2016 Schedule Signals A New Beginning
For Southern Oregon Speedway
White City, OR...February 17...The 2016 schedule for Southern Oregon Speedway ushers in a new begging for the 20 year old racing facility. New promoter Mike McCann released the schedule for the three-eighth mile dirt oval track last Wednesday as he held a meeting with over 150 racers and racing enthusiasts in attendance. At the meeting, McCann introduced himself, discussed some of his plans for this season and the future and then fielded questions. McCann's reputation as a racer's promoter is well known. He has over 30 years of experience and is a winner of the RPM Monthly "Promoter Of The Year" award.
The new schedule will continue to offer all of the things that the fans have come to expect from Southern Oregon Speedway and even more. The prestigious Lon Skinner Memorial Race, won by Californian Bobby Hogge IV last season, will be back with a $5000 first prize, and this big IMCA Modified event will take place on September 2-3. IMCA Sport Mods and SODCA Dwarf Cars are also part of that weekend's action.
The IMCA Modifieds have nine dates this season, and the Roger Haudenschild Tribute race on May 28th. Furthermore, the track will continue to take part in the IMCA Wild West Shoot Out with a date scheduled on June 11.
There was concern among the competitors that there would be no IMCA sanctioning in 2016, but McCann put those rumors to rest by signing with IMCA for another year for Modifieds and Sport Mods as well. This will assure that racers from other area tracks will be legal to compete at Southern Oregon Speedway and vise versa. It also keeps both divisions involved in the Oregon State IMCA point race.
Furthermore, Southern Oregon Speedway will also have a 13 race schedule for Sport Mods that will ensure that the track regulars can be competitive in the new series created by Steve Kerstulovich that pits the drivers at various Oregon tracks and Yreka against each other.
The SODCA Dwarf Cars will remain a part of the speedway with 11 race dates scheduled. This includes the prestigious SODCA Dwarf Car Nationals Event that attracts some of the best drivers from Oregon and out of the state. This event is scheduled from August 4-6.
Of course, the track will have the popular Mini Stock division on the schedule with 13 dates booked. Also back will be the entry level Hornet division with six dates and the quicker Super 4 division with eight dates. The Super 4's were a regular part of the show a few years ago, and the racers are excited to be back this year.
The always exciting Outlaw Pro Stock Association will make eight appearances this year, and that's not all. Sprint Cars are back at Southern Oregon Speedway! McCann has made a commitment to establishing the crowd pleasing division as part of the program with ten races, which will give the fans a healthy dose of high horse power open wheel racing. This includes a race during the prestigious Sprint Car Speedweek Series on July 9.
For fans of the cars of yesterday, the OTRO Hardtops will be doing some dirt track racing this season with five dates being booked. Look for a few more surprises to be thrown in during the 23 race season.
It all adds up to plenty of great racing at Southern Oregon Speedway on Saturday nights. After the April 24 playday, the season kicks off with an April 30 event, which will be headlined by Sprint Cars, Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and Dwarf Cars. Further details can be found on the track's official web site, www.sospeedway.com.
A Brief Recap Of The 2015 Season At Southern Oregon Speedway
White City, Oregon...When last we left Southern Oregon Speedway, Albert Gill successfully defended his 2014 IMCA Modified track championship. Gill won one Main Event along with four seconds and two thirds last season, but he claimed the championship by a wide margin over past champion Mark Wauge. Wauge led the Main Event winner's list with three victories in the competitive field that saw 11 different winners during the season.
Wauge held off Tim Bailey by just four points to claim second in the standings, while one time winners Jesse Bailey and Brian Poppa rounded out the Top 5 in points. The big feature wins of 2015 went to Wauge (Firecracker 50), Bobby Hogge IV ($5000 to win Lon Skinner Memorial) and Jesse Williamson (Speedweek race). Kellen Chadwick won the preliminary feature at the Lon Skinner Memorial event. Yreka and past Lon Skinner Memorial winner Nick Trenchard won two times, while other feature winners last season included Scott Lenz, Jon DeBenedetti and Andy Freeman.
In recent years, Jorddon Braaten has established himself as one of the stars of the speedway. The defending IMCA Sport Mod champion racked up eight feature wins and one second, and yet he only beat Oregon IMCA State champion Mike Medel by ten points in a close battle. Two of Braaten's wins occurred on the biggest stage of the season, the Lon Skinner Memorial.
Bob Nelson, Glenn Seversen and Matt Duste each managed to pick up a feature win. Seversen would rank third in the final standings ahead of Randy Fernandes and Dwayne Melvin. Nelson led the division in second place finishes with four, but he fell just short of Melvin for fifth in the standings as Melvin had two seconds and one third.
Three drivers really shined the brightest in Mini Stock competition last season, led by the champion David Marble. Marble scored four feature wins, three seconds and two thirds. His closest point rival, Bob Burkett, also had four feature wins as well as three seconds and three thirds.
Meanwhile, third ranked Gary Anderson impressed with his three wins, three seconds and four thirds. Eric Hanson's high finish was a second, which helped him hold off Mike Cloud for fourth in the standings. Yreka champion David Steele made two visits and brought home a second and a third.
The SODCA Dwarf Cars held ten of their events at the speedway, and Josh King made the most of it with six wins and two seconds to hold off young up and comer Camden Robustelli to win the club's championship. Robustelli had two seconds and two thirds.
Ryan Smith, Chad Cardoza and Brock Peters rounded out the Top 5 in points. Smith and Cardoza both had feature wins. Smith also had a pair of thirds, while Cardoza had two seconds and a third. C.J. Puttnam and Fred Hay had feature wins. Hay also won the veteran's feature in the Dwarf Car Nationals event, while Matt Sargent won the Pro feature and Joey Dale won the Sportsman feature at the big event.
The Outlaw Pro Stock Association ran a few different tracks, and eight of their races were at Southern Oregon Speedway. Young Jeffrey Hudson only had one win in eight visits, but he had five seconds, including the second place finish he had in the finale that moved him past Scott Flowers into the championship. S. Flowers had a second and a third at the speedway to hold onto second ahead of James Flowers in the point race. Steve Borror had three feature wins, while Dave Everson was a two time winner and Dave Quick and Rocky Nash each had one win.
The Sprint Cars will have a championship season this year. Last year, there were four races. Colby Copeland won the June Northwest Speedweek race ahead of Roger Crockett and Kyle Hirst. Hirst came back later in the season and won that race ahead of Jared Peterson and Trey Starks. Seth Nunes won the first Sprint Car race of the season ahead of Vern Wheeler Jr. and Kyler Barazza, and Crockett won the next race ahead of Peterson and Starks, meaning there were four different winners in four races.
Racing against competitors such as Mikey Johnson, Neal Coaty, Brian Dickens and Lon Fox, Drew Fielder won the Hornets championship. The Super 4's made their lone appearance late last season with Lee Doty winning ahead of John Barger and Charlie Eaton.
2016 Southern Oregon Speedway Schedule
Sunday April 24 - Test & Tune - 3PM-7PM
Saturday April 30 - Sprint Cars, Pro Stocks, Dwarf Cars, Mini Stocks
Saturday May 7 - Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, Mini Stocks
Saturday May 14 - Ladies Night - IMCA Sport Mods, Pro Stocks, Super 4's, Hornets, OTRO Hardtops
Saturday May 21 - Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, Mini Stocks, Open Stock
Saturday May 28 - Roger Haudenshild Tribute - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mod, Dwarf Cars, Super 4's
Saturday June 4 - Sponsor Appreciation Night - Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, Mini Stocks, Hornets, OTRO Hardtops, Open Stock
Saturday June 11 - Wild West IMCA Speedweek - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, Pro Stocks
Saturday June 18 - Father's Night - IMCA Sport Mods, Dwarf Cars, Mini Stocks, Hornets, Open Stock
Saturday June 25 - Military Appreciation Night - Sprint Cars, IMCA Sport Mods, Mini Stocks, Super Mini 4's, OTRO Hardtops
Monday July 4 - Pro Stocks, IMCA Sport Mods, Dwarf Cars
Saturday July 9 - Sprint Car Speedweek - Sprint Cars, Dwarf Cars, Mini Stocks
Saturday July 16 - Family Night - IMCA Modifieds, Dwarf Cars, Mini Stocks, Super 4's, OTRO Hardtops
Saturday July 23 - Jackson County Fair - No Races
Saturday July 30 - Sprint Cars, Pro Stocks, IMCA Sport Mods, Mini Stocks, Hornets, Open Stock
Thursday August 4 - SODCA Dwarf Car Nationals - Registration/Practice
Friday August 5 - SODCA Dwarf Car Nationals - Preliminary Night
Saturday August 6 - SODCA Dwarf Car Nationals - Finals - With OTRO Hardtops
Saturday August 13 - Pro Stocks, Dwarf Cars, Mini Stocks, Super 4 Mini Stocks
Saturday August 20 - Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, Mini Stocks, Hornets, Open Stock
Saturday August 27 - Sprint Cars, Pro Stocks, IMCA Sport Mods, Super 4's, OTRO Hardtops
Friday September 2 - Lon Skinner Memorial - Registration/Practice
Saturday September 3 - Lon Skinner Memorial - Preliminary ' IMCA Modifieds with IMCA Sport Mods, Dwarf Cars
Sunday September 4 - Lon Skinner Memorial - Finals - $5000 to win IMCA Modifieds with IMCA Sport Mods, Dwarf Cars
Saturday September 10 - Dwarf Cars, IMCA Sport Mods, Mini Stocks
Saturday September 17 - IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, Super 4's, Hornets, Open Stock
Saturday September 24 - Championship Night - Sprint Cars, Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks, Super 4's
Schedule Subject To Change
Our weekly program schedule runs as follows:
4:00pm Pit Gate Opens
5:00pm Grandstands Open
5:45pm Practice Starts
7:00pm Racing Starts
Race times are approximate and are subject to change. Please check here for weather and schedule updates
