Madera Speedway, Antioch Speedway, Dixon Speedway, Coos Bay Speedway, Lakeport Speedway, More

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Aguirre, Secord, Jacks Win Madera Raceway Club Show

Madera, CA...September 12...Jason Aguirre won the 40 lap Late Model Main Event Saturday night at Madera Speedway. This was a regular Club Race, and there have been no repeat winners in this Late Model Series so far this year. 

Aguirre had the front row and charged into lead over Sheldon Cooper and Tim Skoglund. Cooper was looking for his second win in the series as he also leads the overall track points. A Lap 16 yellow flag flew when Del McIntosh spun on the frontstretch after contact from incoming point leader Lily Mead. Aguirre continued to lead Skoglund and Cooper on the restart, but Cooper made an inside pass in Turn 1 on Lap 21 to regain second. Cooper began pressuring Aguirre for the lead, and he got a strong run on the inside as they headed towards Turn 1 on Lap 32. Aguirre cut off Cooper entering Turn 1, resulting in a Cooper spin. Cooper suffered damage and was eliminated in the incident. Aguirre led Skoglund and Aaron Mullins on the restart as championship contender Trevor Schlundt bolted into fourth. Mead and McIntosh again got together on the backstretch on Lap 36, resulting in both drivers spinning. Mead was sent to the infield for her part in the incident, which will likely result in a new point leader at the end of the night. Aguirre led Skoglund and Mullins on the restart, and they finished in that order at the checkered flag. Trevor Schlundt took the checkered flag in fourth, followed by Mike Shapiro, Mike Brumit, Eric Seely, McIntosh, Mead and Cooper. Cooper had the fast time on the 1/3 mile paved oval at 15.050, beating the 15.134 of Aguirre. Aguirre and Mullins were the eight lap race winners.

Eddie Secord won the 50 lap 602 Crate Modified Main event. The last time out, Secord led most of the race before being passed late and settling for second. On this occasion, he set a rapid pace and turned in a dominant performance in victory. Secord raced into the lead at the waving of the green flag ahead of Kayli Barker. Joe DeGuevara made an outside pass on the frontstretch on Lap 3 to take second from Barker, and.a yellow flag waved on Lap 6 for a Turn 4 tangle involving Scott Osborne and Ethan DeGuevara. Secord remained in command on the restart. Scott Hamm moved into second and Payton Bell settled into third. Previous winner Jaron Giannini slipped past Barker for the fourth position on Lap 9. Out front, Secord steadily pulled away from the rest of the pack and took the checkered flag a straightaway in front of Hamm as the rest of the race ran without incident. Hamm was a solid second, followed by Bell, Giannini and Barker. Secord set the fast time of 15.011, beating the 15.121 of Giannini. The eight lap heat race wins went to Hamm and Secord.

Ty Jacks won the 30 lap Hobby Stock Main Event. Jacks raced into the lead at the start with Billy Maddox and point leader Manny Gonzales Jr quickly moving into second and third. A Lap 7 yellow flag flew when Gonzales and Maddox tangled in Turn 2. Jacks continued to lead the restart ahead of Nick Rowe and Tyler Rogers. A low pass in Turn 4 on Lap 13 gained Maddox third, and he went inside Rowe in Turn 1 on Lap 17 to claim second. Gonzales was battling Rogers for the fourth position before finally making a pass stick in Turn 1 on Lap 26. A Lap 27 yellow flag waved for Rogers, who exited the event from there. Jacks had Maddox and Gonzales pressuring him hard on the restart, but he stuck to the bottom line and managed to hold them off for the checkered flag. Maddox settled for second ahead of Gonzales, Rowe, Bakersfield Hardtop racer James Bradburn and Rogers. Gonzales set the fast time of 16.186, beating the 16.275 of Rogers. Maddox outran Jacks to win the eight lap heat race.

Ryan Reynolds won the 30 lap MST Main Event. This was his second win of the season as he keeps pace with brother Shaun Reynolds in the point battle and in the win column. Ryan Reynolds raced into the lead at the start ahead of Shaun Reynolds and Haley Bugg. For about 20 laps, the brothers had an intense, side-by-side battle. Ryan stuck with the outside, while Shaun handled the inside. They came up on the Toyota Sedans on multiple occasions to put them a lap down, but Ryan was relentless and refused to give up on the outside lane. He continued to beat Shaun back to the line each lap by a nose. Shaun made his move on the inside in Turn 2 on Lap 20 to briefly take the lead, but they were still running side-by-side. Ryan made an outside pass in Turn 4 on Lap 23 to regain first. They came up on traffic on Lap 28 and touched, resulting in Ryan Reynolds nudging ahead of Shaun Reynolds at the checkered flag. Bugg was a lead lap third. Thomas Magray was the lead Toyota and finished fourth overall in front of fellow Toyota racer Wyatt Cantrell. Ryan Reynolds had the fastest MST time of 16.603, while Magray was the fastest Toyota qualifier at 17.935. Ryan Reynolds outran Shaun Reynolds to win the eight lap heat race.

Next Saturday will be another MavTV Series televised race. The Nut Pro Late Models will be back for a $1,000 to win event. Also competing will be the 51fifty Energy Drink Junior Late Models, the California Challenge Cup Series and the Mini Cup vs the Bandolero Series. Thanks to nutupindustries.com, the event will be broadcast on the track's YouTube page for free. For further information, go to www.racemadera.com or check out the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Jones A Double Winner At Antioch Speedway

Shawn Jones #24 scored the Wingless Spec Sprint Main Event victory. Photo by Paul Gould.

 

Antioch, CA...September 12...Shawn Jones won both the 25 lap Wingless Spec Sprint and 25 lap Delta Dwarf Car Main Events Saturday night at Antioch Speedway. Jones is a past Watsonville and NorCal Dwarf Car champion, and he's also the 2018 Hunt Wingless Sprint Series champion. He becomes the sixth different Spec Sprint winner in seven races. He's also the fifth different winner in seven Delta Dwarf Car shows, while also winning the Pro division portion of the Dwarf Car Regionals at Antioch in July. Covid-19 guidelines meant that no fans could attend this race, but it was all broadcast on internet pay-per-view at antiochspeedway.tv.

There were 14 Wingless Spec Sprint competitors. Jones outran two-time Watsonville champion Jimmy Christian to win the first eight lap heat race, while point leader DJ Johnson outran two-time Antioch champ Bob Newberry to claim the victory in the second heat. Jones had the pole for the Main Event alongside Johnson, who was going for his third win of the season. Unfortunately, Johnson didn't finish and would lose some of his advantage in the standings over 14 year-old Dylan Bloomfield. Bloomfield came from the third row to second and chased Jones across the finish line. Past BCRA Midget champion Matt Streeter drove the Ted Finkenbinder car to a third place finish, followed by past Petaluma champion Ryon Siverling, Roy Fisher, Alan Miranda, Kevin Box, Tony Bernard, Jeff Scotto and Jimmy Christian.

 

Shawn Jones #80n won the Delta Dwarf Car Main Event. Photo by Paul Gould.

 

There were 21 Delta Dwarf Cars on hand for this show, and they ran three eight lap heat races with the wins going to two-time Antioch champion Danny Wagner, reigning NorCal Dwarf Car champion Michael "Spanky" Grenert and past NorCal champion Ryan Winter. Front row starter Wagner and Winter battled at the front of the pack as Jones quickly joined the fray from fifth starting. Jones managed to get past both drivers and would pick up the win. Winter settled for second, followed by Wagner, Sean Catucci, Garrett Brady, Dennis Gilcrease, Grenert, championship contender Devan Kammermann, John Williams and Joe Tardiff.

 

 Fred Ryland drove the Jim Freethy #99 car to a Main Event win. Photo by Paul Gould.

Fred Ryland won the 15 lap Super Stock Main Event. Ryland was subbing for Jim Freethy on this occasion and would also win the six lap heat race. Ryland turned in an impressive performance in victory with Jay Bryant chasing him in second, followed by Chris Long and John Evans.

Chris Corder #68 won the Four Banger Main Event. Photo by Paul Gould.

Chris Corder returned and won the 25 lap Valley Four Banger Main Event. Corder is a three-time Merced Speedway champion and won the Antioch season opener. The track offered a purse to the Top 5 finishers with Corder clamming the $100 first prize. Corder and Central Valley Mini Stock competitor Ryan Doglione won their respective eight last heat races. Both drivers started back in the fourth row as reigning CVMS champion Dan Myrick led early. Both Corder and Doglione managed to get by Myrick, and Corder held off Doglione for the victory. Myrick settled for third, followed by Clinton Massey, current CVMS point leader Jeff Durant, Trevor Jolley, 2018 Merced champion Allen Neal, current point leader Jess Paladino, Matt Herod and Shawn DePriest.

Next Saturday night is IMCA championship night, featuring the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. The racing will be broadcast on internet pay-per-view at www.antiochspeedway.tv. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

 

Collins Wins North State Modified Race At Lakeport Speedway

Lakeport, CA...September 12...Charlie Collins won the 60 lap North State Modified Series Main Event Saturday night at Lakeport Speedway. A restart with 15 laps to go provided Collins an opportunity to move past previous winner Kyle Tellstrom, and he surprised him by getting the lead that he would take all the way to the checkered flag. This was the final race of the season at Lakeport Speedway, and covid-19 guidelines meant that fans could not attend. However, the track broadcast the entire show for free on their Facebook page. 

Darrin Sullivan brought the pack to the green flag and raced into the early lead ahead of Ian Elliott and Collins. Jeremy Nowlin made an outside pass on Collins on the backstretch to take the third position on Lap 3. Tellstrom made an outside pass on Collins to take fourth on Lap 10, and a yellow flag flew for Richard Knight in Turn 2. Sullivan continued to lead the restart with Nowlin charging past Elliott for second. An outside pass on the backstretch on Lap 16 gained Nowlin the lead, and Tellstrom went to the outside of Elliott in Turn 4 on the same lap to grab third. Tellstrom made an outside pass on Sullivan for second on Lap 17 and began to pressure Nowlin for the lead. An outside pass in Turn 4 on Lap 23 gained Tellstrom the lead. Collins was back in the third position, and the lead three drivers ran closely at that point. Scott Winters made an outside pass in Turn 4 on Lap 31 to grab fifth from Sullivan, and he made a high pass in Turn 4 on Lap 39 to take fourth from Cody Braund. Nowlin was right on the rear bumper of Tellstrom and challenging him for the lead when he unexpectedly hit the wall in Turn 4 for a Lap 45 yellow flag. Tellstrom was working well on the outside and stayed with it for the restart, only to watch Collins get a good run on the inside to grab the lead. During the final 15 laps, Collins pulled away to about a straightaway advantage over Tellstrom in victory. Winters had taken the third position on the restart and finished there, followed by Braund, Darrin Sullivan, NCRA Limited Modified champion Mike Sullivan, Dustin DeRosier, Chris Salmina, Richard Knight and Noah McCormick.

Tellstrom was the fastest of 17 qualifiers on the quarter-mile paved oval at 12.414, beating the 12.437 of Winters. Darrin Sullivan outran Tellstrom to win the six lap Fast Dash. The Show Dash went to DeRosier ahead of Keith Bloom. Bloom headed to he pits just before the green flag waved on the Main Event to end his night early.

Simi Tour won the 30 lap Taco Bell Bombers Main Event. Jim Kollenborn led a lap before an inside pass in Turn 3 gained Tour the lead. Forrest Kuecker led Mikey Snider past Kollenborn for the second and third positions on Lap 4. However, Tour began to pull away from the competition in the non-stop event. New champion Donovan Cox settled into fourth on Lap 7. By the 20th lap, only the Top 4 competitors were on the lead lap. Tour won by a straightaway ahead of Kuecker, Snider, Cox, Kollenborn, Trevor Abella, Klinton Waite, Amber Portlock and Kasey Horat. Kuecker had the fastest lap of 13.812. Horat outran Kuecker to win the six lap Trophy Dash. Kollenborn won the first 10 lap heat race ahead of Abella. After Snider led the first seven laps of the next heat race, Kuecker went racing by to grab the lead and eventual victory.

Johnny Barker won the 30 lap Pro 4 Modified Main Event. This was his second win of the season. Barker charged into the early lead ahead of Ron Portlock and Mike Peterson. Peterson went high in Turn 2 on Lap 3 to take the third position from Portlock, but Barker pulled away from him rapidly. Barker lapped fourth place James Gard on Lap 15 and put a lap on Portlock  three laps later. Barker also managed to put a lap on Peterson as he won ahead of Peterson, Portlock and Gard. Will Robertson and Wade Eldrege were Main Event scratches. Barker was the fastest qualifier at 12.441 and outran Portlock to win the six lap Trophy Dash. Barker completed the clean sweep with the 10 lap heat race win ahead of Gard.

2019 champion Cody Winchell won the 30 lap Legend Car Main Event. For much of the race, it looked like Late Model star Jeremy Doss might pick up his second-straight win. Doss raced into the lead early on ahead of Winchell and new champion Kylie Daniels. Mark Burch was running a steady race in the fourth position. The leaders came up on slower traffic by Lap 10, but Doss continued to hold off Winchell. Burch was lapped on Lap 17, leaving just the Top 3 competitors on the lead lap. Working traffic on Lap 24, Winchell spun in Turn 1. On the restart, Doss appeared to have mechanical failure entering Turn 1, collecting Winchell. The race was over for Doss. Winchell led Kylie Daniels on the restart. Despite heavy pressure from Kylie Daniels the rest of the way, Winchell picked up the victory. Tom Summers was two laps down in third, followed by Burch, announcer Dan Camacho, Trey Daniels and Doss. Doss was the fastest qualifier at 13.736 and also outran Winchell to win the six lap Trophy Dash. Doss also outran Kylie Daniels to win the 10 lap heat race.

Noel McCormick won the 20 lap Late Model Main Event. There were only two competitors in the field, but they put on a good battle in their 20 lap combined Main Event and heat race. Late Model veteran Bill Binns set the pace for four laps before McCormick went by on the outside. Binns stayed with him from there until having mechanical issues on Lap 18 and pitting as McCormick picked up the victory. McCormick had the fast time of 12.250, beating the 12.288 of Binns.

Landyn Snider won the 15 Lap Bandolero Main Event. Scnider has more experience than the other competitors in the field. He lapped newcomer Braydon White on Lap 2 and put a lap on second place Courtney Portlock on Lap 4. Sinder would lap those two again on his way to victory as Portlock finished second ahead of White. Snider had the fast time of 14.942 and also won the six lap Trophy Dash.

For updates and news from the track, go to the NCRA Lakeport Speedway Facebook page.

 

Gray, Sharp, Bell, Davis Win On Exciting Night 

At Dixon Speedway

Dixon, CA...September 12...Cody Gray won the 25 lap Wingless 600 Micro Main Event Saturday night at Dixon Speedway. This was the second win of the season for Gray. Looking for his fourth win in the last six races, Austin Stone charged into the early lead ahead of Brandon Shaw and point leader Kelvin Lewis. Lewis moved by Shaw for the second position on Lap 7, but Shaw was back in front of him on Lap 8. A Lap 16 yellow flag slowed the pace, followed by a Lap 17 caution. Stone continued to lead Shaw on the Lap 18 restart as Gray moved past Lewis for third. Gray slipped by Shaw for second on Lap 20 and then put the moves on Stone to grab the lead on Lap 23. One more slow down occurred on lap 24. Stone gave it a shot on the final restart, but Gray was just too quick for him as he beat him back to the checkered flag. Shaw settled for third, followed by Lewis, Travis Sullivan, Chris Parmley, past Petaluma Dwarf Car champion Dave Mosier, reigning Super 600 champion Kyle Mentch, Nate Wait and Blake Parmley.

There were 30 competitors, and Mentch set the fast time on the 1/5 mile dirt oval at 11.001, beating the 11.037 of Stone. The four 10 lap heat race wins were earned by Blake Parmley, Shaw, Jeremy Chapman and Lewis. Stone outran Lewis to win the 10 lap Trophy Dash. JJ Loss won the 12 lap B Main ahead of Matthew Santana, Chuck Patterson, Danny Rozendahl and Harley Rose.

Izaak Sharp won the Super 600 Main Event. He becomes the seventh different winner in 12 races. Looking for her first win of the season, Hailey Wood charged into the early lead ahead of Devin Courtnier and Sharp. Sharp slipped past Courtnier for the second position on Lap 3, and a yellow flag waved on lap 11. Wood continued to lead Sharp and James Andrichuk on the restart. A fierce battle ensued between Sharp and Wood with Sharp grabbing the lead on Lap 16. Wood moved back around on Lap 17, but Sharp regained first on lap 19. Courtnier and Andrichuk both moved past Wood for second and third on Lap 22. Sharp led the rest of the way to win, followed by Courtnier, Andrichuk, Ricky Sanders, Wood, Blaine Baxter, Dennis Sherer, Jason Chapman, Pete Piantanida and Anthony Lewis. Courtnier had the fastest lap of 10.296, beating the 10.379 of Sharp. The 10 lap heat race wins went to Baxter and Sherer, while Wood outran Courtnier to win the six lap Trophy Dash

Bryant Bell won the 20 lap Restricted Main Event. This was the third win of the season for the current point leader. Matthew Tatoole raced into the early lead ahead of Brandon Riveira and Izaak Sharp. Following a Lap 2 yellow flag, Riveira took the lead from Tatoole on the restart as Bell settled into third. Riveira continued to lead through Lap 9 and Lap 10 yellow flags with Bell moving into the second position on Lap 11. Yellow flags waved on Lap 12 and 13, but Riveira led Bell and Tatoole on the restarts. Bell began pressuring Riveira hard and made the move for the lead on Lap 18. Bell led the rest of the way for the win, followed by Rivera, Tatoole, Colin Kirby, Sharp, AJ Nielson, Colton Key, Austin Wood, Jackson Kohler and Lucas Johnson. Riveira had the fast time of 10.933, beating the 10.998 of Wood. The 10 lap heat race wins went to Riveira and Kohler. Tatoole outran Sharp to win the six lap Trophy Dash.

Briggs Davis won the 20 lap Jr Sprint Main Event. In the process, he became the seventh different winner in 12 events. Davis had a front row start and charged into the early lead and over championship contender Kyle Fernandez and point leader Makayla Tatoole. There was a yellow flag after three laps. Davis continued to lead Fernandez on the restart as Kellen Harper moved into the third position. Another yellow flag slowed the pace on Lap 9, but Davis continued to run a great race up front as he led Fernandez and Harper. A Lap 18 yellow flag set up a potential duel to the finish. As Davis continued to lead the way, Harper surprised Fernandez by slipping past him for the second position. Davis went on to score his first win of the year. Harper was a season best second, followed by Fernandez, Tatoole, Vito Cancilla, Ryder Johnson, Jonathan Andrichuk, Austin Turner, Ryder Byrd and Reid Baxter. Harper had the fast time at 13.144, beating the 13.278 of Davis. Fernandez and Davis won the 10 lap heat races, and Davis completed the clean sweep with the six lap Trophy Dash win.

The next race on the schedule will be October 10th, featuring all of the regular Micro Sprint classes. That will be the final point race of the season, but the track will also run the 8th Annual Kaiser Memorial race on November 6th and 7th. For further information, go to www.dixonspeedway.net or go to the Dixon Speedway Facebook page.

 

 

Luckman, Dubisar, Beaudoin, Christensen Win 

On Championship Night At Coos Bay Speedway

Coos Bay, Oregon...September 12...Preston Luckman won the 25 lap America's Mattress Super Late Model Main Event Saturday night at Coos Bay Speedway. This was also NASCAR championship night. The reigning Coos Bay champion started in the second row and wasted little time getting past the front row of Deven Brown and Bruce Rayburn Jr. It was fourth row starters Braden Fugate and Brody Montgomery making a mad dash to the front of the pack as both were in championship contention. As Luckman picked up his fifth win, Fugate collected yet another second place finished. By virtue of his third place effort, Montgomery won his second Super Late Model championship in three years. Jason Johnson settled for fourth, followed by Brown, Rayburn, Mike Taylor and Hannah Robison. Fugate and Montgomery won their respective eight lap heat races.

Steve Dubisar won his third 20 lap Street Stock Main Event. However, his quest to repeat as champion was thwarted as Ken Fox used a fourth place finish to clinch the title. Both Dubisar and 2016 champion Daniel Land won their respective eight lap heat races. Dubisar started back in the fourth row, while Fox started in the sixth row. Peyton Reigard was hoping to use his pole position start to get the win, but he was unable to hold back the challenge of Dubisar and fourth row starter Leroy Rockwell, who grabbed the 1-2 finish. Don Croy managed to hold off Fox to finish third as Reigard settled for fifth, followed by Graig Osborne, Dyllan Siewell, Troy Chamberlain, Land and Dustin Hitner.

Ryan Emry won the 20 lap Sportsman Late Model Main Event. Despite the fact that he was a Main Event scratch, Trace Fugate still won the division championship. Fugate suffered mechanical issues on his way to an eight lap heat race win. Emry won the 20 lap feature race with Jim Crabtree a season best second, followed by Jared Simmons and Jim Van Loon.

Scott Beaudoin won the 20 lap Mini Outlaw Main Event. This was his fifth win of the season. Despite another disappointing effort in 11th, Brad Hicks nonetheless managed to win the division championship. Scott Beaudoin started in the fourth row and made his way to the front of the pack. Outside front row starter and eight lap heat race winner Jason Kellam led several laps with Jeff Thurman in pursuit. Scott Beaudoin managed to get around both drivers for the lead and would score the victory. Kellam settled for second ahead of Thurman, Matt Diller, Cole Newman, Mike Beaudoin, Greg Prewitt, Matthew Emry, Ty Whitney and Pam Beaudoin. Tahlen Rogers won the other heat race, but bad luck in the Main Event dropped him to third in the standings behind Scott Beaudoin.

Seth Christiansen won the 20 lap Hornet Main Event. Both Christiansen and Jeremy Degroot were the eight lap heat race winners. Christiansen started in the second row and battled Mike Bales early before getting the lead. Kris Parker started back in the 14th position and worked his way up to battle Christiansen before settling for second. Bales ended up third, followed by Kevin Rockwell, William Hitner, John Henry, Zach Hickman, Josh Muir, Ryder Johnson and Jet Nelson. Despite finishing out of the running in 14th, Isaac Stere won the division championship.

Griff Smith won the 15 lap Junior Stingers Main Event. This was his 11th win as he won his third-straight division championship. Smith had a rare bad finish in his eight lap heat race as James Shingleton collected that win. Alex Butler was back in competitive form with a heat race win of his own. Jordan Wheeler and Butler battled at of the front of the pack early in the race while Smith had to work his way up from the 14th starting position. Smith rapidly moved his way forward and overtook both Wheeler and Butler for the win. Wheeler settled for second, followed by Butler, Cameron Metzgus, Lily Metzgus, Shingleton, Teagen Montgomery, Max Haga, Eli Luckman and Heather Burton. 

Camden Robustelli won The 25 lap Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Main Event. This was the second win for Robustelli. Robustelli had a perfect evening after winning his six lap heat race and then picking up the pole position start by virtue of his five lap A Dash win over Randy Slater. Robustelli and two-time champion Brock Peters shared the front row after Peters won the B Dash. They battled at the front of the pack with Robustelli winning ahead of Peters. Slater had his best finish of the year in third, followed by Trevor Davis, Steve Walker, Chad Cardoza, Crystal Flath, Jason Robustelli, Fred Hay and Adam Chaffee. Peterson was the other six lap heat race winner.

The oval track will be dark this weekend, but the Winged Sprint Car Battle at the Bay is scheduled for September 26th. Joining the Sprint Cars will be the Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets, Dirt Modifieds and B Modifieds. For further information, go to www.coosbayspeedway.us or check out the Coos Bay Speedway Facebook page.

Antioch Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 12, 2020
Delta Dwarf Car
Shawn Jones
Ryan Winter
Danny Wagner
Sean Catucci
Garrett Brady
Dennis Gilcrease
Mike Grenert
Devan Kammermann
John Williams
John Tardiff
Buddy Olschowka
Chance Russell
Travis Day
Scott Dahlgren
Joe Tardiff
gage meyers
Ellie Russo
Jeff Bentancourt
Michael Curry
David Rosa
David Michael Rosa

Super Stock
Fred Ryland
Jay Bryant
Chris Long
John Evans
    
Wingless Spec Sprint
Shawn Jones
Dylan Bloomfield
Matt Streeter
Ryon Siverling
Roy Fisher
Alan Miranda
Kevin Box
Tony Bernard
Jeff Scotto
Jimmy Christian
James Thomson
D.J. Johnson
Troy Ferry
Bob Newberry

Valley Four Banger
Chris Corder
Ryan Doglione
Dan Myrick
Clinton Massey
Jeff Durant
Trevor Jolley
Alan Neal
Jess Paladino
Matthew Herod
Shawn DePriest
Gene Glover
Leo Lotz
Wylie Wade


Coos Bay Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 12, 2020
America's Mattress Super Late Models
Preston Luckman
Braden Fugate
Brody Montgomery
Jason Johnson
Deven Brown
Bruce Rayburn Jr
Mike Taylor
Hannah Robinson

Sportsman Late Models
Ryan Emry
jim CRABTREE
Jared Simmons
Jim Van Loon
Trace Fugate DNS

Street Stocks
Steve Dubisar
Leroy Rockwell
Don Croy
Ken Fox
Peyton Reigard
Graig Osborne
Dyllan Siewell
Troy Chamberlain
Daniel Land
Dustin Hitner
danny eversole
Melissa Adams
Charlie Withers
Richard Davies

Mini Outlaws
Scott Beaudoin
Jason Kellam
Jeff Thurman
Matt Diller
Cole Newman
mike beaudoin
Greg Prewitt
Matthew Emry
Ty Whitnwey
pam beaudoin
Brad Hicks
Tahlan Rogers
Dan Daniels

Hornets
Seth Christensen
Kris Parker
Mike Bales
Kevin Rockwell
William Hitner
John Henry
Zach Hickman
josh muir
Ryder Johnson
Jet Nelson
Dusty Shingleton
George Wheeler
scott Lager
Isaac Stere
Blane Kernutt
Matt Diller DQ
jeremy degroot DQ

Jr Stingers
Griff Smith
Jordan Wheeler
Alex Butler
Cameron Metzgus
Lily Metzgus
James Shingleton
Teagan Montgomery
Max Haga
Eli Luckman
Heather Burton
Alexus Baker
Drake Vincent
riley rockwell
Nicole Emry

SODCA Dwarf Cars
Camden Robustelli
Brock Peters
Randy Slater
Trevor Davis
Steve Walker
Chad Cardoza
Crystal Flath
Jason Robustelli
Fred Hay
Adam Chaffee
MARK Terry
Tanner Curr


All American Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 12, 2020
NASCAR at Roseville Round #4
Late Model
Main Event #2
Randy Hedrick
Cole Moore
Michael Mitchell
Holley Hollan
Aidan Daniles
Angelina Dempsey
Matthew Wendt
Tyler Caturegli
JJ Ferguson

Main Event #2
Randy Hedrick
Cole Moore
Michael Mitchell
Kenna Mitchell
Holley Hollan
Angelina Dempsey
Matthew Wendt
Aidan Daniles

Jaws Gear Limited Modified
Jason Philpot
Sammy Nuno
Sierra Furia
Tyler Mullican
Josh Blackwood
Jon Yourd
Arnie Wentworth
Luke Caper

Super Stock
Andrew Peeler
Tim Walters
Jill Schmidt
Andrew Kemp
Blake Disomma
Harry Lambert
Chris Paulson
Branden Powers
Brian Skidmore
Phil Wilkins
Jeremy Fritts

F4
Ray Molina
Matthew Fuhs
Dennis Crook
Vic Theberge
Matthew Cockrum
Jerry Nunes
John Sproule
Steven Crook
Dan Cherry
Richard Innis

Jr. Late Model
Aidan Daniels
Kenna Mitchell
Lane Anderson

Mini Cup/Bandolero
Colten Nelson
Bella Thomsen


Madera Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 12, 2020
Club Race
Late Models
Jason Aguirre
Tim Skoglund
Aaron Mullins
Trevor Schlundt
Mike Shapiro
Mike Brumit
Eric Seely
Del McIntosh
Lilly Mead
Shelden Cooper
Calvin Hegje
Jon Schlundt

602 Spec Modified
Eddie Secord
Doug Hamm
Payton Bell
Jaron Giannini
Kayli Barker
Joe DeGuevara
Sam Jacks
Scott Osborne
Ethan DeGuevara

Hobby Stocks
Ty Jacks
Billy Maddox
Manny Gonzales Jr
Nick Rowe
James Bradburn
Tyler Rogers

MST's/Toyotas
Ryan Reynolds
Shaun Reynolds
Haley Bugg
Thomas Magray
Wyatt Cantrell
 

Dixon Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 12, 2020
Wingless 600
Main Event
Results are not official
1     #4G Cody Gray    
2     #29M Austin Stone
3     #0 Brandon Shaw
4     #87 Kelvin Lewis
5     #2 Travis Sullivan
6     #16C Chris Parmley
7     #23L Dave Mosier
8     #21K Kyle Mentch
9     #35W Nate Wait
10     #6B Blake Parmley
11     #686 Jared Byrd
12     #23 George Nielson
13     #37H Ryan Holden
14     #27D Don McLeister
15     #12S Matthew Santana
16     #444 Brandon Alvarado
17     #26C Jeremy Chapman
18     #7R Harley Rose
19     #67 JJ Loss
20     #48 DERRICK PATTERSON
21     #47 Danny Rozendahl    
22     #41 Chuck Patterson

Semi Main
Results are not official
1     #67 JJ Loss    
2     #12S Matthew Santana
3     #41 Chuck Patterson
4     #47 Danny Rozendahl
5     #7R Harley Rose
6     #17 Taylor DeCarlo
7     #31 Tyson Davis
8     #31X Sam Borland
9     #4X Shiloh Borland
10     #36Z Devin Osanna
11     #8R Rob Brown    
12     #8S Savannah Brown
13     #07 Travis Henry

Super 600
Results are not official
1     #24S Izaak Sharp        
2     #34 Devon Courtnier
3     #20 James Andrichuck
4     #17 Ricky Sanders
5     #2 Hailey Wood
6     #25B Blaine Baxter
7     #7W Dennis Scherer
8     #25 Jason Chapman
9     #96 Pete Piantanida
10     #17L Anthony Lewis
11     #4 Tony Alosi
12     #36 Jarrett Heimlich
13     #67 Christian Harris

Restricted
Results are not official
1     #72B Bryant Bell    
2     #05R Brandon Riveira
3     #88T Matthew Tatoole
4     #83K Colin Kirby
5     #24S Izaak Sharp
6     #09 AJ Neilson
7     #63 Colton Key
8     #2A Austin Wood    
9     #73J Jackson Kohler
10     #7 Lucas Johnson
11     #15K Kyle Cravotta
12     #23C Cierra Wullenwaber            

Jr. Sprints
Results are not official
1     #96 Briggs Davis        
2     #5 Kellan Harper
3     #77K Kyle Fernandez
4     #88M Makayla Tatoole
5     #4K Vito Cancilla
6     #17R Ryder Johnson
7     #20 Jonathan Andrichuk    
8     #5T Austin Turner
9     #686 Ryder Byrd        
10     #14 Reid Baxter        
11     #48 Aubry Patterson


Lakeport Speedway Unofficial Race Results September 12, 2020
North State Modified Series
Napa Lake Parts Main Event
Results are not official
1     #69 Charlie Collins        
2     #5k Kyle Tellstrom
3     #24 Scott Winters
4     #18 Cody Braund
5     #21 Darrin Sullivan
6     #5 Mike Sullivan
7     #12 Dustin DeRosier
8     #08 Chris Salmina
9     #15 Richard Knight
10     #2K Noel McCorrmick
11     #37 Robert Schmidt
12     #16 Rich Cobb
13     #02 Sal Lopez
14     #77 Jeremy Nowlin        
15     #20 Darrin Knight    
16     #27 Ian Elliott        
17     #96 Keith Bloom    

NCRA Bombers
Results are not official
1     #64 Semi Tour        
2     #79 Forrest Kuecker
3     #6k Mikey Snider
4     #13 Donovan Cox
5     #17 Jim Kollenborn
6     #51 Trevor Abella
7     #18 Kinton Waite
8     #75x Amber Portlock
9     #77kc Kasey Horat    

NCRA Legends Cars
Results are not official
1     #12c Cody Winchel            
2     #7 Kylie Daniels
3     #64 Tom Summers
4     #3m Marc Burch
5     #3 Trey Daniels    
6    #24c Dan Camacho
7     #75 Jeremy Doss        

Pro 4 Mods
Results are not official
1     #22 Johnny Barker        
2     #87 Mike Peterson
3     #29 Ron Portlock
4     #07 James Gard
5     #77z Wil Robertson


Marysville Raceway Unofficial Race Results September 9, 2020
Tribute to Gold Cup
Winged 360 Sprints
A Main
Ryan Robinson
Andy Forsberg
Tanner Carrick
Shane Golobic
Blake Carrick
Michael Wasina
Colby Copeland
Jake Haulot
Colby Wiesz
Alec Justeson
Justin Henry
Jimmy Steward
Caden Sarale
Billy Butler
Michael Sellers
Ashlyn Rodriguez
Nick Larsen
Michael Ing
Sean Becker
Bobby Butler

B Main
Michael Ing
Ashlyn Rodriguez
Michael Sellers
Jimmy Steward
Mike Monahan
Ben Wiesz
Pat Harvey Jr
Alex Fowler
Darren Johnson
Jayce Steinberg
Stephen Ingraham
John Sullivan
Steel Powell

Hobby Stocks
Jim Brookshire
Jesse Van Roekel
Kyle Cheney
Jacob Johnson
Hollis Thackeray
Jimmy Ford
Jason Clayton
Devin Koranda
David Caluya


Barona Raceway Unofficial Raceway September 5, 2020
IMCA Modifieds
Eric Evans
Matthew Hicks
Randy Thornell
Joseph Altig
Keith Altig
Karl Von Yokes
Dustin Stanley
Cole Dick
David Taft
Mike Lerwill
Blake Thornell

Lightning Sprints
Grant Sexton
AJ Bender
Brent Horn
Kevin Bates
Rudy Padilla
Chris Crowder
Wyatt Boczanowski
Dalton Sexton
Brandon Leedy
DeJay Dumas
Parker Dumas
Clint Newman
Brent Sexton DNS
Dale Gamer DNS

Street Stock
Mike Pridgeon
David Kilpela
Gary Rodriguez
Paul Dyke
Nick Braddy
Terry Adams Jr
Sunny Trent
Rod Robison
Dan Burakowski
Rick Eicksteadt
Perry Humphries
Jake Triska DNS

Pure Stocks
Rick Chavez
Jayson Aldridge
Patrick Hartley
Rick Schnereger
Eric Evans
Brandon Jesina
Nick Novak
Mike Rumbaugh
Jeff Grill
Nick Rounkles
Tiffany Crow
Cameron Veatch
Greg Perry
Dave Evangelou
Rusty Staley
Mike Burks
David Hunt
Curtis Reiter DNS
Lynn Davis DNS
Ken Rose DNS
Nicole Carlton DNS
Chris Evans DNS

Dwarf Cars
Darren Brown
Michael Tobiason
Tom Morley
Mikey Hall
Tyler Rodriguez
Devin Kelly
Parker Dumas
DeJay Dumas
Ryan Dumas
Scotty Preast
Steve Kapaun
Joseph Bohard
Kobe Kerns
Dan Varner
Ron Dunlap
Dewey Myers
Tommy Crow
Robert Peters DNS
Wesley Sexton DNS

Pony Stock
Lucas Vanderstaay
Dennis Taylor II
Eric Milczewski
Mark Barlow
Robert Minnick
Ray Klimas
Alan Milczewski
Tommy Schmal
Daniel Souto

Jr Sprints
Gage Baldwin
Landon Dalton
Taylin Baldwin
Noah Dalton
PJ Sexton
Caleb Scholl

Mini Dwarf Masters
Danielle Friel
Jacob Novak
Luis Fuentes Jr
Kellen O'Connor

Mini Dwarf Sportsman
Cam Baldwin
Brysen Byford
Sheldon Scott
Kaiden Johnson
Cash Sims
Zachary Dalton
Brody MacLean

 

 

The Editor's Viewpoint

 

I'm just doing the briefest of updates to this column on a Monday. I was hoping to get information for a couple more articles, but those particular tracks are lagging as usual. While trying to put everything else together, I had to do a double take when news came across my desk that Leroy Van Conettt had died. Actually, it's an easy mistake, but still a sad bit of news. It was actually his son, Roy Lee Van Conett, who passed away. Roy did share a love of race cars with his father, but I don't know much about his background in the sport. I can only relate the year that we crossed paths.

Paul Nelson was having a little bit of a battle with the city of Pittsburg, which is best left out of this column. Suffice it to say that Paul thought he was going to make some money and perhaps even take over the NCMA. His dream didn't turn out that way, but he did bring in Roy Lee Van Conett as his driver. This was at a time when the NCMA was trying to get some name recognition to gain more exposure. At that time, we even started seeing Ken Gandy, Del Quinn and Terry DeCarlo behind the wheel of NCMA Modifieds.

Roy had his moments in Paul's car, and that included a couple of Main Event wins. I don't know that Roy did that much racing after that, but I understand that he did go to the races. The people that knew him found him to be one of the nicest guys you would want to know. I don't know any of the details, but I offer my condolences to the Van Conett family.

Since I brought up the subject of the NCMA, the club announced that the races they were hoping to have at Madera and Ukiah this year have both been canceled. They will wait until 2021 to get back on the track. There may have been an issue regarding cars being ready to go, but I'm only speculating. They didn't really elaborate, but they haven't had the biggest of car counts in recent years. If one or two drivers aren't able to make those shows, you may end up with only a glorified match race. The NCMA certainly has work to do to rebuild the car count as they are pretty much just getting by on tracks taking pity on them. I still say they should consider a return to the dirt, but I'll leave it at that for now.

I admit to being in a grumpy mood lately, and that's not okay in regards to this racing blog. There are certain things I really don't want to talk about here. I've created other blogs for those topics. It is seeping into the racing stuff, but only because it affects the racing community. I really do hope that the people in the racing community take a look at the bigger picture of what's happening in their state, this country and around the world. I'm not telling anybody what they need to think, just that they need to think and ask themselves if this is normal and acceptable.

When the fires hit, I think it affected me a little bit more than it has in the last few years. I had started working on articles for the end of the week post, but I would hesitate. I wasn't feeling it. I was worried about friends that I have in the Medford area and friends that I have in California who might be affected. Suddenly, talking about racing didn't matter as much. It just isn't that important. This is just the latest thing on top of more things that we've been dealing with this year. At some point, don't you feel like it's enough? Don't you just want to unplug?

Old habits die hard. I have been approaching the racing thing the same way since I began doing magazines back in the 1980s. Once I start doing this stuff, I need to keep doing it every week until it's over. Taking a week off is unacceptable to me for some unknown reason. I haven't quite figured that out. As the rewards don't come my way for the effort made, I still have this annoying habit of feeling like I have to do the work anyway. It was Friday morning and I knew I had a few hours of work to do to put the weekend preview post up. We weren't having any races that I cover on Friday night, so I technically wasn't late.

I sort of stumbled through the day, slowly working on the post. This one didn't meet my standards 100%. I would say probably it reached 80%. Coupled with the fact that there isn't much else out there anyway, I figured I'd go ahead and finish the job, even though nothing got posted until around 7:30 in the evening. Who am I posting it for at that point? The readership is down. There are even fewer people listening to the audio show, but I did it for whoever was there. That's the only reason I did it. I could at least say that it was done, and then it's time to get ready for whatever racing activity happens on Saturday.

Between the fires happening in Oregon and California as well as the fact that these covid-19 guidelines are still screwing with tracks trying to get anything going, there was news. Air quality isn't going to be so good, and a few tracks figured that out. As I mentioned in the preview post, Willamette Speedway canceled their race in front of an empty grandstands that was going to happen that Saturday. Siskiyou Golden Speedway removed their scheduled race for Saturday and decided instead on a practice. They weren't going to have fans in the grandstands either, and I don't think they were going to get that much racer support as it was. The fires in Medford were going to lower that support even more.

On Friday, we found out that Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka and Petaluma Speedway were both canceling. It turns out that several people on the Eureka safety crew are also firefighters. They were needed desperately to help fight the fires in California, and the track decided to go ahead and cancel the Saturday afternoon offering and reschedule it. Again, they're not running in front of any fans in the stands, but they probably would have offered a free stream on their Facebook page. There is another race scheduled and the canceled race could be rescheduled. The Redwood Acres Raceway Facebook page would probably be the best place to check on that.

Petaluma Speedway had already canceled the previous race on orders of the mayor and the city manager. I don't know why that request was made, but I'm sure somebody complained about something and it has to do with these ridiculous 19 guidelines. See what I mean? I can't just say covid-19 guidelines at this point. I have to put the word ridiculous in front of it. I am over it, and honestly talking about racing right now is getting harder when I see freedoms possibly slipping away from people in this country. I know people are thinking that if the election goes a certain way, it's going to end. This feels different to me somehow, so I'm not sure. I hope it's that simple.

In any case, Petaluma Speedway canceled the race the previous week. The air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area is terrible. They say it's the worst it's been for quite some time. I've even heard the word toxic thrown around, but the media can spin things even harder when they need to. Regardless, Petaluma Speedway Promoter Rick Faeth decided it was best to cancel this race. 

It was to be a USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Car race with Western Midgets, McLea's Tire Service IMCA Modifieds and Santa Rosa Auto Body 600 Micros in support. I'm not sure they were looking at such a good car count for this one anyway, but they canceled. It's a moot point. It'll be interesting to see what happens this next weekend as the USAC Sprint Cars are scheduled again. Will it happen? The best place to find out will be the Petaluma Speedway Facebook page.

One or two tracks that I was watching and thinking might cancel didn't. I'll admit, that's one of the reasons why I was dragging my ass when it came to putting the last post up. I had already written a preview for Petaluma Speedway, and I would have been previewing a cancellation. If a couple of the tracks that I planned on focusing on canceled, I probably wouldn't have even made the effort. I was almost hoping to hear that the races were canceled. Is it bad that I just admitted that? However, they didn't cancel, so I moved ahead.

We're in September, and we're still hearing crappy news concerning the virus shutting more racing down. I happened to check on Hermiston Raceway in Oregon, which was the second track to get a real fan attendance agreement with the covid-19 guidelines as a factor. I think that Coos Bay Speedway might have had an agreement, but Promoter Drake Nelson was simply going through the motions. He was going to run the races the way he saw fit, and that was just going to be that. You'll even hear comments on social media that admit from people who claim to have been speaking with the man that this was his protest. Is that true? I can't say 100% yes, but it sure seems like it.

The first honest agreement we had that got fans happened in Susanville. They got a socially distanced crowd and no concessions. It ended up being that the final two racing weekends they had would have no fans as the Lassen County Health Officials denied them. I was thinking that they might have otherwise gone into September for a race or two, but at this point it's okay to pull the plug. They managed to accomplish whatever they were hoping for. In Oregon, tracks were trying to figure out if they could classify two locations. That was the path that Hermiston Raceway used.

With Oregon saying that in Phase 2 you can only have 250 people gathering in a location, Hermiston went for and achieved two locations at their facility. 250 people in the pits and 250 people in the grandstands. Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg has done that as well with two events, and they plan another one on the 26th. Hermiston refined this idea pretty well. Two shows per night. Main Events only and hot laps. 250 people can watch each viewing. $20 a ticket. They were all sellouts and it amounted to $5,000 an event and $10,000 from the grandstands for the race night.

Bear in mind that this is still a crappy agreement. I believe the 250 person in the stands agreement should have been happening throughout the West Coast by July, and we should be talking about more people in the grandstands by now, even if it was not more than 50% capacity. What I believe and what's actually happening are two different things.

I don't know what promoters are asking for, and I honestly can't blame some of them if they're afraid to ask due to the risk of losing what they've gotten so far. However, is what they're getting so far really good enough? I don't know the official answer to that, but my time in the sport would lead me to believe it isn't really. Tracks might have one or two really good car count shows that work out financially, but overall I'd say no.

Umatilla County in Oregon was supposedly one of the areas with the biggest covid-19 numbers. Not a very highly populated county, but the numbers saw them get slapped back to Phase 1 a month ago. This is the same phase as Washington County, which has meant that Sunset Speedway couldn't even open if they wanted to. Management at Hermiston Raceway was hoping to get good news on 9/11, of all dates. Yeah, I know the symbology of it. When the day came, they were told that the numbers are still not good enough, and therefore the race on September 19th that they were hoping to have will not happen. The track may be done for the year, although I'm sure they'll try again.

Plaza Park in the Hanford area is another matter, and it kind of irked me when I read their Facebook page announcement that the races next weekend won't happen. This was a two-day show that I think they were going to try to make as special as possible. I think under normal circumstances, this would have been one of their bigger races. As it is, they're just trying to open the damn gates to anything, and they're still being told in September that they're going to negatively affect the virus numbers if they open. People can get together in the city, protest, loot and vandalize, and that's okay, but this isn't? Okay, I'm trying not to get political here.

What bothered me even more and sent me into a rant that I deleted from the Viewpoint column on Friday was a comment the track made on their Facebook page. They talked about not wanting to put too much out on Facebook for fear of the people who are against them using it to shut them down. It set me off because the fans are already being excluded, and now you don't even want to let them know that racing is happening and at least keep them informed of how things are going out there? You better pay attention to your damn fans, because your fans are the ones paying money to watch. You make them feel like they don't matter, and they'll take their money from you. That's the way it works.

My rant basically talked about claiming ownership of whatever it is you are doing at your race track. In other words, if you organize a race, put it out there. If you can't have fans, that's fine, but put that out there too. Let the fans know what they don't get to see. Then, set up your pay-per-view if you can or a free broadcast. If you're not letting your fans know anything, and you're still racing, you're part of the problem. You're not thinking ahead to the future. I'm sorry that it sounds like I'm being negative, but I'm really not. Some of the promoters that are opening their gates during this lousy time understand that. Then again, they're claiming ownership of what they do.

I like what Kenny Shepard does at Madera, David Furia at Ukiah, the NCRA at Lakeport and a few others. They are broadcasting for free on Facebook or through other platforms. I like what they're doing better than the tracks running pay-per-views, although I support the tracks running pay-per-views. At least they're giving the fans an option. Due to my own budgetary reasons, I can't afford the pay-per-views. I just don't have the money, but that's the thing. The tracks need whatever money they can get, so I support them doing that. I'm appreciative of the fact that we were sponsored a floracing.com subscription to keep us up to date at certain tracks. If not for that, we wouldn't be watching them either unless they had live scoring that we could monitor.

A track that doesn't have the infrastructure for pay-per-view and doesn't have the equipment to broadcast can still do something. I'm not going to signal out the tracks that haven't been, but we know who they are. You can still take pictures of the cars and post them to Facebook on race day. You can still give them little clips of video footage that can be put on the Facebook page. You can put up results. If you're worried about how people who hate the track might view what you do, there's a way to put it out there that doesn't look so bad. But if you're doing nothing, you're giving your fans the middle finger. How do you think they will react when they can come back?

I think I'm being nicer about it this time than I would have been on Friday. I went places that would upset certain promoters, because I called them on the sneaky things they were doing when they were reopening their tracks. They weren't claiming ownership. They were trying to sneak one past certain people who could have shut them down. I get it, but this is the way I feel about it. When I saw Plaza Park make this comment about not putting much on social media, it set me off. It's kind of a simple equation. Fans matter, but maybe we're forgetting that as tracks try to open during covid-19 guidelines.

You have a track. You need racers in your pits. A promoter promotes a show. Therefore, you have a show that you're putting out there to try to attract paying customers to spectate. You need the racers and enough of them to make people want to come out and watch the show. Then, you have to promote your show in a manner to get as many people to spectate as possible. The whole spectator equation is being lost, because so many tracks can't have them right now. However, you need to keep in mind that you have spectators under normal circumstances. Therefore, you need to keep them in the loop while you open with just the competitors.

It's my belief that Kenny Shepherd is losing money with what he's doing at Madera Speedway. He's got some good sponsors, and he works with the businesses that support him to spread their message. I'm not privy to how many dollars that is, and I'm not asking. I just know that it's not a winning financial proposition to do what he's doing right now. However, Kenny isn't planning to leave Madera Speedway after this year. I understand that he's in it for the long haul, and he's building something there that's very special. He's got good deals in place that make having races right now very important. He has a TV network deal that depends on the content that he gives them.

The forward thinking that Kenny is doing now is he's including his fans. He keeps them informed throughout the week on the track's Facebook page. He's got a great media guy in Steven Blakesley helping that cause. He proudly lets all of his fans know that they can watch what's going on at the track on any given week via the track's YouTube page, while pointing out that the great sponsorship of nutupindustries.com is supporting the effort. He wants those fans to know what's happening and he wants them to care. He wants them back when the gates can open. I hope he gets great support when they're able to open the grandstands again. He most definitely deserves it.

I'd say the same for Ukiah Speedway. Under normal circumstances, how many of us would even be paying attention to Ukiah Speedway? It's a shame to say that, because it's one of the best pavement tracks I've ever been to. The racing is good, but they don't blip on the radar the way other tracks do. By giving away the show for free on Facebook, they're at least introducing fans who may not know just what's going on at this venue. I hope a track like Ukiah, Lakeport, River City Speedway in St Helens, Oregon or wherever they're doing free Facebook broadcasts benefits when the fans can come back.

In any case, racing goes on. I have covered it as best I can, but it's frustrating at times. You never ask what more can go wrong these days, because I think karma or whatever will say, "Hold my beer." I document what's going on as best I can, but when things really annoy me, it's hard to hold back how I'm really feeling. I just don't want to go there too much in this column. I can see it starting to happen, and I'm not really okay with that. It's not even that I don't believe what I'm saying. I most certainly do. It's just that I'd rather talk about racing on the racing blog and talk about the other things elsewhere. People can find my thoughts on those subjects there, but they want to read about racing here.

 

There were some electrical issues that developed at Madera Speedway on Friday night, and this necessitated Promoter Kenny Shepard adjusting the schedule accordingly. Rather than do any racing under the lights, they started early. That actually wasn't such a bad idea after everything that took place the previous week. It was a Club Race, and that meant a more relaxed atmosphere, although some of the Late Model drivers might not have gotten the memo on that.

Speaking of the Late Models, Shepherd explained a little bit more of the situation that took place in the Nut Up Pro Late Model race the week before. As they were after curfew and still cleaning up the wreckage on the back straightaway, the track pretty much had to go with the finish that everybody witnessed on the live stream. The explanation at the time was that the last restart was going to get called back, and the lineup that the drivers were running at the time the green flag waved would be the one they would go with.

Of course, the track has a protest procedure and a committee that can look over the situation very carefully. Everybody probably had an opinion based on what they witnessed on Saturday night. Should the restart have counted? Did the explanation for not counting it seem plausible? The committee weighed all of the circumstances before reaching the conclusion that the first four cars in line on that restart were all involved in the melee in one way or the other. Therefore, they would have restarted at the back of the pack had curfew not ended the race.

When you're talking about a track that doesn't answer to a sanctioning body, it can be hit and miss as to what they end up doing with a call like this. Shepherd is a NASCAR guy, so the procedures might seem familiar to NASCAR. There is an appeals process, and Ryan Philpott was certainly thankful for that. Some non-sanctioned tracks would likely tell the racers that this is their final call and you have to live with it. Philpott's protest was given careful consideration. Whether it went in his favor or not, the argument was going to be heard.

Shepherd explained one of the things that has changed because of the incident that took place last week. There is a restart box where the flag man can call back the start if he's not happy with it. There will be no more callbacks on the restarts once the green flag waves. If you are deemed to have jumped the start, unless a yellow flag comes out for some other reason, you're going to be assessed a stop-and-go penalty. Otherwise, you would be put to the back of the pack. Management feels this will eliminate situations like the one we witnessed that night.

We were also made aware that several drivers were assessed penalties and some suspensions were also issued. Madera Speedway lists all of these penalties on their website and has been doing so for years. On one level, I'm not crazy about the idea of putting the racer's penalties on display like that. I don't remember tracks doing that back in the day, and fans were usually left to guess who might be suspended or not. If you didn't see the driver the next week, chances were they were suspended. Occasionally, they might make that announcement in the pre-race hype article in the newspaper.

I think one of the things that annoyed me about putting the penalties on the website was back when Joe Amadeo was rising up the ranks as the Chief Steward at Watsonville and Petaluma. This was a guy who had a good TV show that he basically used as his bully pulpit to ridicule other Chief Stewards until he got the job. This seemed like him flexing his authority and showing everybody who's boss when he put the stuff online. Honestly, I never liked seeing penalties listed on the website. That's between the track and the racers. I understand why Madera has been doing this for years, but it's not something I'm necessarily crazy about.

The regular Madera Late Model shows are supposed to be non-contact and not high pressure situations. These are races that are more for the newer drivers to get laps. Racers who prefer not to run the regular Nut Up Pro Late Model circuit have another option. There was a little bit of contact taking place between rookie Lily Mead and Del McIntosh. I think as she's getting more comfortable behind the wheel, Lily is trying to race differently, and it didn't work out for her so well on this occasion. She ended up being parked, which probably cost her the point lead to Trevor Schlundt. She was likely going to lose that lead anyway as the track does have a one race throwaway rule.

Jason Aguirre returned after being sidelined for health reasons, and he pretty much led the whole race. The rapidly improving Sheldon Cooper was challenging Aguirre for the lead. The track actually has three Late Model point races. There's the Madera Late Models, the Nut Up Pro Late Models and the overall race. Cooper now leads the overall race, and he's been running much quicker in recent weeks. He attempted to get underneath Aguirre as they raced into Turn 1, but Aguirre slammed the door shut. Rather than hit Aguirre, Sheldon spun himself out and suffered mechanical issues in the process.

Cooper was noticeably displeased by the situation, and this is not one of those deals that an official will usually call against the driver leading. It has happened in the past where they've called the leader for pinching down the driver in second, but this was deemed a racing deal. Aguirre didn't actually make contact with Cooper, but Cooper spun to avoid making that contact. He likely felt that a penalty should have been issued. He certainly could have pushed the case and taken both drivers out, but Cooper didn't want to wreck the cars. As Shepherd pointed out in the case of Mead and Cooper, there was enough time left that the drivers could have exercised a little bit more patience. Cooper was left to watch as Aguirre scored the victory.

The track is quite excited about being a part of the 602 Create Modified Series, which also takes place at the tracks in Irwindale and Havasu. The series features three races at each venue and is just getting started. With the experience advantage he carries into this deal, Eddie Secord pretty much dominated the show on this occasion. He had led most of the race last time out before Jaron Giannini got by for the lead and victory. Nobody came close to Secord in this race. These cars get around the 1/3 mile paved oval pretty quickly and put on a good show.

the Hobby Stocks haven't been getting great turnouts this year, but when enough cars show up, they have an interesting race. In this case, visitors Ty Jacks and Billy Maddox were on hand to score the 1-2 finish over point leader Manny Gonzales Jr. Though Gonzales leads the standings in this class, he is still getting more experience and learning the car a little bit more. His point lead is more due to the fact that there is nobody else trying to challenge him at this point. I don't know what the track has to do here, but I would love to see them get this car count up into the double digits. The racing would definitely be entertaining.

Likewise, the Toyota Sedans class used to be the entryway into the show at Madera. It still is, but they're not getting cars for whatever reason. They've been running a race within a race against the MST class. There were five cars on the track, but the show that MST stars Ryan Reynolds and Shaun Reynolds were putting on at the front of the pack was entertaining. They must have run at least 20 laps side by side before Ryan moved ahead and got the win.

It was a good show and a quick show for the track. Shepherd pretty much confirmed what I've been saying about promoters struggling to even get by while opening tracks during the covid-19 situation. I believe that promoters are either losing money or struggling to break even in most cases. It helps Shepherd that he's got good sponsors like nutupindustries.com and Mission Foods to help him out as they've been paying good purses this year. Nut Up has been sponsoring the free stream that we've been enjoying on the track's YouTube page. They're coming back with a MavTV Series event this weekend, and more details can be found by going to the Madera Speedway Facebook page.

Lakeport Speedway is in the midst of election season for the NCRA board members. They have done their best to make the best out of a lousy situation, and Saturday's show was the final race of the year. I think it's probably for the best that they halted here, rather than trying to put on one or two more shows as some tracks would do. As it turned out, this was probably them saving the best for last on the quarter-mile paved oval.

When the NCRA had the vote to even open the track at all this year, the initial agreement was that there wouldn't be a purse. Money would be sponsored, which happened from the first race on. I'm not going to claim any knowledge on what the purse situation was for this particular event. I suspect the track paid some purse money and there was some great sponsorship to help out with the rest. They brought in the North State Modified Series. Though Lakeport is one of their home tracks, I wouldn't expect 17 cars to turn out for a show that didn't have some sort of guaranteed purse. 

It seems to me that the strongest Modified support on the pavement in California is on the northern end at Lakeport and Ukiah. Unlike Ukiah, however, Lakeport has been able to book the impressive North State Modified Series. There was certainly some drama in this race. Kyle Tellstrom is probably the hottest driver with the group right now. He won the previous race in Lakeport a month ago and picked up $1,000 for the open show at Ukiah a week ago. He worked his way to the front, but this wasn't going to be his night. At one point, he was leading Jeremy Nowlin and Charlie Collins as the three were breaking away from the pack.

There is a bit of a different strategy you see in pavement racing, and sometimes patience plays along with it. Tellstrom and Nowlin pulled away a little bit from Collins, and it looked like they would settle it between the two of them. Unfortunately, Nowlin may have had something break as he headed into the Turn 4 wall with 15 laps to go. I remember thinking at that point that Tellstrom was going to win this one, and he probably thought the same thing as he picked the outside line on the restart. However, Collins got a good start and had the lead within a couple of laps as he went on to victory.

The North State Modifieds were the strength of the show, but there was a little bit of excitement to be had in the other classes. Late Model star Jeremy Doss won the Legend Car Main Event in somebody else's car at the previous race. This time, he had his own car and a new motor. He was doing his best to hold off Cody Winchell, and traffic came into play at times. Traffic is also what bit Winchell at one point, or so it appeared. There were only seven cars running on the track, so Winchell lined up in the second row for the restart. Something broke on Doss's car to end his night at that point, or I think he would have won it. Winchell led the last few laps and claimed the honors, while Kylie Daniels got the championship. She's been fast and consistent all year.

The Pro 4 Modifieds have been around for a while. It seems to me this was almost a pet project for Nadine Strauss back in the 1990s when she was at the helm as the promoter. At one point, she even created a series between Lakeport and Orland. She's still heavily involved in trying to build the track's program back up again, and this class still gets dates. These cars get around the track pretty well, but it seems like the racers have been plagued with mechanical issues all season long. For some reason, there might be six drivers that show up, but half the field is done by the time the Main Event comes. This time, there were four. Johnny Barker became the first two-time winner in the class.

Not to be negative, but the Pro 4 Modifieds, Bandoleros and Late Models were more or less just occupying track time before the divisions that brought some sort of car count could go racing. I think the Pro 4 Modified group has work to do in rebuilding their ranks, and I hope they do. It's a neat class. Nobody promised a ton of Late Models for this occasion, so two cars wasn't a surprise. It's not a cheap class to book. 

As for the Bandoleros, it was nice to see three cars, because usually there's just one car going around making hot laps. There was one Four Banger, so they didn't get a chance to race. I'm hoping Lakeport can build that class up because it needs to be a part of things. It's probably the easiest path for newcomers to get involved, and they used to have more four cylinder cars back in the day.

I always liked the name Taco Bell Bombers. The division is sponsored, and it sort of goes with this class. They have been right at the border of double digit car count all year, but they've had a few interesting moments. I don't think the Lakeport group is as exciting to watch as the Ukiah group, or at least they weren't this year. That's not to say they were bad, but it lacked for the excitement that you get at the other track. Simi Tour has been racing at Ukiah a little bit more this year, but he went to Lakeport and picked up the final win. The guy who won the season opener, Donovan Cox, ended up winning the championship.

It's a neat little track for what it is, and there is quite the heritage that goes back decades here. If I were to throw dirt on a pavement track, this is the one I would do it to. Don't let Nadine Strauss hear me saying that. What I like is that the fans who can't come out and watch at least got to watch all the action at the NCRA Lakeport Speedway Facebook page this year. It's a terrible situation where you can't have fans, and the association cared enough to include them for free. We're not talking high quality broadcast here, but the camera zoomed back and forth on the track and you could hear the announcer loud and clear. Announcer Dan Camacho stepped out of the booth briefly to run his Legend Car in the Main Event. He handled his duties adequately and didn't take away from the show. I think they had about 150 people watching for free at one point.

Since I brought up Dixon Speedway and broadcasts on Facebook, I can tell you that none was offered for Saturday night. They had just shy of 70 total cars in the pits for their four division offering on the 1/5 mile dirt oval. After the initial bump of the first few races that saw Dixon as the only place to be for California Micro Sprints, this has been about average for the car count. You'll get around 30 Wingless 600s, and the other divisions bring the rest. They don't include the fans on this, which to me is disappointing. I don't want to be a nitpicker on this whole subject, but the tracks that are doing nothing bother me more than the ones that are doing internet pay-per-view.

Obviously, internet pay-per-view makes the most sense as you can generate some revenue. Let's assume that the 150 people watching at Lakeport, for instance, paid even $15 to view that show. That's a flawed analogy, because there's a significant chunk of any audience that watches for free who will not end up paying for whatever reason. But let's assume they did that. That's revenue you can use to keep the gates open. It's only a drop in the bucket compared to what you get in the stands, but at least it's something. This way, the fans have an opportunity to keep up to date.

Lakeport is part of that group of tracks I like the best this year. They rightly understand that their fans need to be kept in the loop. They want their fans engaged and up to date on things so that they are enticed to come back when they can. Tracks like Lakeport, Ukiah, Madera, St Helens, Eureka and Yreka have at least done that much. Let the fans know. It's a crappy situation. Let's not make any bones about that. However, you're still marketing your race track and getting value from it in the long run. If you do it in darkness with no word on what's going on, what are you really gaining? You're preaching to the choir, racers who want to race. However, the fans are being left in the dark.

I don't know what kind of an attendance Dixon might get on a normal night, but it's been a media blackout for them other than what they've gotten from Fast Four Media. I really wish somebody would have gotten up in the bleachers and at least streamed something from the track's Facebook page. It's hard for me to believe that the media blackout is because they don't want certain busy bodies knowing so that they can't report on them. Dixon seems like it's the least likely location for that to happen, but maybe I'm wrong? As it was, you could watch scoring on Race Monitor and eventually the results make their way to MyLaps. The hardcore fans know that much, but the casuals might not.

It could be that Stockton 99 Speedway is employing the "keep everybody in darkness so we don't get shut down" method. They're having a hell of a time getting the Dirt Track open at the fairgrounds, and I'm not sure that we'll see the Gary Patterson Tribute race there in November. I don't know that this is what Tony Noceti is doing, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's why they're not saying much. I stand by my statement above where I say you can do a few things to keep the people informed. even if you don't want anybody to do the math and figure out how many people are there in the pits. 

You can still tell people the Top 5 in the Main Events and show a few pictures, even if not streaming live. You don't get any of that, and you might eventually see results posted somewhere. Stockton 99 Speedway is one of the biggest disappointments to me when it comes to opening right now under these conditions. If they weren't open, would anybody know the difference?

Dixon Speedway had some good racing, and a few of the finishes went down to the line with late race passes getting wins for Izaak Sharp in the Super 600s, Bryant Bell in the Restricted 600 class and Cody Gray in the Wingless class. Austin Stone has been the hottest driver in the Wingless group for the last half dozen races and looked like he was headed for victory until Gray made his move. I think all three races would have been entertaining to watch, and even the Junior Sprint class that saw Briggs Davis get his first win would have been enjoyable. It's definitely a good show at Dixon Speedway, and you get a good glimpse of the future in racing in California.

Several racers have started their racing career at Dixon Speedway, and they are making their moves up into Open Wheel race cars or other classes. The Stock Car path is not unheard of here either. Angelina Dempsey has run some races at All American Speedway in Roseville, while Junior Sprint driver Kyle Fernandez is about ready to make his Bandolero debut at Madera Speedway. Considering the program that they have at Madera, that's the perfect place for an aspiring young driver to go. Fernandez has looked very good in the Junior Sprints this year, and he could be the next driver we're hearing about a few years down the line in Late Models.

When you're running races during these difficult times, having a car count helps tremendously. I can't say that this weekend yielded the biggest of car counts at many of the tracks that ran, including Antioch Speedway. There were just over 50 total cars for their four division offering. In fact, Dan Myrick of the Central Valley Mini Stocks might be the MVP of the weekend. For whatever reason, the Super Stock division only drew four cars on this occasion, so it was up to the other three divisions to deliver the goods. The Four Bangers haven't been doing much of anything this year, so Myrick made an effort to change that.

A few weeks ago, he put it out there on social media that he was hoping to bring some support to Antioch for this race. A purse has been offered if the division can deliver at least five cars, so Myrick beat the drums. It's a longer trip for people in the Hanford area for this division, especially knowing that the purse won't be much. Six CVMS regulars showed up. There were also four drivers from Merced, one of which supports both groups whenever he can. This meant that the 13 Four Bangers that showed up would see a payout to the Top 5 finishers.

You don't tend to see a lot of chatter online from Chris Corder. He's been maybe the staunchest supporter of this class for the the past several seasons. At one time, he was fielding multiple cars and even giving new drivers an opportunity to go racing for the first time . I had a hunch he might show up at Antioch, but he wasn't going to announce his intentions. He let his racing do the talking as he won both his heat race and the $100 prize for the Main Event victory. I would assume management was pleased as the people viewing at home on antiochspeedway.tv got a glimpse of these cars and what they can do when enough of them show up. I think this was a bigger car count than the track had at any of its race dates for the class back in 2014 when it was last on the roster.

As I mentioned, I don't know where the Super Stock drivers went. The track has been getting their results up online, so updates and adjustments are still being made to their point listings. We went live with our weekend preview article assuming that Jim Freethy was the point leader in this class over Mike Walko, but another adjustment showed Walko leading Freethy. I didn't dig any deeper to find out why that happened to be the case, but I did find one thing interesting. Walko wasn't there for this race and Freethy decided to let his good friend Fred Ryland pilot his race car. Ryland responded by winning both the heat race and Main Event. He's one of those drivers who has now won over 50 Main Events at Antioch Speedway alone. He's in elite company.

Being a double Main Event winner is certainly something to be proud of. I think this might have first been accomplished at Antioch by Darryl Shirk in Figure 8 and Street Stocks, but I'd have to check that. Keith Brown did it in Late Models and Modifieds, and both Troy Foulger and Bobby Hogge IV have done the same. There are others I'm forgetting, but Shawn Jones was on deck to try to achieve the same task in both Wingless Spec Sprints and Delta Dwarf Cars. Given how fast he's been in both classes this year, I figured that he would win at least one of those races when I saw his name on the roster.

Anytime Jones brings his Dwarf Car to an event he becomes the guy to beat. He's just hit on that combination. He won the Pro division portion of the Regionals in Antioch this year, the Pro division in the Nationals at Petaluma and he's also won Main Events at Watsonville. Even with some fierce competition from Danny Wagner and Ryan Winter, both champions themselves, Jones picked up the win in the Dwarf Cars. He then strapped into his Sprint Car and picked up another victory ahead of 14-year-old phenom Dylan Bloomfield. Bloomfield is still in contention for the Wingless Spec Sprint championship. He might need DJ Johnson to have his second-straight bad night to accomplish the task.

The Spec Sprints will get another shot at the Chet Thomson Memorial on September 26th. That's the night of the big Hardtop race with Super Stocks and the BCRA Midgets on hand as well. I'm watching a few things at this show. I do think the Spec Sprints should deliver another solid turnout. The Tri State Pro Stock Series is welcome at any Antioch Super Stock event, but I couldn't tell you who might show up since it's going head-to-head with the Bob McCoy Memorial race at Petaluma Speedway. That's part of the annual Adobe Cup and pays a rather nice purse. Antioch might have a better shot at a good turnout in this class on October 10th as part of the Larry Damitz/Donna Soares Memorial.

The other thing I'm watching is the BCRA and wondering if these guys are going to lay another egg? BCRA is certainly capable of delivering double digits to the Bay Area dirt tracks, even without support from USAC. Antioch Speedway is the golden opportunity for these that guys to gain a foothold at a track that USAC has nothing to do with. Can they answer the call? At one time, Antioch Speedway was one of their home tracks in the early 1980s. If they could get the division at a reasonable deal, management might want to see if they could get in touch with Mike McCluney and get the Western Midgets for the show, but it might be a little too late for that.

The night is about the Hardtops, so I'm very curious what will happen. There's been almost no chatter on the internet from within the Hardtop community, so I can't even hazard a guess. With some Sportsman support, they delivered 10 cars to Antioch last time. It might not be a bad idea to invite the Merced Sportsman class since they won't get a date at their home track this year. I can't help but be disappointed at the lack of information or effort to drum up support from either the Bay Area or California Hardtop sides. I guess it will just come together, or it won't. I'm hoping for good things on the 26th from the Hardtops. To me, this is the biggest race of the year for the class in California.

The IMCA championships wrap up this coming Saturday night. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Troy Foulger will win the Modifieds title. He's leading comfortably and would have to miss the race for that not to happen. The question I have is whether Mark Garner has one more good race in him to hold off two-time champion Trevor Clymens in the Sport Modifieds, or will Clymens make his move? Also, might both drivers slip up enough for KC Keller to get by? Throw in the amazing Hobby Stocks, and this is a show worthy of viewing at www.antiochspeedway.tv. You can check out the Antioch Speedway Facebook page for updates as they are made.

In my grumpiness of watching the way this season has played out and the struggles to open the tracks, I haven't really given Drake Nelson the respect he deserves for defiantly standing up against the Oregon governor and doing what he wanted to do at Coos Bay Speedway. Like others, I was sitting here waiting for the hammer to fall on him. Surely, the Oregon governor wasn't going to let this guy get away with what he was doing, was she? After initially being slapped down in May, Drake picked himself up off the ground in June and has been going full speed ahead ever since. They took away his liquor license a few weeks ago, but even that didn't stop him from opening the gates and having fans.

Coos Bay Speedway has been the leader on the West Coast in racing under what is as close to normal circumstances as possible. If you had them as your pick for which track could do this, congratulations. You won the prize. For a while, Coos Bay was getting everybody in Oregon who wanted to race. Then, Cottage Grove started racing and Willamette Speedway followed suit. River City Speedway and Hermiston have had races, but they have little to no impact on Coos Bay. As we reported last week, Hermiston won't get to race on September 19th thanks to the governor and the covid-19 guidelines.

Willamette went dark this last weekend to give the racers a break. The fires up north have been devastating, so Loren Kruesi knew that running wasn't in the track's best interest. Since you're losing money anyway, why push it? I'm sure Willamette Speedway isn't done just yet, and Cottage Grove Speedway announced their intentions to race all the way into October. Oregon weather usually has something to say on the matter, so I expect that much of the October plans will be wiped out by the much-needed rain that we'll get. Coos Bay only tries to run up until the first weekend of October, and every other year that race seems to get rained out.

Even with the other tracks taking a bite out of their car count, the numbers have still been pretty good at Coos Bay. This time saw them check in with just under 90 total cars as they also invited the Southern Oregon Dwarf Cars. The four cylinder classes delivered half of that turnout. It meant that they could close out the NASCAR championship portion of the 2020 season and crown some champions. Since they are running under the banner, their lead four divisions have point fund money being issued to the Top 5 drivers, and the Top 3 drivers in the Super Late Models also get money from the State point fund.

It could be said that the Super Late Model championship was won by Brody Montgomery a few races ago when incoming leader Jason Johnson failed to start the Main Event with mechanical issues. All Montgomery needed to do was not stumble and the championship was his. Not only did he not stumble, but he didn't miss a podium finish the rest of the season. His third place finish on Saturday ensured that he held off rookie Braden Fugate for the $3,500 championship prize. With the $2,000 State point fund money probably going his way as well, it's another banner year for Montgomery.

It was interesting watching the incoming point leader in both the Street Stocks and Junior Stingers having a bad heat race and having to start deeper in the Main Event field. For young Griff Smith in the Junior Stingers class, that wasn't an issue. His Hornet race car is as fast as any driver in the regular Hornet class, so he worked his way to the front of the pack and grabbed his 11th win from 14th starting. He is the champion and should be graduating from this class after dominating for the past three years. I assume he's going Hornet racing, but I guess we'll wait and see what his family has in mind.

With only 10 points separating incoming leader Ken Fox from reigning champion Steve Dubisar, the Street Stock championship battle was close. Fox started deeper in the pack, and Dubisar made it to the front. Fox did enough passing to finish fourth and cling to a four point advantage in the championship race. The Street Stocks enjoyed their best season at Coos Bay Speedway in years. Other than one oddball midweek race, this division never produced less than 10 cars for a show. It makes me happy to see traditional Street Stocks still thriving in Oregon.

The NASCAR check to Fox will be $700. The Hornet class gets $500 for their championship, which actually compares well to the IMCA offerings for a track championship in Modifieds. From Cottage Grove, Isaac Stere opted not to join the IMCA Sport Compact class at his home track and instead ran Coos Bay. Despite not finishing the last race, he still held on for the championship. Meanwhile, Trace Fugate had some terrible luck of his own. He missed the previous race and had mechanical issues after his heat race win sideline him for the final Main Event. He was so far in front of Jared Simmons that he still won the $1,000 championship. It kind of disappoints me to see such good point fund money being offered to a class that doesn't produce much driver support, but it is what it is.

The Southern Oregon Dwarf Cars didn't get to race at their home track in Medford all season, and Coos Bay was their home track this year. They delivered about a dozen cars, and the track let them run their traditional program of two heat races, A and B Dashes and Main Event. Camden Robustelli was the class of the field as he battled two-time champion Brock Peters to pick up the Main Event win on this occasion. They like the Dwarf Cars at Coos Bay. Normally they only get a few shows as the group focuses primarily on Medford with visits to Yreka and nights off so drivers can support the various Regional and National events that happen.

I have to say that as the Western States Dwarf Car Association has thrown Oregon under the bus, I'm not sure why the three Oregon-based groups don't get together and form their own deal. The oldest Dwarf Car group on the West Coast is the PHRA and the new kid on the block is the Northwest Dwarf Car group. Every time these three groups decide to work together, they bring car counts in the 30s, and I see no reason why they couldn't plan out a three-way series in the future where they could have big events at Medford, Cottage Grove and wherever the third track might be. I admit I was disappointed when the Western States group pulled the Medford date as it had been a winner for them in the past. I'm guessing some of the California guys didn't like the heat, but they race at some hot tracks elsewhere.

As for Coos Bay, I'm sure Nelson will try to get the Dwarf Cars as many times as he can going forward. They have a Sprint Car race planned on September 26th. This would be an Interstate Sprint Car Series race, but I don't know if management has spoken with Brian Crockett about that date yet. The Interstate Series has been grounded except for the race earlier at Coos Bay that they acknowledged. They have Street Stocks and Hornets there and will try to have some Dirt Modifieds and B Modifieds as well. If the weather allows them, October 3rd will be the annual Prather family Lucas Oil open show for Late Models and other classes.

Nobody can fault any promoter for not opening or being very tentative due to the covid-19 guidelines. We have watched tracks get shut down and promoters get hit with big fines across the country when the governors were displeased with them. Nelson faced the same kind of thing at Coos Bay Speedway. For whatever reason, he managed to squeak by other than dealing with the OLCC revoking his liquor license. He's had several crowds of more than 250 people in the stands, and it's likely that the pits surpassed that number on several occasions as well. He did what he did and made it through the year. When we look back at promoters on the West Coast, Drake deserves acknowledgment for maintaining business as usual at Coos Bay Speedway.

I probably could have attempted to cover All American Speedway in Roseville this year as Promoter Bill MacAnally put together an abbreviated six-race NASCAR Whelen All American Series season. This meant his Late Models were getting the $3,500 championship prize, similar to what they get at Coos Bay Speedway. The State point fund money in California is actually bigger as Irwindale Speedway has been racing this year as well. MacAnally runs twin Late Model Main Events at his six shows, meeting the drivers compete in 12 Main Events in that class. They also have Modifieds, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks and other classes to fill out the program. 

I decided to stand back when I realized that Steven Blakesley was announcing there and writing the articles. They are in good hands. I see the car count numbers aren't necessarily spectacular so far. I think they were doing better numbers in the pits last year than they are this year, but this is one of those uncertain years. I think MacAnally just wanted to maintain the continuity, because I was told that it's a more expensive proposition for him to do what he's doing right now. I'm sure the racers there appreciate the efforts, and they also have their own in-house streaming service at allamericandpeedway.tv. You can check out the All American Speedway Facebook page for information.

We previewed the Orland Raceway and Mountain Valley Raceway events for this past weekend, but in doing so we knew we might not actually have full results by the time this post would go live.

We got some information on the Clyde Cordell Memorial race at Mountain Valley Raceway. On race night, we were hoping that there would be some streaming video of the action. Other than the fact that Koa Crane happened to show up and make some laps in his Sprint Car, we weren't getting any information at all. Considering this is supposed to be the signature race for the track and fans aren't allowed in the grandstands, I can't help but be a little bit disappointed in the lack of information from the crew at Hayfork.

By the time Monday rolled around, we found out that Freddie Leeper had moved up to the Hobby Stocks and made the Clyde Cordell Memorial win his first ever victory in the class. Tressen Smith, who had won the Modified portion of the program, was looking for the sweep after winning the heat race and Trophy Dash. Mechanical failure was about the only thing that could sideline him, and it struck on the final lap as Leeper was the jubilant winner. His name now goes on the perpetual trophy, and Smith is left looking forward to the 10th annual race and possibly getting the win on that occasion.

Ross Vige is a past Orland Raceway Mini Truck champion, but he bypassed his own home track to go to Hayfork, where he is also a champion. After winning both the heat race and Trophy Dash, he was hoping to get the feature win, but those hopes were thwarted as Destruction Derby competitor Ricky Berry claimed the glory.

Racing at Hayfork always concludes with the wild and exciting Enduro class. One of the original competitors in this division, JD Hudman, returned to his winning form as he negotiated the track very well and scored the victory. Larry Richardson finished second ahead of Kyle Thurman. We were hoping for a few more details on who was there, but at least we're able to pass along the information on who picked up the wins on what could be the only race the track has until the potential New Year's Eve Enduro. For information on scheduling and other news, go to the Mountain Valley Raceway Facebook page.

We're hopeful that the scoring team is getting more familiar with the MyLaps system at Orland Raceway so that we might get some results posted. I won't hazard a guess on what the car count was, but at least the Pure Stock division had double digit numbers. I counted seven B Modifieds, which isn't bad. As I mentioned last week, I think Orland Raceway could dip their toe in the IMCA water with a four-race series in the future and probably get support. With sanctioning, drivers might be more encouraged to come to town, even for one visit, if they are trying to get those State points. In any event, Tyler Rodgers got the win on this occasion as the track was supported by Marysville regulars.

It was more of the same in the Pure Stocks with reigning champion Phil Spencer winning that Main Event. Tony Richards remains undefeated in Wingless Spec Sprint competition with three-straight victories. Dustin Hills, a regular at Shasta Speedway, snapped the Tom Davis win streak in the Mini Stocks, while Dan Webster won the Mini Truck race again. It's good to see them getting decent support and keeping the show going, but I do wish Orland Raceway would make better use of social media and keep people in the loop. They are another one of the disappointments to me during this covid-19 situation when fans can't be there. In fairness, they don't do a good job of putting the results out under regular circumstances, but the Orland Raceway Facebook page could end up posting something.

 

Tracks are adding more races and going into November. We've done our best to maintain a media effort on the blog, but I want to begin to scale things back. That doesn't mean no coverage of racing to the end of the season, but I tend to go all in with what I'm doing. It occupies too much of my time during the week to maintain the media effort as I do it, and I want to start focusing on other things. The blog will take on a different look in 2021, and we will probably rebrand this as it was prior to 2015, Don's California Racing Recollections.

We might cover current things here and there, but unless I am offered a gig at a track that includes announcing duties, I think I am ready to walk away from that. There's a lot of nostalgia work that I need to do. I have amassed a great deal of information that I still have, and there are several books that I can create on the history of Bay Area racing. Dennis Mattish has done a marvelous job with his books, and Tom Motter has some good books as well. There's no reason why I can't start working on some racing history books after I get through with my follow-up to Just A Kid From The Grandstands.

On one hand, the sport is changing so much that I don't mind walking away. It seems like the right thing to do at the right time. On the other hand, I see some things that aren't being done that I personally believe matter. I'm not about promising the moon. I prefer to get in there and do what needs to be done and help a track earn results. I might be seen as a dinosaur when it comes to the sport in 2020, and I can accept that. In that case, I'll sit on the sidelines and observe, gather statistics and occasionally comment on stuff. I can work on my history stuff from there.

I'm contemplating a rebranding of the Jefferson Racing News blog and considering opening up another web page or two. I might even look at opening up a racing forum. These are all things I'm considering at this point. While I'm thinking about that, I also would like to write about things that aren't even racing related. I was doing quite a bit of that before I came back to the sport. Frankly, I feel like there are things in the world that are happening that I want to comment on. I feel like there are important things happening in the world that will ultimately affect the sport that we love. It won't be a place we can escape to if we don't deal with what's really going on.

I have multiple book ideas, but right now it's all in my mind . Once I start editing the next book, which is 98% written, my mind will start working. I'll let the muse take me to whatever book that might be. The problem that holds me back is being so engaged with the current racing product. The more I put into that, the less I want to do anything else. I burn out very easily. If I were to make this sort of commitment from now all the way to the end of November, I can almost guarantee you that there won't be a book. At least ways, I'll shut down for a few months. Therefore, it feels like it's about time to wrap up some of this stuff.

I want to cover some of the big events like the Pat and Jim Pettit Memorial Shootout, the Bill Bowers Memorial, the Adobe Cup and the John Fore Jr/Bob Smith Memorial. I think I've done a fairly decent job of covering what's been going on in the sport this year, and I didn't plan on doing any of it. At least ways, I wasn't going to go as far as I have. I'm glad I did, because this is just one of those times when the world is screwed up. You want to see how racing adapts to it, so I did my best to chronicle things.

Unless life leads me down a bad path, I'm not planning on going anywhere. The blog will still be here, but I might lay low and work on things. There are quite a few potentially exciting racing projects I can engage in, even if I'm only doing this from a nostalgia point. I know people are all about the computer now, and maybe books don't matter as much. Then again, there are people who appreciate the hard copy. The books I've put out aren't the best that I can do. I am extremely proud of Just A Kid From The Grandstands, but I find the other book to be lacking. It was simply my attempt to put anything together when I thought I'd lose all of my possessions. In that context, I did okay, but I can do better.

It's been a struggle to keep the blog going, and I am honest when I say I felt like giving up a month or two ago. It seems like times are changing and maybe there's not as much interest in the written word as there once was. The support that I've gotten from people like Michael Burch, Dan Myrick, Shannon Collins, Doug Braudrick and Dave and Belinda Duste has kept me going. I've had no money to work with otherwise, and it's been tough. There's equipment breaking down on me and things that I need and do without. Standard stuff. My dad always taught me to make do with what you've got, and so I have. If the equipment fails me, I'm just done for a while.

Anyway, that's where we stand after the first half of September. I see the finish line ahead, and I'm looking forward to it. It's been a heartbreaking year for me personally in some respects. Things didn't go the way I hoped, and part of me wanted to lash out at people who I feel did me wrong. But, what good would that do me? I made the decision to move on from it, and I stand by that. I did my best while I was involved, but things did not end nearly the way I had hoped they would. We can't always call the shots as we'd like to, so we do the best we can.

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