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The Wild West IMCA Modified Series came to Southern Oregon Speedway last Saturday, and boy did they put on a show. The program itself was packed with the Outlaw Pro Stocks and IMCA Sport Modifieds also on the card. Therefore, the pits had over 70 competitors making it one of the fullest pits that the speedway had seen in awhile.
The Wild West Modified Series uses a formula similar to what fans may recall from the Northern Auto Racing Club Sprint Cars in California back in the 1990's. They race at a track about every day of the week. In eight days, they had seven races at six race tracks.
It's an intense week, but there are racers who look forward to it. They plan ahead of time, take the week off and come out to do some racing. You end up with the best of the best and some really great racing. In fact, the series got some great internet coverage from Speed Shift TV. This is a very professional broadcast. It's television quality.
The formula for the series is to run two sets of heat races before getting into the B Mains and Main Event. They run for heat race points and passing points to determine who the top 10 qualifiers are for the night. The top eight qualifiers draw for their starting spots in front of the grandstands, giving the fans firsthand information about how the first four rows of the Main Event will line up. The final two start a row behind the drivers who redraw. From the moment the drivers hit the track, they have to have their act together. When the cars get there, you'll see many of them up on jacks as they make adjustments with the gearing and that sort of thing. Nobody comes to play around at a Speedweek event.
The Modifieds do something different from what the Sprint Cars did back in the day. If there were many cars back then, they might run a C or even a D Main. The multiple B Main format is a little bit different and gives drivers a little bit better odds of making it. Therefore, the field of drivers who did not qualify are divided into two B Mains. At Cottage Grove, they divided them into three B Mains. At Southern Oregon Speedway, we transferred 5 cars from the B Mains into the Main Event. The drivers who didn't make it through the B Mains got one more chance to make the feature through an event called The Last Chance Qualifier. They took the top four finishers from that.
This year is the busiest Speed Week yet at seven races in eight days. They will take a break on Thursday to have a party before running at Sunset Speedway in Banks on Friday. Coos Bay Speedway was set to host the race on Monday, but management had to make a change of plans due to over booking at that race track. They had scheduled monster truck events for Saturday and Sunday. It's hard to say what the heck they were thinking over there, but that was a big mistake on their part. Hopefully, the kids enjoyed the show of big trucks crushing small cars.
Taking up the slack, Cottage Grove Speedway was put in there to replace the Monday cancellation, giving them two nights in a row of racing. The Speed Week organizers were not about to let this thing fall apart. At the moment, it seems like it is on the verge of exploding in car count, and there's a side effect of this whole thing. Given the success that this event has had in the last couple of years, Sport Modified drivers are now clamoring to be the regular support division for each event. However, Cottage Grove Speedway did not take the bait. Maybe next year?
Given the popularity of the division in California, it's a bit surprising to this reporter that nobody has taken up the cause of having a Speed Week down there. It seems like the promoters down in the area don't want to cooperate sometimes, but a promoter by the name of John Prentice could be the one we might see step up and start something like this. He has already created a series called the All Star Modified Series that takes place throughout the year at several different tracks. California racers would clamor for a Speed Week down there, and just as some of those drivers came up north to run this event, it is likely that some drivers from the north would go down there to run that one.
When they show up here, they will have to contend with Jesse Williamson, who has won three of the last four series championships, being beaten only once in 2014 by last season's runner up Alex Stanford of Chowchilla, California. It was past Southern Oregon Speedway champion Brian Poppa who kicked the series off with the 2011 championship and four wins along the way. When they came to Medford that year, Poppa won the B Main and then the Main Event in perhaps the most impressive display of driving the series has seen in its entire run.
One of the fun things about an event like this is meeting all of the different racers that come from other race tracks. The racers didn't just came from the state of Oregon, but also drivers from Washington and California were represented. They even had a couple of heavy hitters from Golden, Colorado come to play. The racers were so amped up to come out and race that a majority of the competitors had already towed to the pits before the pit booth was even open. Many teams brought their campers to enjoy a week of racing, camping, hanging out with old friends and catching up again.
Two drivers who arrived relatively early in the afternoon were the father-son team of Don Jenner and Matt Jenner. The two hail from Vancouver, Washington. Longtime racing fans will recall that Vancouver was the home of the very popular racing newspaper, Racing Wheels. Don has been running Modifieds for over 15 years and raced other classes before that at his home track, Grays Harbor Speedway in Elma, Washington. Some people will also know that Grays Harbor Speedway has been the site of one of the bigger Modified races on the West Coast for many years. For the week, the team has enlisted the assistance of California Late Model and Modified champion Clay Daly as their crew chief.
Another driver from Washington to make an appearance was Tom Sweatman. Hailing from Cosmopolis, Washington, Sweatman has one of Alex Stanford's old race cars. He has been running on the dirt for the past few years. Prior to that, he was a pavement racer. As with Oregonians T.J. Richaman and John Campos, Sweatman got to the track very early and was camping.
California was well represented with a few champions in the field, which included past Chowchilla Speedway champion Randy Brown, Imperial champion Lance Mari, Santa Maria champion Danny Lauer, past Speedweek champion Alex Stanford and past Antioch champion Kellen Chadwick. Brown is currently in contention for the Merced Speedway championship, ranking third in the standings with two feature victories. Lauer is a three time champion at Santa Maria who is just running special races here and there this season.
It is interesting to note that Mari builds his own race cars and had a brand new car for this event. Chadwick himself had only debuted his new ride at Tulare for the All Star Modified Series a few weeks ago. The Chadwick team was going to run most of the Wild West Speedweek Series races. When they got to Elma, they would decide whether they would go to that race or head back down to California for the series race in Stockton. As Chadwick has won two of the first four races as of this writing, things seem to be looking good for the team so far.
A second generation racer and son of past Antioch Speedway hard charger Chad Chadwick, Kellen did not play around. He came to win, but so did the Gaylord family of Golden, Colorado. Ryan Scott Gaylord was top five in the series points last season, missing third by just a few points. His brother Tripp Gaylord made the haul for this one, and if the Gaylord name sounds familiar to you, it should. Scott Gaylord, their father, is a past Winston West star for many years.
Zack Olson made the trip all the way from Great Falls, Montana to come run this Speed Week event. He had a big incentive for doing so. Apparently, it's been raining so much in his home state that he's only gotten three races under his belt. Zack commented prior to the races that this week long event would give him more racing than he would probably get back in his hometown.
Two of the biggest stars in the state, six time Southern Oregon Speedway champion Mark Wauge and reigning Willamette Speedway champion Collen Winebarger, were parked next to each other. Winebarger runs the Superman logo, a big S, on the side of his race car in lieu of a number. If you've seen him race, you know that he can back up the logo. He won the Late Model race at his home track the week prior to this event and was looking to win the series championship. Collen ran the number 1m on his rear quarter panel as he and his friend Wauge had a friendly little rivalry going. Collen called himself Superman, while Mark called himself Kryptonite. John Mayden joined his teammates to make this week long event, although he gave Mark a scary moment in the second Cottage Grove race as Mark was coming up to lap him in his impressive winning performance there.
Way over in the far corner of the pits was series promoter Jerry Schram and three time champion Jesse Williamson. Really, Schram and the entire crew are to be commended for putting a series like this together. Getting promoters to agree to anything can be very difficult, although in Schram's case, he happens to promote three race tracks, Cottage Grove Speedway, Sunset Speedway and Willamette Speedway. That certainly makes things a little bit easier. People don't necessarily talk a lot about Jerry and his driving, but he did a good job of actually making the 24 car Main Event field, while Williamson was up front in that race as usual.
The talent level is just so big in a field like this that it's difficult to mention everybody who was out there in this column, though Bricen James is as fast as they come. Donald Schott from Portland, a regular competitor at Sunset Speedway, and fellow Sunset Speedway racer and champion B.J. Wild were also in the group. From Coos Bay Speedway came Preston Luckman. Unfortunately for Luckman, there is no IMCA Modified division at his home track. Therefore, when he wants to run his Modified, he has to travel up and down the road. Not surprisingly, he was just a little bit disappointed at his home track's management for cancelling the Speed Week race there. Luckman also has a Late Model, and it's just possible we could see him at Southern Oregon Speedway in the Open Stock class at some point.
Southern Oregon Speedway was well represented by two time Pro Stock and one time Modified champion Brian Poppa. It would take several paragraphs to run down the credentials of this talented racer, but he debuted his car at the Roger Haudenschild race to a fourth place finish a couple weeks prior. Though he hails from Williston, North Dakota these days, Travis Peery is still considered a local by the fans here. A past Medford and Yreka champion, Travis was third in the series points last season. Top 5 racer Jesse Bailey, past top five point runner Kyle Casson, past point runner up Matt Duste and Yreka champion Nick Trenchard made sure the area was well represented.
Duste was still trying to erase the bad taste of not being able to qualify for the Haudenshild race out of his mouth. He had to run one of the B Mains to get into the Main Event and just barely made the cut. After that, it was all downhill as he hit the front wall and rolled his car. Surprisingly, the crew got the thing back together and he rejoined the field, but he fell out six laps from the end.
From the preliminaries, Ryan Scott Gaylord and Jesse Williamson made it known that they came to win. Both drivers won their two heat races to punch their ticket into the big show. Because of the procedure with points and the way the races lined up, the last thing you wanted to do was have to go through the B Mains to get into the Main Event. It can be very difficult on a 3/10 mile clay oval to charge to the front of the pack. It seemed as if the driver making the most progress in that instance was Randy Brown, who finished third in his B Main and ninth in the Main Event. However, the drivers running well in the heat races were the ones who ran at the front of the Main Event.
In this case, that meant R. Gaylord, Chadwick, Williamson and Winebarger. When it came down between R. Gaylord, Chadwick and Winebarger, you could throw a blanket over the three lead cars. Eventually, Gaylord and Chadwick separated themselves from the others and Chadwick briefly got around Gaylord for the lead. However, Gaylord wasn't about to let the $1,000 victory get away as he won this race just ahead of Chadwick, Winebarger, Williamson, Sunset Speedway competitor Mark Carroll, Stanford, T. Gaylord, Mari, Brown and John Campos.
The drivers then headed to Yreka for a Sunday afternoon race, and while R. Gaylord's night took a turn for the worse, Chadwick was just getting started. Gaylord barely made it into the big show with his win in the Last Chance Qualifier. What is interesting is that no driver won more than one heat race. All 10 heat races had different winners. Come Main Event time, Chadwick was not about to let this one go. Mari took it up a notch and ran a strong second in the race with Winebarger again finishing third. To win a championship, you need to be consistent, so Winebarger definitely helped his cause.
Lauer had a DNF the night before, but he finished fourth in the Main Event at Yreka ahead of Poppa, James, Brown, Stanford, Carrell, Grey Ferrando. Defending track champion Nick Trenchard had to go through the B Main to get into the feature, but his night went down hill from there for the second night in a row. James picked up more passing points in the Main Event as he had to win his B Main before finishing sixth in the feature. All in all, the IMCA Modifieds put on a good show for the Yreka fans who have been craving a Modified show as their division on the regular nights seems to be falling apart.
Past Yreka champion Lenny Toolanen happened to be out there in his Modified, but though he was fast, he couldn't quite put things together. As the series rolled back up north to Cottage Grove, where Chadwick and Wauge were the two feature winners, there are still questions in Yreka concerning the future of their Modified class. As the division is on the schedule this Saturday night, we'll see what happens next.
The Valley Boys Auto Sales Outlaw Pro Stocks rolled back to Medford for their second race of the season there. The big question on everybody's mind was could anybody beat the flying point leader Steve Borrer. Borror has been off in another time zone all season long, and he showed no indications of slowing down as he won both his heat race and the Trophy Dash earlier in the evening. However, things were about to change.
For one thing, veteran Stock Car racer Rocky Nash was back in the field. If the name sounds familiar to long time Stock Car fans, it should. Last season, Rocky was a feature winner at Southern Oregon Speedway with the group and ranked Top 10 in the standings despite a limited schedule. However, Rocky has been driving Stock Cars for years and even competed on the NASCAR Winston West circuit in the late 1990's and early 2000's. In fact, he won a race with that group among his 14 Top 10 finishes, finished 11th in points in 1999 and was seventh in the standings in 2000. The man can drive a Stock Car.
All night long, it appeared as if Nash might have something for Borror, but the normal line up procedure was to put both heat race winners on the front row. Being that he was the previous feature winner, however, the group put him to the back of the 16 car field. That figured to make the show interesting, and it certainly didn't disappoint. As Nash raced out to an early lead, Borror started passing cars like they were standing still. By lap seven, Borror was already up to second and beginning to look for a way around Nash. Another monkey wrench was about to be thrown into his plans.
Track officials set a one minute per lap time limit on the Pro Stocks, and a slow start for the race ate 5 minutes before one lap was even scored. By the time a lap 13 yellow flag had waved, it was decided that it would be a green-white-checkered finish. Borror didn't know this was coming until he saw the white flag waving and figured he'd better get going. In the last turn, while trying to make an inside pass, Borror ended up looping his car as Nash sped home to victory. John David Duffie did an excellent job of wheeling Arlen Heath's #42 car to a second place finish, and Scott Flowers rebounded from an earlier spin to finish third. Flowers, who has finished second in the standings for the past two seasons, is still second in the points.
Two time series champion Ken Irving managed to get around Borror for the fourth place finish before Borror recovered to finish fifth. Not the kind of ending that Steve would have wanted for his night, but he did salvage a top five finish and maintains his point lead after four events on the strength of his three feature victories. Matt Harlow also had a nice showing with his sixth place finish just ahead of Brad Zeitler.
Zeitler was making only his second start of the season after making his season debut at Yreka in the previous race. For years, he pitted for his cousin Jimmy Walker Jr. during his championship efforts. When Walker decided to retire, Brad decided that he wasn't quite through yet and got a Pro Stock. He's been enjoying running this division and he didn't look too bad on Saturday night. For those of you wondering, Brad's cousin is Todd Zeitler, who races Sprint Cars.
The Flowers family continues to be strong supporters of the Outlaw Pro Stock effort. The father, Scott Flowers, once again got a Top 3 Finish, while his son James Flowers ended up on the unhappy end of a tow truck hook before one lap was even complete. Julia Flowers came into the night ranked third in the standings, but she had to miss the race to attend a friend's graduation. In Julia's absence, Scott's wife Ginny Flowers drove the #20 car to a ninth place finish behind Rick Lukens.
At the moment, the Outlaw Pro Stock division is providing the racing fans in the Central Jefferson area with a nice dose of Stock Car racing. With 16 cars in attendance at Southern Oregon Speedway, the group seems to be gathering momentum. And, Heath notes that there are 29 drivers with cars on the roster at the moment, meaning we should see car count growth continue as the season progresses. More good news for the Stock Car minded racing fan.
The need for the Outlaw Pro Stock group to be formed occurred in 2012 when Southern Oregon Speedway decided to start a B Modified division on the backs of the Pro Stock division. Drivers didn't want to let go of the division, which had been running at Southern Oregon Speedway since the gates opened in 1996. Therefore, the Outlaw Pro Stock Association was born, and that group had many of their dates in 2012 at Yreka. The B Modified division struggled out of the gate that first year, but it has been growing ever since.
On Saturday night, 14 IMCA Sport Modified drivers competed, and this once again included California IMCA State champion Fred Ryland, and his Antioch Speedway "Rookie of the Year" award winning wife Patti Ryland. Fred got on a roll from the moment the night started. After winning the Trophy Dash, Fred gave his trophy to a lucky young fan in the stands and then went back out and won his heat race ahead of current point leader Jorddon Braaten.
Come Main Event time, the Ryland's shared the front row, and it was Fred charging out into the lead from the start. Braaten had his work cut out for him as he had to come from the fourth row to challenge the very fast Ryland. While this was going on, Trevor Tiffee was having a nightmare night that saw him involved in two yellow flags before the first half of the race was complete. Eventually, Braaten moved into second, but it was too late to do anything with Ryland by then as Ryland picked up the victory.
Jimmy Lipke had picked up his car from Ryland Racing this year, and you can see how much faster he has been this year at Southern Oregon Speedway and his home track in Yreka. He is trying to make a challenge to Braaten for the Northwest Sport Modified Challenge Series and was second coming into the night. Even second in that series, at $300, is worth more than the IMCA State championship in Oregon or California will pay. Lipke is also competing for the championship at his home track in Yreka. Though not a win, he had to be pleased with his third place finish.
Braaten had to settle for the second place finish. He had a decision to make on Saturday night as he was the point leader at Cottage Grove Speedway with four straight wins there. In the end, he came back to his home track and maintained his point lead there with his second place finish. Jorddon also leads the Oregon State and Northwest Sport Modified Challenge Series races and wasn't that far out of the lead at Cottage Grove despite missing the race should he decide to go back there. Wherever Jordan goes, you know he's going to be running near the front and battling for victories. He is certainly a driver the fans enjoy watching at Southern Oregon Speedway.
Friends off the racetrack and rivals on the racetrack, Mike Medel enjoys competing with Braaten. On Saturday night, he managed a respectable fourth place showing as he climbs up the ladder at Southern Oregon Speedway and maintains second in the State point race, which he won last season. Medel had to hold off Rich McCoy, who was making his season debut with a fifth place finish. Bob Nelson continues to get faster and won his heat race before finishing seventh behind Patti Ryland in the Main Event. Marysville, California racer Jimmy Ford, a past winner of the Lon Skinner Memorial Sport Mod race, made his first appearance of the season at the track, but he settled for a disappointing eighth place finish.
Back in Yreka, several of these competitors were there on Sunday afternoon as the O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modifieds got to compete. It was no surprise to find Fred Ryland once again at the front of the pack. Ryland won his heat race, but Braaten turned the tables on him after winning his heat race and then beating Ryland in the Trophy Dash. Come Main Event time, however, Fred proved to be just too fast for the competition. He grabbed the victory ahead of reigning Yreka champion Colter Boswell, who seems to be getting things together rather quickly in his #12 Modified. Boswell won a duel with Jimmy Ford, who ended up settling for third ahead of previous feature winner Jimmy Lipke. With point leader Garrett Hamilton finishing 5th, the point race will continue to be close at Yreka.
Mike Medel managed to start his night off on a positive note as he won his heat race, but the Main Event for him resulted in a disappointing ninth place finish. It's not likely that Jorddon Bratten was much happier with his sixth place finish ahead of Southern Oregon Speedway "Rookie Of The Year" hopeful David Marble. Marble's Top 10 finish at Southern Oregon Speedway made it a double Top 10 finishing weekend for him.
Trevor Tiffee continued a nightmare weekend as he again was involved in a tangle at Yreka. Unfortunately, this time he took a ride in an ambulance as he had a concussion. Not the kind of weekend that he was hoping for. The Yreka O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modifieds are still off to a pretty good start this year, and they are back in action this Saturday.
The third division in the show this Saturday night at Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka will be the McDonald's Mini Stocks. The drivers enjoyed the week off to make repairs for the next event, but the point standings will show that "The Holy Terror" Terry Kendrick continues to lead by a slim margin over "Big Mac" Marilyn Yawnick. Kendrick is a past champion in this division and has been consistently getting good finishes. Yawnick has surprised a few people with her three Main Event victories. The week off may have helped Marilyn get her motor program in order after she blew a motor during the Mike Caveye Memorial Weekend.
Both drivers will need to have their stuff together as defending champion David Steele seems to have things dialed in nicely on his car. Steele picked up the Main Event win the last time, and the only one that got away from him was his heat race, which went to 2014 champion "Magic" Mike Whitaker. Whitaker has been having nothing but problems in the Main Event so far this year, but everybody knows that on any given night they're going to see him turn things around. With the flying truck of Ethan Killingsworth, Brian Jorgensen, Amber Walden and others, the division has some hard chargers in its midst.
Mini Stocks are also a part of the scheduled program at Southern Oregon Speedway this Saturday night along with the IMCA Sport Modifieds, Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association, Hornets and Open Stock Cars. Bob Burkett continues to lead the way in his Mini Stock championship quest. Not too far behind him is 2014 champion Gary Anderson in his camouflage #0 car. While Burkett was winning last time out, Anderson was the one putting on the show.
Anderson spun early on in the Main Event and rather than draw a yellow flag, he gathered it back up back in eighth and set about trying to charge his way through the pack. Once he caught third place Eric Hanson, Gary had a difficult time. It was obvious his car was just a bit loose in the turns, and Hanson was due for a good finish after after the miserable luck he's been having. Anderson nearly spun while Hanson maintained his line and would grab the third place finish. Anderson settled for fourth. Earlier in the evening, 14 year old Marissa Henson got a confidence booster as she held off Anderson to win her first Trophy Dash. She ended up fifth in the Main Event to hold a slim lead over Andrew Hall in the battle for third in the point standings.
Hall is closing in fast on Henson, and the second place finish he got last time out certainly didn't hurt him at all. The #007 Pinto Wagon seems to be one of the fastest cars on the racetrack right now, but that #43 car of Burkett is just a little bit faster. Having raced this division for about a decade and finishing second in the points four times, Burkett carries an experience advantage over the rest of the pack. However, even he knows that the wins won't come any easier as these drivers start to figure things out. One thing is for sure, the Mini Stocks are an entertaining part of the program at Southern Oregon Speedway.
The Hornet division opened their season with a four car field. For all intents and purposes, though this division is in its third year, it's almost as if the division is being started for the first time this season. Four cars is the beginning of a building stage for a division that speedway management believes is very important to the future of the track. The new talent has to come from somewhere, and there were a few new drivers in the field for the first race. One of them was Darrel Nelson Jr., who pretty much dominated in winning the Main Event. Another newcomer was Tim Hedges, who didn't look too bad himself as he won his heat race. Add in newcomer John Hoult and second year racer Garrett Frederickson, and you have your first four drivers in the group. Word is that there could be a couple more Hornets in the field this week, and optimism is high that this division will continue to grow this year.
The Open Stock division is a division that combines Late Models, Street Stocks, Outlaw Pro Stocks, Super 4's and about any fendered Stock Car you can find. It has an open motor and tire rule. The idea is to build something up with the cars that are sitting out there right now without a division to race. The opener saw three cars, including veteran Mike Linder and local Late Model booster Bob Dees. It was learned at the opener that the Dees Family actually has three cars as son Garrett still has the Street Stock he ran back in 2014 and son John has a Late Model that he's hoping to debut soon. Linder won the opener, and that win, despite being in a three car field, was worth $500. $500 is more than certain Oregon race tracks pay their Late Model division. It is hoped that drivers will respond to that.
The Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association right now appears to be led by young Kalvin Morton in the championship race. Though points have not been released, Kalvin has supported every race and has two wins at Yreka and was second in the most recent race at Southern Oregon Speedway. Kalvin has been very fast, but two time Medford winner and two time reigning champion Josh King has been fast as well. King, however, has not supported the Yreka races. In a shootout race at Cottage Grove last week that involved other groups, Kalvin again showed his stuff with a strong second place finish.
The last time the Dwarf Cars were at Southern Oregon Speedway, Brock Peters appeared to have shed his bad luck and was in the hunt for a win before he was bumped from the groove and knocked off the race track. That had to be more than just a little bit disappointing to the Peters, who was fifth in the standings last season. Brock has already demonstrated his ability to be a winner in the group, and it's just a matter of time before that #2 car will see the winner's circle.
Another driver who has looked good so far with multiple Top 5 finishes is Rob Gergel. Gergel was hoping to make a challenge for the championship this year as well. Saturday's program should have some fast runners in the group, including 2014 point runner up Josh Smith, 2015 point runner up Camden Robustelli, Chad Cardoza and Randy Slater.
In Southern Jefferson, Chico Silver Dollar Speedway ran a six division show on Friday night, headlined by the Winged 410 Sprint Cars. Sean Becker grabbed another victory in the Dan Menne car ahead of Andy Foresberg and Jonathan Allard. Limited Late Models saw second generation racer Matt Micheli getting the win ahead of past Marysville champion George Magenheimer, Keith Foux and ageless veteran Ken Micheli. The IMCA Sport Modifieds saw Fred Ryland involved in a tangle while racing for the lead as reigning Marysville champion Howard Law won ahead of Todd Cooper and past Modified champion Mark Abouzeid.
Past champion Phil Marino collected the Street Stock victory ahead of Kevin Lesch and Brent Hall. Recent 200 lap Enduro winner and two time champion Brian Compton won the Hobby Stock Main Event ahead of Todd Hemman and Kyle Allen. The BCRA Midget Lites made an appearance to round out the show with Australian Scott Males winning ahead of Wingless Sprint Car veteran Bobby Michnowicz and defending champion Craig Dillard.
Civil War Series Winged 360 Sprint Cars had a big show at Placerville on Saturday night with Steven Tiner collecting the victory ahead of Greg DeCaires, Mason Moore, Andy Forsberg and Jonathan Allard. Allard eared his feature start after a second in the B Main behind Kyle Hirst. The Nor Cal Dwarf Cars ran a support program with an equally impressive field as Kevin Bender won ahead of Johnny Reeves, Scott Dahlgren, Buddy Olschowka and Justin Winter. "Doctor" Doug Martin won the B Main ahead of J. Winter.
Marysville had a Saturday night program in which the Chico 410 Sprint Cars made an appearance. Mike Monohan scored the victory ahead of Justin Henry and Brad Bumgarner. Ryan McDaniel won the Limited Late Model feature ahead of Willie McMillan and George Magenheimer. IMCA Sport Modifieds raced, and three time Street Stock champion Phillip Shelby won the Main Event ahead of Stock Car veteran Willie Horn Jr. and incoming point leader Brian Cooper. James Castleberry won the Street Stock race ahead of Antioch long tow Mike Walko and Rod Oliver, while Courtney Dozier won the Winged Economy Sprint feature ahead of Jeff Macedo and Wyatt Brown.
Before closing, we look at a few our Jefferson area pavement tracks, starting with Lakeport Speedway. The Legend Cars hit double digits this week with Luis Tyrell winning the Main Event ahead of Zach Frazier and Bill Kistenmacher. Raymond Taylor held off Lane Anderson in the Bandoleros feature, while Justin Moran won the Jammer feature ahead of Danny Helm Sr. and Gene Odell Sr. The Bombers ran a 30 lap feature with Bob Brackett getting the win ahead of Bob Mook and Brandon Verde. They also have a Jalopy division that races on the dirt infield track. Valicia Bartlow won that Main Event ahead of Wayne Hunt and Jessy Thurman.
In Southern Jefferson, All American Speedway was back in action with a four division program on the one-third mile oval. The F4 feature was won by Jess Yendes ahead of David Gates and Mel Wilson. The tech disqualification of Eric Ray gave the Bomber 35 lap win to Gary Eisenhauer ahead of Tony Latimer and Chris Stachniuk. Street Stocks also ran a 35 lapper with Rich Lavallee winning the Main Event ahead of Jill Schmidt and Mark Gardiner. California Hardtops competed in a 20 lapper with Jason Armstrong completing a clean sweep with his win ahead of club president John Philbert and Ken Clifford.
In Northern Jefferson, Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg had their own PRA Hardtops, and Mike Batman won their 25 lap Main Event ahead of Doug Coffman and Harlem Cox. Nick Hanson won the 25 lap Street Stock race ahead of Kevin Ballard and Stephen McMahan. The Hornets produced a solid 13 car field with Skyler Thompson claiming the 25 lap feature win ahead of Richard Fleming and Donnie Fain.
Once again, five divisions of racing will be on the card at Southern Oregon Speedway Saturday night, headlined by IMCA Sport Modifieds, SODCA Dwarf Cars, Mini Stocks, Hornets and Open Stock Cars. Further information can be found at www.southernoregonspeedway.com.
At Siskiyou Motor Speedway, the three division show will include O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modifieds, McDonald's Mini Stocks and IMCA Modifieds. There will also be Mud Bogs and Kid's Ride-A-Longs. Further information can be found at the all new www.siskiyoumotorspeedway.com.
Pit Stops - Jefferson Edition
The Wild West IMCA Modified Series came to Southern Oregon Speedway last Saturday, and boy did they put on a show. The program itself was packed with the Outlaw Pro Stocks and IMCA Sport Modifieds also on the card. Therefore, the pits had over 70 competitors making it one of the fullest pits that the speedway had seen in awhile.
The Wild West Modified Series uses a formula similar to what fans may recall from the Northern Auto Racing Club Sprint Cars in California back in the 1990's. They race at a track about every day of the week. In eight days, they had seven races at six race tracks.
It's an intense week, but there are racers who look forward to it. They plan ahead of time, take the week off and come out to do some racing. You end up with the best of the best and some really great racing. In fact, the series got some great internet coverage from Speed Shift TV. This is a very professional broadcast. It's television quality.
The formula for the series is to run two sets of heat races before getting into the B Mains and Main Event. They run for heat race points and passing points to determine who the top 10 qualifiers are for the night. The top eight qualifiers draw for their starting spots in front of the grandstands, giving the fans firsthand information about how the first four rows of the Main Event will line up. The final two start a row behind the drivers who redraw. From the moment the drivers hit the track, they have to have their act together. When the cars get there, you'll see many of them up on jacks as they make adjustments with the gearing and that sort of thing. Nobody comes to play around at a Speedweek event.
The Modifieds do something different from what the Sprint Cars did back in the day. If there were many cars back then, they might run a C or even a D Main. The multiple B Main format is a little bit different and gives drivers a little bit better odds of making it. Therefore, the field of drivers who did not qualify are divided into two B Mains. At Cottage Grove, they divided them into three B Mains. At Southern Oregon Speedway, we transferred 5 cars from the B Mains into the Main Event. The drivers who didn't make it through the B Mains got one more chance to make the feature through an event called The Last Chance Qualifier. They took the top four finishers from that.
This year is the busiest Speed Week yet at seven races in eight days. They will take a break on Thursday to have a party before running at Sunset Speedway in Banks on Friday. Coos Bay Speedway was set to host the race on Monday, but management had to make a change of plans due to over booking at that race track. They had scheduled monster truck events for Saturday and Sunday. It's hard to say what the heck they were thinking over there, but that was a big mistake on their part. Hopefully, the kids enjoyed the show of big trucks crushing small cars.
Taking up the slack, Cottage Grove Speedway was put in there to replace the Monday cancellation, giving them two nights in a row of racing. The Speed Week organizers were not about to let this thing fall apart. At the moment, it seems like it is on the verge of exploding in car count, and there's a side effect of this whole thing. Given the success that this event has had in the last couple of years, Sport Modified drivers are now clamoring to be the regular support division for each event. However, Cottage Grove Speedway did not take the bait. Maybe next year?
Given the popularity of the division in California, it's a bit surprising to this reporter that nobody has taken up the cause of having a Speed Week down there. It seems like the promoters down in the area don't want to cooperate sometimes, but a promoter by the name of John Prentice could be the one we might see step up and start something like this. He has already created a series called the All Star Modified Series that takes place throughout the year at several different tracks. California racers would clamor for a Speed Week down there, and just as some of those drivers came up north to run this event, it is likely that some drivers from the north would go down there to run that one.
When they show up here, they will have to contend with Jesse Williamson, who has won three of the last four series championships, being beaten only once in 2014 by last season's runner up Alex Stanford of Chowchilla, California. It was past Southern Oregon Speedway champion Brian Poppa who kicked the series off with the 2011 championship and four wins along the way. When they came to Medford that year, Poppa won the B Main and then the Main Event in perhaps the most impressive display of driving the series has seen in its entire run.
One of the fun things about an event like this is meeting all of the different racers that come from other race tracks. The racers didn't just came from the state of Oregon, but also drivers from Washington and California were represented. They even had a couple of heavy hitters from Golden, Colorado come to play. The racers were so amped up to come out and race that a majority of the competitors had already towed to the pits before the pit booth was even open. Many teams brought their campers to enjoy a week of racing, camping, hanging out with old friends and catching up again.
Two drivers who arrived relatively early in the afternoon were the father-son team of Don Jenner and Matt Jenner. The two hail from Vancouver, Washington. Longtime racing fans will recall that Vancouver was the home of the very popular racing newspaper, Racing Wheels. Don has been running Modifieds for over 15 years and raced other classes before that at his home track, Grays Harbor Speedway in Elma, Washington. Some people will also know that Grays Harbor Speedway has been the site of one of the bigger Modified races on the West Coast for many years. For the week, the team has enlisted the assistance of California Late Model and Modified champion Clay Daly as their crew chief.
Another driver from Washington to make an appearance was Tom Sweatman. Hailing from Cosmopolis, Washington, Sweatman has one of Alex Stanford's old race cars. He has been running on the dirt for the past few years. Prior to that, he was a pavement racer. As with Oregonians T.J. Richaman and John Campos, Sweatman got to the track very early and was camping.
California was well represented with a few champions in the field, which included past Chowchilla Speedway champion Randy Brown, Imperial champion Lance Mari, Santa Maria champion Danny Lauer, past Speedweek champion Alex Stanford and past Antioch champion Kellen Chadwick. Brown is currently in contention for the Merced Speedway championship, ranking third in the standings with two feature victories. Lauer is a three time champion at Santa Maria who is just running special races here and there this season.
It is interesting to note that Mari builds his own race cars and had a brand new car for this event. Chadwick himself had only debuted his new ride at Tulare for the All Star Modified Series a few weeks ago. The Chadwick team was going to run most of the Wild West Speedweek Series races. When they got to Elma, they would decide whether they would go to that race or head back down to California for the series race in Stockton. As Chadwick has won two of the first four races as of this writing, things seem to be looking good for the team so far.
A second generation racer and son of past Antioch Speedway hard charger Chad Chadwick, Kellen did not play around. He came to win, but so did the Gaylord family of Golden, Colorado. Ryan Scott Gaylord was top five in the series points last season, missing third by just a few points. His brother Tripp Gaylord made the haul for this one, and if the Gaylord name sounds familiar to you, it should. Scott Gaylord, their father, is a past Winston West star for many years.
Zack Olson made the trip all the way from Great Falls, Montana to come run this Speed Week event. He had a big incentive for doing so. Apparently, it's been raining so much in his home state that he's only gotten three races under his belt. Zack commented prior to the races that this week long event would give him more racing than he would probably get back in his hometown.
Two of the biggest stars in the state, six time Southern Oregon Speedway champion Mark Wauge and reigning Willamette Speedway champion Collen Winebarger, were parked next to each other. Winebarger runs the Superman logo, a big S, on the side of his race car in lieu of a number. If you've seen him race, you know that he can back up the logo. He won the Late Model race at his home track the week prior to this event and was looking to win the series championship. Collen ran the number 1m on his rear quarter panel as he and his friend Wauge had a friendly little rivalry going. Collen called himself Superman, while Mark called himself Kryptonite. John Mayden joined his teammates to make this week long event, although he gave Mark a scary moment in the second Cottage Grove race as Mark was coming up to lap him in his impressive winning performance there.
Way over in the far corner of the pits was series promoter Jerry Schram and three time champion Jesse Williamson. Really, Schram and the entire crew are to be commended for putting a series like this together. Getting promoters to agree to anything can be very difficult, although in Schram's case, he happens to promote three race tracks, Cottage Grove Speedway, Sunset Speedway and Willamette Speedway. That certainly makes things a little bit easier. People don't necessarily talk a lot about Jerry and his driving, but he did a good job of actually making the 24 car Main Event field, while Williamson was up front in that race as usual.
The talent level is just so big in a field like this that it's difficult to mention everybody who was out there in this column, though Bricen James is as fast as they come. Donald Schott from Portland, a regular competitor at Sunset Speedway, and fellow Sunset Speedway racer and champion B.J. Wild were also in the group. From Coos Bay Speedway came Preston Luckman. Unfortunately for Luckman, there is no IMCA Modified division at his home track. Therefore, when he wants to run his Modified, he has to travel up and down the road. Not surprisingly, he was just a little bit disappointed at his home track's management for cancelling the Speed Week race there. Luckman also has a Late Model, and it's just possible we could see him at Southern Oregon Speedway in the Open Stock class at some point.
Southern Oregon Speedway was well represented by two time Pro Stock and one time Modified champion Brian Poppa. It would take several paragraphs to run down the credentials of this talented racer, but he debuted his car at the Roger Haudenschild race to a fourth place finish a couple weeks prior. Though he hails from Williston, North Dakota these days, Travis Peery is still considered a local by the fans here. A past Medford and Yreka champion, Travis was third in the series points last season. Top 5 racer Jesse Bailey, past top five point runner Kyle Casson, past point runner up Matt Duste and Yreka champion Nick Trenchard made sure the area was well represented.
Duste was still trying to erase the bad taste of not being able to qualify for the Haudenshild race out of his mouth. He had to run one of the B Mains to get into the Main Event and just barely made the cut. After that, it was all downhill as he hit the front wall and rolled his car. Surprisingly, the crew got the thing back together and he rejoined the field, but he fell out six laps from the end.
From the preliminaries, Ryan Scott Gaylord and Jesse Williamson made it known that they came to win. Both drivers won their two heat races to punch their ticket into the big show. Because of the procedure with points and the way the races lined up, the last thing you wanted to do was have to go through the B Mains to get into the Main Event. It can be very difficult on a 3/10 mile clay oval to charge to the front of the pack. It seemed as if the driver making the most progress in that instance was Randy Brown, who finished third in his B Main and ninth in the Main Event. However, the drivers running well in the heat races were the ones who ran at the front of the Main Event.
In this case, that meant R. Gaylord, Chadwick, Williamson and Winebarger. When it came down between R. Gaylord, Chadwick and Winebarger, you could throw a blanket over the three lead cars. Eventually, Gaylord and Chadwick separated themselves from the others and Chadwick briefly got around Gaylord for the lead. However, Gaylord wasn't about to let the $1,000 victory get away as he won this race just ahead of Chadwick, Winebarger, Williamson, Sunset Speedway competitor Mark Carroll, Stanford, T. Gaylord, Mari, Brown and John Campos.
The drivers then headed to Yreka for a Sunday afternoon race, and while R. Gaylord's night took a turn for the worse, Chadwick was just getting started. Gaylord barely made it into the big show with his win in the Last Chance Qualifier. What is interesting is that no driver won more than one heat race. All 10 heat races had different winners. Come Main Event time, Chadwick was not about to let this one go. Mari took it up a notch and ran a strong second in the race with Winebarger again finishing third. To win a championship, you need to be consistent, so Winebarger definitely helped his cause.
Lauer had a DNF the night before, but he finished fourth in the Main Event at Yreka ahead of Poppa, James, Brown, Stanford, Carrell, Grey Ferrando. Defending track champion Nick Trenchard had to go through the B Main to get into the feature, but his night went down hill from there for the second night in a row. James picked up more passing points in the Main Event as he had to win his B Main before finishing sixth in the feature. All in all, the IMCA Modifieds put on a good show for the Yreka fans who have been craving a Modified show as their division on the regular nights seems to be falling apart.
Past Yreka champion Lenny Toolanen happened to be out there in his Modified, but though he was fast, he couldn't quite put things together. As the series rolled back up north to Cottage Grove, where Chadwick and Wauge were the two feature winners, there are still questions in Yreka concerning the future of their Modified class. As the division is on the schedule this Saturday night, we'll see what happens next.
The Valley Boys Auto Sales Outlaw Pro Stocks rolled back to Medford for their second race of the season there. The big question on everybody's mind was could anybody beat the flying point leader Steve Borrer. Borror has been off in another time zone all season long, and he showed no indications of slowing down as he won both his heat race and the Trophy Dash earlier in the evening. However, things were about to change.
For one thing, veteran Stock Car racer Rocky Nash was back in the field. If the name sounds familiar to long time Stock Car fans, it should. Last season, Rocky was a feature winner at Southern Oregon Speedway with the group and ranked Top 10 in the standings despite a limited schedule. However, Rocky has been driving Stock Cars for years and even competed on the NASCAR Winston West circuit in the late 1990's and early 2000's. In fact, he won a race with that group among his 14 Top 10 finishes, finished 11th in points in 1999 and was seventh in the standings in 2000. The man can drive a Stock Car.
All night long, it appeared as if Nash might have something for Borror, but the normal line up procedure was to put both heat race winners on the front row. Being that he was the previous feature winner, however, the group put him to the back of the 16 car field. That figured to make the show interesting, and it certainly didn't disappoint. As Nash raced out to an early lead, Borror started passing cars like they were standing still. By lap seven, Borror was already up to second and beginning to look for a way around Nash. Another monkey wrench was about to be thrown into his plans.
Track officials set a one minute per lap time limit on the Pro Stocks, and a slow start for the race ate 5 minutes before one lap was even scored. By the time a lap 13 yellow flag had waved, it was decided that it would be a green-white-checkered finish. Borror didn't know this was coming until he saw the white flag waving and figured he'd better get going. In the last turn, while trying to make an inside pass, Borror ended up looping his car as Nash sped home to victory. John David Duffie did an excellent job of wheeling Arlen Heath's #42 car to a second place finish, and Scott Flowers rebounded from an earlier spin to finish third. Flowers, who has finished second in the standings for the past two seasons, is still second in the points.
Two time series champion Ken Irving managed to get around Borror for the fourth place finish before Borror recovered to finish fifth. Not the kind of ending that Steve would have wanted for his night, but he did salvage a top five finish and maintains his point lead after four events on the strength of his three feature victories. Matt Harlow also had a nice showing with his sixth place finish just ahead of Brad Zeitler.
Zeitler was making only his second start of the season after making his season debut at Yreka in the previous race. For years, he pitted for his cousin Jimmy Walker Jr. during his championship efforts. When Walker decided to retire, Brad decided that he wasn't quite through yet and got a Pro Stock. He's been enjoying running this division and he didn't look too bad on Saturday night. For those of you wondering, Brad's cousin is Todd Zeitler, who races Sprint Cars.
The Flowers family continues to be strong supporters of the Outlaw Pro Stock effort. The father, Scott Flowers, once again got a Top 3 Finish, while his son James Flowers ended up on the unhappy end of a tow truck hook before one lap was even complete. Julia Flowers came into the night ranked third in the standings, but she had to miss the race to attend a friend's graduation. In Julia's absence, Scott's wife Ginny Flowers drove the #20 car to a ninth place finish behind Rick Lukens.
At the moment, the Outlaw Pro Stock division is providing the racing fans in the Central Jefferson area with a nice dose of Stock Car racing. With 16 cars in attendance at Southern Oregon Speedway, the group seems to be gathering momentum. And, Heath notes that there are 29 drivers with cars on the roster at the moment, meaning we should see car count growth continue as the season progresses. More good news for the Stock Car minded racing fan.
The need for the Outlaw Pro Stock group to be formed occurred in 2012 when Southern Oregon Speedway decided to start a B Modified division on the backs of the Pro Stock division. Drivers didn't want to let go of the division, which had been running at Southern Oregon Speedway since the gates opened in 1996. Therefore, the Outlaw Pro Stock Association was born, and that group had many of their dates in 2012 at Yreka. The B Modified division struggled out of the gate that first year, but it has been growing ever since.
On Saturday night, 14 IMCA Sport Modified drivers competed, and this once again included California IMCA State champion Fred Ryland, and his Antioch Speedway "Rookie of the Year" award winning wife Patti Ryland. Fred got on a roll from the moment the night started. After winning the Trophy Dash, Fred gave his trophy to a lucky young fan in the stands and then went back out and won his heat race ahead of current point leader Jorddon Braaten.
Come Main Event time, the Ryland's shared the front row, and it was Fred charging out into the lead from the start. Braaten had his work cut out for him as he had to come from the fourth row to challenge the very fast Ryland. While this was going on, Trevor Tiffee was having a nightmare night that saw him involved in two yellow flags before the first half of the race was complete. Eventually, Braaten moved into second, but it was too late to do anything with Ryland by then as Ryland picked up the victory.
Jimmy Lipke had picked up his car from Ryland Racing this year, and you can see how much faster he has been this year at Southern Oregon Speedway and his home track in Yreka. He is trying to make a challenge to Braaten for the Northwest Sport Modified Challenge Series and was second coming into the night. Even second in that series, at $300, is worth more than the IMCA State championship in Oregon or California will pay. Lipke is also competing for the championship at his home track in Yreka. Though not a win, he had to be pleased with his third place finish.
Braaten had to settle for the second place finish. He had a decision to make on Saturday night as he was the point leader at Cottage Grove Speedway with four straight wins there. In the end, he came back to his home track and maintained his point lead there with his second place finish. Jorddon also leads the Oregon State and Northwest Sport Modified Challenge Series races and wasn't that far out of the lead at Cottage Grove despite missing the race should he decide to go back there. Wherever Jordan goes, you know he's going to be running near the front and battling for victories. He is certainly a driver the fans enjoy watching at Southern Oregon Speedway.
Friends off the racetrack and rivals on the racetrack, Mike Medel enjoys competing with Braaten. On Saturday night, he managed a respectable fourth place showing as he climbs up the ladder at Southern Oregon Speedway and maintains second in the State point race, which he won last season. Medel had to hold off Rich McCoy, who was making his season debut with a fifth place finish. Bob Nelson continues to get faster and won his heat race before finishing seventh behind Patti Ryland in the Main Event. Marysville, California racer Jimmy Ford, a past winner of the Lon Skinner Memorial Sport Mod race, made his first appearance of the season at the track, but he settled for a disappointing eighth place finish.
Back in Yreka, several of these competitors were there on Sunday afternoon as the O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modifieds got to compete. It was no surprise to find Fred Ryland once again at the front of the pack. Ryland won his heat race, but Braaten turned the tables on him after winning his heat race and then beating Ryland in the Trophy Dash. Come Main Event time, however, Fred proved to be just too fast for the competition. He grabbed the victory ahead of reigning Yreka champion Colter Boswell, who seems to be getting things together rather quickly in his #12 Modified. Boswell won a duel with Jimmy Ford, who ended up settling for third ahead of previous feature winner Jimmy Lipke. With point leader Garrett Hamilton finishing 5th, the point race will continue to be close at Yreka.
Mike Medel managed to start his night off on a positive note as he won his heat race, but the Main Event for him resulted in a disappointing ninth place finish. It's not likely that Jorddon Bratten was much happier with his sixth place finish ahead of Southern Oregon Speedway "Rookie Of The Year" hopeful David Marble. Marble's Top 10 finish at Southern Oregon Speedway made it a double Top 10 finishing weekend for him.
Trevor Tiffee continued a nightmare weekend as he again was involved in a tangle at Yreka. Unfortunately, this time he took a ride in an ambulance as he had a concussion. Not the kind of weekend that he was hoping for. The Yreka O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modifieds are still off to a pretty good start this year, and they are back in action this Saturday.
The third division in the show this Saturday night at Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka will be the McDonald's Mini Stocks. The drivers enjoyed the week off to make repairs for the next event, but the point standings will show that "The Holy Terror" Terry Kendrick continues to lead by a slim margin over "Big Mac" Marilyn Yawnick. Kendrick is a past champion in this division and has been consistently getting good finishes. Yawnick has surprised a few people with her three Main Event victories. The week off may have helped Marilyn get her motor program in order after she blew a motor during the Mike Caveye Memorial Weekend.
Both drivers will need to have their stuff together as defending champion David Steele seems to have things dialed in nicely on his car. Steele picked up the Main Event win the last time, and the only one that got away from him was his heat race, which went to 2014 champion "Magic" Mike Whitaker. Whitaker has been having nothing but problems in the Main Event so far this year, but everybody knows that on any given night they're going to see him turn things around. With the flying truck of Ethan Killingsworth, Brian Jorgensen, Amber Walden and others, the division has some hard chargers in its midst.
Mini Stocks are also a part of the scheduled program at Southern Oregon Speedway this Saturday night along with the IMCA Sport Modifieds, Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association, Hornets and Open Stock Cars. Bob Burkett continues to lead the way in his Mini Stock championship quest. Not too far behind him is 2014 champion Gary Anderson in his camouflage #0 car. While Burkett was winning last time out, Anderson was the one putting on the show.
Anderson spun early on in the Main Event and rather than draw a yellow flag, he gathered it back up back in eighth and set about trying to charge his way through the pack. Once he caught third place Eric Hanson, Gary had a difficult time. It was obvious his car was just a bit loose in the turns, and Hanson was due for a good finish after after the miserable luck he's been having. Anderson nearly spun while Hanson maintained his line and would grab the third place finish. Anderson settled for fourth. Earlier in the evening, 14 year old Marissa Henson got a confidence booster as she held off Anderson to win her first Trophy Dash. She ended up fifth in the Main Event to hold a slim lead over Andrew Hall in the battle for third in the point standings.
Hall is closing in fast on Henson, and the second place finish he got last time out certainly didn't hurt him at all. The #007 Pinto Wagon seems to be one of the fastest cars on the racetrack right now, but that #43 car of Burkett is just a little bit faster. Having raced this division for about a decade and finishing second in the points four times, Burkett carries an experience advantage over the rest of the pack. However, even he knows that the wins won't come any easier as these drivers start to figure things out. One thing is for sure, the Mini Stocks are an entertaining part of the program at Southern Oregon Speedway.
The Hornet division opened their season with a four car field. For all intents and purposes, though this division is in its third year, it's almost as if the division is being started for the first time this season. Four cars is the beginning of a building stage for a division that speedway management believes is very important to the future of the track. The new talent has to come from somewhere, and there were a few new drivers in the field for the first race. One of them was Darrel Nelson Jr., who pretty much dominated in winning the Main Event. Another newcomer was Tim Hedges, who didn't look too bad himself as he won his heat race. Add in newcomer John Hoult and second year racer Garrett Frederickson, and you have your first four drivers in the group. Word is that there could be a couple more Hornets in the field this week, and optimism is high that this division will continue to grow this year.
The Open Stock division is a division that combines Late Models, Street Stocks, Outlaw Pro Stocks, Super 4's and about any fendered Stock Car you can find. It has an open motor and tire rule. The idea is to build something up with the cars that are sitting out there right now without a division to race. The opener saw three cars, including veteran Mike Linder and local Late Model booster Bob Dees. It was learned at the opener that the Dees Family actually has three cars as son Garrett still has the Street Stock he ran back in 2014 and son John has a Late Model that he's hoping to debut soon. Linder won the opener, and that win, despite being in a three car field, was worth $500. $500 is more than certain Oregon race tracks pay their Late Model division. It is hoped that drivers will respond to that.
The Southern Oregon Dwarf Car Association right now appears to be led by young Kalvin Morton in the championship race. Though points have not been released, Kalvin has supported every race and has two wins at Yreka and was second in the most recent race at Southern Oregon Speedway. Kalvin has been very fast, but two time Medford winner and two time reigning champion Josh King has been fast as well. King, however, has not supported the Yreka races. In a shootout race at Cottage Grove last week that involved other groups, Kalvin again showed his stuff with a strong second place finish.
The last time the Dwarf Cars were at Southern Oregon Speedway, Brock Peters appeared to have shed his bad luck and was in the hunt for a win before he was bumped from the groove and knocked off the race track. That had to be more than just a little bit disappointing to the Peters, who was fifth in the standings last season. Brock has already demonstrated his ability to be a winner in the group, and it's just a matter of time before that #2 car will see the winner's circle.
Another driver who has looked good so far with multiple Top 5 finishes is Rob Gergel. Gergel was hoping to make a challenge for the championship this year as well. Saturday's program should have some fast runners in the group, including 2014 point runner up Josh Smith, 2015 point runner up Camden Robustelli, Chad Cardoza and Randy Slater.
In Southern Jefferson, Chico Silver Dollar Speedway ran a six division show on Friday night, headlined by the Winged 410 Sprint Cars. Sean Becker grabbed another victory in the Dan Menne car ahead of Andy Foresberg and Jonathan Allard. Limited Late Models saw second generation racer Matt Micheli getting the win ahead of past Marysville champion George Magenheimer, Keith Foux and ageless veteran Ken Micheli. The IMCA Sport Modifieds saw Fred Ryland involved in a tangle while racing for the lead as reigning Marysville champion Howard Law won ahead of Todd Cooper and past Modified champion Mark Abouzeid.
Past champion Phil Marino collected the Street Stock victory ahead of Kevin Lesch and Brent Hall. Recent 200 lap Enduro winner and two time champion Brian Compton won the Hobby Stock Main Event ahead of Todd Hemman and Kyle Allen. The BCRA Midget Lites made an appearance to round out the show with Australian Scott Males winning ahead of Wingless Sprint Car veteran Bobby Michnowicz and defending champion Craig Dillard.
Civil War Series Winged 360 Sprint Cars had a big show at Placerville on Saturday night with Steven Tiner collecting the victory ahead of Greg DeCaires, Mason Moore, Andy Forsberg and Jonathan Allard. Allard eared his feature start after a second in the B Main behind Kyle Hirst. The Nor Cal Dwarf Cars ran a support program with an equally impressive field as Kevin Bender won ahead of Johnny Reeves, Scott Dahlgren, Buddy Olschowka and Justin Winter. "Doctor" Doug Martin won the B Main ahead of J. Winter.
Marysville had a Saturday night program in which the Chico 410 Sprint Cars made an appearance. Mike Monohan scored the victory ahead of Justin Henry and Brad Bumgarner. Ryan McDaniel won the Limited Late Model feature ahead of Willie McMillan and George Magenheimer. IMCA Sport Modifieds raced, and three time Street Stock champion Phillip Shelby won the Main Event ahead of Stock Car veteran Willie Horn Jr. and incoming point leader Brian Cooper. James Castleberry won the Street Stock race ahead of Antioch long tow Mike Walko and Rod Oliver, while Courtney Dozier won the Winged Economy Sprint feature ahead of Jeff Macedo and Wyatt Brown.
Before closing, we look at a few our Jefferson area pavement tracks, starting with Lakeport Speedway. The Legend Cars hit double digits this week with Luis Tyrell winning the Main Event ahead of Zach Frazier and Bill Kistenmacher. Raymond Taylor held off Lane Anderson in the Bandoleros feature, while Justin Moran won the Jammer feature ahead of Danny Helm Sr. and Gene Odell Sr. The Bombers ran a 30 lap feature with Bob Brackett getting the win ahead of Bob Mook and Brandon Verde. They also have a Jalopy division that races on the dirt infield track. Valicia Bartlow won that Main Event ahead of Wayne Hunt and Jessy Thurman.
In Southern Jefferson, All American Speedway was back in action with a four division program on the one-third mile oval. The F4 feature was won by Jess Yendes ahead of David Gates and Mel Wilson. The tech disqualification of Eric Ray gave the Bomber 35 lap win to Gary Eisenhauer ahead of Tony Latimer and Chris Stachniuk. Street Stocks also ran a 35 lapper with Rich Lavallee winning the Main Event ahead of Jill Schmidt and Mark Gardiner. California Hardtops competed in a 20 lapper with Jason Armstrong completing a clean sweep with his win ahead of club president John Philbert and Ken Clifford.
In Northern Jefferson, Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg had their own PRA Hardtops, and Mike Batman won their 25 lap Main Event ahead of Doug Coffman and Harlem Cox. Nick Hanson won the 25 lap Street Stock race ahead of Kevin Ballard and Stephen McMahan. The Hornets produced a solid 13 car field with Skyler Thompson claiming the 25 lap feature win ahead of Richard Fleming and Donnie Fain.
Once again, five divisions of racing will be on the card at Southern Oregon Speedway Saturday night, headlined by IMCA Sport Modifieds, SODCA Dwarf Cars, Mini Stocks, Hornets and Open Stock Cars. Further information can be found at www.southernoregonspeedway.com.
At Siskiyou Motor Speedway, the three division show will include O'Reilly Auto Parts IMCA Sport Modifieds, McDonald's Mini Stocks and IMCA Modifieds. There will also be Mud Bogs and Kid's Ride-A-Longs. Further information can be found at the all new www.siskiyoumotorspeedway.com.
