Pit Stops - Jefferson Edition
The Season Opens At Yreka
The Season Opens At Yreka
The racing season kicked off at Siskiyou Motor Speedway last Saturday night despite threatening skies. Rain washed away the racing programs for every other track in the Jefferson area. In Yreka, a $1,000 to win IMCA Modified race, sponsored by Ace Hardware, was a highlight of the program.
The association had to be just a bit disappointed when only five cars showed up. Despite that, it was reported in the local newspaper that the $1,000 paycheck went out to feature winner Nick Trenchard. As the 2015 division champion and a past winner of Southern Oregon Speedway's Lon Skinner Memorial Race, even a full field might have had a difficult time beating Trenchard. He has definitely come on strong in recent seasons.
Trenchard's closest rival in last season's point race, Dwayne Osburn, was also an action, but he settled for a disappointing fourth place finish. Along with his second place accomplishment in last year's point standings, Osburn is a 2 time Street Stock champion at Southern Oregon Speedway. Speaking of Southern Oregon Speedway, it was two time Southern Oregon Speedway IMCA Modified champion Albert Gill picking up a third place feature finish last Saturday night. Gill had his beautiful race car on display recently, to the delight of the children who got their picture taken with the car.
When the season schedule first was released for Yreka, only five IMCA Modified dates appeared. The thought process for why only five dates were booked was not revealed, but when four more dates were added within 48 hours, it was assumed that the association was looking to see what was going on at Southern Oregon Speedway before filling in the rest. The schedule now has 12 dates on it, and our hope is that there will be more cars in the coming weeks. Certainly, the John Arnberg Memorial Race and the Rod Restad Memorial Race should be big.
Dan Thomas introduced himself to the field with a second place finish in the Modified main event, which is exactly where the SCMA Sport Mod champion, Doug Franklin, finished in their main event. Franklin gave it a good run in the O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Mod main event, but he was no match for IMCA Oregon State champion Mike Medel.
Medel is not only going for the Oregon state championship, but he's also hoping to win the Northwest Sport Mod Challenge championship as well. Winning the trophy dash and then the main event had him in good spirits. It had to be even more gratifying that the man who beat him for the Southern Oregon Speedway championship, Jorddon Braaten, had to settle for third in this main event. The duo have enjoyed a friendly rivalry in recent seasons, and Braaten beat Medel by 10 points for the Southern Oregon Speedway championship last year. Both drivers are signed up to run for the Northwest Sport Mod challenge.
Jimmy Lipke also had the car that he purchased through Ryland Racing in action. He would end up finishing fourth in the feature. Not doing so well in his Sport Mod debut was Southern Oregon Speedway Mini Stock champion David Marble, who finished last. Nonetheless, Marble should be the driver to beat in the Southern Oregon Speedway "Rookie Of The Year" battle this season.
The Valley Boys Auto Sales Outlaw Pro Stocks opened their season in Yreka to a bit of a disappointing car count. It was a night where things didn't really go as well as the group had hoped, including an early finish to their main event. Considering Steve Borror was the one who was leading the way, 10 more laps may not have made the difference. Borror was fast late last season, and he continues to be fast in winning the main event.
The Flowers family has been a strong supporter of Outlaw Pro Stock racing in recent seasons. Scott Flowers has finished second in the last two point races, and James Flowers was third last season. Joining the two was Julia Flowers in the Yreka opener. At The Checkered Flag, it was James finishing second, Scott finishing third and Julia finishing 5th. Though car count wasn't as strong as they might have hoped, it is anticipated that it will double by the time the division hits Southern Oregon Speedway.
The McDonald's Mini Stocks had a pretty good showing for their opener. David Steele picked up right where he left off as a champion last season when he won the main event. Many people have to be wondering if there is a driver in the field who can compete with the #67 car this year. Mike Whitaker would seem to be that driver as the one who held off Steele for the 2014 championship, but he settled for fourth in the first race.
Dennis Jorgensen opened his season on a strong note with a second place finish ahead of Terry Kendrick. Kendrick was a feature winner during the season last year, and he looks fast enough that it could happen again soon. The ladies were well represented as Southern Oregon Speedway regular Marissa Henson picked up a fifth place finish ahead of Yreka regular Marilyn Yawnick.
There was a good fan attendance for this event, and the racing was entertaining. Saturday night will be a busy night at Siskiyou Speedway as the Outlaw Kart Track will be open for business in the afternoon. Later in the evening, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and McDonald's Mini Stocks will be joined by the Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association for a four division program. The season is just getting started, and more cars are set to debut in the weeks ahead.
The Lights Are Going On At Two More Race Tracks Soon
At Coos Bay comes word that the electrical system has been fixed. There were some issues last year of power going out, which happened at the mud drags event recently, but the track crew meticulously went over wiring and light bulbs and recently pronounced everything fixed and ready to go for the coming 2016 season. That will kick off on May 7th for the program that will include, among other divisions, Winged Sprint Cars and Late Models.
The weeks leading up to the season are the time when track crews scramble to get those last minute things taken care of. The crew at Hayfork Speedway has been working hard in recent weeks trying to get the track prepared and ready to go. They have an 11 race schedule set to begin in May, and it looks like they will be ready to go on schedule if weather cooperates. Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks and Enduros continue be on the card, and the track is adding an Outlaw Pro Stock division. It will be interesting to see who will be racing there and if we can actually get any details this season.
While we can't tell you that anybody has come in at the last moment to save Orland Speedway, we can tell you that Shasta Speedway will live again in 2016. After the fair board pulled the contract from the previous promoter for failure to pay his bills on time, local businessman Dave Twyman has rescued the track. A minimum of nine races has been scheduled for this year, and the season will start on May 7th.
Twyman did not step in there thinking that this was a long term fix. His goal was to keep the track going for another year while they could figure out what to do in the future. Considering the last minute nature of what is happening there, if he is able to get the gates open on time for May 7th, he will have done a heck of a job. A successful 2016 season would seem that make Dave the man most likely to get the contract at the end of the year. We certainly wish him well.
Season Opener For Southern Oregon Speedway Coming Soon
We're still a couple weeks away from the season opener and a new era at Southern Oregon Speedway. Things are still being prepared, and the t's are being crossed and i's are being dotted on what should be a good season at the Medford area race track. The track has proudly unveiled the Pennzoil Winged Sprint Car division, and there was the recent announcement of the Open Stock class.
An eight race schedule was also put together for the Outlaw Kart race track, which will run twice a month from May through August. The Outlaw Kart Track has launched many racer's careers that have gone on to race at Southern Oregon Speedway's bigger track and other tracks in the state. The buzz has been high among local Kart racers, and it will get higher when a certain bit of big news is announced very soon. We can't say anything at the moment, but we can tell you that the racers are going to love it.
Southern Oregon Speedway was also well represented at the annual Pear Blossom Parade in Medford. Official track photographer Carole Bryan was on the scene taking photographs and helping hand out flyers. Speedway enthusiast Claudia Linker handed out over 500 schedule flyers to spread the word of the coming season. It's almost racing season in Southern Oregon, and you can feel the excitement in the air.
Some of the strongest buzz that we are hearing right now centers around the Super 4 Mini Stock division. Reports are that there are several cars being prepared for this season as the division returns to the speedway after being gone for a few years. If what we are hearing is true, car count should make it up into the double digit area in no time. We know the capability this division has at Southern Oregon Speedway to put on a big show. It's interesting to see that drivers have three different levels of Mini Stocks to race at the track this year, going from the Hornet division too Mini Stocks and then the Super 4's.
There had been some question about a possible big race on the night of 4th of July. This is an interesting discussion as the IMCA Modifieds have had big races booked for that night in the past. Two things had been planned for this event. The first was that it was going to take place on the 4th of July, rather than a day or two before. Second was that there was going to be just enough racing for the fans to be entertained by the cars before allowing the Fireworks Extravaganza to take place.
The bottom line is the track has several big events planned during the course of the year, not the least of which is the Lon Skinner Memorial Race for IMCA Modifieds in September, the Dwarf Car Nationals in August and Sprint Week earlier in the year. The Modifieds get two other big events, which are the Haudenchild Tribute Race and the Wild West Speedweek race. It's still possible that another big race or two could be penciled in during the course of the year.
What is important to consider is that Southern Oregon Speedway is coming off of a season that was certainly not one of the track's best in its 20 year history. This is the beginning of a rebuilding process, and good things can happen as the racers get on board with what is the schedule as it is. We know the potential of this race track, and we believe that some good things will be happening in the future.
Hayfork Notes On 2015 Season Emerge
We can also talk about the season opener that will be coming up at American Valley Speedway in Quincy. Quincy is one of our three pet projects for The Jefferson Racing News Blog. In can be a chore to try to get information from Quincy as you rarely saw anything from there last season, or the tracks in Susanville and Hayfork for that matter. We still can't tell you who the champions were last season at Quincy, but we can tell you that play day is set for this Saturday afternoon. On April 30th, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Pure Mini Stocks will open the season.
April 30th is the day in which Hayfork Speedway will have it's play day. On May 7th, they will have their season opener. Hayfork Speedway is largely a volunteer effort, and they have an association running the place. We also know that Ross Vige won the Clyde Cordell Memorial race last season as Jack Turner was the track champion in the Mini Stock division.
As the Hayfork Speedway website has come together, more information has come to light. Bill Kasper was last year's Hobby Stock champion. The website lists 13 drivers as part of last year's roster, and that is sure to grow a little bit this year.
We can also tell you that Bill Kasper was a three time feature winner last season while Kevin Kasper won twice and Brian Young one twice. The Clyde Cordell Memorial race was won by Burl Richardson, while Bill Casper and Russ Newman finished second and third in the season ending race.
Perhaps the division at Hayfork with the most character is the Enduro class. What sets this division apart from the others is the mixture of basically Enduro cars, Station Wagons and Pickup Trucks. When the season was all said and done last year, William Young was the champion.
When you look at the numbers for William Young, it's really not a surprise that he was the champion. He had two feature wins and five second place finishes. J.D. Hudman led the division with three feature wins while Donny Case had two and Larry Richardson had one.
It's been sort of a secret what is happening at Hayfork over the last season or two, but they are in double digit territory with the Hobby Stocks while growing the Enduro and Mini Stock divisions. An Outlaw Pro Stock division has been added for this season as well. We'll be keeping an eye on Hayfork Speedway this year and will attempt to put news out there as we get it.
Pure Increase For North West Sport Mod Challenge
We wrap up this column by looking at the Northwest Modified Cup and Northwest Sport Modified Challenge. Steve Kerstolovich has really outdone himself this year with the work that he's done to grow this effort. The Modified division is already paying $1,500 to win the championship with the top 10 drivers receiving point fund money and some contingency prizes.
Steve already knew he had a solid Modified division going into this year, though his intentions have been achieved in the effort to nearly double the point fund. He made a decision during the off season to add the Sport Modified division, but even he has to be pleased with the way things are going so far. When the division was announced, along with a $500 to win championship, only the top three drivers were to receive point for money.
Because of some late sponsorship coming in from people like Doug Franklin, Garrett Hamilton, Don Braaten of Braaten Painting and Siskiyou Motor Speedway, things got even bigger with 4th and 5th now added to the point payout list. There are other contingency prizes and things being lined up as we report this, and very late news came in that point fund money for the Top 5 drivers has been slightly increased.
It is interesting that IMCA Oregon State Sport Mod champion Mike Medel has lined up website coverage on the IMCA site for Kerstulovich. The Kerstulovich family has been involved in racing for years, and he is basically a fan stepping up big time to support racing. The Northwest Modified Cup and Sport Modified Challenge Series website updates the point standings and offers information on who is sponsoring.
Steve is a busy man trying to calculate all of these points and keeping them up to date each week. We might feel just a bit excited about of the thought that we'd love to see California added to this and to make it a full West Coast Point effort. Regardless, this is one of of the best things going on for West Coast Modified racing.
Once again, Siskiyou Motor Speedway will be coming at you this Saturday night with a Kart race there in the afternoon, followed by a four division show at the big track that will feature the O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modified division, the Ace Hardware IMCA Modifieds, the McDonald's Mini Stocks and the Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association. The website to find out more information is www.siskiyoumotorspeedway.com.
It won't be long before Southern Oregon Speedway opens the gates for the season opener on April 30th. This will be the return of the Pennzoil Winged Sprint Cars, presented by Hays Oil. Also on the card will be the Valley Boys Auto Sales Outlaw Pro Stocks, Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association and Mini Stocks. You can go to www.southernoregonspeedway.com for further information.
