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September 9th PitStopUSA.com Winged 360 Sprint Main Event Can Be Viewed HERE
September 9th PitStopUSA.com Wingless Spec Sprint main Event Can Be Viewed HERE
September 9th General Hydroponics Dwarf Car Main Event at Petaluma Speedway Can Be Viewed HERE
September 9th Jake's Performance Hobbies Mini Stocks Main Event At Petaluma Speedway Can Be Viewed HERE
Bakersfield Speedway Segment On Bako Motorsports Power Hour Can Be Viewed HERE
The DCRR Racing Radio Show
Sprint Cars Headline Antioch Speedway Show
Antioch, CA...On the heels of last week's John Soares Sr. Memorial Top Dog Race, Antioch Speedway is coming back with another exciting All Star Series program. Sprint Cars will be a featured class with both the Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Wingless Spec Sprints in action. Limited Late Models, B Modifieds and Hobby Stocks complete the card. The championship battles in the Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Hobby Stocks are really heating up.
This week is the season finale for the Winged 360 Sprint Cars. Art McCarthy has been playing catch up since mechanical problems forced him to scratch from the season opener. However, the 2007 champion is on fire lately with three wins and a second in the last four races. Marissa Polizzi is clinging to a nine point lead after she suffered a DNF with motor problems last week. It was also a bad night for Burt Foland Jr., who was eliminated in a lap 14 crash. Despite four second place finishes, it looks like Foland may end up settling for third in the standings. Polizzi will need to come up with a big night to hold on to that point lead.
After a late start to his season, "Rookie Of The Year" hopeful Jacob Tuttle has moved all the way up to fourth in the standings. Like Foland, he has finished as high as second and could be a threat to win this week. Other drivers to watch for this week include Dan Gonderman, Tim Burcher, Jason Paniagua and David Dias.
The Wingless Spec Sprint battle was set to conclude this week, but management added a race on September 30th after the Fall Brawl was moved to October 7th. Three time winner Bryan Grier holds a 12 point lead over Rick Panfili going into the night. 2014 Watsonville champion Grier hasn't missed a Top 3 finish in his last six starts. The extra race may give past champion Bob Newberry a chance to make a move. Newberry is still 38 points behind Grier and 26 points behind Panfili. Newberry has four wins this season.
Newberry is also in a close battle for third in points as Shannon Newton is four points behind him, while early season point leader Alan Miranda is five points back. Miranda has a pair of seconds this season and Newton has two thirds, but both drivers are looking to get their first wins. Other drivers to watch for this week include Brandon Burd, Roy Fisher, James East and rookie Abigail Gonderman.
Kimo Oreta has been practically unstoppable this season behind the wheel of the Sun Drop Racing #15 car. With four wins and five seconds in his ten starts, Oreta has a 32 point lead over two time winner Jim Freethy. Though the Limited Late Models also have an added race on their schedule for September 30th, Oreta will have to have some bad luck to lose the lead. Freethy has a battle on his hands with one time winner Mark Garner four points behind him. A second place season would be Garner's best effort in this class, while Freethy is the 2013 champion. Also in the second place battle is two time winner and two time division champion Mike Gustafson. Gustafson is ten points behind Freethy.
The steady John Evans has a pretty good hold on fifth in the standings. Lori Brown is coming off of an impressive second place finish last time, and the past division champion could be a threat to win this week. Buddy Kniss and Chad Hammer are other drivers to watch for this week.
With 13 Top 3 finishes and four wins in his 14 starts, K.C. Keller has a commanding 64 point lead in the B Modified point race. Mark Garner has had a strong second half to his season after a slow start. With three wins, Garner is 44 points ahead of Chuck Golden in the race for second. Golden has finished second once in the Main Event, but he's still looking for his first win. Reigning champion Trevor Clymens has five wins. He skipped a couple of races, but he has a good hold on fourth in the standings. Nick Caughman Jr. started late in the season, but the past Petaluma Speedway A Modified champion has a pair of second place finishes as he searches for his first win. Other drivers to watch for this week include Kenny Neu, Guy Ahlwardt, fifth ranked Kevin Brown and two time winner Todd Gomez.
The closest championship battle at the track is in the Hobby Stock division. Cameron Swank is getting closer to the point lead after winning his heat race and his second Main Event last week. Four time winner Chris Sorensen is clinging to a four point lead over Swank. With his third second place finish of the season last week, two time winner Brent Curran is only seven points behind Sorensen. After having motor problems in the previous race, Chris Long missed last week and fell out of the grueling championship battle.
Rookie Chris Bennett has a battle on his hands to hold onto fourth in points. He leads Long by 18 points and Gene Haney by 22. While Long has three wins and Haney has two, Bennett is searching for his first feature win. Two time champion Melissa Myers has two Main Event wins as well as two seconds and two thirds. She'll be a threat to win again this week, and other drivers to watch for include Ken Rhoades, Billy Garner, Jordan Swank, Frank Furtado, newcomer Haley Gomez and two time winner Michael Cooper.
Saturday will offer a nice combo of open wheel and Stock Car racing for the fans to enjoy. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.
Merced Speedway Remembers Matt Van Hoecke
In Season Finale
Merced, CA...The 2017 racing season has come to an end at Merced Speedway, but there's still one very important race to go. It's the Matt Van Hoecke Memorial Matt & Glass Fight Against Cancer Fundraiser. Matt lost his battle with Cancer in 2014, and the track began running a special end of the season race in his honor.
For years, he ran Matt & Glass in Merced, which created race car bodies for several racers and also sold parts and fuel at the race track. Matt also sponsored races at the track, and the drivers proudly ran his decal on their cars. When he died, the community was in mourning, and it was Race Director Doug Williams who added the big event to the end of the season. It's not only the final point race of the season. The event raises money to fight Cancer. A portion of the ticket sales will go towards fighting Cancer. The three division show will include IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds as well as a double point race for Hobby Stocks.
The Hobby Stock championship is the only one up for grabs. Kodie Dean leads Garrett Corn by just six points. Dean has won three Main Events, while Corn has four wins. Both drivers have two seconds and two thirds. Earlier this year, Dean was disqualified from a win in post race tech, which made the battle close. The championship could go either way. If both drivers stumble, Robbie Loquaci is waiting in the wings to make his move. The past Chowchilla Mini Stock champion is 22 points out of the lead. Robbie hasn't won yet this year, but he has one second and two thirds. To illustrate that anything can happen in this battle, both Corn and Dean did not finish the most recent Main Event.
Loquaci has his hands full trying to hold onto for third. Kristie Shearer is just seven points behind him, while Austin Van Hoff trails by 15. Van Hoff is coming off of back to back fourth place finishes. All three drivers are Main Event winners in the past, but they are stil looking for their first win this year. Two Top 10 drivers with wins this season are reigning champion Michael Shearer and 2015 champion Kevin Joaquin. One of Bruce "Bubba" Nelson's two wins this season came in Shearer's car. Donnie Shearer is giving one of Merced's Top Street Stock drivers of the 1980's, Dell Humbert, a chance to drive his car this week.
A good group of racers will be on hand to wrap up the season, and Top 10 competitors Shannon Nelson, James Stockton and rookie Tony Peffer should be there battling for the win. Peffer has a win at Stockton, but the Mini Stock graduate would love to get one at Merced. John Hensley, Darren Miguel and Dexter Long are others to watch for this week.
Much like last season, Randy Brown was the model of consistency in the IMCA Modified division. In point races this season, Brown had three wins, three seconds and two thirds. His worst finish was a fifth. With those kind of numbers, Brown has successfully defended his division championship and left the battle for second. Bruce Nelson moved into second following his fourth place finish last week, and he leads 2012 champion Bill Egleston by eight points. Mike Villanueva had second, but he slipped back to fourth after last week, 12 points out of second. All three of these drivers are searching for their first win.
Fourth generation racer Ryan Porter has five Top 5 finishes, including his win on Legend's Night. Ryan would love to add another win to his totals, and he may need that to hold off second generation racer Jarod Fast in the battle for fifth. Porter is clinging to a two point advantage. Four time champion Ramie Stone won his heat race last week and ran second in the feature for several laps before falling out. He has moved into tenth in points despite some terrible luck this season. He'd love to get his first win of the season. Other drivers to watch for include Troy Stone, Ricky Thatcher, Derrell Hughes II, Tim Cecil and Derek Nance.
Like Brown, Fred Ryland has been the model of consistency with 11 Top 3 finishes in 14 starts, including two feature wins. His most recent victory came in the John Fore Jr. Memorial Race. After finishing third last week, Ryland clinched the IMCA Sport Modified championship. With Rick Diaz attending a family function, Jeremy Hoff used his first Main Event win of the season to take a four point lead over two time champion Diaz in the battle for second. Diaz leads the division with seven Main Event victories and immediately jumps out as the driver to beat this week if he's there.
The competitive division has had ten different drivers earn second place finishes this year. Jack Aguiar was the latest as he held off Ryland and Chris Falkenberg to get that finish and move into the Top 10 in the standings. Teen leadfoots Tanner Thomas and Cody Parker have also earned second place finishes, and Tanner led several laps last week before falling back a few positions. Tanner trails older brother Chase Thomas by 12 points in the battle for fourth, but it looks like both brothers may have Top 5 point seasons this year.
Merced Speedway may have the most competitive Sport Modified division in the state, and there are some good drivers who hope to win the season finale. Some of the drivers to watch for this week include Top 10 ranked Chuck Weir, Tim Elias, Patti Ryland, Chris Falkenberg, Mark Odgers and Josh Hensley. Weir is the top rookie, and he also won a Main Event earlier this season. The season finale is expected to draw another big turnout of cars.
Not only will the Matt & Glass Fight Against Cancer Fundraiser offer a great night of racing, but it's an opportunity to help raise money for a good cause. For further information, go to www.racemerced.com.
Cox, Henry Win Nor Cal Posse Wingless Sprint Races
at Placerville Speedway
Placerville, CA...September 21...Justyn Cox won the 25 lap Wingless 360 Sprint Car Main Event Thursday night at Placerville Speedway. The all Wingless Sprint Car race kicked off the three night Nor Cal Posse event. Cox took the lead from Austin Liggett late in the race and went on to score the $2,000 victory.
ADCO Driveline sponsored a $100 bonus to the fast qualifier, and Liggett's 11.797 lap beat the 11.847 of Cory Eliason for fast time. Cox won the first eight lap heat race ahead of Liggett, and James Sweeney won the second heat ahead of Tanner Carrick. Jimmy Truilli won the third heat race ahead of Billy Butler. The six lap Trophy Dash set the first three rows of the Main Event, and Cox grabbed the pole with his win ahead of Liggett.
Cox fell back a few spots at the start of the Main Event as Liggett led Michael Kofoid and Eliason. Sweeney flipped for a lap five red flag. He was uninjured, and he actually made repairs and rejoined the race. Liggett continued to lead Kofoid on the restart as Cox moved into third. Butler brought out a lap seven yellow flag, and Eliason took second from Kofoid on the restart. Cody Fendley brought out a lap 11 caution flag. Cox began battling Kofoid for second on the restart as Liggett continued to lead the way. Cox took over second on lap 14 before a yellow flew when Eliason stalled with a flat tire. Cox jumped the start, causing another yellow flag. A lap 19 yellow flag for Sweeney and Carrick provided Cox with his opportunity. Cox took the lead from Liggett on the restart and led the final five laps for the win. Liggett settled for second ahead of Kofoid, Geoff Ensign, Chase Majdic, Jimmy Trulli, Stephan Ingraham, Eliason, Shane Hopkins and Ryan Timmons.
Kalib Henry won the 25 lap C&H Veteran's Services Hunt Wingless Spec Sprint Main Event. The win paid Henry $1,200 and one of the gold coins sponsored by Intents Racing to the Top 3 finishers. Henry set the fast time of 12.140 to earn the $100 prize offered by ADCO Driveline. Casey McClain was second quick with a lap of 12.252. The first eight lap heat race saw three time series champion Terry Schank Jr. make a lap seven pass on Marcus Smith for the win as Smith settled for second. Incoming point leader Austin Liggett won the second heat ahead of Barry Pries Jr. When Schank spun on lap five and collected Pries, Liggett earned the six lap Trophy Dash win ahead of Henry. Schank's car suffered too much damage, ending his night early.
American Tool & Mfg. was offering $1,000 bonus if a driver could win the dash, heat and feature, and Liggett had a pole position start for the 25 lap race. However, Henry raced into the lead over Liggett at the start. Pries brought out the only yellow flag on lap two. Henry continued to lead Liggett and Smith on the restart. Henry set a good pace up front and caught slower traffic by lap 15. However, the slower cars didn't slow Henry down as he made all the right moves in traffic to score the win. Liggett has a huge point lead following his second place finish and the absence of Klint Simpson. Two time Antioch Speedway point runnerup Smith had his best Hunt Series finish in third. Paul Vandenberg finished fourth ahead of Shannon Newton, Sparky Howard, Scott Hall, Angelique Bell, Brett Youngman and Trey Walters.
Pit Stops
The All Star Series Antioch Speedway schedule has three races left. With several racers talking about going to the Pat Pettit Memorial Shoot Out at Watsonville on September 29th and 30th, Antioch management moved the Fall Brawl from that week to October 7th. This gives the race a better chance of succeeding as some of the drivers with Late Models and A Modifieds can run the Pat Pettit Memorial IMCA Modified race and then run the DIRTcar Late Model race at Antioch that will pay $1,500 to win. B Modified drivers can now race both weekends. Antioch will pay $1,000 to win on October 7th. The Hobby Stocks also run the Fall Brawl for $850 to win.
Antioch did not decide to go dark on the 30th. Instead, Late Models and B Modifieds were replaced by a regular Wingless Spec Sprint and Limited Late Model point race. Hobby Stocks with remain and Dwarf Cars are also part of the show. This means that the Limited Late Model and Wingless Spec Sprints have two races remaining instead of one. How that might effect those point races remains to be seen.
There are some positives to take away from recent weeks at Antioch Speedway. Some of the car counts have been up slightly. There have been improvements made to the facility as well. Management announced that the Awards Banquet will take place on November 18th, and further information can be found on the track's website at www.antiochspeedway.com. Furthermore, Promoter John M. Soares and Oval Motorsports will return for a 21st season, giving Soares the longest run of any promoter in the track's history. What comes in 2019 will be the subject of wide speculation as the contract will go up for bid once again, but the important thing is that racing continues.
The A Modified season is over, and we know that Bobby Motts Jr. is the track champion. Motts entered the season with that goal in mind as he dedicated his effort to Steven "The Hammer" Cunningham. Motts has won over 20 Street Stock Main Events in his career as a past champion in that division. In 2015, Motts gave it a good effort before finishing second to Scott Busby. This year, Motts had seven Top 5 finishes, including four seconds and a win. He had already clinched the division championship going into the last race. Second generation racer Sean O'Gara also had his best season in second. O'Gara had a second and a third as his best finishes. Third went to "Rookie Of The Year" Eric Berendsen, who had six Top 5 finishes. There were six different winners in the 12 races. Kellen Chadwick had four wins, Nick DeCarlo had three, Scott Busby had two and Motts, Chester Kniss and Bobby Hogge IV each had one.
The Wingless Spec Sprints are nearing the end of their 19th season, and it looks like season #20 at Antioch Speedway will happen. Chances are good that a first time Antioch champion will be crowned this year as Bryan Grier leads Rick Panfili by 12 points. With an extra race on the 30th, Bob Newberry's chances at a second championship have improved slightly, though it would take serious bad luck for Panfili and Grier for that to happen. Newberry's four feature wins tops the list this year. Grier has three wins and is the 2014 Watsonville champion. Panfili is still looking for his first career win and has finished as high as second in his career. His highest point ranking is third, which means he's in a good position to wrap up his best season ever.
Speaking of first time champions, Ryon Siverling just won the PitStopUSA.com Wingless Spec Sprint championship at Petaluma Speedway with a sixth place finish at the last race. Ryon is the grandson of longtime NCMA supporter Burt Siverling. When Klint Simpson skipped this race and took a ride in a Winged Sprint Car that night, winning that race, it opened the door for Siverling or past champion Sparky Howard to win the championship. Howard finished second in the Main Event that night to finish one point behind Siverling.
The Adobe Cup is on the schedule next for the PitStopUSA.com Wingless Spec Sprints and Winged 360 Sprint Cars. The Winged class is racing for $5,200 to win, and the Spec Sprints will also race for an increased purse. The Adobe Cup also has the biggest Lumberjack's Restaurant Super Stock race of the season, and the purse has been increased to $2,000 to win in memory of Bob McCoy. McCoy served as the push truck coordinator at the speedway for several seasons, and he passed away in July of this year. Further information on this race and the track in general can be found at www.petaluma-speedway.com.
The Super Stocks are part of this Saturday's program along with a Wingless 360 Sprint Car race, the Santa Rosa Auto Body Wingless 600 Micros and Jake's Performance Hobbies Mini Stocks. Matt While leads multi time champion Steve Studebaker by just eight points in his quest to repeat as Super Stock champion. Two other past champions, Jim "Woody" Woodward and longtime Petaluma racer Shawn McCoy, have a close battle going for third. Woodward leads McCoy by five points. Mitch Machado leads Roger Miller by 13 points in another close battle for fifth. In Mini Stocks, second generation racer Austin Ohlinger leads Dave Spindell by 24 points and Sean Hale by 30. Car count has actually reached into double digits in the past few races as things are looking up for this division.
Speaking of Mini Stocks, the Central Valley Mini Stocks will be at Lemoore Raceway for Round #5 of their six race season, and the battle is on. There have been 21 drivers to earn points so far, and Dan Myrick leads Danny Myrick by just one point, 213-212. Most recent winner Rod Baronian is third with 194 points. Chris Goldsmith (188) and Jeff Durant (157) make up the remainder of the Top 5. The Mini Stock effort at Lemoore's one-fifth mile clay oval is off to a good start thanks to the efforts of the CVMS group to promote things. At this point, it has been a success, and the future looks bright. Sunday afternoon's race should be another good one as they run time trials, a Trophy Dash, two sets of heat races and a Main Event.
Merced Speedway is wrapping up their season this Saturday, but two championship races are already over. Last week, Jennifer Corder won her second Mini Stock Main Event of the season in a close battle with Lucy Falkenberg, but her brother Chris Corder won the championship by just two points. Chris won five Main Events this season, and this was his third Merced Speedway championship in the last four years. Counting her runnerup season in Hobby Stocks, this was Jennifer's third runnerup season in the last four years. Falkenberg's third second place feature finish solidified her career best third place point season. The Mini Stock class gained several new drivers this year, which bodes well for the future of the division.
The California Sharp Mini Late Models will reportedly run for points next year as this season was about getting the class started. In nine races, Tim Vaught won five times, while Riley Jeppesen, Rick Diaz, Troy Foulger and Tommy Bostic each won once. Tim Crews had three seconds and three thirds, and he probably would have been the champion had points been kept. Michael Shearer is the official car dealer, and the track saw seven different cars during the season. More new drivers are anticipated when the division comes back next season.
The point sheet hadn't been released all season long for the Valley Sportsman division, prompting speculation about the future of the division. However, last week saw the release of the final points, and Jeff Bristow is listed as the champion over Chris Birdsong. The division lost three people very important to the class this year. Third ranked Shannon Fry passed away, and 2016 champion Kenny Birdsong lost his battle with Cancer. Long time Promoter Chuck Griffin recently passed away. Griffin brought the division back to Merced in 1999. Car count in the area is known to be in the teens, and it would be a great tribute to these three supporters of the class if more racers came out with their cars in 2018.
Closing with Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, they are running a regular show of Ocean Sprints, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Mini Stocks this Friday. The Pat Pettit Memorial Shoot Out is September 29th and 30th. IMCA Modifieds headline along with IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. The Friday night IMCA Modified race pays $1,003 to win, while Saturday's All Star Series IMCA Modified race will pay $3,003 to win. The Sport Modifieds will be racing for $1,003 to win on Saturday.
While Robby Sawyer has four All Star Series wins this season, including the recent race at Calistoga, and Troy Foulger has three wins in the Bill Bowers Modified, reigning All Star Series champion Ryan McDaniel has one win and is the point leader by 13 points ahead of Foulger going into the big race. Sawyer is 19 points back in third, while Cody Burke is 24 points out of the lead. Burke is locked in a close battle with Nick DeCarlo for the track championship. Burke leads DeCarlo by two points and Alex Wilson by 14. In the IMCA Sport Modifieds, Matt Hagio leads Mark Hartman by just ten points as he tries to win his second track championship in the last three years. A huge field of IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks are anticipated for the Pat Pettit Memorial Shootout. For further information, go to www.racepmg.com.
