DCRR Racing Radio Show
A new edition of The DCRR Racing Radio Show looks at Southern Oregon Speedway, among other tracks.
I can't embed it here like I can on The DCRR Blog, so view it HERE
Jefferson Racing News Pit Stops
There is no shortage of enthusiasm in The Northwest when it comes to racing. Despite the rainy weather, car shows and other gatherings continue to happen. In fact, there was recently a car show in Roseburg with several beautiful looking cars on display. They just had one in Yreka, and there's another one coming up at McDonald's in Yreka on April 2nd.
McDonald's in Yreka is a special place as far as racing is concerned. While this writer is not a big fan of fast food, it's hard not to support a place that supports racing. McDonald's in Yreka has been the title sponsor of the Mini Stock divisions for several years and will continue to sponsor the divisions this year as well. We appreciate them for that.
At the most recent car show, McDonald's Mini Stock competitors, Heather Ryan and Ryder Boswell, were there representing the speedway, among other drivers in various classes. Boswell lost a close battle with Mike Whitaker for second last year, by just eight points. He lost the 2013 championship battle to Colter Boswell, who won the IMCA sanctioned Sport Mod title last season, a fact that we missed due to lack of availability of the IMCA points on the track website.
C. Boswell was second in the SCMA Sport Mod point battle by just 14 points to Doug Franklin. This meant that the track had two Sport Mod champions in 2015, which was fitting since both C. Boswell and Franklin drive like champions.
Back to Ryder Boswell, he and Mike Whitaker might have the 2016 McDonald's Mini Stock championship in their sights, but they will have to be on their game. If the #67 of David Steele is back for more, he will be tough to beat. He won last season's title by over 100 points and only lost the 2014 crown by five points. It must be pointed out that Whitaker was the driver to do beat him, so we know he is capable. Steele has been fast on the circuit and has made his presence known at neighboring Southern Oregon Speedway as well.
The Mini Stocks are a popular class in Yreka and have been part of the show for several years. There are a few ladies out there running wheel to wheel with the guys, and one of them is Marilyn Yawnick. Marilyn finished fourth last season and has been Top 5 ranked in three of the last four seasons. Leslie Cobb had her moments last year, and that was good enough to keep her in front of J.D. Leahy in the race for fifth in the standings. Tyler Frost was ranked seventh in the standings, and Terry Kendrick was a late season feature winner. That's a pretty good accomplishment when you consider how often Steele was winning last year.
However, it's a new season and that means new opportunity. What's nice is people have an opportunity to go to the Yreka McDonald's on April 2nd, grab a bite to eat and meet some of the stars of Siskiyou Motor Speedway as well. The car show will take place from 10 AM to 1 P:M and then the drivers are heading to the race track to make some laps at the open practice. We're not sure what IMCA Modified drivers may come, but we were pleased when the original schedule for 2016 was revised to bring the Modified race date total up to nine.
Given the close proximity of Yreka to Southern Oregon Speedway, drivers in the IMCA Modified class tend to travel back and forth. Nick Trenchard, who won the SCMA championship for IMCA Modifieds at Yreka last season, and he is a past winner of the prestigious Lon Skinner Memorial race. Dwayne Osburn, who finished second in the SCMA points, has two Street Stock championships at the track north of Yreka. You never know who will show up to race in this class, and many of the big names show up from time to time. Roger Lorenzini himself is a big name in the area, and he finished third in the SCMA point battle for the IMCA Modifieds last season.
The IMCA Sport Mods had a good showing at the car show with Trevor Tiffee coming home with the "Best In Show" Hardware. Doug Franklin and Garrett Hamilton, who ranked fourth in the SCMA point race for IMCA Sport Mods, were also at the car show. Both will be fast this year, and we know we can expect stiff competition from Colter Boswell, Cory Biggs and Randy Wright this year, among others. There was a Jimmy Lipke sighting on social media as last year's fifth ranked driver on the SCMA point list was showing off the car he purchased through Ryland Racing.
Since Susie Dunn has passed along the information, we can give you the official IMCA point standings now.
IMCA Sport Mod
Colter Boswell 419
Doug Franklin 412
Corfy Biggs 379
Garrett Hamilton 367
Jorddon Braaten 279
Kyle Pitkin 251
James Lipke 231
Randy Wright 225
Chad Wormington 224
Greg Foster 201
IMCA Sport Mod
Nick Trenchard 314
Duane Orsburn 280
Roger Lorenzini 247
Todd Whipple 184
Mark Wauge 183
Josh Cullen 175
Montge Bishoff 161
Kurt Lorenzini 139
James Berry 136
Zach Fettinger 121
NW Modified Cup And NW Sport Mod Challenge Grow Bigger
After the recent car show in Yreka, Doug Franklin and Garrett Hamilton joined the ranks of the drivers trying to win some of the prize money being put up for the Northwest Sport Mod Challenge. Steve Kerstulovich added this class on the heels of the success of the Northwest Modified Cup, and he has already gained IMCA Oregon champion Mike Medel and Southern Oregon Speedway titlist Jorddon Braaten.
The Four tracks represented in the Sport Mod portion of this Series at the moment are Sourthern Oregon Speedway, Cottage Grove Speedway, Sunset Speedway and Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka. The Yreka track has also stepped in to sponsor $100 towards this series, and word is that a prominent track promoter will be stepping up to put a little into the championship purses of both the Modified and Sport Mod Series. Signups are still being taken for another 12 days as of this writing (Monday, March 21).
Both division's efforts are still growing, but the Modified Cup is a bit more established as the drivers raced for $2,600 in prize money and $6,000 in contingency awards last season. This year, more prizes are already being obtained, the purse has nearly doubled and the Top 10 drivers will get a piece of the pie, up from five last year. The championship looks rather attractive and includes a $1500 paycheck, a championship jacket, a new wrap for the race car, a 100 minute JetStream Aqua Massage and a nice trophy.
Kerstulovich was in Albany, Oregon last Saturday for the Heritage Mall Car Show Presented By JetStream Aqua Massage. It was an opportunity to get a few more racers signed up for 2016 and make NW Modified Cup apparel available as well. It was a good day for the series, and Kerstulvich is pleased that over 40 Modified drivers have signed up. Hopefully, the numbers will grow in both series as this is a win-win situation for the drivers and the sport. The bigger this becomes, the bigger it will be for the racers and fans.
The Modified series is a bit bigger with nine tracks involved from Washington, Oregon and the Yreka race track. The entry list is already reading like a who's who of Northwest IMCA Modified Superstars. Southern Oregon Speedway champion Albert Gill, Yreka champion Nick Trenchard, Willamette champion Collen Winbarger, NW Speedweek champion Jesse Williamson and Sunset Speedway champion Mark Carrell are all signed up.
As we already mentioned in a previous article, the best part about this series is that racers need only pay a $25 signup fee ($20 of which immediately goes back into the series and $5 of which goes into administrative fees). The rest is handled by Kerstulovich,who grabs all of the results from the various tracks, calculates the points and keeps track of the whole thing. The racers are then competing for a piece of the point fund and contingency awards pie.
The potential is there for this to grow, and it has already grown by leaps and bounds since it started. It's not hard to envision this eventually encompassing the West Coast if the sponsorship and driver support call for it. As it is, it's the biggest series going for Modifieds in Oregon and Washington, and it will grow in the Sport Mods as well. There are many great sponsors making this all happen, and you can find out more about the NW Modified Cup/Sport Mod Challenge by, checking out the official website at http://wizard1056.wix.com/nw-modified-cup.
Parades And Fund Raisers In Roseburg
The St. Patrick's Day Parade event went well for the racers representing the Douglas County Fairgrounds Speedway. Some gorgeous cars were on display. This was an opportunity for the kids to get their pictures taken with the racers by the cars and get in the cars. It's events like these that help form a tight bond between the race track and the community. Racing works best when you have a good relationship with the community.
The new website for Douglas County Speedway at http://douglascountyspeedway.com has gone live. The Pacific Racing Association is the community organized group that promotes the fast 4/10 mile paved oval. Racing season opens with a playday on April 23rd and the opener a week later on the 30th. The season's final point race is September 17th with a date set aside for a week later in case of a rainout.
There are lots of special nights on the schedule with community outreach in mind. The final race on September 17th is billed as Family Fun Night with a bike giveaway for the kids, who will get in free that night. If that's not enough, there's also a destruction derby that night. Other highlights include Mother's night on May 7th where moms get in free, Armed Forces Night on May 21st where all active duty and military veterans get in for a $1 with ID, the Benefit Race on June 23rd where any driver donating half their winnings gets double points and the big West Coast Modified Shootout/K&N Series NASCAR race on August 27th.
Among the divisions on the card this year are the always exciting Late Models, where Brandon Ash is the defending champion after holding off Allen Cress in points last year. Close Mini Stock racing seems to be a theme at the tracks in the area, and Roseburg's division is no different. Last year, Tony Shoptaw won the championship by just two points over the tied Dale Roth and Dan Colton. The Modifieds are a competitive division as Phil Pipgrass beat Herman Pulyer last year in another good championship battle. The Street Stocks are still alive and well, and Matt Klass enters the season as the defending champion. There is also the PRA Hardtops.
The PRA just did another community event, The Third Annual Roy Harvey Bowling Fundraiser, last Saturday. Things were said to have gone well.
Pear Blossom Parade Means Racing Season
Just Around The Corner At Southern Oregon Speedway
Down the road a little bit in Medford, the Pear Blossom Parade is happening on April 9th, and some racers representing Southern Oregon Speedway will be taking part in it. There is lots of excitement in the air as the popular 3/10 mile clay oval in White City begins its 21st season of racing with Mike McCann as promoter.
There is much to be done to get things ready for the coming season, and McCann is busy putting things into place. The good news is the rules will stay the same for the divisions that have been there. No changes are coming other than what IMCA has made with the Modified and Sport Modified rules. Mini Stocks, Hornets, Pro Stocks and Dwarf Cars are steady as she goes with the rules
The Super 4 drivers are trying to reestablish their rules and won't be too ridged with the rules as long as things are in the spirit. Sprint Cars are open enough to allow a wide variety of engines to compete as the class gets rebuilt. The 6 cylinder Hardtop division will pretty much be what is allowed in Roseburg, but on dirt. The Open Stock class is being started to give Street Stocks and Late Models a place to race while McCann figures out what to do next. Enough interest could lead to the two classes becoming separate entities.
The drivers wanted IMCA to remain as the sanctioning body, and that is the case. The concern was that they wanted to run what other tracks were running. A schedule of nine Modified and 13 Sport Modified dates was booked this year, ensuring that the track champions will be recognized by IMCA and also that the drivers can be a part of the Northwest Modified Cup and Sport Mod Challenge Series.
A newspaper feature back in 2014 mentioned that Jorddon Bratten had an eye toward moving up to the IMCA Modifieds. At that point, he was already a Street Stock champion. He won the Sport Mod title that year and repeated a year later. At this time, Bratten, who is one of the more popular racers at the track, will be trying for three Sport Modified titles in a row. Jorddon pretty much dominated at Southern Oregon Speedway and Yreka last year, but he didn't win the IMCA State championship because the two tracks are in different states.
To say that Mike Medel is not a true champion is a misstatement. Mike did not make it easy on Bratten as he was just ten points behind him at the speedway. Medel, who proudly staked his claim to the Oregon IMCA State championship, was also very competitive in his visits to Cottage Grove Speedway and Sunset Speedway in Banks. Glenn Severson had a nice maiden season in Sport Mods last year with a third in the standings, and he should come back even stronger this year. Randy Fernandes improved on his Top 10 status of 2014 with a fourth place season last year. You also have to consider two time champion Dwayne Melvin entering the Sport Mod's fifth season. New cars are anticipated this season.
The big question is who will be coming back in Modifieds this year? There are some key names on the roster that he we haven't seen enough of in the past couple seasons. Even after missing races, six time champion Mark Wauge was still second in the standings and won some big races between Southern Oregon Speedway and Yreka. If he comes back more often, things could get very interesting. The same can be said for hard chargers liked Jon DeBenedetti, Brian Poppa and Travis Peery. All are past champions, and all are very talented racers. Can you imagine a season with all four of these leadfoots racing full time? Add in a car from the Duste team, and it would get even better.
Getting more cars to show up regularly as they did in the past will be the key. There are plenty of good racers out there, and even guys liked Tim and Jesse Bailey are not to be ignored. Both have run up front with Tim Bailey finishing third in points last season and Jesse finishing second the year before. Speedway veterans like Zach Fettinger and Monte Bischoff, Brett Provost, Jeremy Ohlde, Eric Mobbs, Andy Freeman and Brian Bowman are all important ingredients to the success of the class. All of them are primed and ready for their big moment on the race track.
And, of course, you cannot possibly ignore Albert Gill. Gill is coming off of back to back championships and going for a third one. He was a past Top 5 Pro Stock racer before that. And there is one thing to consider. As good as Albert is now, we haven't even seen his full potential. The best may well be yet to come for Gill. Hopefully, this will come with bigger car counts, and indications are that bigger car counts will indeed be the case this year.
SODCA Dwarf Cars and the Valley Boys Auto Pro Stocks have been moving right along with strong car counts and good races whenever they come to town. Southern Oregon Speedway will see lots of them this season, just as Yreka gets some visits from both. In the case of the Pro Stocks, young Jeffrey Hudson overtook Scott Flowers for the championship with a great effort in the season finale. James Flowers was third, and, of course, Ken Irving was Top 5 again as the two time champion was tied with John Cobb for fourth. 2013 champion Dave Everson was busy winning the final race at the speedway. Indications are that the class will remain strong and competitive this season.
As for Dwarf Cars, Josh King is the man on a roll with back to back championships, but nobody is making it easy for him. Ryan Smith came within 17 points of beating him in 2014, while Camden Robustelli finished just 24 points back last year. King knows that if he slips up a little, somebody might overtake him. With other hard chargers like Fred Hay, Kalvin Morton, Brock Peters, Rob Gergel, Travis Gergel, Jesse Merriman and Kaycee Sheeler in the group, among others, the Dwarf Car class is more competitive than ever.
We're still waiting to see who will be a part of the Super 4 Mini Stock class, but indications are that drivers will be coming from all over the state to try and restart what had been an 11 year tradition. It's assumed that the Top 3 finishers from last year's one appearance, Lee Doty, John Barger and Charlie Eaton, will be among the competitors. We'll be keeping an eye on this situation in the days ahead.
The Mini Stocks have a different situation, David Marble, Gary Anderson and Bob Burkett have ranked Top 3 for the past two seasons and pretty much dominated the action. Burkett has been a front runner for several seasons, Anderson is the 2014 champion and Marble won it last year. The question is, will there be a breakout star this year to loosen the grip of the big three? As the fourth and fifth place drivers last season, Eric Hanson and Mike Cloud are the likely candidates, but what about second year racer Kris Mix, Andrew Hall or Randy Simmons? It will be interesting to see where this division goes. The good news is the car count was hitting double digits and on the rise when the 2015 season came to a close.
Hornets are the other question mark. Car count has struggled, and that has left people wondering about the future of the class. However, the new promoter wants to build this class up. Last year, there were multiple nights when six cars showed up. Drew Fielder was the star of the class and champion, but Mikey Johnson, Neal Coaty and Jason Peeble had their moments. There were ten different drivers who had cars last season, and one goal this year is to see the class have at least ten cars show up for a race. The potential is there for this to happen. The other nice thing about the Hornets is that they will help make new stars at Southern Oregon Speedway. Of course, the web site for the track is www.sospeedway.com to find out about the latest happenings. The new site will be going live soon.
Kniffen Coming Back To Sprint Cars
At Southern Oregon Speedway
There has been much buzz in the air since new Southern Oregon Speedway promoter Mike McCann announced his intentions to start up a Winged Sprint Car Class. With ten dates booked, it certainly caught the eye of many racers. A half dozen competitors, including 2010 champion Chadd Noland, Cottage Grove Speedway Sprint Car champion Patrick Dills, Pro Stock champion Jeffrey Hudson, Orland Sprint Car champion Bill Hopper, SODCA Dwarf Car point runner up Camden Robustelli and Top 5 Yreka IMCA Modified racer Todd Whipple, have declared intentions to come race on the fast 3/10th mile banked clay oval this season.
Well, those six will be joined by Wayne Kniffen. Kniffen just announced his intentions to come back in his #84 Sprint Car. The Kniffen family has been a fixture at Southern Oregon Speedway since it opened with Wayne's father, Ray Kniffen, and brother, Ray Kniffen Jr,. competing at the track through the years. In fact, Ray Jr. still runs an IMCA Modified.
Wayne has competed in a few different divisions at the track, going back to the early 2000's in a Mini Stock. He went from 25th to 19th and then 8th in his third and final season in that class. He was also the 1999 Mini Stock B Main Champion. Since then, he's competed in IMCA Modifieds with two Top 20 seasons to show for that and the 2007 B Main Championship.
That wasn't enough to satisfy Wayne's need for speed, which meant he decided to run the Winged Sprint Car division that the track had at the time. He was ranked 9th in points in 2004. Wayne has competed here and there with the Sprint Car, but he's decided to return to the speedway this season. "R & W Racing is looking forward to racing at the new and improved Southern Oregon Speedway this season, " he declared.
Kniffen brings several years of racing experience with him, and he should equate himself very well with the rest of the competition. The fact is, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the return of the Winged Sprint Car division to the track, More drivers will be expressing an intent to be a part of the growing division, and there is a big announcement set to be made very soon. For more information, check the official track website at www.sospeedway.com.
Hayfork, Orland And Other Odds And Ends
It's been quiet in Hayfork as they prepare for the fifth season of racing at the Trinity County Fairgrounds. Again, Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks, Hornets and Enduros will be on the card. The track hovers around the ten car mark with Hobby Stocks and is in the process of establishing a Mini Stock and Hornets class. Getting any kind of results from the track seems to be a chore, but there is some social media chatter to work with.
The early July race last year saw Bill Kasper win the Hobby Stock race and J.D. Huffman the Enduro. The big race they put on at the end of the year is the Clyde Cordell Memorial race. From the pictures, it looked like they had around ten Hobby Stocks for that season ending race last year and four or five Mini Stocks. We are having a difficult time tracking down the winner.
This season has 11 dates booked starting with the May 7th event and ending on October 8th, which is probably the Clyde Cordell Memorial again,. One of the early Hobby Stock stars when the track opened, Josh Davis, has built a beautiful car for the Outlaw Pro Stock class that he is pushing for. Orland racers are looking for a new home track, and Jim Davis and William Fogle have both expressed interest in racing there some. Davis has won there in the past.
Orland is sad story as it appears as if the track is done. Fair officials are pushing for a sports complex and soccer, and part of that project was said to begin this year. The track could have run the schedule that promoter Adam Zachary had booked, but he decided to pull the plug rather than to give it a go. His off season decisions, such as dropping Wingless Sprints and merging Mini Stocks and Mini Trucks, did not go over well with the racers, and he never booked an awards banquet for last season. Word was that Zachary has left the state and gotten married.
The idea that a season could have happened and maybe the track could be saved after that has spurned a few efforts to save things. Micro Sprint racer Jackie Whitson had reportedly looked into it and moved om. There was a rumored effort from long time Speedway supporters Dan Webster and John Kirkpatrick to save the place, but no word has emerged regarding any kind of deal. The clock is ticking, and it doesn't look good. With no Mini Stocks at Chico or Marysville, the Orland drivers in Mini Trucks and Mini Stocks face a long tow to go racing. Perhaps an 11th hour move can save the track?
