 finisher Jim Freethy is just six points back and Gustafson is 12 points out.  Gustafson is a two time division champion, while Freethy was the only driver in the past six seasons to beat Larry Damitz for the championship.  At the moment, Jim would just be happy to get another feature win.

This has been a rookie season filled with mechanical gremlins for Buddy Kniss so far, but the teen leadfoot should be back and ready to go for it again this week.  Chad Hammer had a bad night last time as he lost his drive driveline during the feature.  John Evans got a fourth place finish that night.  Lori Brown, Jeff Kendrick and Jon Haney are other competitors to watch for this week.

In another close championship battle in the Dwarf Car division, Kevin Miraglio holds a slim two point lead over Mike Corsaro, while veteran Charlie Correia is eight points back.  Miraglio had a win in the season opener, but he missed the Top 5 last time out.  Corsaro finished a strong third after winning his heat race.  Teammate Correia finished fourth.  Both drivers are still searching for their first wins of the season.  As it is, the famed #08 car, nicknamed The Unicorn, has won three of the four races.  Adam Teves won his second race two weeks ago, while his father and 2015 champion David Teves also has a win.  David is currently building a new car.

Chuck Connover has been the model of consistency.  In three starts, he has three second place finishes.  If not for skipping the other race, the long time Dwarf Car competitor would probably be leading the points now.  As it is, he's tied with rookie Chris Becker for fourth, 26 points behind third place Correia.  He's also two points ahead of rookie Devan Kammermann.  Devan had another solid night in fifth last time as he is adapiting well in his move up from Quarter-Midgets to Dwarf Cars.  Other drivers to watch for this week include David Rosa, son David Michael Rosa, David Corsaro and Brandon Anderson.

The cars will be fast and the racing will be exciting this Saturday night with these five divisions all competing.  It's the perfect way to end what has been an exciting month at the track.  For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.


Antioch Sprint Car Point Race Tightens Up 
As June Comes To An End

Antioch, CA...With four point races in the books, the All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Car point race is getting closer.  The next event is this Saturday night.  The most recent point race saw 12 competitors come to do battle for the $1,200 prize.  Reigning Petaluma champion Herman Klein sprinted into the lead at the waving of Robert Kempf's green flag.  Klein got a pretty good lead on Dustin Golobic before a late race yellow flag bunched the field.  Golobic was all over Klein when the green flag flew, and a last lap pass gained Golobic the victory.  Klein settled for second.

Burt Foland Jr. had a good night with a race long third place effort.  Heat race winners Brent Dothage and Art McCarthy finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as McCarthy made a late move around sixth place finisher Emily Williams.  John Clark drove a steady race to finish seventh.  The point battle was shaken up as incoming leader Kyle Offill was not in attendance.  This was the opportunity for eighth place finisher Aaron Miller and ninth place finisher Marissa Polizzi to move ahead.  Jenna Frazier's point hopes took a hit when she suffered hot lap mechanical problems and scratched for the evening.

When the points were added, Polizzi left the night with a six point advantage over Miller, who is coming all the way from Grants Pass, Oregon to race for the championship.  Offill slipped back to third, still just 16 points out of the lead.  Foland and McCarthy are both with striking distance of the lead, 22 and 29 points out, respectively.  Even Frazier is still in the hunt, 35 points back in sixth.

Newcomers Jason Paniagua and Jacob Tuttle finished 10th and 11th in the most recent race.  Paniagua is seventh in the standings at the moment.  This was Tuttle's second start, and it followed an impressive Antioch debut that saw him lead most of the way before finishing second.  Tuttle is the latest in a string of Outlaw Kart and 600 Micro graduates who have come to Antioch in their bid for a first career win.

With a close point battle and a host of visiting drivers who come in from week to week, the All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Car show is always exciting to watch.  For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Point Standings
All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Cars
Marissa Polizzi 166
Aaron Miller 160
Kyle Offill 150
Burt Foland Jr. 144
Art McCarthy 137
Jenna FFrazier 131
Jason Paniagua 110
JaobTuttle 82
TylerSeavey 56
Shawn Arriaga 54

Antioch Speedway
All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Car Schedule
June 24
July 29
August 5 King Of The West
August 19
August 26
September 9
September 16
September  23

Past Champions
1998-Gary Geving
2007-Art McCarthy
2010-Craig Smith
2013-Chris Magoon
2014-Chris Magoon
2015-Shawn Arriaga
2016-Billy Aton

Recent Feature Winners
June 17, 2017:  Jonathan Allard
June 10, 2017:  Dustin Golobic
May 13, 2017:  Kyle Offill
May 6, 2017:  Tyler Seavey
April 22, 2017:  Kyle Offill
April 1, 2017:  Cory Eliason
September 31, 2016:  Billy Aton
September 17, 2016:  Colby Johnson
September 10, 2016:  Matt Barber
August 27, 2016;  Billy Aton
August 20, 2016:  Riley Matson
August 13, 2016: Art McCarthy
August 6, 2016:  Seth Nunes
July 30, 2016:  Art McCarthy
July 16, 2016:  Brayden McMahan
June 25, 2016:  Kaleb Montgomery
June 18, 2016:  Bobby McMahan
June 4, 2016: Shawn Conde
May 21, 2016: Koen Shaw
April 23, 2016: Billy Aton
April 2, 2016: Art McCarthy
August 29, 2015: Art McCarthy
August 8, 2015: Shawn Arriaga
July 11, 2015: Jake Haulot
June 20, 2915: Austin Liggett
June 6, 2015: Shawn Arriaga
May 16, 2015: Jake Haulot
April 25, 2015: Alissa Geving
March 7, 2015: Art McCarthy
August 2, 2014: Zack Lynskey