Antioch Speedway, Petaluma Speedway, Madera Speedway, Siskiyou Golden Speedway, Placerville Speedway, More

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Netto, Hogge, Frost, Gallaher Are Ocean Speedway Winners

Watsonville, CA...September 18...DJ Netto won the 30 lap Taco Bravo Sprint Car Main Event Friday night at Ocean Speedway. Netto drove a flawless race from his pole position start and led all but the opening lap to become the second two-time winner of the season. Netto is the reigning King of the West and King of Thunder Sprint Car champion. 

Following his win in the six lap Trophy Dash ahead of point leader Bud Kaeding, Netto and Kaeding had the front row for the Main Event. Kaeding led just one lap before Netto went low in Turn 4 to grab the lead. Mitchell Faccinto settled into third. The yellow flag flew on Lap 9 for Chase Johnson, who was going slowly around the track. Netto continued to lead Kaeding and Faccinto on the restart. Tristan Guardino spun in Turn 4 for the final yellow flag on Lap 15. On the restart, Netto continued to lead the way with Kaeding not far behind him. Kaeding was hoping that maybe he could make some sort of move in traffic. When they caught the slower cars, Netto made some brilliant moves to extend his lead to just under a full straightaway by the time the checkered flag waved. Kaeding settled for his third second place finish of the season, followed by Faccinto, Chase Majdic, JJ Hickle, Kaleb Montgomery, Blake Carrick, Max Mittry, Tucker Worth and Nick Ringo. 

There were 35 competitors for the show, and Hickle turned the Tom Sagmiller prepared quarter-mile clay oval with a lap of 11.597. Faccinto was second quick at 11.608. The eight lap heat race wins went to Majdic, Blake Carrick, Tanner Carrick and Montgomery. Nick Ringo won the 12 lap B Main. Rookie Max Mittry led the race from the start until Ringo made a low pass in Turn 3 on the final lap for the lead. Mittry settled for second, followed by Kurt Nelson, Jake Andreotti and Jeremy Chisum.

Bobby Hogge IV won the 20 lap IMCA Modified Main Event. This was the second win of the season for the multi-time track champion. Title hopeful Jim Pettit II set the early pace over Tim Balding. Pettit appeared to bobble just a bit in Turn 4 on Lap 3, enabling Balding to slip underneath him for the lead. The yellow flag waved after four laps when Pettit and Gary Marsh tangled in Turn 4. Balding led Hogge and Cody Burke on the restart, and the final yellow flag waved for debris on the track on Lap 6. Hogge ran the outside on the restart and moved past Balding for the lead as State point leader Troy Foulger settled into third. Hogge built his lead to a straightaway by the time the checkered flag waved. Balding managed to hold off Foulger for the second place finish. Cody Burke finished fourth ahead of reigning champion Austin Burke, Pettit, Gary Marsh and Robert Marsh. Balding outran Cody Burke to win the eight lap heat race.

Adriane Frost won 20 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event. This was her first win of the season, and it enabled her to take sole position of the point lead from Gavin Espino. Max Baggett led the opening lap with Jim DiGiovanni making an inside pass in Turn 2 a lap later to gain second from Kelly Campanile. The yellow flag waved for Austin Manzella on the front straightaway on Lap 2. DiGiovanni got a good run on the outside and moved around Baggett by the time the restart lap was completed to assume the lead. Tanner Thomas settled into third ahead of Frost. Frost made a low move around Thomas on Lap 5 and went low in Turn 4 on lap six to take second from Baggett. Thomas quickly followed into the third, and the lead trio ran closely. An outside pass on the backstretch on Lap 16 gained Frost the the lead. Thomas slipped past DiGiovanni for second on Lap 18, and Frost took the checkered flag ahead of Thomas, DiGiovanni, Markus Frazier, Campanile, Espino, Igor Grandzuk, Baggett, Nathan Rolfe and Stephen Allee. The eight lap heat race wins were earned by Frost and DiGiovanni.

Rob Gallaher won the 20 lap Hobby Stock Main Event. This was the first win of the season at Watsonville for the three-time reigning champion. He does have a pair of victories at Antioch this year. From the front row, Rob Gallaher set the early pace ahead of past champion Wally Kennedy and Ken Winland. A low pass in Turn 2 on Lap 3 gained Jerry Skelton third from Winland, and Skelton went low in Turn 2 a lap later to take second from Wally Kennedy. Six-time champion Sam Kennedy made an inside pass in Turn 1 on Lap 5 to take third from brother Wally, and a yellow flag flew for Winland in Turn 4 on Lap 7. Rob Gallaher got pressured hard by Skelton on the restart as point leader Joe Gallaher moved by Sam Kennedy for third. The battle was close for the lead for the next few laps, but Rob Gallaher maintained his poise and brought it home to victory. Skelton was a season best second, followed by Joe Gallaher, Steve Remde, Sam Kennedy, Dexter Long, Norm Ayers, Ryan Muller, Brady Muller and Wally Kennedy. The eight lap heat race wins went to Ayers and Skelton.

Ryan McClelland won the 15 lap Mini Stock Main Event. This was the fourth win of the season for the current point leader. Subbing for John Grilli, Nate Hart set the early pace ahead of Richard Mitchell and Roy Iler. A yellow flag flew for a Mark Fields spin in Turn 4 on Lap 4. Iler began pressuring Hart for the lead on the restart, and McClelland moved in to challenge Mitchell for third. McClelland passed Mitchell for third on Lap 6 with an inside pass in Turn 4. McClelland got around Iler and made a move down the backstretch on lap 10 to take the lead from Hart. From there, McClelland went on to score the victory with Hart a solid second followed by Iler, Gullo, reigning champion Kate Beardsley, Bill Beardsley, Nicole Beardsley, Mitchell, Travis Van Gilder and Fields. The eight lap heat race win was earned by Iler.

Next week is the 10th Annual Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout race. The Friday and Saturday show will feature the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks with increased purse money on the line. Floracing.com will offer internet pay-per-view as spectators still won't be allowed in the grandstands. For further information, go to www.racepmg.com or check out the Ocean Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Ensign Returns For West Coast 360 Sprint Car Win 

At Petaluma Speedway

Petaluma, CA...September 19... Geoff Ensign won the 30 lap USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Car Main Event Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway. Ensign is a past Winged 360 Sprint Car champion at the speedway, and he's been out all season after suffering an injury in a quad accident. The racing was broadcast on internet pay-per-view at floracing.com. 

Shayna Ensign brought the field to the green flag ahead of Geoff Ensign and Matthew Haulot. A high move in Turn 3 of the fifth lap put Antioch Wingless Spec Sprint point leader DJ Johnson into third, and the lead trio was battling closely for the lead by Lap 7. Geoff Ensign made an outside pass on the backstretch to take the lead from Shayna Ensign on Lap 9, and Johnson made a backstretch pass on Shayna Ensign lap later to take second. Geoff Ensign and DJ Johnson began to pull away from the pack, and Billy Aton took third from Shayna Ensign on lap 18. DJ Johnson was giving Geoff Ensign plenty of pressure in the final 10 laps, but it was Ensign prevailing at the checkered flag  Aton was a solid third ahead of Ryan Timmons, Kaleb Montgomery, Matthew Haulot, Daniel Whitley, Nathan Schank, Shayna Ensign and Bob Davis. Montgomery was the quickest of 10 qualifiers on the 3/8 mile adobe oval at 15.276, beating the 15.434 of Geoff Ensign. Whitley outran Haulot to win their heat race with Aton winning the other eight lap race in front of Schank.

Garrett Brady won the 20 lap General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Car Main Event. This was his first career victory. Looking for his first win, Matt Hagemann jumped into lead at the start ahead of Brady and reigning champion Chad Matthias. Following a Lap 5 yellow flag, Zach Albers moved into third on the restart behind Hagemann and Brady. However, Matthias found his way around Albers for third on Lap 6. The lead trio ran closely by the midpoint of the race, and Brady led Matthias around Hagemann on Lap 13. A final yellow flag flew on Lap 14, giving Matthias one more shot at Brady. However, Brady was determined to get it to the winner's circle. He led the restart and the final five circuits to claim the victory. Matthias was a season best second, followed by Albers, Carroll Mendenhall, Matt Hagemann, Brandon Gentry, Jimmy Damron, John Peters, Shiloh Borland and Jamie Faulkner. There were 20 competitors for this show, and eight lap heat race wins went to Albers, Peters, Brady and Damron.

Matt While won the 25 lap Lumberjacks Restaurant Super Stock Main Event. This was his third win of the season, and he also had an impressive Top 5 effort in the recent Tri State Pro Stock race at the track. While and Steve's Studebaker shared the front row and led the pack to the green flag with Sid Hess an early third. Three-time reigning champion Mitch Machado was fourth and made an inside pass on the backstretch on Lap 10 to take third from Hess. A yellow flag slowed the pace. While led Studebaker and Machado on the restart, but Trevor Brady stalled in Turn 2 for a Lap 11 yellow flag. On the restart lap, Studebaker got a good run on the outside of While to grab the lead, but he got a bit sideways in Turn 2. Contact sent Studebaker spinning the rest of the way, and Hess got caught up in the incident. The next restart attempt saw Manny Avila spin in Turn 2, collecting Justin Zwicker, Hess and Studebaker. While continued to lead Machado and Shawn McCoy on the restart. Machado was pressuring While hard and made an inside pass in Turn 4 on Lap 17 to take the lead. Machado seemed to slow a little bit, and an inside pass in Turn 1 on Lap 21 regained While the lead. Machado pitted from second on Lap 22. This put McCoy into the second position, but he had mechanical issues and pitted a lap later. While took the checkered flag a full lap ahead of Avila in victory. Hess finished third, followed by McCoy, Machado, Studebaker, Brady and Zwicker. Hess and While were the six lap heat race winners.

Tom Brown won the 20 lap Jake's Performance Hobbies Mini Stock Main Event. Brown jumped out to the lead at the start ahead of Roberto Broze and rookie Jake Barretta. Austin Lodin had some right front damage, effectively putting him on three wheels as he got lapped by Lap 10. A yellow flag waived for Barretta on Lap 17 as he stalled on the front straightaway. Brown continued to lead Broze on the restart, and Lodin's steering finally gave up on him as he spun in Turn 4 for a final yellow flag on Lap 19. Broze got a strong run on the outside of Brown on the restart and beat him through Turns 1 and 2. Unfortunately, Broze slowed noticeably going down the back straightaway with Brown moving back by her to take the lead and victory. Broze coasted to the finish line in second. Brown won the six lap heat race. Federico Pariga made his division debut but scratched prior to the feature.

Next week is the Ninth Annual Adobe Cup. The race will pay $2,000 to win for the PitStopUSA.com Winged 360 Sprint Cars and a minimum of $200 just to take the Main Event green flag. The Fourth Annual Bob McCoy Memorial for The Lumberjacks Restaurant Super Stocks will pay a minimum of $1,000 to win. The Tri State Pro Stock Series will be supporting this event, which should lead to a significant car count increase. All of the action will be broadcast on internet pay-per-view at www.floracing.com. For further information, go to www.petaluma-speedway.com or check out the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page. 

Foulger Wins Championship With Victory, 

Enos, Keller Other Antioch Winners

Troy Foulger #49 wrapped up his fifth Antioch IMCA Modified chapionhship with his third win of the season. Photo by Paul Gould

Antioch, CA...September 19...Troy Foulger won the 25 lap IMCA Modified Main Event Saturday night at Antioch Speedway. This was championship night for the division, and Foulger used his third win aboard the Bowers Motorsports Modified to clinch his fifth title at the speedway. It also kept him in the State point lead with one weekend left to go. 

With a front row start, 2019 champion Buddy Kniss raced into the early lead ahead of Jim Pettit II. The duo had pulled away from the pack as Kellen Chadwick settled into third. The leaders were already working slower traffic, and Pettit spun in Turn 4 in his attempt to get the lead from Kniss on Lap 8. This moved Foulger into third for the restart, and he made a strong inside move to claim the lead from Kniss by the time the lap was completed. Chadwick made an inside pass in Turn 4 on Lap 10 to take second from Kniss. The race had three yellow flags during the final 15 laps. On the final restart on Lap 22, Foulger again motored ahead and would lead the rest of the way in victory. Kniss tried to challenge Chadwick in the waning laps, but Chadwick held him off for the second place finish. Pettit recovered for a fourth place finish, followed by Ricky Thatcher, Kimo Oreta, Jeff Browne, Jake Dewsbury, John Pierce and Steve Streeter. Foulger and Kniss won the eight lap heat races.

Mitch Enos won the 25 lap Jay's Mobile Welding Hobby Stock Main Event. For the second-straight event, the win was decided in the tech area. Ironically, Enos was disqualified from the win at the previous race and crossed the finish line second this time, only to be awarded the win after apparent winner Jason Robles was disqualified. After winning his first eight lap heat race, Aiden Ponciano raced into the early lead ahead of Josh Leach and new point leader James Thomson. Following a Lap 3 yellow flag, Robles moved into second behind Ponciano on the restart. Robles slipped past Ponciano for the lead on Lap 7, and Thomson gained second on Lap 9. By Lap 14, the lead duo had caught slower traffic, and Enos moved in to a battle with four others for the third position, which was still being held by Ponciano. A yellow flag waved on Lap 17, and Robles led Thomson and Enos on the restart. Having a good run in the Top 5, Leach crashed on the backstretch for a Lap 21 yellow flag. Enos moved by Thompson for second on the restart as Robles continued to lead the way. Robles took the checkered flag in first, only to fail post race tech. This gave the win to Enos, followed by Thomson, Adam Kujala, Jeff Bentancourt, Gavin Griffitts, Jake Bentancourt, Gene Haney, Briana Troen, Angela Brown and James Grassele. 

There were 32 Hobby Stocks for the show, and a bad heat race forced Enos to win the second 10 lap B Main ahead of Troen and Griffitts to make it into the Main Event. The first B Main was won by the returning Charlie Bryant ahead of Gene Haney and Jake Bentancourt. The five eight lap heat races were won by Chris Bennett, Ponciano, Devin Vaughn, Robles and Thomson.

 

Trevor Clymens #2c used his second place finish to wrap up his third IMCA Sport Modfied championship in five years. Photo by Paul Gould

KC Keller won the 25 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event. This was his second win of the season. If not for missing one race, the 2017 champion probably would have won the title this year. As it was, it was a battle between Trevor Clymens and Mark Garner for that honor, and Clymens seized the moment to claim his third championship in the last five years. 

KC Keller #38 won his second IMCA Sport Modified Main Event of the season. Photo by Paul Gould.

It was decided to forgo the B Main and run all 22 competitors in the Main Event. Marysville star Scott Savell and rookie Jacob Haas shared the front row and battled early as Keller worked his way up from the fifth row along with Kenny Shrader. Keller eventually got the lead and would bring it home to the victory. A strong second place finish netted Clymens the division championship. Shrader finished third, followed by Watsonville championship contender Gavin Espino, 2019 State champion Guy Ahlwardt, Savell, Haas, Kevin Brown, Garner and Chuck Golden. Eight-lap heat race wins were earned by Ahlwardt, Savell and Tommy Clymens Jr.

This Saturday night will be the 18th running of the Chet Thomson Memorial Hardtop race. The BCRA Midgets make their first appearance in several years, joined by the Wingless Spec Sprints. Due to a scheduling conflict with Petaluma, the Super Stocks have been replaced by a non-point race for Hobby Stocks for this show. As always, www.antiochspeedway.tv will be offering pay-per-view services online. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Point Leaders Shepherd, Erickson Win MavTV Series Races 

At Madera Speedway

Madera, CA...September 19...Buddy Shepherd won the 80 lap Nut Up Pro Late Model Main Event Saturday night at Madera Speedway. This was another MavTV Racing Series event, and it was also the fourth win for Shepherd, who collected $1,000. 

Blaine Rocha and Sheldon Cooper led the field to the green flag with Rocha leading the opening lap ahead of Cooper and Shepherd. Shepherd made an outside pass on the backstretch on Lap 2 to take second from Cooper, and a Turn 2 spin by Lance Elliott brought out a Lap 3 yellow flag. Rocha continued to lead Shepherd and Cooper on the restart, and the lead trio ran closely. A Lap 12 red flag flew when Austin Herzog lost a radiator hose and dumped water all over the track in Turn 2, resulting in a crash him that eliminated Seth Wise, Joey Iest and Ross Strmiska. Rocha continued to lead Shepherd on the restart as Dylan Zampa settled into third ahead of Cooper and Glen Cook. It was a side-by-side battle for several laps with Shepherd making an inside pass in Turn 2 on Lap 25 to take the lead from Rocha. Zampa was also working the outside as he tried to take second from Rocha, but Rocha was keeping his cool. At the lap 50 break, Shepherd led Rocha, Zampa, Cook and Cooper. The final 30 laps went at a rapid pace with no yellow flag interruptions. Shepherd continued to lead when the green flag waved and would build a straightaway advantage over Rocha by the time the checkered flag fell. Cook took the third position from Zampa on the restart, and the duo had a side-by-side battle going for a few laps with Cook on the inside and Zampa on the outside. Cook finished third ahead of Zampa, Ryan Philpott, Cooper, Pete Soto, Jay Juleson, Rick Thompson and Herzog. Shepherd turned the 1/3 mile paved oval with a fast lap of 14.867, beating the 14.903 of Zampa. Herzog was third quick at 14.943, followed by the 14.977 of Jake Bollman and Rocha with a 14.990.

Bradley Erickson won the 70 lap 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Model Main Event. He extended his lead as this was his fourth win of the season. Jake Bollman led the pack to the green flag with Kercie Jung settling into an early second ahead of Cole Brown. Erickson brushed the back wall on the opening lap and fell a few positions out of the Top 5. Kasey Kleyn and Haley Liles tangled in Turn 4 with Liles spinning for a Lap 3 yellow flag. Bollman continued to lead the restart with Brown moving past Jung for second. A Lap 5 yellow flag waved when fourth place contenders Kassidy Hinds and Holly Clark tangled on the backstretch with Clark hitting the back wall to end her race. On the restart, Brown fell victim to the track's new restart rule and was put to the back of the pack on a jump start call. Bollman continued to lead Jung on the restart, but Erickson moved into the second position. Bollman and Erickson began to pull away as Jung and Kale McClenny had a good battle going for third. An inside pass on the frontstretch on Lap 38 finally put Erickson into the lead, and the Lap 40 brake saw Erickson leading Bollman, Jung, Kale McClenny and the resurgent Hinds.

Erickson led the pack to the green flag. Kale McClenny moved past Bollman for the second position, and Kabe McClenny made a Turn 4 pass on Lap 46 to grab third. Bollman and Jung were having a good battle for the fourth position. Brown moved his way up to fifth on Lap 54 after receiving the lucky dog pass to start the second half of the race. Brown made an inside pass on the backstretch on Lap 59 to take fourth from Jung, and a low pass in Turn 4 of the 63rd lap put Brown into third. Erickson stretched his advantage to about a straightaway ahead of Kale McClenny, who enjoyed his best finish of the year in second. Brown was a frustrated third. Contact in the final turn sent Jung spinning from fourth as Bollman finished there ahead of Kleyn. Brody Armtrout was collected by Jung as Kabe McClenny settled for sixth, followed by Brody Moore, Robbie Kennealy, Hinds and Armtrout   Brown was the fastest qualifier with a new track record of 14.937, beating the 15.040 of Jung.

Jeffrey Erickson won the 25 lap Bandoleros vs Mini Cup race. This was the seventh win for the point leader. Two yellow flags slowed this race, but Erickson continued to lead the way throughout the duration of the race. Caden Cordova had a Turn 4 spin for the final yellow on Lap 15, but he still battled Joey Kennealy to finish second. Mini Cup point leader Rebecca Dubie ended up fourth. Erickson won the eight lap heat race, and Cordova set the fast time of 17.683.

This Saturday night will be the 48th Annual Harvest Cup Classic and Kenny Takeuchi Tribute, presented by Protect the Harvest and Lucas Oil. The Donnie Large Tribute 30 lap Super Modified vs Sprint Car race will headline the show along with the Madera Late Models, Legends of Kearney Bowl Super Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, MSTs, Toyota Sedans and Focus Midgets. Thanks to sponsorship from www.nutupindustries.com, the track will broadcast the action for free on the on their YouTube page. For further information, go to www.racemadera.com or check out the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Braaten, Robustelli, Steele, Smith Share 

Siskiyou Golden Speedway Spotlight

Yreka, CA...September 19... Jorddon Braaten won the 25 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event Saturday night at Siskiyou Golden Speedway. This is the sixth win of the season for Braaten, but he vacated his point lead by missing the Labor Day doubleheader weekend activity. Covid-19 guidelines won't allow fans in the grandstands, but the track broadcasted the entire show for free on their Facebook page. 

Rookie Ryan Peery set the early pace ahead of Colt Boswell. An inside pass in Turn 4 of the second lap gained reigning champion Ethan Killingsworth second. Fourth row starter Braaten moved into third on Lap 3. A yellow flag waved for Chad Wormington on Lap 6. Peery continued to lead Killingsworth and Braaten on the restart. An inside pass in Turn 3 of the eighth lap gained Killingsworth the lead. As they were working the ninth lap, Peery spun in Turn 4 for a yellow flag. Killingsworth continued to lead Braaten and point leader Mike Medel on the restart. Killingsworth and Braaten pulled away from the pack a little bit, but a Turn 4 spin bunched the field once again on Lap 12. Killingsworth continued to lead Braaten and Medel. Braaten was pressuring Killingsworth hard until making a backstretch pass on Lap 15 to take the lead. A yellow flag waved, and Killingsworth retired at that point. Braaten led the restart as Rich McCoy made a strong move on the inside to wrestle second away from Medel. Braaten pulled away from the pack over the final laps to win by a straightaway ahead of McCoy. Medel wrapped up a solid night in third, followed by Joby Shields, rookie Parker Finley, Colt Boswell, Killingsworth, Peery, Cale Cunial and Steve Lysinger. Killingsworth and Peery won their respective eight lap heat races.

Camden Robustelli won the 20 lap Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Main Event. Robustelli had an impressive clean sweep at Coos Bay the previous weekend. Ageless veteran Fred Hay led the opening two laps ahead of Jason Robustelli. Jason Robustelli went past Hay for the lead on the backstretch on Lap 3. Camden Robustelli took third from Chad Cardoza on Lap 4, and an outside pass on the frontstretch on Lap 5 gained Camden Robustelli the lead from his father Jason. An outside pass on the backstretch on Lap 8 gained Cardoza second from Jason Robustelli. Cameron Robustelli set a rapid pace and took the checkered flag a straightaway ahead of Cardoza. Jason Robustelli settled for third ahead of Hay, Reggie Ayers and Kaycee Sheeler. Robustelli scored a clean sweep of wins in both 10 lap heat races.

David Steele won the 20 lap Mini Stock Main Event. Though this was the sixth win in seven starts for the current point leader, it was not an easy path to victory for him. Problems in the heat race saw incoming point runnerup Ashtin Hedges scratch prior to the feature race. The heat race was won for the second-straight week by three-time champion Marilyn Yawnick. Yawnick had the pole for the Main Event, but Hunter Magnan raced into the early lead ahead of past Medford champion Steve Goetz. Three-time reigning Yreka champion Mike Whitaker settled into third on Lap 2 with Steele following into fourth. Magnan ran closely ahead of Goetz as Steele reeled in Whitaker in the race for third. An outside pass on the frontstretch on Lap 10 gained Whitaker second from Goetz. A high pass in Turn 2 on Lap 11 put Steele into third. The lead three competitors ran closely at the front of the pack, and an outside pass on the backstretch on lap 18 put Steele into second. Steele went high in Turn 4 as they charged to the white flag to take the lead from Magnan. Steele pulled away on the final lap to win with Magnan settling for a season best second, followed by Whitaker, Goetz and Yawnick.

JJ Smith won the 15 lap Jefferson State Jalopies Main Event. This was the third-straight win for the current point leader. Reigning champion Marilyn Yawnick led the field to the green flag, but Josh Bernstein had the lead by the time the lap was completed. Smith quickly struck to second and began pressuring Josh Bernstein for the lead. A high pass in Turn 4 on Lap 6 gained Smith the lead. However, Smith and Josh Bernstein got together in Turn 4 for the only yellow flag on Lap 7. Josh Bernstein had mechanical issues and retired. Yawnick got a good start when the green flag waved and led Karl Bernstein and Smith. An outside pass on the frontstretch on Lap 9 gained Smith second, and he set his sights on Yawnick. An outside pass down the backstretch on Lap 12 put Smith into the lead. Smith went on to win from there ahead of Yawnick, Karl Bernstein and Josh Bernstein. Yawnick was the eight lap heat race winner

Though there is racing scheduled in October, next Saturday night is the final point event of the season. The IMCA Modifieds are back along with the IMCA Sport Modifieds, Outlaw Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and Jefferson State Jalopies. For further information, go to The Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Carrick, Jones, Jinkerson Share The Glory 

At Placerville Speedway

Placerville, CA...September 12...Tanner Carrick won the 25 lap Thompson's Auto Group Winged 360 Sprint Car Main Event Saturday night at Placerville Speedway. Carrick became the seventh different winner in seven races this year aboard his CVC Concrete sponsored Sprinter. The covid-19 guidelines prevent the speedway from having fans, but the entire show was broadcast on internet pay-per-view at floracing.com.

The race was halted for a red flag before one lap was completed as Joel Myers Jr flipped in Turn 3. Justin Henry set the early pace ahead of Greg DeCaries V and Tanner Carrick. Carrick made a high pass in Turn 2 on Lap 3 to grab the second position, and Max Mittry and Kalib Henry tangled in Turn 2 for a Lap 3 yellow flag. Justin Henry continued to lead Tanner Carrick and DeCaries on the restart. A Lap 5 yellow flag waved for a Turn 4 tangle between Zane Blanchard and Ashlyn Rodriguez. Justin Henry maintained the lead over Tanner Carrick and brother Blake Carrick on the next restart, but Mittry stalled pulling into the infield off the front straightaway for a Lap 6 yellow flag. Tanner Carrick bolted into the lead on the restart. However, a red flag flew after one lap when contact put DeCaries on his side in Turn 4. Tanner Carrick led Blake Carrick and JJ Hickle on the restart. Tanner Carrick drove an impressive race from there and made the right moves in traffic to score of the victory. Blake Carrick held off the challenges of Hickle to finish second. New Marysville champion Andy Forsberg finished fourth, followed by Ryan Burnal, Chase Majdic, Jodie Robinson, Jake Morgan, Michael Ing and incoming point leader Ryan Robinson.

There were 29 Sprint Cars for the show, and Tanner Carrick turned the quarter-mile clay oval at 10.749 for the fast time. Hickle was a very close second fast at 10.751. The eight lap heat race wins were earned by Kalib Henry, Justin Henry, Tanner Carrick and DeCaires. Nick Larson won the 12 lap B Main ahead of Andy Forsberg, CJ Humphreys, Jake Morgan and Chris Masters.

Shawn Jones won the 20 lap NorCal Dwarf Car Main Event. Jones was coming off a huge night at Antioch Speedway that saw him win both the Wingless Spec Sprint and Delta Dwarf Car Main Events last Saturday night. Jones made a big move in Turn 4 on the opening lap to get past two cars for the lead. Brian Quilty held second for a lap before an inside pass in Turn 2 gained Ryan Winter second. Quilty got sideways in Turn 2, causing Shawn Whitney to spin to avoid contact for a Lap 4 yellow flag. Jones continued to lead Winter and Ventura Raceway star Tommy Velasquez III. An inside pass on the frontstretch on Lap 8 gained Velasquez the second position from Winter, but Jones held a straightaway lead by then. Ben Weisz went low in Turn 4 on Lap 10 to grab third from Winter. Jones worked traffic masterfully and built a half-lap lead by the time the checkered flag waved. Velasquez finished second, followed by Weisz, Winter, reigning champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert, Dixon Micro Sprint star Brandon Shaw, Kevin Bender, Dan Geil, Whitney and Corey Eaton. 

There were 25 Dwarf Cars for this show and eight lap heat race wins were earned by Velasquez, Winter, Wiesz and Whitney. Robert Johnson won the 12 lap B Main ahead of Dylan Shrum, Nick Velasquez, John Williams and Wayne Ireton.

Dan Jinkerson won the 20 lap Pure Stock Main Event. Jinkerson has moved up to the Limited Late Models this year and is a feature winner in that class. However, the past Pure Stock champion was getting his first win of the season in this division. Ryan Peter raced into the early lead ahead of Kevin Jinkerson. Dan Jinkerson settled into third on Lap 3 and made a backstretch pass on Kevin Jinkerson on Lap 4 to grab second. A low pass in Turn 2 of the fifth lap put Dan Jinkerson into the lead with Peter getting pressure from Jason Palmer. Palmer made a Turn 2 pass on Lap 6 to take second from Peter as two-time champion Nick Baldwin settled into fourth. A yellow flag flew for Les Friend in Turn 4 on Lap 9. Dan Jinkerson continued to lead Palmer and Peter on the restart. Peter went low in Turn 4 on Lap 13 to take second from Palmer, and Baldwin made a similar move a lap later to grab third. Baldwin made an inside pass in Turn 2 on Lap 16 to take second from Peter, but Jinkerson held a commanding straightaway lead by then. Dan Jinkerson won ahead of Baldwin, Peter, Palmer, Kevin Jinkerson, Friend, Lonnie Leonard, Jonathan Walsh, Clarence Holbrook and Dave Silva. Eight lap heat race wins went to Peter and Kevin Jinkerson..

Russ Murphy won the 20 lap Mini Truck Main Event. Looking for his fourth win, point leader Mike Miller was the early leader ahead of Murphy and Kevin Tremblay. Following a Lap 4 yellow flag, Murphy bolted into the lead ahead of Mike Miller and Howard Miller. The Miller's battled fiercely for second for a few laps. By the halfway point, Russ Murphy held a big lead. Donnie Tilliery made a move into third on Lap 19, and Murphy won by over straightaway ahead of Mike Miller, Tilliery, Kevin Tremblay, Aaron Rupley, Jason Murphy, Ted Ahart, Brian Tremblay, Juan Escobar and Howard Miller. Russ Murphy and Howard Miller won their respective eight lap heat races.

October 3rd will be Big Trophy Night at the speedway. The Thompson's Auto Group Winged 360 Sprint Cars will be back in action along with the Super Stocks, Limited Late Models and the BCRA Midget Lites. The action will be broadcast at www.floracing.com. For further information, go to www.placervillespeedway.com or check out the Placerville Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Pat And Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout This Weekend 

At Ocean Speedway

Watsonville, CA...This Friday and Saturday night is a special occasion at Ocean Speedway. It's the 10th Annual Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout race. The event pays tribute to the parents of Jim Pettit II, who were long-time supporters of the track. They sponsored many racers and special races through the years at the quarter-mile clay oval. The weekend sees some of the best IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modified and Hobby Stock drivers in the state of California gathering for two great nights of racing. It actually kicks off with a barbecue and car show on Thursday night. Slightly increased purse money will be on the line on Friday, and the bigger money is up for grabs on Saturday.

In the IMCA Modifieds, Friday's show will pay $1,003 to win, $603 for second and $503 for third with a minimum of $103 to start. It's still more to win than your average Modified race, and all of the racers will be gunning for that prize. On Saturday night, the stakes are a bit higher with $3,006 to win, $1,006 for second and $806 for third. Just making this show gets you $206 to start. Though there aren't fans allowed in the grandstands, Jim Pettit II and everybody working behind the scenes did their best to make sure this race would still pay what it did last year. Fans can watch all the action on internet pay-per-view at floracing.com.

After Pat Pettit passed away 10 years ago, the first race happened in 2011. It stands to reason that anytime there is more money on the line, Bobby Hogge IV comes looking for the bigger prize. As it turns out, Hogge has racked up some very impressive numbers in this event. He won the first one, three of the first four and four of the first six. Hogge, who is this year's California Speedweek champion, tuned up for the show with his second win in regular point competition last Friday Night. 

Susanville champion Ryan McDaniel was the first driver to evict Hogge from the Winners Circle in 2012. It was Alex Stanford winning a thriller against Hogge in 2015, but Hogge turned the tables on him by scoring his fourth win the following year ahead of Stanford. Nick DeCarlo would finish third in back-to-back races before winning the 2018 event over current State point leader and Antioch champion Troy Foulger. Ethan Dotson won the 2017 event. Last year, it was Foulger claiming the prize ahead of Scott Pounds and DeCarlo. DeCarlo has had podium finishes in four of the last five races.

You can count on some of the best drivers coming from everywhere on this occasion. This would include drivers from Bakersfield and Santa Maria, Merced, Antioch, Petaluma and Marysville. Even some drivers from out of the state could come to town. There's also the championships to be decided. Foulger leads Pettit by about 15 points in the State with two races left to go. In track points, past champion Robert Marsh is looking for a another title. He had a bad night last Friday, but he clings to a one-point lead over Pettit and a nine-point advantage over multi-time champion Cody Burke. The championship should come down between these three.

What's interesting to note is that Cody Burke and brother Austin Burke have been very fast over the past half dozen years and have claimed victories at several venues. Austin is the reigning track champion, but neither brother has earned a podium finish in one of these shows. They will be out to try to change that this week. Others to watch for include past Antioch and Wild West Speedweek champion Kellen Chadwick, past Bakersfield champion Robby Sawyer, 2018 Antioch title winner Buddy Kniss, past Watsonville and Hanford champion Brian Cass and Petaluma champion Anthony Slaney. That's just a sampling of the talent that should be coming to town for what will be the event of the weekend anywhere in the state.

As the IMCA Sport Modifieds began to take hold in the state during the last decade, it was decided to add them to the show starting with the third year. They will contest for $503 to win on Friday night, which is a little above average for them. On Saturday night, they're racing for $1,006 to win, $606 for second, $406 for third and $106 minimum to start. More importantly, it's the honor of getting the win on such a prestigious occasion. 

Only one driver has won this race more than once. That would be past State champion Brian Cooper. Cooper picked up wins in the 2016 and 2017 races. Another past State champion, Nick Spainhoward, chased him across the line in 2017. Spainhoward won the very first race for these guys in 2013 and chased Ethan Dotson across the line for a second place finish a year later. Dotson is the only driver to win Modified and Sport Modified Main Events at the Pettit Memorial.

2015 was a banner year for Fred Ryland, who won the State, Antioch and Chowchilla championships that year. He also held off Rick Diaz in a close battle for the win in this race that year. The 2018 race was a breakout occasion for Antioch star Brent Curran, who held off past Santa Maria champion Kevin Johnson to get the victory. Curran has a pair of wins at Watsonville this year and earned a respectable Top 10 showing at the IMCA Nationals in Boone, Iowa this year. The defending race champion is also 2019 State champion Guy Ahlwardt, who got the honors after holding off Ryland and 2019 Watsonville champion Jarrod Mounce.

As with the Modifieds, there's also a close track championship battle taking place in this division. The more experienced Adriane Frost moved into sole possession of the lead following her win last Friday night ahead of Tanner Thomas. This gave her a five point lead over Gavin Espino, while Kelly Campanile is still in striking distance in third, 11 points back. Local stars like Max Baggett, Steven Alllee, past champion Jim DiGiovanni, Charlie Hunter, Billy Robertson and Justin McPherson could be there. Some of the drivers anticipated for this one include this year's California Speedweek champion Garrett Jernagan, 2019 Bakersfield champion Michael Johnson, Jason Nation, Markus Frazier, three-time Antioch champion Trevor Clymens, 2017 Antioch champion KC Keller, new State champion Timothy Allardings and Andrew Peckham.

The Hobby Stock division has been a part of this show since its inception, but it's grown in stature during the last five years. They receive $503 to win Saturday's show, and thee-time champion Billy Nelson will be looking for his fourth win. Nelson was held off by winner Nick Silva at the first race, but he rebounded by winning the next year over Matt Hagio. Hagio held off Joe Willoughby to win the 2013 contest, but Willoughby won the next one ahead of Nelson. The 2015 contest went to Nick Triolo over Ron Bonnema and Nelson. Nelson always seems to be in the hunt when he's there, and he held off Merced star Garrett Corn to win the race in 2016. Corn won an abbreviated 2017 contest ahead of JC Elrod and highly decorated Watsonville champion Sam Kennedy. Nelson was back in front in 2018 ahead of three-time champion Rob Gallaher and Elrod. Last year's contest went to Bakersfield's Nick Johnson ahead of multi-time Watsonville champion Matt Kile and Nelson.

The Hobby Stocks are running for points, but it's looking more and more like a championship season for Joe Gallaher. Joe brought it to a podium finish last week behind son Rob Gallaher and Jerry Skelton. Joe Gallaher should be leading Steve Remde by about 50 points. Both Skelton and Rob Gallaher should move around multi-time champion Terry Campion after last week's performance, and it's still close between those two in the battle for third. For Rob Gallaher, last week was his first win at his home track this year, and he hopes to have something for the competition this week. At least one of the Johnson's could tow in from Bakersfield for this race. Nick is the reigning race champion. Merced stars Austin Van Hoff, Michael Shearer and Bruce "Bubba" Nelson are anticipated. Nelson and Shearer are both Merced champions. The Hobby Stocks should offer up another competitive field for this occasion.

It is unfortunate that fans still won't be allowed to attend in person. This is the biggest Stock Car oriented show on the Watsonville schedule every year, and an inflated car count is anticipated all across the board. You can watch the action from start to finish on Friday and Saturday at www.floracing.com. For further information, go to www.racepmg.com or check out the Ocean Speedway Facebook page.

 

18th Running Of The Chet Thomson Memorial Race 

At Antioch Speedway 

Antioch, CA...It's time once again for the biggest Hardtop race in California. This will be the 18th running of the Chet Thomson Memorial Hardtop event at Antioch Speedway. The vintage Coup and Sedan racers are part of a program that will also include the Wingless Spec Sprints, Hobby Stocks and the BCRA Midgets. Because of covid-19 guidelines, fans are still not allowed in attendance, but the race will be broadcast on the antiochspeedway.tv pay-per-view service.

The modern revival of the vintage Hardtop racing effort can be traced to a visit from the Cascade Hardtop group of Oregon to Sacramento and Orland Raceways in September of 2002. Since that year, there has been at least one event for the Hardtops held in the State of California every year. When Hardtops really took hold in Northern California, Antioch Speedway was the track giving them the bulk of their race dates. The California Hardtop Association and Antioch Speedway management had a rocky relationship for a few years due to some scheduling differences.

It was in 2015 when the man who brought the Hardtops down to California, Mike McCann, struck a deal with Antioch management to have a race in August. McCann organized the whole thing, and the show delivered 14 Hardtops. That opened the door for the division to come back to the quarter-mile clay oval again. Though Larry Damitz got the win, many people felt that Robby Waldrop was the star of the show in the Bill McLaughlin Sedan. With sparks coming from underneath his car, Waldrop led several laps and finished second behind Damitz as Tommy Thomson, Dan Williams and Ken Clifford completed the Top 5 that night.

To understand the next move, we need to take a trip back in time to the 1960s at Vallejo Speedway. In 1962, the teaming of car owner Bob Thomas and driver "Charging" Chet Thomson produced a championship. The Hardtops were a very competitive field back in those days, and you had to be on your game to even make it into the Main Event. Back in those days, if you missed the mark in qualifying, you were in the Semi Main. Even if you won that race, you didn't transfer into the Main Event. Thomson was considered one of the elite drivers and a frontrunner throughout the first half of the 1960s.

Sadly, Chet lost his battle with Cancer, but so beloved was he in the racing community that it was decided to remember him with a special show. The first 100 lap Chet Thomson Memorial race was run at Vallejo Speedway in 1967. Julian "Catch em" Castro picked up the win that year. Jim Kaiser, John Viel, Phil "Bang Bang" Pedlar, Leroy Geving, "The Sundrop Kid" Larry Damitz, Larry Hall, Lanny Westbrook and Tommy Thomson were all winners in this race from 1967 through 1977. Westbrook and Pedlar won twice. Unfortunately, the rules in the Hardtop class were evolving, and car count was dwindling.

It was decided in 1978 to make it a Super Modified race instead, though the Hardtops competed that night. For the record, Stan Cargo won what would be the final Hardtop participation on the big night. Augie Fonseca won the Super Modified race, and it was Skip Brown winning the final Super Modified Chet Thomson Memorial in 1979. Reportedly, Brown is working on a Hardtop of his own. Unfortunately, Vallejo Speedway closed at the end of the 1979 season, and that might have signaled the end of this race. 

Buoyed by the success of the 2015 race in August, Chet's son Tommy Thomson got together with Dave Mackey and Ken Retzloff and made a pitch to track management to bring this race back in 2016. The trio were working on revitalizing the Hardtop movement in the Bay Area, and then Promoter John Soares greenlit the race. The first race was a big production, and it even included a Chet Thomson Memorial t-shirt. The California Hardtop's biggest star at the time, Jason Armstrong, proved too tough in the 14 car field as he outran Retzloff, Dennis Armstrong, Williams and Jason Clifford to get the win. Retzloff was driving Mackey's car and would end up getting his own car as a result of this race

Jason Armstrong successfully defended his crown a year later ahead of Retzloff, Thomson, Kimo Oreta and Williams. Driving the Dudley Brothers Tribute Car, Mackey was hoping that 2018 would be his year as he led the race early. Unfortunately, the battle at the front got a little rough and tumble with Mackey being sent spinning. Terry DeCarlo drove the Harold Hardesty Throwback Car to the victory on this occasion, followed by Oreta, Jason Armstrong, Retzloff and Ron Ruiz. Oreta drove the Larry Damitz car to victory last year ahead of DeCarlo, Retzloff, Thomson and Matt Dragoon

This year will be the fifth running of this race in Antioch and 18th overall. Mackey has been working behind the scenes to help keep the car count up. Having done a bunch of work on The Green Hornet #39 car, a frustrated Tommy Thomson was still not able to get comfortable in his seat at the recent practice. Mackey is trying to help get him situated and has also lent a motor to Dave Reed. Mackey will have a new motor in his car. There was other news from the recent practice as the former James Bradburn car was being wheeled around the track by past Antioch Limited Late Model and Street Stock star Mikey Slaney.

The Hardtops have only had three racing opportunities in Northern California thanks to the covid-19 guidelines, and two events produced the same results. Driving his own throwback car in honor of his father Dick Braudrick, car owner Doug Braudrick watched in delight as Late Model and Modified veteran Joel Hannagan picked up wins at the recent Antioch and Placerville races. Ron Ruiz has been the only driver with podium finishes on all three occasions, and Marysville looked like a win for him until he was overtaken late by the Sportsman of Gary Hildebrand

The Chet Thomson Memorial is a night for the Hardtops to shine. Bay Area Hardtop enthusiasts, and fans who remember Vallejo Speedway in general, look forward to this race. Reportedly, there could be a car count of a dozen or so competitors from the Bay Area and the Sacramento area to do battle for the big trophy, which is being sponsored again by Pete Paulsen. Over the last 5 years, the roster of active cars has reached into the 20s as Hardtop racing lives on. You can bet that Chet Thomson would be pleased with that.

There is a Hardtop connection with the Wingless Spec Sprint division. The Spec Sprint division's all time Antioch Speedway winner and two-time champion Jim Perry Jr has piloted Mackey's car to multiple wins in the past. Perry built the engine that will be in Mackey's car on Saturday as well as the engine for Dave Reed. It will be a while before any of the current competitors in the division catch Perry, and there's been some speculation about whether we might see Jim or his one-time champion son Jimmy Perry III back in action again at some point.

In the meantime, DJ Johnson is attempting to join Perry, Darrell Hannestad, Dan Gonderman, Bob Newberry and Billy Macedo as a two-time Spec Sprint champion. As it is, Johnson is the only two-time winner so far this year, but his most recent start ended in disaster as he failed to make it into the Top 10. Johnson's misfortune enabled 14-year-old phenom Dylan Bloomfield to make up some major ground on him at the end of the night.

Bloomfield was able to pick up a second place finish behind the flying Shawn Jones last time out. The fifth Top 5 effort for the one-time winner matches Johnson in that category, but he trails him by 30 points. The championship appears to be coming down between these two drivers. Meanwhile, two-time champion Bob Newberry has managed a pair of Top 5 finishes to move into third in the standings. Newberry holds just a six-point advantage over past Petaluma Modified and Street Stock competitor Tony Bernard. Second year racer Jeff Scotto is eight points back, and ageless veteran Roy Fisher is 10 points behind Newberry in sixth. Even past Petaluma Speedway champion Ryon Siverling is in the hunt for third, 16 points behind Newberry. Other wins this year have been recorded by three-time Hunt Series champion Terry Schank Jr, 2018 Petaluma title winner Shayna Ensign and Bradley Terrell.

 

Originally, the Super Stocks were to be a part of the show, but a scheduling conflict with the Bob McCoy Memorial at Petaluma Speedway saw management replace them with the Hobby Stocks. Following his fifth consecutive runnerup finish, James Thomson increased his advantage to 30 points over Brianna Troen. One would have to go through the record book thoroughly, but Thomson's feat of consecutive second place efforts could very well be a record. As it is, his streak has elevated him into the lead, but he's hoping to break that streak and get his first win on Saturday night. Likewise, Troen is hoping for better things after managing to get her eighth Top 10 finish last time out.

Without much fanfare, Jake Bentancourt collected his division leading ninth Top 10 finish last time out. This enabled him to move past Larry McKinzie by just six points in the race for fourth in the standings. Third still belongs to three-time winner Travis Dutra, who has voluntarily taken himself out of championship contention after missing the past two races. Some of the drivers to watch for include Gavin Griffitts, Gene Haney, Aiden Ponciano, Michaela Taylor and Jewell Crandall. Ponciano impressed last week by leading several laps of the Main Event and also won his first heat race. Griffitts earned his best finish yet in fifth.

The Bay Cities Racing Association makes their return engagement to Antioch, and it's been a while since the Mighty Midgets have been at Antioch Speedway. At one point in their history, the group considered Antioch Speedway a home track. This was back in the early 1980s when drivers like Hall of Famer Floyd Alvis, past champion Rick Bussell, Ted Montague, Bobby Morrow and Victor Mancarini were a part of the field. There's also a connection between the BCRA and the Hardtops. For many years, the BCRA sanctioned a highly competitive Hardtop series between multiple tracks. These days, it's about the Midgets, Midget Lites and Vintage Midgets with the 81 year old group.

The covid-19 shutdown has not been kind to the BCRA, and this will be a golden opportunity for them to race in a show that is sanctioned solely by them. Last season, Robert Carson won the overall and dirt series championships with the group Carson is the son of another BCRA champion, Glenn Carson. He's also the grandson of the late Howard Segur. Carson was driving his grandfather's old car, making this championship special for the family. On the dirt, the BCRA seems to get slightly better support than the pavement, and it's hoped that this will be the case again this time. Carson's dirt championship last season came ahead of Robert Dalby, the steady Marvin Mitchell, Austin Liggett and past division champion Maria Cofer.

The Midgets might fly in under the radar in Northern California. In the midwest, they are alive and well under the USAC and POWRi banners. These cars slice and dice on every oval they go to and put on entertaining shows. We're not sure who might show up for this occasion, but we're hopeful for a good turnout all the way around. You can keep track of the happenings in the historic organization by going to www.bcraracing.com.

The Chet Thomson Memorial will be a special occasion at Antioch Speedway this week, and there are some big races just around the corner for the track. It will be a chance to get a glimpse at some of the cars that ruled the speedways in days gone by, while also checking out some exciting open wheel action as well. The www.antiochspeedway.tv streaming service will be the place to check out the show. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Adobe Cup, Bob McCoy Memorial 

At Petaluma Speedway Saturday night

Petaluma, CA...Petaluma Speedway is prepared to have what will be their biggest PitStopUSA.com Winged 360 Sprint Car race of the year this Saturday night. It's the 9th Annual Adobe Cup race, and the purse has been announced for this event. Joining them on the program will be the Lumberjacks Restaurant Super Stocks and Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series for a shootout race that will also serve as the Fourth Annual Bob McCoy Memorial race. A big turnout is anticipated for both divisions, and the only place to watch this will be on internet pay-per-view at floracing.com.

Being able to pay an increased purse with no fans in attendance is problematic for Promoter Rick Faeth. He's been working to try to build this race up as best he can. It won't reach the levels of the race in recent seasons as a $5,000 to win prize just isn't doable under the circumstances. However, they will be doing away with the entry fee, and the race will pay $2,000 to win, $1,000 for second, $500 for third and a minimum of $200 just to take the green in the Main Event. This show should attract an increased car count.

Last season, it was highly decorated Chico Silver Dollar Speedway champion Sean Becker driving the Dan Monhoff car to his first Adobe Cup win over Kalib Henry. Becker finished third the previous year behind Tanner Thorson and Henry. It was new Marysville champion Andy Forsberg winning the 2017 show over Michael "Buddy" Kofoid and 2015 winner Colby Copeland. Copeland had beat Becker and 2012 winner Billy Aton on that occasion. In 2016, Chase Johnson grabbed the big prize ahead of Geoff Ensign and Ryan Burnal. Forsberg won the 2014 race ahead of multi-time Petaluma champion Bradley Terrell and Johnson and also claimed the honors in 2013 ahead of Ensign and past champion Alyssa Geving. The very first Adobe Cup was a Wingless Spec Sprint race won by Billy Aton ahead of Marty Hawkins and Ensign.

The Winged 360 Sprint Car racers are chomping at the bit to get back on the 3/8 mile adobe oval as there haven't been as many opportunities as desired. This year. Forsberg, who is the seven-time Placerville champion and a 10-time Civil War title winner among his many accolades, currently leads the point charge by 17 markers ahead of Becker. Both Forsberg and Becker have wins this year with Forsberg winning the ASCS race back in March. Chase Majdic and Justin Sanders also count themselves among the winners. Despite all of his success in the Sprint Cars, the most recent event was the first win for Sanders at Petaluma. Among the top stars anticipated are past champion Jake Haulot, Brett Barney, JJ Hickle, Brent Bjork and Joel Myers.

The track endeavors to find a special night during the year for each of its divisions, and The Lumberjacks Restaurant Super Stocks were added to the Adobe Cup starting in 2013. They've always tried to increase the purse. Prior to the 2017 season, this race was named after Bob McCoy. McCoy was a long time push truck operator at the speedway who organized the push truck effort and helped keep the open wheel portion of the program running. It was past Bakersfield champion Brady Bell holding off multi-time Marysville champion Phillip Shelby and Dan Smith to win the first Bob McCoy Memorial. Past Petaluma champion Mike Learn grabbed the honors in 2018 ahead of past Chico champion and Phil Marino and multi-time Petaluma champion Mitch Machado

Machado was on the verge of history last year as he wrapped up his third division championship by winning every point season event that was held. He was hoping to win every race the division had and was leading the Bob McCoy Memorial until mechanical issues sent him pitward. The win went to 2018 IMCA Modified State champion Shane DeVolver ahead of Steve Studebaker and Matt While. Machado does have Adobe Cup Super Stock wins in 2016 and 2013. Studebaker is the 2014 winner and past champion Jim "Woody" Woodward is the 2015 winner.

Both Studebaker and While are multi-time division champions. They've also won multiple Main Events this year at Petaluma, and While finished fifth in the highly competitive Tri State Pro Stock Series race in August. That race was won by Richard Brace Jr ahead of reigning Antioch champion Kimo Oreta and Jay Bryant. Machado ended up fifth. There was a $1,000 winner's prize on that occasion, and there will be again this time.

The Ninth Annual Adobe Cup and Fourth Annual Bob McCoy Memorial is still going to be a special occasion, and both divisions should see car counts into the 20s on Saturday. Floracing.com will be the place to watch it on internet pay-per-view. For further information, go to www.petaluma-speedway.com or go to the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Championship Night At Siskiyou Golden Speedway 

This Saturday Night

Yreka, CA...Though there are still races scheduled in October, this Saturday night is championship night at Siskiyou Golden Speedway. The IMCA Modifieds are back in action, joined by the IMCA Sport Modifieds, Outlaw Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and Jefferson State Jalopies. It's a loaded lineup that could produce one of the biggest car counts of the year. At press time, we weren't aware of any internet pay-per-view services being offered. It is possible that the track could make that announcement on their Facebook page or even stream it live there for free, as they have been doing this year.

Multi-time track champion Travis Peery is poised to add another championship trophy to his mantle place this weekend. Peery kicked the season off with back to back feature triumphs, and he hasn't looked back since. The steady Albert Gill has done his best to keep pace with him. Gill finally broke through to get his first win of the season last time out, and that leaves the multi-time Yreka and Medford champion 12 points behind going into the night. Peery has been a pretty consistent Top 5 finisher, despite not winning since the second race of the season. Gill will need his rival to have some bad luck if he wishes to overtake him. There's also a good battle going on for third between reigning champion Duane Orsburn and Jeremy Crebs. Crebs leads Orsburn by just four points. Orsburn has been better than Crebs at getting Top 5 finishes, but Crebs has had just a bit more consistency. Jeffrey Hudson has notched a pair of victories this year, and Justin McCreadie won the big Fourth of July event for the $1,500 prize.

Mike Medel was in danger of letting the IMCA Sport Modified championship slip away after Labor Day weekend. Both he and reigning champion Ethan Killingsworth inherited the championship battle as Jorddon Braaten the left for Boone, Iowa and missed both races. Braaten was back to remind everybody who the fastest car in the field belongs to as he picked up his sixth win last week. Medel is still searching for his first win of the year, though he has finished as high as second. Killingsworth has a pair of wins to his credit, but his non-finish last Saturday night will make it very difficult for him to overtake Medel without his rival having some bad luck. Other winners in the field include rookie Ryan Peery and Braxton Possinger. Possinger has a pair of wins this year. Some of the stars to watch for this week include Colt Boswell, Chad Wormington, Jace Wright, Randy Wright and Joby Shields.

The Outlaw Pro Stocks have managed to have six races this year, and there have been six different winners. The Coos Bay win went to Nevada star Jesse Gonzalez. In their five appearances at Yreka, the wins have gone to rookie Darek Alford, Matt Harlow, Jeff Haudenshild, Chico star Phil Marino and reigning champion Scott Flowers. Because Flowers is usually in the hunt for the win, he will lead the standings going into this race, although we don't know how big the lead is. The point list hasn't been made available. Alford is making great strides in the former Scott Lenz car, but he's still getting comfortable behind the wheel. Other stars to watch for this week include Colby Hammond, Dennis Burtenhouse Jr, Johnny Cobb and Scott Bennett. The beauty of the Pro Stocks this year is that just about everybody in the field has a legitimate shot at victory.

You have a shot at victory in the Mini Stocks. All you have to do is beat David Steele  Steele is on his way to his second Yreka championship to go with the two titles he's won in Medford. Despite having to fight his way to the front of the field, Steele still picked up his sixth win last time out. He overtook race long leader Hunter Magnan as they were heading to the white flag. Magnan, 2013 Medford champion Steve Goetz and Ashtin Hedges have been the toughest challengers for Steele, and all have finished on the podium on multiple occasions. Hedges has beat Steele for a win once this year, but he didn't start the most recent race due to mechanical issues. He should still be second in the standings when they are updated. Marilyn Yawnick has picked up back-to-back heat race wins, and the three-time champion would love to get a feature win. Teammate and three-time reigning champion Mike Whitaker has had slightly better Main Event success than her. 

Yawnick is also racing in the Jefferson State Jalopies class, where she is the reigning champion. She won the heat race last week and led several laps of the Main Event, but the checkered flag found the same guy leading who has won all three Main Events for the group this year. Division co-founder JJ Smith has won most of the heat races as well and leads Yawnick in the point battle. Joining these two for the final show should be division co-founder Karl Bernstein and the fourth car, driven by Josh Bernstein last week  Josh led several laps, but his race ended in a tangle with Smith.

We're not sure what the status is on a streaming service for this show. It's always a good idea to look for any updates on scheduling and other track news at the Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Sprint Cars, CVMS Mini Stocks 

At Keller Auto Speedway Saturday Night

Hanford, CA...This Saturday night, Keller Auto Speedway returns to action with a four division program. The King of Thunder Winged 360 Sprint Cars are back in action along with the IMCA RaceSaver 305 Sprint Cars. The House of JuJu Central Valley Mini Stocks and IMCA Stock Cars will round out what should be an exciting four division program. The track will also host a big event on October 9th and 10th, featuring The Morrie Williams and Kenny Takeuchi Tribute races before wrapping up on November 14th with the same four divisions that are being offered this week.

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Keller Auto Speedway managed to get a couple of races in before the virus shut down, and the King of Thunder Sprint Car triumphs went to Mitchell Faccinto and first time winner Keith Day Jr. They managed to have two more King of Thunder races. Back on July 27th, it was was reigning series champion DJ Netto picking up the win in impressive fashion ahead of Ryan Bernal and Faccinto. Netto scored his second Watsonville win last Friday night.

The most recent race for the class on August 8th was a win for Bud Kaeding ahead of Blake Carrick and Netto. For Kaeding, who leads the point standings out at Watsonville, this is his only win of the year. Carrick has managed to win Main Events at three different venues this year. Though there are four races in the books, but we haven't seen an update in the point standings since the track reopened after the virus shut down. Drivers to watch for on this occasion include Zane Blanchard, Tucker Worth, Grant Duinkerken, Craig Stidham and Jace Vander Weerd. There are likely to be some top competitors from Northern California as well. 

This will be the fourth appearance of the IMCA Western RaceSaver Sprint Car Series. By IMCA standards, that will make this an official championship. There have been three different winners, which includes Brooklyn Holland, Brendan Warmerdam and Blake Robertson. Holland leads Michael Pombo by one point, Kyle Rasmussen by five and Rob Solomon by six. Most of those drivers are anticipated this week along with such other notables as Albert Pombo, reigning champion Grant Champlin, Rick Bray and Blaine Fagundes.

The Central Valley Mini Stocks were originally scheduled to be in Bakersfield, but Bakersfield canceled. Hanford has served to be a home track for the group, and they were able to schedule this as a series race. They will also have a series race on October 10th, but we don't know if the Mini Stock race on November 14th will also be CVMS sanctioned. We do know that the CVMS has been in Hanford three times this year with wins going to Clinton Massey, Jeff Durant and reigning CVMS champion Dan Myrick. Ryan Doglione has a Hanford Mini Stock win and has been very fast lately. Myrick won the CVMS race back in February, but he's been struggling in recent races to get back to the Winner's Circle. Jeff Durant is not only shown as the Hanford point leader by one point over Jason Cook and four ahead of Myrick and Gene Glover, he also leads the CVMS race.

It's been more of a wide open battle with the CVMS lately as several drivers have taken their turns in the Winner's Circle. In fact, it was Massey winning the CVMS race as part of the Speedweek visit to Hanford in August. Madera visits have been won by Rod Baronian and Stockton point leader Joe Flowers. Durant's win at Merced makes him a two-time winner, while Myrick has a pair of victories to his credit, the other win happening at Kern Racesway. Durant holds a 10 point lead over Myrick, 629-619. A close battle for third finds 2018 champion Greg Baronian leading Glover by three points. Massey holds a 12 point lead over Cook in the race for fifth. Shawn DePriest, Ethan Griffioen, Rod Baronian and Matthew Herod are the current Top 10. The CVMS usually delivers a good car count to Hanford, and that is expected to be the case this time as well.

This will only be the third point race for the IMCA Stock Cars, meaning they won't meet the minimum to have a champion crowned by the sanctioning body. As they do have more races after September, the track may still do something. The record shows that reigning champion Chad Johnson and Eric Hamilton each have wins and are tied for the lead, two points ahead of Chris Broucaret and eight over multi-time champion Troy Patee and Renn Bane. In a special non-point event, Rod Bane scored the win earlier this year. Hanford is where the IMCA Stock Cars got their foot in the door in California, but big things are starting to happen for the class throughout the state. They usually deliver a double-digit car count for their appearances, and that should be the case once again this week.

It should be a good show this Saturday night. We haven't verified whether there will be an internet pay-per-view stream being offered, but that could be the case. The best way to find out is by going to www.racekingspeedway.com or checking out the Keller Auto Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Alberding, Ray, Smith, Osborne Win 

At Cottage Grove Speedway

Cottage Grove, Oregon...September 19...Kyle Alberding won the 25 lap Limited Sprint Main Event Saturday night at Cottage Grove Speedway. This was his second win of the season. Rain on Thursday night and on Friday cleared the air nicely, but it didn't prevent the races from happening. Anissa Curtice had the pole and raced into the lead at the start, followed by Jared Hood. Brian Crockett had third for three laps before surrendering the position to Alberding. Alberding slipped past Hood for second on Lap 15 and put the moves on Curtice a lap later to take command. Alberding led the final 10 laps to win with Curtice a career best second. Hood settled for third, followed by previous winner Ricky Ashley, Justin Lemon, TJ Winningham, Tim Minter, Steven Snawder, Enrique Jaime and Crockett. They ran a pair of eight lap heat races with wins going to Crockett and Alberding.

Paul Rea won the 25 lap IMCA Modified Main Event. This was his first win of the season and he becomes the seventh different winner in nine races. Rea and Preston Luckman shared the front row, but Rea led from the start. Luckman held the second position until being passed by 2019 champion Jake Mayden on the 18th lap. Rea managed to hold off Mayden to score the win. Luckman was a solid third, followed by new champion John Campos, Collen Winberger, Eric Ashley, Dan Sheller, Chad Groves and Mark Gaylord. The eight lap heat race was won by Luckman.

Brian Smith won the 25 lap IMCA Sport Modified Main Event. He also becomes the seventh different winner in nine races. By virtue of his seventh place finish, Doug Coffman won the division championship. Hoping to get a win, front row starter Matt Sanders jumped into the early lead and led nine laps before Hunter Bloom got by to lead a lap. Unfortunately, Sanders found himself back in the lead when Bloom's race came to an end on Lap 11. Sanders led until his own misfortune sidelined him on Lap 15. At that point, Smith took the lead and led the rest of the way in victory with Isaac Sanders about a straightaway behind him in second. Shawn Hand finished third, followed by Gavin Ropchan, Mike DeSilva, Ray Bloom, Doug Coffman, Travis Pruitt, KC Scott and Matt Sanders. 

The three eight lap heat race wins were earned by Jordan Henry, Scott and Hunter Bloom. Daniel Ray won the previous Main Event, but he was stuck in the 12 lap B Main on this occasion. DeSilva, who also won a Main Event on Labor Day weekend, led four laps before Ray moved by to take the lead. Ray went on to win the race comfortably ahead of DeSilva, Pruitt, Ropchan and Steve Hopkins.

Graig Osborne won the 20 lap Street Stock Main Event. This was his third win here, but he also has five wins at Coos Bay Speedway this season, where he ended up third in the standings. 2019 Coos Bay Speedway champion Steve Dubisar had the pole and led the first 10 laps. Troy Chamberlain held second for a lap before being overtaken by Adam Applebee. Applebee surrendered second to Osborne on Lap 8, and Osborne raced past Dubisar for the lead on Lap 11. Osborne stretched his advantage to about half a lap over Dubisar by the time the checkered flag flew. Applebee was a solid third with 2018 Coos Bay Sportsman Late Model champion Dyllan Siewell the final lead lap finisher. Michael Hollingsworth finished fifth, followed by Jake Mayden, Chamberlain, Hunter Berrier, Eric Freeman and Anthony Prather. Osborne and Applebee won their respective eight lap heat races.

Preston Luckman won the 30 lap Late Model Main Event. Luckman was the 2018 Cottage Grove champion and won the Coos Bay title last year. Coos Bay racer Braden Fugate had the pole for the race and set the early pace ahead of Ryan Ronning. Luckman moved by Ronning for the second position on Lap 9 and set his sights on Fugate. On the 25th lap, Luckman made his winning move on Fugate and would hold him off the rest of the way for the victory. Rob Campos finished third, followed by Chuck Christian, Ronning and Bruce Rayburn Jr. Christian also won the eight lap heat race.

Ricky Ashley won the 20 lap IMCA Sport Compact Main Event. This was his third win of the season. By virtue of his fourth place finish, Barry Cannon is the division champion. Ashley had the pole for the race and moved into the lead at the start ahead of Seth Christian. Kerry Cooper took second from Christian on Lap 5 and would follow Ashley closely the rest of the way for the runnerup finish. Christian settled for third in what was a photo finish with Cannon. This year's division point runner up, Brad Martin, settled for fifth ahead of Tim Maltebarger, Jeremy DeGroot and Kimberly Cannon. The eight lap heat race win was earned by Ashley.

Currently, there is no racing scheduled for this weekend, but the track has races planned for October. Any racing remaining on the schedule will be broadcast on internet pay-per-view at Dirt Oval TV. For further information, go to www.cottagegrovespeedway.com or check out the Cottage Grove Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Nascimento, Tripp, Flowers Win At Stockton 99 Speedway

Stockton, CA...September 19...Eric Nascimento won the 50 lap Late Model Main Event Saturday night at Stockton 99 Speedway. Nascimento is the current point leader, and won the previous Main Event. Gary Shafer Jr had to pole and raced into the lead ahead of Ty Carlson and JoJo Stearns. Colby Potts moved past Stearns for third on Lap 16, and Carlson saw his run in second end on Lap 28. Nancimeto moved into second at that point and began pressuring Shafer for the lead as Potts saw his run in third come to an end on Lap 31. Nasimento made his winning move on lap 48 and went on to victory. Shafer held off Sam Solari to finish second. Stearns settled for fourth, followed by Aaron Shankle, Chad Hollman, Dennis Byers, Daniel DeVore, Roy Luft and Greg Uffins.

Rodney Tripp won the 20 lap Bomber Main Event. Tripp had the pole and led the entire distance, winning by a straightaway by the time the checkered flag flew. Kyle Singleton ran second for three laps before being overtaken by reigning champion Mikala Stearns. Stearns would finish second ahead of Singleton, point leader Jeana Ramos, Justin Scantlin, Allen Rider and Tony Walz.

Joe Flowers won the 20 lap Basically 4 Cylinder Main Event. Flowers won the previous Main Event and has had a dominant season as he leads the point standings over Mark Hunt. Hunt had the pole and led four laps with Flowers running in second until making what proved to be his winning move on Lap 5. Andy Rumsey held second on Lap 6, but he surrendered the position to Jeff Harris a lap later. Harris kept it close, but he settled for second to Flowers. Hunt held the third position until being passed by Barrett Sugden on the 22nd lap. Hunt settled for fourth, followed by Dave Keller, Danny Helm, Jordan Lovelace, Billy Rodriguez, Katy Hunt and Andrea Rumsey.

Evan Laires won the 15 lap Mini Cup Main Event. Laires is the current point leader. He started on the pole and led the entire distance. Sister Molly Laires held second for two laps before Gage Wicke moved by. However, Evan Laires held a straightaway advantage over Wicke by the checkered flag. Molly Laires finished third ahead of Lucas Burton.

For scheduling information and other news, go to www.stockton99.com or check out The New Stockton 99 Speedway Facebook page.

 

Antioch Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
IMCA Modifieds
Troy Foulger
Kellen Chadwick
Buddy Kniss
Jim Pettit II
Ricky Thatcher
Kimo Oreta
Jeff Browne
Jake Dewsbury
John Pierce
Stephen Streeter
Shawn DeForest DNS

IMCA Sport Modifieds
KC Keller
Trevor Clymens
Kenny Shrader
Gavin Espino
Guy Ahlwardt
Scott Savell
Jacob Haas
Kevin Brown
Mark Garner
Chuck Golden
Tyler Browne
Jacob Mallet Jr
Scott Foster
Todd Clymens
Cameron Swank
Nick Caughman Jr
Andrew Pearce
Nicolas Zapatero
Joe Salvi
Tommy Clymens
Tom Fraser
Frank Cefaliello Jr

Jay's Mobile Welding Service Hobby Stocks
Main Event
Mitch Enos
James Thomson
Adam Kujala
Jeff Bentancourt
Gavin Griffeths
Jake Bentancourt
Gene Haney
Breanna Troen
Angela Brown
James Graessle
Chase Aue
Josh Leach
Bobby Motts Jr
Dexter Long
Chris Bennett
Aiden Ponciano
Devin Vaughan
Colton Haney
Charlie Bryant
Jason Robles DQ
Ken Johns DNS

B Main
Charlie Bryant
Gene Haney
Jake Bentancourt
Bryan LLoyd
Steve Torres
Jewell Crandall
Larry McKinzie Jr
Tom Leopold DNS
Steve Perry DNS

B Main 2
Mitch Enos
Breanna Troen
Gavin Griffeths
Ryan Hart
Logan Fernandez
Michaela Taylor
Judy Arth
Jon Haney DNS
Dustin Himes DNS


Petaluma Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
Genderal Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars
Garrett Brady
Chad Matthias
Zack Albers
Carroll Mendenhall
Matt Hagemann
Brandon Gentry
Jimmy Damron
John Peters
Shiloh Borland
Jamie Faulkner
Sam Borland
Mike Dahle
Danny Marsh
Jordan Souza
Michael Affonso
Matthew Hagemann
Shawn McCoy
Joey Lingron
Tommy King
tim steger

USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Cars
Results are not official
1     #hr44 Geoff Ensign
2     #33dj DJ Johnson
3     #26 Billy Aton
4     #29t Ryan Timmons
5     #8 Kaleb Montgomery
6     #7h Matthew Haulot
7     #32x Daniel Whitley
8     #1s Nathan Schank
9     #9 Shayna Ensign        
10     #3r Bob Davis

Lumberjascks Restaurant Super Stocks
Results are not official
1     #3 Matt While        
2     #07 Manny Avila
3     #3r Sid Hess
4     #60 Shawn McCoy
5     #9z Mitch Machado        
6     #46 Steve Studebaker        
7     #11 Trevor Brady
8     #2j Justin Zwicker    

Jake's Performance Hobbies Mini Stocks
Results are not official
1     #3r Tom Brown        
2     #22r Roberta Broze
3     #5150 Jake Barretta           
4     #25 Austin Lodin


Placerville Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
Thompson's Auto Group Winged 360 Sprints
Tanner Carrick
Blake Carrick
J.J. Hickle
Andy Forsberg
Ryan Bernal
Chase Majdic
Jodie Robinson
Jake Morgan
Michael Ing
Ryan Robinson
Nick Larson
Kalib Henry
Zane Blanchard
Ashlyn Rodriguez
Justin Henry
Andy Gregg
Greg Decaires V
Max Mittry
C.J. Humphreys
Joel Myers Jr

B Main
Nick Larson
Andy Forsberg
C.J. Humphreys
Jake Morgan
Chris Masters
Justin Bradway
Justin Johnson
Bret Barney
Darren Johnson
A.J. Alderman
Lonny Alton
Josh Wiesz
Shane Hopkins

Pure Stocks
Dan Jinkerson
Nick Baldwin
Ryan Peter
Jason Palmer
Kevin Jinkerson
Les Friend
Lonnie Leonard
Jonathan Walsh
Clarence Holbrook
David Silvia
John Ewing
Jarred Hess DNS

Mini Trucks
Russ Murphy
Mike Miller
Donny Tilliery
Kevin Tremblay
Aaron Rupley
Jason Murphy
Ted Ahart
Brian Tremblay
Juan Escobar
Howard Miller
Austin Struthers

NorCal Dwarf Cars
Shawn Jones
Tommy Velasquez III
Ben Wiesz
Ryan Winter
Mike Grenert
Brandon Shaw
Kevin Bender
Dan Geil
Shawn Whitney
Corey Eaton
Travis Day
Robert Johnson
Wade Ehrlich
gage meyers
Nick Velasquez
Carl Droivold
John Williams
Austin Quilty
Dylan Shrum
Brian Quilty

B Main
Robert Johnson
Dylan Shrum
Nick Velasquez
John Williams
Wayne Ireton
Isaak Geil
Trinity Shores
Hailey Wiesz
Austin Struthers


Siskiyou Golden Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
IMCA Sport Modifieds
Jorddon Braaten
Rich McCoy
Michael Medel
Joby Shields
Parker Finley
Colt Boswell
Ethan Killingsworth
Ryan Peery
Cale Cunial
Steven Lysinger
Randy Wright DNS
Chad Wormington DQ
Jace Wright DQ

SODCA Dwarf Cars
Camden Robustelli
Chad Cardoza
Jason Robustelli
Fred Hay
Reggie Ayres
Kaycee Sheeler

Mini Stocks
David Steele
Hunter Magnan
Mike Whitaker
Steve Goetz
Marilyn Yawnick
Ashtin Hedges DNS

Jalopies
JJ Smith
Marilyn Yawnick
Karl Bernstein
Josh Bernstein


Madera Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
Nut Up Pro Late Models
Buddy Shepherd
Blaine Rocha
Glen Cook
Dylan Zampa
Ryan Philpott
Shelden Cooper
Pete Soto
Jay Juleson
Rick Thompson
Austin Herzog
Eric Seely
Joey Iest
Ross Strmiska
Seth Wise
Loren Kutz
Jason Aguirre
Lance Elliot
Tim Skoglund DNS
Jake Bollman DNS

51fifty Energy Drink Jr Late Models
Bradley Erickson
Kale McClenny
Cole Brown
Jake Bollman
Kasey Kleyn
Kabe McClenny
Brody Moore
Robbie Kennealy
Cassidy Hinds
Kercie Jung
Brody Armtrout
Hailey Liles
Holly Clark

Mini Cups/Bandoleros
Jeffrey Erickson
Caden Cordova
Joey Kennealy
Rebecca Dubie 

Cottage Grove Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
Limited Sprints
Kyle Alberding
Annissa Curtice
Jared Hood
Ricky Ashley
Justin Lemon
TJ Winningham
Tim Minter
Steven Snawder
Enrique Jaime
Brian Crockett
Cooper Desbiens
Kyle Adams
Tyler Thompson

Late Models
Preston Luckman
Braden Fugate
Rob Campos
Chuck Christian
Ryan Ronning
Bruce Rayburn Jr

IMCA Modifieds
Paul Rea
Jake Mayden
Preston Luckman
John Campos
Collen Winebarger
Eric Ashley
Dan Sheller
Chad Groves
Mark Gaylord

IMCA Sport Modifeds
Main Event
Brian Smtih
Isaac Sanders
Shawn Hand
Gavin Ropchan
Mike DeSilva
Ray Bloom
Doug Coffman
Travis Pruitt
KC Scott
Matt Sanders
Chuck Carson
Daniel Ray
Skyler Winebarger
Hunter Bloom
Jordan Henry
Theran Trissell

B Main
Daniel Ray
Mike DeSilva
Travis Pruitt
Gavin Ropchan
Steve Hopkins
Jerry Casey

Street Stocks
Graig Osborne
Steve Dubisar
Adam Applebee
Dyllan Siewell
Michael Hollingsworth
Jake Mayden
Troy Chamberlain
Hunter Berrier
Eric Freeman
Anthony Prather

IMCA Sport Compacts
Rickey Ashley
Kerry Cooper
Seth Christian
Barry Cannon
Brad Martin
Tim Maltebarger
Jeremy DeGroot
Kimberly Cannon


Irwindale Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
First Responders Night
Pick Your Part Late Models
Main Event #1
Trevor Huddleston
Nick Joanides
Dean Thompson
Dylan Garner
Dustin Vandermooren
Lawless Alan
Takuya Okada
Rodney Peacher
Kevin Furden
RJ Smotherman
Glenn Schwenger
Tanner Reif

Main Event #2
Trevor Huddleston
Dean Thompson
Nick Joanides
Dylan Garner
Dustin Vandermooren
Takuya Okada
Kevin Furden
Rodney Peacher
Glenn Schwenger
Tanner Reif

Southwest Tour Trucks
Main Event #1
Jeff Peterson
Jacob Smith
Ron Davis Jr
Austin Edwards
Curtis Burns
Ron Nava
Dallas Leininger
Steve Reeves
Parker Jones
Keaton Swane
Brian DuBoise
Ed Cutler
Sean Davis

Main Event #2
Jeff Peterson
Ron Davis Jr
Austin Edwards
Ron Nava
Dallas Leininger
Steve Reeves  
Parker Jones
Ed Cutler
Keaton Swane
Brian DuBoise
Jacob Smith
Sean Davis

Super Late Models
Dylan Lupton
Jimmy Parker
Dan Holtz
Chris Clyne
Dean Thompson
Scott Sanchez
Trevor Huddleston

Spec Racers
Andrew Porter
Andy Partridge
Kenny Smith
Jake Drew
Will Brown
Troy Andersen
Lawless Alan
Bory Molina
Dennis Arena
L.J. Billings
Mark Perry Jr
Steve Lozano

Pro Late Models
Main Event #1
Parker Malone
Trevor Huddleston
Tyler Herzog
Dean Thompson
Mike Weimann
Barry Karr
Tyler Reif
Ryan Pannone
Anthony Mainella

Main Event #2
Trevor Huddleston
Parker Malone
Dean Thompson
Barry Karr
Tyler Reif
Tyler Herzog
Mike Weimann
Ryan Pannone
Anthony Mainella  

Spears Modifieds
Eddie Secord
Jeremy Doss
Travis McCullough
Travis Thirkettle
Bill Sedgewick
William Guevara
Jimmy Dickerson
Jim Coffey
Jeff Longman
Ed Coffey
Austin Stewart
Douglas Carpenter
Nick Spainhoward
Pat Petrie
Jerry Toporek

Super Stocks
Rich DeLong III
Bryan Harrell
Robert Harryman
Kevin James
Jay Verduzco
Jerry Toporek
Jason DeLong
Harry Michaelian
Jim Vermillion

Tucker Tire Enduro
Main Event #1
Bory Molina
Rick Conti
Bobby Ozman
Ian Rotundo
Rodney Argo
Robert Rice
Brad Stellman
Mike McIntyre
Joseph Bereiter
Chris Voight
Robbie Salcido
Jason Woolcott
Tony Price
Sonya Klaus
Kirk Kubik
Trish Rojas
James Bolinas
John Beard
Cheryl Hyland

Main Event #2
Bory Molina
Ian Rotundo
Bobby Ozman
Brad Stellman
Kirk Kubik
Rodney Argo
Mike McIntyre
Joseph Bereiter
Robert Rice
James Bolinas
Robbie Salcido
Cheryl Hyland
Sonya Klaus
Tony Price
Trish Rojas
John Beard
Rick Conti
Chris Voight

Legends
Main Event #1
Mitchell Dejong
Tyler Hicks
Jeremy Doss
Chad Schug
Tyler Reif
Lawless Alan
Christen Bazen
Mike Vanderlip
Amilleo Thomson
Chloe Lynch
Tanner Reif

Main Event #2
Mitchell Dejong
Jeremy Doss
Tyler Reif
Chad Schug
Tyler Hicks
Lawless Alan
Christen Bazen
Amilleo Thomson
Chloe Lynch
Tanner Reif
Mike Vanderlip


Ocean Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 18, 2020
Ocean Sprints presented by Taco Bravo
Main Event
D.J. Netto
Bud Kaeding
Mitchell Faccinto
Chase Majdic
J.J. Hickle
Kaleb Montgomery
Blake Carrick
Max Mittry
Tucker Worth
Nick Ringo
Trent Canales
Jake Andreotti
Joey Ancona
Tristan Guardino
Kurt Nelson
Jake Haulot
Jason Chisum
Jeremy Chisum
Landon Hurst
Joel Myers
Tanner Carrick
Chase Johnson

B Main
Nick Ringo
Max Mittry
Kurt Nelson
Jake Andreotti
Jeremy Chisum
Joel Myers
Eric Humphries
Ryon Nelson
Jerry Bonnema
Ashlyn Rodriguez
John Clark
Chris Nelson
Ben Worth
Mark Chaves Jr
Ryan Bernal
Colby Johnson
James Ringo
Adam Kaeding
Sean Becker'

IMCA Modifieds
Bobby Hogge IV
Tim Balding
Troy Foulger
Cody Burke
Austin Burke
Jim Pettit II
Gary Marsh
Robert Marsh

IMCA Sport Modifieds
Adriane Frost
Tanner Thomas
Jim DiGiovanni
Markus Frazier
Kelly Campanile
Gavin Espino
Igor Gandzuk
Max Baggett
Nathan Rolfe
Steven Allee
Alex Wilson
Charlie Hunter
Nicolas Zapatero
Austin Manzella
Dwayne Short

Hobby Stocks
Rob Gallaher
Jerry Skelton
Joe Gallaher
Steve Remde
Sam Kennedy
Dexter Long
Norm Ayers
Ryan Muller
Brady Muller
Wally Kennedy
Ken Winland
Misty Welborn DNS

Four Bangers
Ryan McClelland
Nate Hart
Roy Iler
Tony Gullo
Kate Beardsley
Bill Beardsley
Nicole Beardsley
Richard Mitchell
Travis VanGilder
Mark Fields


Fernley 95 Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
IMCA Modfieds
Shawn Natenstedt
Zach Cail
Dave Duste Jr
Dave Sciarroni
Missy Natenstedt
Robert Miller
Mark Skender
Kevin Boles
Jim Turner
Larry McCracken
Chris Annas
Matt Murphy
Steve Evenson

Pro Stocks
Jay Sears
Jeff Olschowka
Robbie Grace
David Ausano
Brent Lawrence
Ryan Smith
Danneeka Garretson
Lyle Hopper
Gary Nevers
Matt Macheli
Chris Smith DNS

IMCA Sport Modifieds
Craig Nieman
Shayna Nieman
Joey Pearson
Rusty McMillan
Jimmy Ray Huffmon
Ryan Belli

Hobby Stocks
Randy Boyd
Rocky Goetz
Royce Goetz
Shane Cazel
Rick Miller
Tom Haxall
Ronny Goetz
Brandon Rosencrantz
Joseph Conroy
Raymond Eder DNS

Gen X
Travis Showe
Suzie Schmitt
Cooper Lee
Andi Hart
Cody Neff

Bootleggers
Stuart Satathite
Bryan Parkhurst
Jesse Showe
Ray Blankenship
Logan Sage
Ace Green
Glenn Lee


Stockton 99 Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 12, 2020
Super Late Models  
Eric Nasicemento
Gary Shafer Jr
Sam Solari
Jojo Stearns
Aaron Shankle
Chad Hollman
Dennis Byers
Daniel Devore
Roy Luft
Greg Uffins
Colby Potts
Justin Philpott
Ty Carlson
Steve Cabral
John Perras
Dominic Lopez

Bombers
Rodney Tripp
Mikala Stearns
Kyle Singleton
Jeana Ramos
Justin Scatlin
Allen Rider
Troy Walz

Basically Four Cylinders
Joe Flowers
Jeff Harris
Barrett Sugden
Mark Hunt
Dave Keller
Danny Helm
Jordan Lovelace
Billy Rodriguez
Katy Hunt
Andrea Rumsey
Lucas Castro
Andy Rumsey
Nick Hall
Ethan Rumsey

Mini Cups
Evan Laires
Gage Wicke
Molly Laires
Lucas Burton


Stockton 99 Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 19, 2020
Super Late Models
Eric Nasicemento
Jacob Gomes
Sam Solari
Aaron Shankle
Colby Potts
Dominic Lopez
Ty Carlson
Larry Tankersley
Daniel Devore
Jojo Stearns
Steven Fraiser
Garland Powell
Dennis Byers
Roy Luft
Anthony Powell
Justin Philpott

Bomber
Allen Rider
Rodney Tripp
Jeana Ramos
Justin Scantlen
Rodney Oliver
Mikala Stearns
Kyle Singleton
Rob Slagle
Kelsey Luft
Troy Walz

Legends of the Pacific
Kevin Travels
Brendan Rusbarsky
Keith Clements
Justin Lovelace
Dillon Washburn
Raymond Casey
Jake Williams
Mike Soiseth
Michael Stearns
Kayci Phillips
Wyatt Sansom
Aiden Phillips
Jayson Elf
Joey Sarafin
Forrest Souza

Basically 4 Cyclinders
Joe Flowers
Andy Rumsey
Mark Hunt
Jeff Harris
Billy Rodriguez
Dave Keller
Mathew Richardson
Nick Hall
Ethan Rumsey
Rod Previtalli
Andrea Rumsey
Katy Hunt
Trish Biggs
Lucas Castro
Josh Cross

Mini Cup & Bandoleros
Molly Laires
Evan Laires
Lucas Burton
Gage Wiki

 

 

The Editor's Viewpoint

When I was younger, a movie that really stuck with me was The Wall, based on the album by Pink Floyd. Bob Geldof took the starring role in this. There's a scene where he's just sitting in his chair, kind of apathetic about everything. He's flipping through the channels, and probably my favorite song on the album plays. It's called Nobody Home. Not to be confused with Nobody's home, one of my favorite Kansas songs. I didn't know why that resonated with me as much back then, but even 40 years later it still does. Some days it just hurts to be. I don't even know what moves me forward anymore. It certainly isn't optimism for tomorrow.

I heard some terrible news about a friend of mine, Rick Panfili. I'm not even going to comment on it until I know more about it. Rick is a hero of mine. I love the man like family, because he's certainly treated me as such. Both he and his wife Diana. I've watched him race for over 20 years on no budget, making the best of it. I always hoped he'd cross the Main Event finish line in first. Though it never quite happened, he's always been a winner as far as I'm concerned. I'm so happy I got to watch him win his first career heat race in person, though I wish the announcer had properly acknowledged that. The only other thing I will say is I'm praying for you Rick and I love you man.

I can't even deal with the bad news anymore. It just makes me more numb to everything, and I want to shut down. I hate it. After I lost my dad, I didn't want to hear it anymore. Through the years, I've been tasked with writing articles about people that we've lost. I get tired of it, but it's an honor to be asked. It's only an honor because I've gotten to know these people and they've affected my life in one way or the other. I woke up on Sunday morning, which was actually my birthday, and heard more bad news.

Linda Bosenecker has passed away. I know her as a lady who served as the head official for the NCMA Modified group during perhaps their best time in car count. This was when they were getting enough cars to have a B Main. When you think about it, you don't hear about women getting in there and doing a job like Chief Steward. I'm sure it happens, but it's a rarity. Linda was one of those women. If you knew her, you knew she was suited for the job. She had the respect of everybody in that group. If she made a ruling, nobody was going to intimidate her or strong arm her into changing her mind. That's what I remember.

We were at odds at that time. Once I'd made my move to support Mike Johnson and the California Modified Association, my relationship with that group got frosty. There was professional courtesy for a few years, but there is one moment that stuck out with me. A lot of people felt that when I worked with Don O'Keefe to start the Wingless Spec Sprint division at Antioch Speedway I was trying to destroy the NCMA. It would take too long to explain why that wasn't true, but I remember two years down the road when I convinced Tom Sagmiller to take a chance on what became the Open Wheel Roundup at Chowchilla Speedway.

We delivered a then record 32 cars for that show, and it was heavily supported by the NCMA. It needed to be, or we weren't going to pull it off. I knew we could get a turnout like that if the club supported the show, but would they? The answer was yes  Tom made an announcement to everybody that it was my idea inspired this event to happen. I believe the first person to walk over and shake my hand was Linda. That part always stuck with me, because I often felt like the group didn't seem to respect me or the contributions that I made to the effort through the years.

We're now almost 20 years down the road from that, and I don't think I've even seen Linda since that day in Chowchilla. I can say that I always respected her. She'd never really been anything but friendly to me. I don't remember any cross words being exchanged between each other. I didn't know how things were going with her in regards to her health, although Scott Holloway alluded to the fact that she wasn't doing so well earlier this year. I'm saddened by her passing. I talk about how it would be nice for the NCMA to make a return to their roots, but some might say you can never go home again. Certainly, people like Linda were the ones who helped make what was happening back then special in the first place. My condolences go to her family during this difficult time.

I always say I'm going to try to be brief with this column, and every week I fail miserably. We got rain in Oregon, and it was such a relief. We've been under a thick cloud of smoke from all the fires for the past week, and it was refreshing to walk out front on Friday morning and breathe some fresh air. It even rained a little bit when I was standing there. Hopefully, there will be a little bit more rain and that will assist with putting out the fires. Cottage Grove Speedway was hoping to have a race on Saturday. I think they were happy that the smoke was cleared out. It turns out the rain didn't stop that show from going on as scheduled.

The one thing about this covid-19 situation is that the tracks that are building up their multimedia infrastructure are coming out ahead of the game. For some of the tracks, the only way to open was to have internet pay-per-view. It may not be the revenue they would get from having fans in the stands, but at least it was something. My hope is that we'll hear more good news for the tracks that are running into November in terms of actually getting some fans. I know that when things start to turn to normal again, there might be a desire to put all of that camera equipment to the side and focus on people attending in the grandstands.

I have this conversation with Mike McCann, who is as old school as they come. I totally understand that you want people sitting in your grandstands and consuming your food and drinks from the concession stands. That's the recipe for keeping the gates open. However, we also have to recognize that we're evolving with the times. Look at it this way. It used to be you had a couple of scorekeepers writing down each car number as they crossed the start finish line. Now, you have a computer and a scoring loop on the track doing it for you. It used to be we had a chalkboard telling people where to line up, and now we have Receivers in the ears of the drivers giving them instructions on where to line up. We evolved with the technology.

You look at the potential customer you might have who won't come to race track, but they may watch online. How much money are you leaving on the table by not doing something online? The concern a promoter might have is that fans who would come to the track will simply stay home and buy the pay-per-view. That might be the kind of fan who wasn't going to come to the track every week anyway. The fans are still going to come spectate, because it's about getting out among your friends and being there for all the sites, sounds and everything that goes with being at the track. You don't get that by watching a computer screen. However, there are some people interested in consuming your product that way. I believe tracks are going to have to start looking at that option.

The other thing about the multimedia, video, audio and that kind of thing is that you use it to get people to come out to your track. More tracks have invested in that sort of equipment out of necessity this year. Therefore, you can start putting together highlight clips, driver interviews and those sorts of things as a marketing tool. It used to be you wrote an article and sent it to the newspapers. I still believe in the written word, but we're a visual society these days. Video presentations, photography and those kinds of things will help sell your product. I think tracks would be wise to keep those cameras rolling once they're able to open the grandstands and bring in spectators.

Some of the tracks are giving away their product for free on Facebook, but even Facebook is opening doors to other possibilities. As we've learned through Roy Bain and his internet pay-per-views on the Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series page, you can do internet pay-per-view through Facebook. There are other platforms, such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc. It's now more of an option. Ukiah Speedway has one camera plugged in with the announcer, and they do a pretty good job. There's enough quality here to charge for the product. That's pretty basic compared to all of the equipment that Kenny Shepard has invested in at Madera Speedway, but Kenny is also trying to generate content for MavTV.

The point is trying to keep the revenue up at these race tracks as this is how you stay in business. First and foremost, you're trying to get as many butts in the seats as you can. Once those gates can open to spectators, that needs to be the top goal. However, internet pay-per-views are now a secondary revenue stream. If you can generate income by doing that, selling souvenirs or other products online or whatever it may be, you should be looking into that. Furthermore, I believe you can generate revenue that way. The times are changing, and the sport will adapt and use the technology in a way that's beneficial for all involved.

Antioch Speedway did create their own streaming service in house at antiochspeedway.tv, and that was a good move. I've been preaching this idea since before I returned to the regular media effort in 2015. Larry Adams and I had several conversations on the subject, and I've been pleased to see what the track is doing these days. I have a feeling that Antioch won't just be putting all of the camera equipment away when the world returns to some sort of normalcy. I think management sees the value in what they're doing. It's revenue right now, but it will lead to even better revenue when the grandstands are able to open again. Hopefully that will be soon.

 

This Saturday night is the 18th running of the Chet Thomson Memorial Hardtop race. Chat was a Vallejo Speedway Hardtop champion in the 1960s and probably would have won multiple titles had he not been taken away from us too soon thanks to Cancer. He and car owner Bob Thomas were a winning combination. When he died, the track started running these 100 lap Hardtop races. It was the biggest Hardtop race in the state. Unfortunately, the Hardtop division dwindled as the cars evolved, and Vallejo Speedway ran the last two years of that race as a Super Modified event before closing at the end of the 1979 season.

The story for that race might have ended there, but I think there was some inspiration in what Mike McCann was able to accomplish at Antioch in 2015. He managed to mend some fences between the Hardtops and John M Soares at the time and got a race in August of that year. Mike did all of the leg work in promoting, making phone calls and doing the things you do when you want to have a big show. There were 14 cars for that occasion. Mike brought me in to do the publicity, and I would have been announcing had the regular announcer bothered to do as John asked and let me announce the Hardtops. 

I remember it being quite a show, and second place finisher Robby Waldrop certainly stole the show in the Bill McLaughlin car. He was driving the wheels off of that car. There were sparks coming from underneath it, and the only way he was going to stop was if the car quit on him. Though Larry Damitz got by him in his "Hardtop", most of us feel that Waldrop was the true winner of that race. The division was the winner with 14 cars in the pits, and I think Dave Mackey, Ken Retzloff and Tommy Thomson took inspiration in what was accomplished that night.

The trio rightly believed that they needed to do a little bit of promoting if they wanted to strengthen the Bay Area Hardtop numbers. Mackey had created a Facebook page and website trying to beat the drums, and they approached Soares about bringing back the Chet Thomson Memorial race. John was receptive to the idea, and the first event was held in 2016. I believe Retzloff was the one who sponsored some rather nice T-Shirts. I still have mine. I do wish I could be in Antioch to support the race this year. It's the biggest Hardtop event in California, and I wish it would have led to the creation of other such special Hardtop races elsewhere in the state.

I know some people aren't big fans of Mackey, and I don't quite understand why. This guy has a passion for the class and he'll do just about anything to help the cause. The presentation he puts out there with his own vehicle is a positive. He is working behind the scenes to try to make sure a few different drivers show up. That even means leading with his pocketbook. Last year, I watched him pay the entry fee for one of the racers to come support the show. That's the kind of guy Dave is, and he has my respect because of it.

At times I'm grumpy towards him and the CHA president, but it's only because I'm a fan of Hardtop racing. I'm contemplating doing something that I think can help the movement going forward, although I will withhold announcements until a decision is made. Once I make any sort of commitment, I'm sticking with it. The frustrating part is not seeing any sort of buildup towards this race. I do understand that you can't have fans in the stands and that might be a negative towards putting things on Facebook, but this has been going on for the last few years. There's too much complacency. It's not a personal shot, in my opinion, to say that the leaders need to do something or authorize somebody within the group to use the social media pages to do it for them.

Facebook is the easiest thing to use. Twitter is a snap as well. How hard is it to snap a few pictures, type a couple of sentences and put that on Facebook? You can dictate into your phone and suddenly have information posted. Leading up to the next show, there should be stuff on social media. The night of the race, there should be a little bit of information. Afterwards, you should be congratulating the racers and sharing photos. Market the product. If you market the product, it can only grow. This is the area that the Hardtop movement is lacking.

When it comes to passion for the cars themselves, you need only look at the drivers to understand that it's there. Look at Ken Clifford, who now owns three cars in his fleet. Look at Doug Braudrick as he recreates something special as a tribute to his father. He's worked very hard on The Junkyard Dog, and it shows. Look at Dave Mackey, Tommy Thomson, Ron Ruiz and so on. Don't tell me these guys don't care about their race cars. That's not the problem. These guys love these cars and are Hardtop enthusiasts all the way. They are keeping it going.

The problem boils down to presentation of the movement itself, information being put out in a timely manner and organization. Anybody with a Hardtop needs to be personally contacted at least leading into the season if not on a somewhat regular basis. Thanks to Facebook and other social media, most people are already available. I believe that this sort of thing would boost the numbers on any given night in which the Hardtops are competing. It's just standard procedure. I know how much using social media to market the Medford track helped us out up here, and I did many things to grease those wheels.

2015 and 2016 saw 14 cars in the field for each special race at Antioch Speedway. I think that might be the high water mark for the track since they started holding races for the class over a decade ago. The capability is there to go higher. Prior to this year, I did a roster count and came up with over 40 names. Some of those cars haven't been seen in a while, and it's possible a few of those cars are duplicates. I can confidently say there's been over two dozen cars that have competed in the Northern California area in the last five years, so we know the potential is there 

It just so happens that Saturday night is a night for nostalgia with the Kenny Takeuchi Memorial race happening at Madera Speedway for the Legends of Kearney Bowl Super Modifieds. There might have been a visitor or two coming from the valley to Antioch, but I'm not expecting that now. I think Antioch could deliver 10 cars or so for this event. Mackey is working diligently to make sure three of those cars are there. Braudrick should be there with bells on. Mikey Slaney has joined the ranks in the former James Bradburn car, although I expect he'll be at Watsonville with his son. The cars will be there, so it's an opportunity for Hardtops to shine at Antioch Speedway. I'd like to see a few other special events dot the Hardtop calendar in California at other venues in the future.

Just what the car count will be for this occasion, I couldn't tell you. I am hopeful for double digits in the Hardtop class, although that's not a guarantee. The track removed the Super Stocks from the schedule so the drivers could support the big show at Petaluma, but they've added Hobby Stocks. This will be a non-point Hobby Stock race as some drivers were planning on going to Watsonville, but they'll do better in car count than they would have with the Super Stocks. Double digits should almost be a given. The Spec Sprints should be in double digits, and the Midgets are capable of it. Just how organized the BCRA will be when it comes to rallying the troops is something I'm keenly interested in. I think this could be an important date for them going forward. If they produce good enough numbers and put on a good show, Antioch could become a part of their schedule in the future.

BCRA needs to be mindful of the fact that most of the time they can't even get dates in their own territory without co-sanctioning from USAC. That's never a good sign. Furthermore, the Western Midget Racing group is growing and bringing in the young drivers from the Micro ranks. They are already at double digits, and they will expand beyond Watsonville and Ventura. They've already had dates at Petaluma, and other tracks are looking. BCRA needs to figure things out and move forward. I believe the way forward for the group is dirt, not pavement.

I do hope that the show turns out well for Antioch. There have been dates on the calendar since the track reopened under these difficult times that had me worried. I looked at some of the divisions and thought they wouldn't perform well. Maybe one division under performed, but another division delivered the goods. So far, Antioch Speedway has avoided having a complete dud of a show, but this Saturday's race makes me nervous. In any case, you can watch the antiochspeedway.tv streaming service to support the cause and find out more about what's going on at the track through their Facebook page.

From Lakeport Speedway, the NCRA put out a statement that they had made a request with the Lakeport Fair Board to extend their contract. However, there was concern from the board that the contract was so poorly written that they needed to terminate that particular deal. This was not an issue of the fairgrounds being unhappy with the NCRA or anything of the sort. It sounds as if the Fair Board was trying to look out for everybody's interest, and they can begin the bidding process again. However, doing a bidding process does mean that others can come in and make a play for the track. That doesn't necessarily mean that somebody will. I don't think the group was expecting this to happen, but they are certainly intent on keeping their relationship going with the fairgrounds. We'll keep an eye on things and see where they lead in the weeks ahead.

Friday night meant it was time for some racing at Ocean Speedway once again. We lost a pair of races at the track in August thanks to the fires and people having to temporarily relocate at the fairgrounds. One of those events was the Johnny Key Classic, which has been rescheduled for October 17th. Once Promoter John Prentice knew he could get a few more dates, he made the announcement of four added dates. Friday's show was one of them, in addition to October 9th and November 6th. If the weather holds, the same five divisions that ran on Friday will get to compete again on those occasions. 

The IMCA Modified, IMCA Sport Modified and Hobby Stock divisions were scheduled to run September 25th and 26th as part of the 10th Annual Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout. Despite the covid-19 situation keeping fans out of the grandstands and making it difficult to plan big events, this show will go on. Jim Pettit II and family have been working to keep the purse for this show at least at the level it was last year, and they've achieved that goal. There is a rather nice paying purse considering that the only way to watch it is through internet pay-per-view at floracing.com.

I find this race to be important, and anybody who knew Mr and Mrs Pettit would certainly agree with me on that. The Pettit family has been synonymous with that track for a long time, and that has included big races that Jim Pettit Sr and Pettit Auto Wreckers sponsored. They sponsored cars and they did whatever they could for the good of the sport. People know that, and it means something to them. This event has grown in importance where people circle the dates on their calendars. Once it was announced that this race would go on, the excitement began to build.

It's another one of those events that becomes sort of a party atmosphere. They do the barbecue and car show gathering on the 24th, and it goes from there. The three divisions always delight with increased car counts. Drivers flock from all over the state and even out of the state to be there. The competition level intensifies on Saturday night, and this is really one of the banner events happening anywhere in California. I look forward to watching this, but I'm also going to remember Jim and Pat. To a kid from the grandstands who was thinking maybe I could do something, they were two people who encouraged me to pursue the dream. 

The first of the four added dates to the Ocean Speedway schedule took place on Friday night, and I must admit that Tom Sagmiller again gave the racers an excellent track. They checked in with 80 cars total for the evening, and every division performed about where I thought they would. I knew that the Taco Bravo Sprint Cars would probably reach into the 30s, and they didn't disappoint. About the only division that under performed in my view was the IMCA Modifieds. I'm surprised they didn't get double digits, but it might be that those racers and even a few IMCA Sport Modified competitors were saving their cars for the big show.

It's kind of interesting watching these Winged 360 Sprint Car shows in California. Because we are running under less than ideal conditions, every track that has a race for the class seems to make out pretty well. Tracks in Northern California are not trying to book on top of each other, and that is helping. With Ocean Speedway doing it on Friday nights, the only threat to the car count would come from Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, but I don't know if that track will even have another race before the end of the year. They ended up delivering 35 cars for the show. There were teams that travelled out of the state, but there were certainly some top racers on hand for this show.

Last season, third-generation star Bud Kaeding saw a championship slip through his fingers on the last night. He had just passed James Ringo for what would have won him the championship at that final race, but he encountered slower traffic and ended up flipping that night. If Kaeding continues to maintain the pace he's on, he'll win the Watsonville championship in the legendary #69 car of his father, Brent Kaeding. He carried about a 100 point lead into the night, and second ranked Koen Shaw wasn't even there.

There's just one problem. Bud hasn't won a Main Event at Watsonville this year, and that's not something you expect from a Kaeding. He had a front row opportunity for the Main Event, but one of the current stars of the Sprint Car movement, DJ Netto, was the driver lining up alongside him. Netto had a banner season in 2019 with King of the West and King of Thunder championships. I felt like this was Bud's opportunity to get the win, but Netto was just a bit quicker. When they caught slower traffic near the end of the race, DJ didn't hesitate. He made moves that left his victory unquestioned as he forced Kaeding to settle for his third second place finish. Bud will have three more opportunities to try to get that win.

Rob Gallaher was wondering if he would get at win at his home track, which is unusual. He's been winning at least one race every year for the past several seasons, and usually more than that. He's had motor issues and other problems, but he wasn't letting his front row opportunity get away from him this time. The three-time reigning Hobby Stock champion finally got his first win, and his point leading father Joe Gallaher was a strong third. Rob is definitely one of the top Hobby Stock drivers in the state, and it's going to be exciting to watch him when he starts competing in the IMCA Stock Car class.

Though there were only eight IMCA Modifieds, they had State championship contenders Troy Foulger and Jim Pettit II along with highly decorated champion Bobby Hogge IV. This meant there could be a good battle up at the front of the pack, but Pettit didn't quite seem to be on his game. Foulger was a respectable third, but probably not the kind of result that Bowers Motorsports expects. For Hogge, it was another walk in the park to victory as he turned up for the big show by finishing ahead of Tim Balding. Foulger added a few more points to his State lead over Pettit. With all of the cars expected for the upcoming big weekend, it could still go either way in the battle between Foulger and Pettit. The track battle itself is close with only 10 points separating Robert Marsh, Pettit and multi-time champion Cody Burke.

Adriane Frost skipped a race in the IMCA Sport Modifieds, and it didn't look like the championship was something the two-time Four Banger title winner was even looking for. The battle at the front of the point list had several drivers that you wouldn't expect in the title chase, but Frost came back and continued earning good finishes. Frost and the surprising Gavin Espino entered the division's ninth race in a tie for the lead. Frost had six Top 5 finishes going into the night, making her the leader in that category. She had to find her way past 2018 title winner and previous race winner Jim DiGiovanni. Once she made that move, she held off Tanner Thomas to become the seventh different winner of the season.

Ryan McClelland was clearly the class of the field in the Four Banger division. I don't think Kate Beardsley will be able to use consistency to get the championship this time. If she's not able to dig deep and start winning some races, I think McClelland might get the championship. John Grilli took the night off, but he sent his car to the speedway with Nate Hart behind the wheel. In his first start, Hart led more than half of the race, but he just couldn't hold off the challenge of McClelland, who sped to his fourth win of the season. Like the other divisions that were included on Friday night, the Four Bangers are scheduled to be at the three added races, October 9th, October 17th and November 6th.

I saw a few critics online talking negatively about Stephen Blakesley and his job announcing. I am really not sure what the problem is. Steven knows the names in these divisions, knows a little bit about the drivers and handles his duties better than several of the other announcers I've been listening to on these various live streams. You don't tend to hear Blakesley getting over excited. He's bringing more of a TV style of announcing with him, but I find him pleasant to listen to. I also appreciate the fact that he is putting lots of other information out there on his shorttracklive.com website. I find him to be one of the leaders in the racing media effort right now, and we need more people like him and Ben Deatherage out there.

Madera Speedway came back with another MavTV Series event on Saturday. These are the shows that they record for the TV network, and they keep points for that series. The stakes are a little bit higher in these shows because it is on TV. It gives drivers that much more exposure, and sometimes emotions rise. Considering the controversial finish of the previous TV taping, not to mention what went down last week, the track was probably hoping for something with a little bit of excitement that went relatively smoothly. That's what they got on this occasion.

Buddy Shepherd has just been that much better than everybody else this year in the Nut Up Pro Late Models. Honestly, I don't think he was going to get beat at the previous race, although he was receiving lots of pressure. The ending was what it was, and he ended up getting put to the back of the finish. This time around, Buddy got the lead and didn't look back from that point on. It's looking more and more like he will win his third championship, and I say he will definitely have earned it if that's the case. Blaine Rocha wasn't looking so bad himself, and he wasn't really threatened in his season best second place finish ahead of Glen Cook.

Likewise, Bradley Erickson has had an amazing season in the 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models. Jake Bollman is certainly coming on strong lately, but once Erickson started making his move to the front of the pack, you just knew he was getting his fourth win. The McClenny brothers have been making some noise lately, and this time it was Kale McClenny getting his best finish in second. The kid drove a great race. I must say its amazing to see all the talent the Mini Dwarf Cars down in Bakersfield have produced. I was just a little bit disappointed to see Kercie Jung get taken around in the last turn. This is two weeks in a row that this talented young lady from the Bakersfield area didn't get as good a finish as she should have. She's still doing a heck of a job this year.

Cole Brown was hoping to have something for Erickson on this occasion, and he might have. Instead, he settled for a disappointed third place finish. The new restart procedure that has been put in place bit him in the rear. The leader is supposed to lead at the line, but Brown ended up just a nose ahead. He was assessed to stop and go penalty. The track elected to change the procedure from the restart box they were using after the mess they had two weeks ago, and Brown couldn't hide his frustration with the rule change. He did complain in a polite way during the post race interview, but he wasn't just being nice for the sake of being nice. In a way, I can't blame him. The track had a good reason for changing things up, but I do miss the days when a good flag man could get a good start and knew when to pull back the flag.

The Harvest Classic is coming up this weekend, and it's the 48th anniversary of this open-wheel race. Sadly, the open wheel car count isn't what it once was at Madera, and I don't know how they can get it back. It doesn't seem as if any of the California pavement tracks are having luck with this. They're going to let the 360 Super Modifieds run head to head with the Sprint Cars for that race. The Madera Late Models will be there among the usual Club Racing divisions. It's also a Legends of Kearney Bowl race that is a Salute to Kenny Takeuchi. Nutupindustries.com has been an amazing sponsor, and they'll be sponsoring the free live stream on YouTube once again. You can get more information by going to the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

I think Siskiyou Golden Speedway has noble reasons for trying to open up every week, but it has to be frustrating for management to see the low support they are getting. Only one of the four divisions delivered a double-digit count on Saturday night, and that was the IMCA Sport Modifieds. Jorddon Braaten was back, but he didn't just walk away from this one. He had to bide his time as rookie Ryan Peery and then championship contender Ethan Killingsworth held the lead. However, you don't keep Braaten behind you for long. He got by Killingsworth and sped to his sixth win. Killingsworth had issues or he at least would have gotten a second place finish. Therefore, the third place finish that Mike Medel earned will make it more of a possibility that he'll get the championship with this week's point finale ahead.

David Steele won the Mini Stock Main Event. Normally, that statement is met with complacency. He always wins, doesn't he? For whatever reason, David wasn't quite his usual fast self. He didn't do well in the heat race, won once again by Marilyn Yawnick. Steele was in third with two laps to go, but he made two amazing passes to secure his sixth win of the year. With Ashtin Hedges failing to start, it's likely that Steele will win his second Yreka championship. I was kind of sad to see Hunter Magnan get passed on the last lap as he certainly drove a good race. Somehow, earning a season-best second place finish might not be good enough after leading so much of the race.

I don't know why the Southern Oregon Dwarf Cars haven't delivered the kind of car count I thought they would to Yreka. It's closer to their Medford home than Coos Bay is. The previous race was not bad in terms of car count, but this one only delivered six cars. The drivers do get around the track pretty quickly, but Camden Robustelli had no match on this occasion. Once he got the lead, he wrapped up what would be a clean sweep performance. Fred Hay has to be at least 80 years old, and it was pretty cool to see him lead a few laps early on. He's one of the nicest guys you would want to meet. When the Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association gives full support to one of their shows, it really is an entertaining race to watch. This one fell a bit short.

I have no expectations for the Jefferson State Jalopies. It's a Yreka created class, and there's really only one team building the cars. They only have four cars, but they work hard to make sure every one of them is ready to go. This Main Event was certainly the most eventful for the group as they had three different leaders, but they got the same result. JJ Smith made a late pass on Marilyn Yawnick for his third-straight win. Honestly, I don't know what to think about these cars. They are kind of interesting looking. If they could somehow get a dozen cars on the track, they might have something here. I think that car builders Smith and Karl Bernstein need a little bit of help in that effort.

I appreciate Misty Buschman taking the time to give us a free broadcast on Facebook. Yreka fans who are enjoying the stream can now donate to help the track. It's not so much what it costs them to stream. They're probably losing money on these races. So, if you're a fan enjoying the show, throw them a few bucks if you can. They'll come back this week. All but the Dwarf Cars are returning, joined by the IMCA Modifieds and Outlaw Pro Stocks. It's also championship night.

The track took a shot at running something really special back on Fourth of July weekend. I'm still bummed out that it didn't go as well as it should have, because they certainly got the support. One thing they're not doing is trying to force their traditional races on the schedule given the fact that we can't have fans in the stands. They didn't do the John Arnberg or Bo Hitson races, and this weekend isn't the Rod Restad Memorial. I know some tracks want to keep continuity going at a time like this, but it's okay to say the year sucks and this isn't the time for the special events. That doesn't mean you're not trying to run a big race, but holding special traditional races with no fans is not really a good thing in my opinion. Give these guys credit for moving forward, even if things aren't going so well. I hope they get some good support this weekend, and you can keep up to date with any announcements that Promoter Kevin Barba might make by going to the Siskiyou Golden Speedway Facebook page.

Petaluma Speedway attempted to run a USAC West Coast Sprint Car Main Event on Saturday, but somebody forgot to rally the troops from USAC. If not for the area competitors who chose to remove their wings and go for it, this show would have completely bombed. There were just 10 drivers coming out to compete, and only last year's runnerup Ryan Timmons made an appearance in the Top 5. Antioch Wingless Spec Sprint point leader DJ Johnson gave a yeoman's effort, but he couldn't get around Geoff Ensign. A couple of thoughts come to mind after this one, maybe more.

I wonder what the motor setup was for Johnson and what changes he might have made from what he normally runs at Antioch or with the Hunt Series? I'm very happy that "The Human Highlight Reel" Ensign was back and looked like he hadn't missed a beat. He is one heck of a racer, and this one had to be a confidence booster for him, even with the lighter turnout. I also have to say that my point about Northern California starting its own Wingless 360 Sprint Car effort was proven once again. While leaving the Wingless Spec Sprint rules alone, I know there's a few tracks that would run enough Wingless Injected 360 Sprint Car races to cultivate a new series, and it would be supported.

The General Hydroponics Redwood Dwarf Cars delivered their lowest car count of the year. That's the bad news. The good news is that was still 20 cars. There were no NorCal Dwarf Car competitors as they were at Placerville, and that meant a local driver was going to get the win. I thought for sure it would be reigning champion Chad Matthias. He's been in the hunt as it is this year, but it was Garrett Brady picking up what would be his first career victory. As far as the roster goes this year, the Dwarf Cars are once again the big bright spot at Petaluma Speedway.

The Lumberjacks Restaurant Super Stocks had eight cars, but that's better than it's been. It seemed like there was drama throughout that race. I am fairly certain that the point list will show Matt While leading, although I don't know if the track is planning to crown any champions. It was still nice that they were trying to update the points, but I have a feeling we won't see an update on this. I think While would be leading Steve Studebaker, but I don't know what the margin would be. He drove a good race, but there was a little bit of contact between he and Studebaker, sending Studebaker spinning. Studebaker may have been getting a bit sideways. Mitch Machado had everybody's number, but mechanical issues got him again. After dominating this track over the past two years, he hasn't been able to hit the winner's circle yet this year. It was an entertaining race.

The Jake's Performance Mini Stocks were about as entertaining as they could be for a race that only had two cars for the final restart. Tom Brown had led the whole race, but Roberta Broze surprised him by charging into the lead through Turns 1 and 2. Roberta has looked fast this year, so it wasn't a big surprise. Unfortunately, she lost power down the back straightaway as Brown regained the lead and sped to his fourth win. Broze coasted across the line in second. The good news for Brown is that he would be listed as the point leader. The bad news is he may not officially be crowned as the track champion this year. Nobody has been a two-time champion in this class over the last 15 years, but he was the champion two years ago.

Though they're not putting up the big money you would expect from the PitStopUSA.com Winged 360 Sprint Car Adobe Cup this year, the ninth annual race will still pay $2,000 to win with a minimum of $200 to take the green flag. That's not bad under the current situation that allows no fans. The Adobe Cup will be welcoming both the Lumberjacks Restaurant Super Stocks and Tri State Pro Stock Challenge Series, which could put their numbers into the 20s for that class. This is also the Fourth Annual Bob McCoy Memorial, and I think it will pay at least $1,000 to win. Floracing.com will broadcast this one, and you can find out other information by going to the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page.

I think the Pro Stock race will go well at Petaluma this week. I know Rick Faeth was hesitant at first to give the Tri State Series an opportunity, but I give him credit for looking at what was really going on there. After the show they had in August, he was even more impressed. He didn't expect the numbers to be quite as big as they were that night given the fact that they ran at Antioch the night before. At this point, I do want to give Antioch Speedway a little bit of credit, because management didn't have to pull the Super Stocks this week.

Let me put it to you this way. The car count situation isn't ideal for Antioch Speedway this Saturday night, but what Promoter Chad Chadwick did was decide he wasn't going to force the issue and have a four or five car show in this class just to put something on the track. He removed the division. I don't know if it was because of respect for the Tri State Series or the fact that the track closest to him was running the same cars. I'd like to say that both things mattered. Some people are going to take issue with Antioch running Hobby Stocks in their place when Watsonville has a big show, but Antioch isn't running a point race for the class. I'll get back to Antioch in a minute.

The Tri State Pro Stock Series went to Nevada, and I think that's very important. When you call yourself the Tri State Series, it's good to represent three states. Oregon didn't quite work out because of the virus situation this year, but they are in the plans for 2021. We can't forget Nevada in this equation. Nevada racers support this series, and Roy Bain understands that. The Nevada tour has sort of faded away. I'm not privy to whether or not somebody else will take up the mantle and try to repair the situation for them. It seems to me tracks are interested if they can get the cars. It might take the Gonzalez family stepping up and reorganizing, but we'll just see what happens.

The Nevada tracks are trying to work together to help each other, which is really good. When the Tri State Series booked Fallon, I think it was expected that this would be an evening race, but that became clearer a couple of weeks ago. Management at Rattlesnake Speedway was working with the management at Fernley Raceway, and that meant one track was running in the morning and wrapping up in the early afternoon so that the drivers could head to the other track for the evening. The Pro Stocks were included in that. Some might have bristled at the idea of running something that early, but Roy pushed ahead with this.

Bear in mind that when point racing returns again, there will probably be a one or two race throw away rule. That will surely be clarified when the time comes. One thing Roy will have to be mindful of is what other tracks are doing when he puts a schedule together. This year was a unique situation where we weren't sure who was opening and when. If and when we return to a more normal situation next year, tracks will be more active and it might become a bit more of a challenge to get the car count. Having a one or two race throw away rule ensures that if a driver misses a race, that doesn't end a championship bid. That will become important. Once a driver loses the incentive, they stop trying to make all of the races. These are the challenges a guy like Bain faces when he puts a series together.

I wasn't able to track down all of the details from the morning show that was actually Tri State sanctioned. It was a win for Susanville Promoter Jeff Olschowka, his second with the series. Jeff was quite an internet sensation at Petaluma when he won his heat race on three wheels. He picked up the $1,000 prize at the Fallon show ahead of Bakersfield area racer Chris Smith in his best finish. Jeff tried to get a daily double, but Jay Sears held him off at the Fernley race. I don't think the promoters were too disappointed with the car count as the Pro Stocks in Nevada have struggled in recent years. I'm not even sure what the future of the class is there, but the tracks had to be happy to get a nice taste of the class. The Tri State Series heads for Petaluma this week, and it will probably be a better showing.

It's kind of interesting that some of the Nevada drivers who are in Pro Stocks these days are left trying to hold on to the class there. I remember when Gary Jacob was challenging me to print articles from tracks that were outside of what I normally covered in my magazine. His Nevada Late Model stories were a part of that, and the Gonzales, Micheli and Pearson families were among those racers. I'm not sure what the future holds for the group. One of its biggest boosters was Gordon Russell Jr, who's been trying to make racing live again in Cedarville. That reminds me. Though the Gordon Russell Sr Memorial race may have been a victim of the covid-19 situation this year, the plan is to bring it back in June of 2021. I see that as a good thing for Cedarville, which used to have weekly racing back in the day.

As I mentioned above, the Super Stocks won't be in Antioch this week. Management did the right thing by pulling them off the schedule so that everybody could support Petaluma. Management still had an issue to address given the concern over what car count might be this week. The Hobby Stocks were the only choice. As Antioch is a part of the Western States Dwarf Car Association, they couldn't book them on top of the Marysville Nationals. John Soares would have done that if he felt he had to. He would have correctly assumed that he'd have 12 to 16 cars. However, if you're going to be in the WSDCA, you have to work with them on their big events. This left the Hobby Stocks as the only viable option.

There are obviously teams that were going to Watsonville. The Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout isn't just important to the Modified divers. It means something to the Hobby Stock crowd as well. Therefore, Chad Chadwick made the decision to make this a non-point affair. He won't get the big count he's been getting, but he'll get a decent turnout. Given the questions about who might be showing up with the BCRA Midgets and Hardtops, he had to do this. There's still no major push that I'm aware of with either one of those groups to drum up support. The Wingless Spec Sprints should deliver about what they've been bringing, which makes their portion of the program the one we might be able to count on the most as we look ahead.

I've already commented on this, but I wanted to add the possibility that Chadwick could have contacted Mike McCluney about a Western Midget date. There might have been some interest in that if a deal could have been struck a few weeks ago. They've been getting 10 cars, which is a premium right now for the show Antioch is about to have. However, it looks like the BCRA has already offered them the opportunity to run with them. BCRA themselves are trying to fill the field. I'm not privy to the internal workings of the BCRA, but it seems to me they are struggling pretty mightily right now. I do hope Saturday goes well for them.

Last Saturday turned out to be a pretty good night at Antioch. The low turnout was 11 cars for the IMCA Modifieds. I was thinking they might have a few more cars, but even Watsonville failed to get 10 cars on Friday night. I'm assuming this was a case where drivers are just getting ready for the big show at Watsonville this weekend. They still had a pretty good show with the drivers who came out. Incoming champion Buddy Kniss did his best to be try to pick up the win. He wasn't quite able to hold off new champion Troy Foulger and Kellen Chadwick as he settled for third. It was still a good showing for him.

For the Bowers Motorsports Team and Foulger, this was an opportunity for them to win their fifth championship together at Antioch. They are now in elite company, The Five Timers Club. They join JD Willis, Scott Busby and Ricardo Rivera. With Jim Pettit II ending up fourth in the latest race, Foulger added some points to his State lead. It's still going to come down to Watsonville, but Pettit will need to set the tempo with a good Friday night. Given the way Foulger is looking right now, I tend to believe they're going to add the State championship to their list of accomplishments.

The IMCA Sport Modified battle didn't quite materialize. I think Mark Garner knew that Trevor Clymens was going to be hard to beat. In listening to him talk before the show, it sounded like what he was hoping to accomplish was to keep Clymens in his sights and win the title even if he didn't beat Trevor across the finish line. Mark had more of a challenge getting through the pack, and Clymens made his way to second. We're going to have to start talking about Clymens as if he is one of the elite drivers at Antioch. He's had three championships in the last five years in this class and tops the all-time winner's list for them as well. KC Keller might second guess missing the race he did. As it was, he collected his second win of the season and will end up third in the points. All in all, the 22 car field delivered on their end of the bargain.

The Hobby Stocks, meanwhile, continue to show us that they aren't done yet. I'm not sure if this was the championship decider or if there will be a point race or two in October. What I am sure of is James Thomson has done a heck of a job hanging around at the front of the pack. Once again, he ended up second. Once again, this was assisted by the tech disqualification of apparent winner Jason Robles. I don't know why he was disqualified or previous winner Mitch Enos also lost that victory in tech. 

Ironically, Late Model veteran Enos got around Thomson for what appeared to be second. He was elevated to the win. Mitch drove his ass off coming from a B Main win to what became the feature victory. With five second place finishes in a row, Thomson leads Brianna Troen by 30 points. I doubt James was making any bold predictions about championships going into the year, but he's certainly done a hell of a job.

I have to smile when I look at 32 Hobby Stocks filling the Antioch pits. There have been people worried about what adding the IMCA Stock Car class means to the future of this class. By my way of thinking, it doesn't have to mean anything. When you look at the hierarchy of IMCA, the Stock Cars are even higher up the ladder than the IMCA Sport Modifieds. When you watch IMCA Stock Cars, they are maybe a step up the ladder above Hobby Stocks, and they do cost more. The drivers will learn that. I still believe the IMCA Stock Cars will work, but they're not going to work to the extinction of the Hobby Stocks. You're still talking about two different classes, and Hobby Stocks allow Camaros and Firebirds. Those cars aren't completely gone just yet. In short, the Hobby Stocks are clearly making their case for why there's room for both divisions in 2021.

Placerville Speedway finally got in another race for their regular lineup. They hadn't had one since the Forni Classic in July. There were 29 Thompson's Auto Group Winged 360 Sprint Cars, and at last report they were only running for 50% purse. That's pretty good when you consider that. They haven't had a repeat winner yet this year, and Tanner Carrick became the seventh different winner. The first part of the Sprint Car race was rough and tumble. Once they got down to business, Tanner Carrick took control and joined his brother Blake, who finished second, as a winner this year. Both Carrick brothers have won at Marysville, Placerville and Watsonville this year as this has been a year where they've broke out and become contenders.

Dan Jinkerson was a welcome site in the Pure Stock class. The competition may not have felt that way as he took the lead and went on to victory ahead of two-time champion Nick Baldwin. He's a past champion in this class, but he's been driving a Limited Late Model for Mike Lightfoot this year. In fact, he has a win in that class as well. Russ Murphy won the Mini Truck class in dominant fashion. It's nice to see that after a few seasons, this entry level class is bringing a dozen trucks. I was a bit skeptical when they added the division, but it's certainly proving it's worth.

I was wondering if there might be a car count issue again with the NorCal Dwarf Cars. It's not so much that the drivers wouldn't be ready, but the association will be hosting the 25th Annual Western States Dwarf Car Nationals at Marysville this weekend. That not withstanding, they delivered an impressive 25 cars. Some of these drivers have been hanging around at Petaluma more this year, but that's only because Petaluma's group has been running more often. The NorCal drivers haven't had the option closer to home. When Placerville became the option against Petaluma, Shawn Jones, Ryan Winter and reigning champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert went to Placerville.

If you're going to talk about who the driver of the year has been in Dwarf Cars, the answer is Jones. I don't know if it's even close. Jones made a huge move passing two cars in Turn 4 on the opening lap to get the lead. After that, the guy wasn't even challenged as he turned in a dominant performance in victory. In fact, people betting on who will will win the Pro division portion of the Nationals might want to think about putting their money down on Jones. Ventura star Tommy Velasquez III managed to hold off rising young star Ben Wiesz for the second position as Winter and Grenert completed the Top 5. As usual, the Dwarf Cars were a positive part of what happened at Placerville Speedway.

The Mac Tiner Memorial awaits on October 3rd. The Sprint Cars and Pure Stocks will be back along with the Limited Late Models and the BCRA Midget Lites. That will bring the curtain down on the points. Actually, I haven't heard if Scott Russell is crowning champions or not this year. However, it's still pretty cool that they're keeping point totals. I really wish Cottage Grove Speedway had done the same thing as they've run enough times. Then again, Heather Boyce announced before they started doing anything that she wasn't keeping points. For Placerville, however, they look forward to the November 19th through 21st Hangtown 100 for the NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midgets. Announcements on that and anything else important can be found at the Placerville Speedway Facebook page.

Since I got into Cottage Grove Speedway, I'll go ahead and add that they managed to pull off their show on Saturday. The smoke was terrible in the area and had been for about a week. The rains we received on Thursday night were very desperately needed. They cleared the air, but it rained a little bit more. There was a question about whether the races could happen at Cottage Grove, but the track crews were able to handle what came. This could be a forewarning. They want to race into October, but I believe that's probably going to be wishful thinking. I will say it doesn't hurt to book the dates if you want to have them. The worst case scenario is you end up canceling ahead of time. I don't think it will be marginal. Everybody's going to know if it's getting rained out. You won't end up going to the track with the chance of racing. That's just the way the weather is in Oregon.

In the meantime, they still took a hit in car count. The numbers have gone down a little bit as they've gone on. I think the fact that Willamette Speedway opened has affected that. The car counts in the IMCA Modifieds, Late Models and IMCA Sport Compacts didn't even reach double digits. The IMCA Sport Modifieds had enough cars for a B Main, and the Limited Sprints and Street Stocks turned in respectable numbers. I do feel bad for drivers in the Limited Sprints, Street Stocks and Late Models. They've run at least eight races in all four classes and they may race in October. What they won't have is a championship. 

Kyle Alberding got his second win in the last three races in Sprint Car competition, but the bigger story was Anissa Curtice. She led about half of the race before finishing second. This is only her second year in Sprint Cars. Graig Osborne has been pretty dominant when he's been at Cottage Grove, and you could say the same for when he's been at Coos Bay. I think the only reason we're not talking about him as Coos Bay champion is he skipped a race, but he won five races there. He got his third Cottage Grove win, and he had to beat 2019 Coos Bay champion Steve Dubisar to get the job done. The Late Models also had a bit of Coos Bay flavor to them with 2019 Coos Bay champion Preston Luckman holding off Coos Bay rookie Braden Fugate for the win. I was disappointed that only six cars showed up for their portion of the program. 

Because Cottage Grove pays their IMCA sanctioning fees, the sanctioning body is keeping track of the other three point battles. John Campos had three wins this year, and all he needed to do was get his fourth place finish to win this year's IMCA Modified championship. Paul Rea held off previous champion Jake Mayden to claim the win. With David Schmidt not competing, the IMCA Sport Modified championship went to Doug Coffman. Doug managed a seventh place finish on this occasion. Brian Smith became the latest new winner ahead of Isaac Sanders. Ricky Ashley wasn't really competing for IMCA Sport Compact points, but he earned his third victory. By virtue of his fourth place finish ahead of Brad Martin, Barry Cannon held off Martin to win the division championship by the closest margin.

I'm kind of surprised that Cottage Grove didn't book a race for this weekend. I think in recent years they've either done nothing or had a Monster Truck show on the final weekend of September, but this isn't your typical year. They probably could have gotten a race in the books this week if they wanted. Being dark will certainly help Coos Bay Speedway as they run what was supposed to be an Interstate Sprint Car race. They bill this one as the Battle At The Bay. The track was also hoping to run Dirt Modifieds, B Modifieds, Street Stocks and Hornets, which means they can draw cars from the Cottage Grove area this week. Does that mean Heather Boyce is actually working with Drake Nelson? That I don't know. You can go to the Cottage Grove Speedway Facebook page for the latest announcements. Check the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page for announcements regarding this week, the Prather family open show the following week and anything else they may try to do if the weather allows them.

I decided that this year I wasn't going to hunt for clues on who was doing what at certain tracks. If tracks don't put results out there, so be it. Orland Raceway is usually one of those places for which I would make that effort. I'm frustrated that I can't tell you who has been competing there in the four races held so far, but I don't know. If not for Christina Meeds taking photos and posting them online, I wouldn't even have a ballpark figure on how many cars showed up. Such is the existence of Orland Raceway. We heard a few weeks ago that they are now on the MyLaps scoring system, but when they will decide to share the results with the rest of the world, I can only speculate.

From what I can tell, they hit double digits in the Pure Stock class, but I couldn't tell you for sure if they accomplished that goal in the other classes. There seemed to be at least eight Wingless Spec Sprints, about the same for 250 Wingless Micros, a half a dozen Winged 600s and maybe the same in Mini Stocks. I'm so unfamiliar with names in the Micro classes that I once again can't tell you who got the wins in those divisions. I feel bad about that, because Saturday seemed like their best effort yet this year, and they deserve acknowledgment. When Orland starts putting results out there, they remain one of those tracks that I would like to cover on this blog.

Jacob Johnson drove the Jerry Bartlett Hobby Stock to victory. I believe he is the son of past Marysville champion John "Porkchop" Johnson, so seeing this kid getting the victory doesn't surprise me. Obviously Bartlett can see the talent and is giving him an opportunity. Something may have happened with Phil Spencer, who was hoping to get his third win. The defending champion voiced his disapproval of a slower car that took him into the infield. Orland is one of those tight race tracks. They're a 1/5 mile dirt oval, so you can run out of room a little bit quicker there. You have to make your moves quickly or the window can close on you just like that.

I find it interesting that for the second week, Tom Davis was shut out of the win column in the Mini Stocks. He may be the most dominant driver in this division in Northern California, but Shasta Hornet racer Dustin Hills got the job done once again. I like seeing Tom having to deal with a little bit of competition. That's what's going to build this class back up, the idea that other people have a shot at victory. The same can be said for the Wingless Spec Sprints, but there's no substitution for the experience that past Orland and Chico champion Tony Richards brings to the table. He now has four wins in a row.

I like what Orland Raceway does, and I do support them. It's one of those cases where I have to quote a line from Jerry Maguire. It's one of those lines I've been using fairly often since coming back to the sport in 2015. "Help me, help you." I can't write about anything if I don't know what happened. Sadly, I was looking on YouTube and just noticed that the Wild Iron Horsemen hasn't been putting videos up until just recently. We'll take a look and see what goes up this week, but I would still need names to go with the numbers. Orland Raceway isn't done yet, and you can probably find the next announcement at the Orland Raceway Facebook page.

While doing my preview article for Ocean Speedway, I came across some disappointing information from Bakersfield Speedway. Quietly, they've removed the Bud Nationals from their schedule. Their countdown clock lists the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets show on November 17th as their next scheduled event. It's sad to see this race go away for the year. I don't think Scott Schweitzer was necessarily happy to make that decision, if it is indeed pulled. I tend to think it is, because the hype would be starting right now. Everybody would want to know what the race is going to pay.

I didn't think the Bakersfield area would be hit as hard by this virus BS as they have been, and I sort of thought that Scott would be a leader in getting tracks open. When he voiced his disapproval of having no fans in the stands earlier this year, I realized that wasn't going to be the case. My hope was that the Bakersfield community would pull together a little bit and help get purses together to keep the show going, but it doesn't appear to be happening. Unless somebody decides to throw an IMCA Modified and Sport Modified race in there, that means that the second week of October will have no special show for them. I suppose we'll have to watch the Bakersfield Speedway Facebook page to see if anything changes.

I'm going to wrap up this long column. It's hard to believe that we're almost through the end of September. It's officially Fall now. We were told that it was possible we could get to the point of bigger gatherings by now, and yet it hasn't happened. Just as quickly as bad news can come on any given day, good news can come as well. I'm not telling you to expect that, but you never know. We'll be watching most of the action from internet streaming services this weekend. Competitors will be able to gather at least, and the show goes on. Racing will stretch deep into November this year with some other big events on the way.

I'm trying to figure out how we can do things on the blog next year. I don't want to do things quite as big unless I'm actively involved with a race track as publicity director and announcer. Short of that, is there a way I can do some current stuff without overdoing it? The big posts I think need to give way to smaller posts. I do need to have more time to work on history stuff, and I really am trying to stay focused on completing at least one book during the off season. I'm also considering new racing projects that I can get involved in that wouldn't be too stressful and would be helpful to the cause.

I'm looking at different possibilities that would keep me engaged, but there are other factors as well. What will life throw at me? None of us knows what tomorrow holds, and I can't take it for granted that I will be in a position to even do anything. That's one of the reasons why getting another book done is important to me as I want to tell the rest of that story and start working towards the important history books I would like to write. If certain things go in another direction, I don't know what I'll be able to do. Never take it for granted that tomorrow is coming, because you never know. Appreciate each day as it comes. I'm trying to learn to do that.

On that note, I will end this column. Until next time...