The DCRR Racing Radio Show
Can Be Heard HERE
Pit Stops - Jefferson Edition
Memorial Day Weekend was a big weekend for racing in the Jefferson region, especially the Northern half. It was the big Roger Haudenshild Tribute at Southern Oregon Speedway, the John Arnberg Memorial race at Siskiyou Motor Speedway, the big Hornet's Nest 100 at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg and a big $1,500 to win Late Model race at Coos Bay.
There are a lot of positives to take out of Southern Oregon Speedway after three events. Considering the way things were going out there for the previous three or four seasons, things are getting better. Car counts are up slightly, more people are coming to watch the races and things are starting to come together. Considering the state of some of the things there, it is still a work in progress. There are some things being repaired or replaced from the previous regime. It's not a negative thing to say that there were better days for the speedway before the previous three or four seasons. This year is about building things back up and making the track stronger again.
It's about the big races that you can be put on, and the Haudenshild Tribute race is one of those big races. The Haudenshield family and Dusty's Transmissions stepped forward to sponsor the event, and the result was a $1,500 to win Modified race and a $1,000 to win IMCA Sport Modified race. It is also worthy of note that promoter Mike McCann did not increase the entry fee for the drivers or the gate fee for the fans in this big event. Many tracks would do that. In fact, the previous management did do that.
Twenty-five drivers showed up to compete for the big money in the IMCA Modifieds, and there were drivers that came in from Southern Washington and Northern California to try to grab the big bucks. Fans were treated to something that they didn't get to see very often in 2015, a B Main Event. They also saw another sight they don't normally see, Mark Wauge in a B Main.
The current point leader and 6 time track champion Wauge had a problem in his heat race and was towed off by the rear of his car. Wauge got to work getting everything back together and was ready for the B Main. Not surprisingly, he won that race, but he did have to out duel one of the top drivers in the region, Mark Carroll, to get that win.
He still had his work cut out for him starting back in the tenth row of the big Main Event. Considering the way the Main Events had gone for the Dwarf Cars and Sport Modifieds that night, with numerous caution flags, Mark may have thought he would have the benefit of a lot of yellow flags. If he thought that, he thought wrong. A crash in turn 1 forced a restart, and there was one more yellow flag on lap two. The rest of the race was destined to go non stop.
Up at the front of the pack was another champion of Southern Oregon Speedway, Brian Poppa. Poppa has racked up an impressive list of credentials himself, including division championships in two classes and wins in the Lon Skinner Memorial Race. Knowing that the big Speedweek event is coming up (June 11th) and he's a pat champion in that, Poppa needed to get his car on the track. This was a shakedown run for him, and he started at the front of the pack. Poppa led early, but he got a surprise from a California visitor, Darrell Hughes II.
Hughes is a third generation racer. His grandfather was a Sportsman racer at Watsonville back in the 1970's, and his dad was one of the top Street Stock drivers of the 1990's. The younger Hughes doesn't really chase points, but he shows up at different tracks to test his ability and improve as a driver. The opportunity to win $1,500 was just too much for him to pass up. His night started with him winning the $200 Crack The Whip Challenge.
Hughes had the lead by lap 6, but Wauge was on a roll on his way to the front. Wauge had his car set up to the bottom groove and was practically glued down there. Gradually, he worked his way up to the front of pack, passing cars as if they were standing still. By lap 18, he finally got there. Two laps later, Wauge made his winning pass, and he led the last 10 laps without any problems. Mark has won many races at Southern Oregon Speedway, but this was one of his most impressive victories to date. It also gave the fans who hung around all night a good show.
Hughes held on to grab the second place finish ahead of the rapidly closing Jesse Bailey. At this point, it looks like Bailey may be the driver to challenge Wauge for the track championship. Jesse began his night by winning a Trophy Dash, and the third place finish was his second consecutive finish at the track. Point totals will show him only 4 points behind Wauge at this time. It's a long season, and anything can happen. In fact, Jesse will be going for the victory when the IMCA Modifieds return this week.
Poppa didn't have everything dialed in to his liking, but he still managed to get the car back to a fourth place finish. Managing to get a fifth place finish was many time California IMCA Modified champion Randy McDaniel. These days, he leaves the driving to his son, another champion by the name of Ryan McDaniel. The McDaniel family is three generations strong in racing with Randy's father Plummer McDaniel racing back in the 1960's and 1970's at Marysville. Randy hinted that you might just see him driving the #10x Modified a time or two more before the season is done.
Wauge set such a rapid pace that the only other driver managing to stay on the lead lap with him was sixth place finisher, Duane Cleveland. Cleveland made the trip along with teammates Randy McDaniel and Ryan McDaniel, and like those two drivers, he is a past Modified champion in Chico. Though not on the lead lap, both Nick Trenchard and Albert Gill remained in the top 10 at the finish. At this point, the 2015 Yreka champion Trenchard and two time defending Southern Oregon Speedway Champion Gill remain in the hunt for the championship in 3rd and 4th, respectively, but they know they need to step it up.
Ryan McDaniel made it all three Chico California visitors in the top 10, but you know he wasn't happy with his finish. It was still better than two Madras Champions, B.J. wild and Shane Mills. Wild was involved in one of the earlier mishaps, and he had to go to Cottage Grove the next night to salvage a good weekend with his top-ten finish there. The night also offered the Modified debut of C.J. Putnam.
Putnam is one of those racers who came up from the Outlaw Kart ranks at the Kart track. He moved up to Dwarf Cars, where he was a champion. This was his first foray into the IMCA Modified division, but it ended in hot laps with mechanical problems. B.J. will get all of those issues sorted out and be back next time. James Welshonse is a rookie in the class. James was stuck in the B Main, and he was unable to get the transfer spot. A bigger surprise was Matt Duste. Matt was also unable to get a transfer spot after finishing second in the season opening Main Event. As a past point runner up in this division and Lon Skinner Memorial winner, you know that Matt wasn't pleased with those results.
There were some big names that came to play in the IMCA Sport Modified division. Chief among those was the husband and wife team of Fred Ryland and Patti Ryland. Not to be excluded in this are the brother team of Brian Cooper and Todd Cooper. These four drivers came to make their presence known at Southern Oregon Speedway, and they did just that.
It started with Fred Ryland, who got an alternate starting spot in the Crack The Whip Challenge and promptly won the $100. Fred's wife Patti took charge early on in the Main Event. Soon, however, she was challenged by the Cooper brothers. Todd managed to open the door, and Brian followed him by Patti for the second spot. Todd was the Main Event winner last time out at Marysville, and he landed the biggest win of his career with a $1,000 victory here. He forced Brian to settle for second. Brian is the point leader at Chico and Marysville so far this year.
Fred Ryland got caught up but in a spin by three time Marysville Stock Car champion Philip Shelby. He had his work cut out for him trying to work his way back to the front of the pack, but he eventually caught the third place driver. Unfortunately, that driver was two time defending champion Jordan Braaton, who held off Fred for the third place finish. After two races, Jordan remains the point leader at Southern Oregon Speedway, and he has two time champion Dwayne Melvin and Bob Nelson behind him.
Melvin and Nelson both had top 10 feature finishes that night. The bigger story for Braaten right now is the fact that he is leading three different point races right now. Jordan currently leads the Northwest Sport Mod Challenge Series standings as well as the IMCA Oregon State point race. The surprising jimmy Lipke currently finds himself second in the Sport Modified Challenge Series. He grabbed a top 10 feature finish after winning the Trophy Dash earlier in the evening.
What is interesting about the Sport Mod Challenge Series is that the championship is worth $600 and second is worth $350. Both totals or more than the IMCA State championship will earn. This is all thanks to the efforts of Steve Kerstulovich, who spent the off season landing sponsorship for this series, which he added following the success of the Northwest Modified Cup. Initially, this series was set to pay the top three point earners at season's end, but thanks to some late sponsorship, it is now the Top 5 positions that will get paid. The Modified Cup Series will pay even better at $1500 for the champion and the Top 10 point positions receiving point fund money.
The Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association came with a field 14 cars for this event. Though he's not chasing points this year so far and he has missed the two Yreka races, reigning champion Josh King has won both Southern Oregon Speedway races and a big race at Cottage Grove. King had to battle with hard luck racer Brock Peters during the first 10 laps of the race, but contact between the two resulted in Peters' race coming to an abrupt end. King recovered in second and eventually overtook Chad Cardoza for the lead and victory.
Cardoza made contact with another car and ended up retiring from the race. This opened the door for Kalvin Morton to finish second ahead of Ryan Smith. With two features wins at Yreka this year, Morton seems to be in a position to win the championship this year, though 2014 point runner up Smith might have something to say about that. With multiple top five finishes, including a fourth on this night, Rob Gergel could also be in the battle. Morton was fourth in the point standings last year and has certainly set his sights on this season's championship.
While Morton's teammate Brock Peters continues to struggle to get a good finish, Brock's son Cody Peters drove a solid race to finish fifth, just ahead of Randy Slater. The Dwarf Car field is down slightly from last year, when they were averaging about 18 to 20 cars. Some drivers have sold their cars, and the new owners haven't shown up yet. On this occasion, there were a few rookies on the track that seemed to be taking turns spinning for yellow flags. As the season goes on, we expect to see new cars debuting.
The Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association will be heading to Utah this weekend to take part in the Nationals. They will also have a pair of non point events at Coos Bay Speedway and Cottage Grove Speedway. At the end of the month, they return to Southern Oregon Speedway for a point race.
Not to be forgotten was the return of the Super 4's division. The division has been added to the schedule this year, and though there were several drivers looking to come out, it was four drivers who made the inaugural run. Winning the Main Event in August of last year was Lee Doty, but he had mechanical problems to end his night after hot laps. The battle was between John Barger and Steve Thompson.
Barger had remarked prior to the races that the division was an open class and that it was more about fun than anything else. The 2013 champion is hoping to get the car count back up to where it was about 6 to 7 years ago. On Saturday night, Barger and Thompson took turns winning with Barger winning the heat race and Thompson winning the Main Event. Bill Spencer also answered the call for the Main Event and finished third. It is anticipated that there might be a new car or two for their next appearance.
It is also hoped that the Hornets division, now in their third season, will be able to hit at least a half dozen cars for their first run this week. Last season, the division hit their high water mark at six cars in the season finale from a roster of 10 cars. Two drivers we anticipate this week are Darrel Nelson Jr. and Heather Menzel. Three of last season's competitors, Dillon Lauson, Devon Weiser and Michael Johnson, are rookies in the Mini Stock division, and it's unknown whether any of the other contenders from last season will be competing this year. We will find out on Saturday.
The OTRO Hardtops are in town Saturday for their first of four appearances. This group of drivers are used to competing on the pavement of Roseburg, but some of these drivers want to give dirt a try. It is unknown which drivers will be competing, but we have heard a field of about a half dozen cars will be there. As with the Mini Stocks, we'll find out on Saturday.
The Open Stock division will have a mixture of Late Models, Street Stocks and Outlaw Pro Stocks. At this point, we haven't heard what Street Stock drivers might be there, but it appears as if 2014 champion Miles Deubert will be there. One of the Late Model competitors we anticipated, Steve Lemley, will not be making it due to problems with his car's body fitting on the trailer. We still anticipate Mike Linder being there with his Late Model, and we have heard of some Pro Stock drivers looking to show up.
Prior to the rainout last time, there were several Pro Stock drivers looking to come out. We're not sure who might be wanting to show, but the rumors suggest two time champion Ken Irving, past champion Dave Everson and Roy Bain may be among them. On Saturday night, we'll find out what is rumor and what is fact.
Meanwhile, the Mini Stock division seems to be a continuation of the 2015 season with Bob Burkett and 2014 champion Gary Anderson both earning one win in one 2nd in the first two races. The big question is will one of these two drivers win again or will a new winner emerge? Topping the list of hopefuls will be a third ranked Marissa Henson, who has back to back fourth place finishes. The Mini Wagon of Andrew Hall has two fifth place finishes and two heat race wins, and top five ranked Kristopher Mix could be another driver to watch.
Some of the drivers were competing in the last couple of weeks at other places while there was off time at Southern Oregon Speedway. After back to back failures to start the Main Event, fourth ranked 2015 competitor Eric Hanson grabbed a checkered flag and in fourth at Coos Bay Speedway in a race with the Mini Outlaws. Meanwhile, rookie Devon Weiser has two top five finishes at Yreka. These are two drivers you might want to keep an eye on in the quest for victory.
Again, the Saturday race for the IMCA Modifieds will be a tuneup for the Speedweek race that is set to run on June 11. Mark Wauge will be going for three in a row, but Jesse Bailey may be the driver to beat him this week. With Brian Poppa now in the field, he could come home with a victory, and there are several other drivers to watch, including top five competitors Albert Gill and Nick Trenchard. The Modifieds should put on a good show show this week.
The Pennzoil Winged Sprint Cars return for their third race with word of the return of 2009 champion Charlie Thompson. Charlie was set to return to the race that was rained out a couple weeks ago. There was also a sighting of 2010 champion Chadd Noland at Cottage Grove last week. Unfortunately, his night ended with a blown motor. It has been a few years since Thompson raced, and it will be interesting to see how he looks after his time off.
Vern Wheeler Jr. and his son Jake have finished 1-2 in both Main Events, and Vern has yet to lose a race this year. As the program starts this week, Camden Robustelli and Wayne Kniffen will be hoping to snap Vern's streak with a Trophy Dash win. Can either of them do it? Jeffrey Hudson will be looking to rebound from his DNF last time out, and both Todd Whipple and Bill Hopper are anticipated this week as well.
At Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka, drivers in the IMCA Modified division competed for the $1038 first prize in the John Arnberg Memorial race. The division has fallen on hard times at the track this year, but thanks to several visitors, there was a 12 car field for the show on Sunday night. The money went back to the Chico area as Silver Dollar Speedway champion Ryan McDaniel scored the victory in the big 38 lap race ahead of Yreka's Kyle Casson and 2015 race winner Mark Wauge. Past Chico champion Duane Cleveland won the Fast Dash and his heat race before finishing fourth in the feature. The drivers competed on a dry, slick racing surface, but their Main Event went rather smoothly.
2015 champion Nick Trenchard crossed the line fifth in his first start at the track since scorong the $1000 win in the season openner. The real question is what will happen with this division the next time it is back? Will drivers give it a chance? The visting drivers who competed this past week showed how good IMCA Modified racing can be at Yreka, and hopefully some drivers will get back on board again. Time will tell.
The big surprise, and in a very good way, was the O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modified division. There were 32 cars in the field for Sunday's $750 to win Bo Hittson Memorial race. This included several drivers coming up from the Chico and Marysville area. The race was a carbon copy of what went on at Southern Oregon Speedway. There were a multitude of yellow flags. Once again, a Chico star grabbed the win. Not to be outdone by his brother Todd, Chico point leader Brian Cooper picked up the win on this occasion.
Finishing second in his best effort so far was Jimmy Lipke. It seems only a matter of time before the fans see the #4y car grabbing a feature victory. Lipke had some fast company behind him in Medford point leader Jorddon Braaten and Yreka point leader Garrett Hamilton, but he managed to hold them off to the finish. The top driver of the Maryville contingent, Jason Ferguson, finished fifth. Ferguson was part of the group of racers who came with past Yreka regular Jimmy Ford. Ford made the commitment to Yreka prior to the releasing of the purse numbers for Medford's Saturday race, and he kept his word in supporting the race on Saturday too.
The Saturday race was an opportunity for Keith Foux to shine as he won the Main Event and the Trophy Dash. Coming off of his win a week earlier, young Colten Cheffey continued that momentum with a second on Saturday and a Fast Dash win on Sunday. Ford led the Marysville charge on Saturday with a fourth place finish behind Hamilton as Ferguson was aced out of fifth by a good run by David Pierce. The one thing about the O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modified division is the racing among the track regulars is pretty close. There could be a few Medford visitors this week as that track is dark to the division.
The McDonald's Mini Stock drivers have plenty of reason to "Love It" at Yreka. The Yreka and Weed McDonald's sponsored the Mike Caveye Memorial race on Sunday by paying almost half of the driver's entry fee and helping increase the purse. The man of the hour on Sunday was point leader and past champion Terry Kendrick, who followed up his third on Saturday with a win in the Caveye Memorial 30 lapper. Chris Jorgensen drove a good race in second, and Marilyn Yawnick, will encourage the talk of her championship potential after another podium finish in third "Big Mac" also won her heat race.
David Steele was the Fast Dash winner, but the best he could do on Sunday in the feature was fourth ahead of the truck of Ethan Killingsworth. Ethan had a fifth place finish the night before. The racers know they can't keep 2015 champion Steele down for long, and he won the Saturday Main Event after winning the Trophy Dash. It was a different Joregensen, Dennis, getting second on Saturday. Meanwhile, the hard luck season for 2014 champion "Magic" Mike Whitaker continued as he missed the Top 5 on Saturday and couldn't even manage a Top 10 on Sunday. It was Anthony Whitaker keeping the family name in front on Saturday in fourth. Anthony is currently serving in the Navy, but he was back for the weekend at the track he grew up at.
The Outlaw Pro Stocks continue to be dominated by Steve Borror, who won his heat, the dash and the main in dominant fashion once again. According to the scoring we saw (which is very unofficial), only Arlen Garrison was able to stay on the lead lap with him. It was past champion Scott Flowers keeping the family name in the Top 3 after his son James had problems. Scott won his heat race and finished third in the feature. Rick Lukens also turned in another good permanence in winning his heat race and finishing fifth behind Johnny Cobb. It remains to be seen if anybody can put an end to the Borror domination.
Before we look into the grab bag at last week's big races elsewhere in Jefferson, we look at the return of Orland Raceway. The Glenn County Fair Board had indicated back in March that it was never their intention to close the track, though they had went ahead with a proposal to build a soccer field. The people behind the soccer field wanted to build more than one, but the board is taking a wait and see approach to this one first. This means racing still has a chance, though soccer success might not bode well for the track's future.
Several racers were trying to put something together, but it was Pure Stock racer Rich Hood and Mini Truck racer Nathan Skaggs who stepped up to the plate. Hood made his proposal to the board at the May meeting and was awarded the contract for ten dates and an option for more. Racing will be back at the renamed Orland Raceway once more. Hood and Skaggs are keeping the Four Cylinder Mini Stock and Mini Truck divisions, Hobby Stocks, Multi 600 Mini Sprints and 250 Outlaw Karts on the schedule for now as they reestablish this program. For further information, check www.orlandraceway.org.
Coos Bay Speedway paid $1500 to win their Late Model feature, and it was David Schnmidt showing up to take the money. Ron Brewster came to town from up north and finished second ahead of Chase Mott and defending champion Toby McIntyre. Point leader Nathan Augustine was a heat winner, but he struggled back in tenth in the feature. Street Stock point leader Daniel Land DNF'ed after his two straight wins as Justin Krossman won ahead of Dusti Trotter and Ken Fox. Sportsman point leader Wayne Butler won that feature ahead of chief rival Tom Williams and Dave Foote. Hornet point leader Jeremiah Reiber won their race ahead of his chief rival, Ryan Siewell and Robert Vandal. John Henry was the Mini Outlaws winner in front of Ryder Johnson and Michael Greenway.
At Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, the Hornet's Nest 100 was run last Saturday. it's a rare thing to see Hornets get a 100 lap race. There were 18 competitors and they managed to run 60 laps in a 45 minute time span. Brad Moffett collected the big victory with division star Neil Pecor, Ed Pratt, Andy Nelson Jr. and Skyler Thompson completing the Top 5. Pecor just barely lost to Moffett at the line as all Top 5 finishers were on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Dale Roth won the 25 lap Mini Stock race ahead of Tony Shoptaw and Greg Hickman. The 25 lap Wedge Super 4 race went to Rich McCoy ahead of Andy Nelson and Rikki Rapp. The Modified 25 lapper was won by Anderw Koens ahead of Monty Cox Jr. and Tom Ford.
At Marysville, they held the first race of a two race Civil War Winged 360 Sprint Car weekend. Andy Forsberg got a good weekend started by winning the Main Event ahead of past Wastsonville champion Shane Golobic, Jonathon Allard, Mason Moore and three time Marysville champion Colby Wiesz. Wiesz had to win the B Main ahead of Cody Lamar and Matt Peterson to make the feature. Past Spec Sprint champion Rowdy McClennon won the C Main ahead of Petaluma racer Roberto Kirby. The Winged Economy Sprint race went to Nathan Johnson ahead of Wyatt Brown and Keith Mikaelsen.
The next race was at Chico Silver Dollar Speedway on Sunday as part of the annual County Fair. Forsberg was aiming for a second win, but hard charger Cory Eliason forced him to settle for second. Moore and Allard grabbed Top 5 finishes again in third and fifth, respectively, while Steven Tiner was fourth. Sean Becker drove the Dan Menne car to a B Main win ahead of Justin Sanders and Petaluma ace Geoff Ensign. The first C Main went to recent Antioch winner Kyler Shaw over Mike Monohan, while Billy Butler won the other C Main in front of Roberto Kirby.
A night earlier, Chico had their annual 200 lap Enduro with two time Hobby Stock champion Brian Compton the only lead lap finisher in victory. The team of Mike and Kyle Allen was second, two laps down, as Gene Guinn, Orland racer Shannon Collins and Jared Flower rounded out the Top 5. Silver Dollar Speedway returns to Friday night racing with a five division show this week, headlined by the Winged 410 Sprint Cars.
To recap, Southern Oregon Speedway opens the Outlaw Kart track on Friday night with several divisions of Karts. On Saturday, a six division show on the big track is headlined by the Pennzoil Winged Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, Mini Stocks, Open Stock Cars, Hornets and OTRO Hardtops. For further information check www.southernoregonspeedway.com.
At Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka, the Pro Stocks are listed on the schedule along with a Ball Toss. However, a flier posted on Facebook shows only O'reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modifieds, McDonald's Mini Stocks and a bike race for the kids. You can go to www.siskiyoumotorspeedway.com for further information.
