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Pit Stops - Jefferson Edition
Pay Out for 2016
1st $600 - Jorddon Braaten
2nd $350 - Jimmy Lipke
3rd $250 - John Henry
4th $200 - Mike Medel
5th $100 - Garrett Hamilton
DCRR Racing Radio Show
Can Be Heard HERE
Pit Stops - Jefferson Edition
Southern Oregon Speedway and Siskiyou Motor Speedway brought the curtain down on their respective seasons last Saturday night. For Southern Oregon Speedway, it was the first year under the promotion of Mike McCann. It's definitely been a roller coaster ride this year, but things are being assessed for ideas on where to proceed in 2017. The curtain came down on the season with Hays Oil Championship Night. It might have been a night to be a little bit worried as the Pennzoil Winged Sprint Cars headlined the show along with Valley Boys Auto Sales Outlaw Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and Super 4's.
The Sprint Car division has been struggling. Medford are race fans do want to see this class, but they want to see cars. Considering where attendance had been for the previous few years, it might have been a risk even starting this class, and more so when the local drivers didn't get a "to win" total they found to their liking. The cars of such area racers as Garen Linder, Chadd Noland, Brent McGrath and Jared Ridge, among others, never showed for a regular race. McCann was hoping for Winged 360 Sprint Car support and made the strategic choice of booking on Extreme Sprint Car nights at Cottage Grove, rather than nights in which that track had 360's. This made it more difficult for Extreme Sprint Car support, and the 360's never really came. Also, a couple of the season's young guns skipped out on the Medford effort, though one of them returned.
The nervousness came as there were a whole lot of question marks considering who might support the finale. Back in action once again was Jake Wheeler as he wrapped up his championship season. When the Winged 360 drivers met and decided not to support the effort at the urging of a prominent Sprint Car figure, the Wheeler team caught their ire when Jake and his father Vern Wheeler Jr. supported the first two races. Vern won both races and announced his decision to retire after his second win. Optimism was that the count was ready to hit eight cars for the third race. However, the decision of Camden Robustelli to leave the effort, Jeffrey Hudosn and Todd Whipple's absence and Vern's retirement kept the count at four on what was the worst night for the track all season.
Eight drivers supported this final race as the track is said to be looking at Extreme Sprint Car rules next year with a eye towards making it possible for Winged 360 Sprint Car support with a few adjustments. This is because of drivers like Wheeler, Wayne Kniffen, Todd Whipple and Jeremy Lowe, who have supported the effort and understand it's going to take some time to grow things at the track. There is a definite movement to start Extreme Sprint Cars as David and his son Bailey Hibbard, Robustelli and Hudson have cars. Merissa Henson has a car, and Outlaw Kart stars Braden Cory and Tanner Holmes are said to be looking in this direction. The timing seems to be right as fans want Sprint Cars, but they also want to see a division that gets some support.
In the finale, two drivers had their opportunity to shine. The first was Kniffen, who won his first Sprint Car heat race and Trophy Dash. He had the fastest lap in the Main Event, but Hudson beat him at the start for the lead. From there, the talented 15 year old leadfoot drove to his first feature win in this class, wrapping up second and "Rookie Of The Year" status in the process. For Kniffen, third in the standings was something to be proud of. Neither of these drivers could challenge Jake Wheeler, who only needed to take a green flag to win it all. With one win, three seconds and two Trophy Dash victories, Jake has much to be proud of.
Past Extreme Sprint Car champion Raquel Ivie was a welcome edition to the roster in the finale, and she finished a solid third ahead of Jeremy Lowe, who looked good in running all the way to the checkered flag. Ivie was coming off of her second at the Extreme Sprint Car "audition" race a few weeks earlier. Unfortunately, the driver who finished third in that race, Cooper Desbiens, blew a motor in hot laps. Ivie's third place finish last Saturday came behind Rowdy McClennon. McClennon did all he could to reel in a big Hudson lead, but he still had to settle for second in the Mark Michelet owned car.
As of now, there will be Sprint Cars next season, but all of the details will be forthcoming. There is also some concern over The Valley Boys Auto Sales Outlaw Pro Stocks, but it can be said that Pro Stocks will be a part of the 2017 schedule at the track. This division is an important part of the roster. On Saturday night, they fielded 15 cars. There was a date booked at Yreka two weeks prior that was removed from the schedule, though not much was said about it. Some drivers were said not to be happy with racing conditions there, but other drivers are said to be interested in racing there next season depending on what happens with the Outlaw Pro Stock Association. They met on Thursday to discuss club matters.
Despite all of his dominance as a seven time winner, including the Haudenshild Honors Race and Billy Geyer Memorial Race, Steve Borror came close to losing the lead to Scott Flowers. There weren't enough positions for Flowers to overtake Borror, who was eliminated in a crash as he slowed to avoid Miles Deubert on the back stretch and was hit. However, S. Flowers set a good pace on the restart following that wreck and led until his son James Flowers' car caught fire for a red flag. When Scott's car broke in Turn 2, he was hit by wife Ginny Flowers. Rocky Nash took over and wrapped up a clean sweep performance to overtake another Flowers, Julia Flowers, for fifth in the standings. Scott would have to settle for second for the third straight year, and Matt Harlow's second place finish kept him third in the final rundown ahead of James Flowers.
The ultimate goal in the disarray of the association is to keep it all together, but there is also a faction of racers who just want to race. They enjoy doing it at the Medford track. Hopefully, this will be done in a way that keeps the majority racing at one track, rather than dividing the cars between Medford and Yreka. Yreka very well could welcome even a six car field at this point. If it can remain an association that races at both tracks, that would keep the continuity going. Pro Stocks were Medford's thing until management pretty much forced the formation of this association in order for the class to survive in 2012.
There were lots of unknowns going into the season for McCann. However, there was optimism that the Mini Stock division was on the upswing. On multiple occasions this year, car count reached 16, which was a good sign of progress. The experience factor kept the Main Event wins going to Bob Burkett, Gary Anderson and the returning David Steele. Steele was at a bit of an advantage as he came back to race and not worry about points after missing three events. Still, David won six times and only lost third in the standings by two points. It took some impressive driving by Andrew Hall in those last two races to hold Steele off, but Hall was up to the task as he drove his Pinto Wagon to back to back second place finishes.
For Bob Burkett, it was about time for him to win his first championship. With many victories in his career, he had finished second in the standings four times. Burkett had three wins this year as well as six Trophy Dash wins. His worst Main Event finish was the fourth place finish he had in the final race. A hot lap crash early in the season ended the title hopes for Gary Anderson, but he still used two wins to maintain second in the standings. All in all, it was a good season for both drivers.
One might wonder about parity in this division. It should be pointed out that most of the drivers in this class didn't have more than two years of experience, making even a heat race win a daunting task for all of them. Fifth ranked Merissa Henson, Hall and Kristopher Mix all had heat race wins, but Henson even had two Trophy Dash victories. Everything else was won by either Burkett, Anderson or Steele. A lot of rumors have persisted concerning rule changes in the class, but at this point, there are just adjustments being looked at to try to make things a little more competitive. Management knows that big rule changes are not what's needed to grow the class as this division seems to be the closest to B Main territory.
In the case of the Super 4's, the only thing management had to go on was this used to be a popular division at the track and several drivers wanted to come back after being away for a couple of seasons. Eight dates were booked, and the final two saw ten cars compete in each event. This division has turned into the pleasant surprise of the season, and it sounds like more cars are coming next year. With five wins, including his victory in the season finale, Lee Doty is the champion. He proved to be almost impossible to beat. John Barger had his rough moments, but he still held on for second, while Charlie Eaton used his second straight Trophy Dash win and season best second place finish in the finale to hold off Bill Spencer for third in the standings.
The good news is this division will be back next year and is an option as a place to go for Mini Stock drivers. The Hadley team made their presence known in the last two races. Past division championship runnerup Terry Hadley had a second place finish two weeks ago. Last week, his wife Krista finished third for the third time this season. Dan Prewitt had a night to shine earlier this season as the driver to keep Doty from winning six Main Events in a row.
The track had already crowned Mark Wauge as IMCA Modified champion two weeks ago by only two points as James Welshonse won the last race in a clean sweep. Duane Orsburn is third in the final rundown. Wauge's two wins opened the season, and his performance in the Haudenshild Tsribute race was seen by many as the drive of the season. Meanwhile, Mike Medel is the IMCA Sport Modified champion ahead of "Rookie of The Year" David Marble. With four wins, Jorddon Braaten finished third but he also won the Oregon State and Northwest Sport Modified Challenge Series championship. For IMCA enthusiasts, both divisions will remain a part of the program next year.
The Hornet division entered its third season at the speedway with optimism of a breakout season. That didn't quite materialize, but car count matched the season ending record from last year at six cars twice and average was up. Tim Hedges used consistency to beat two time winner Derrel Nelson Jr. by a slim margin in the end. Four time winner Joby Shields overtook John Hoult in the finale to rank third in the standings. Hedges intends to field three cars next year, and Nelson is said to be returning next year as well.
The Open Stock division was an attempt to see what fendered Stock Cars were out there that didn't fit into the rules of the Pro Stock class. Late Model drivers answered the call, including Bob Dees and his sons John and Garrett Dees. Mike Linder won the first two races, but a big night by Bob Dees in the finale tipped the championship in his favor in the end. John Dees was third. This is still a work in progress, but it is said that more cars are in the works for next season.
The OTRO Hardtops made five appearances during the year, though they did not run for points. Had they run for points, four time winner Trevor Thomason would have been the champion. Bill Trotter made things interesting with two second place finishes, and Mark Minter drove Bill's car to the other feature win. Five different drivers won Trophy Dashes, including Wylie Powell in B. Trotter's car, and Winnemuca, Nevada visitor Rhett Lange finished second twice to one second for Jimmy Del Castille. It is unknown what the club's plans are, but they are certainly a welcome addition on any night.
The Dwarf Cars put on some of the closest, side by side racing you will find at the track as two time champion Josh King, Chad Cardoza, Camden Robustelli and Brock Peters were feature winners in the regular SODCA events. In the end, Peters won the championship in a good battle with Robustelli and Kalvin Morton, who won all three Yreka races. Cody Peters finally joined his four time Medford feature winning father Brock by winning the preliminary Sportsman feature on Nationals Weekend. Cody won both Sportsman features last week at Marysville. The SODCA Dwarf Cars were down just a bit in car count from 2015, but the outlook is good for next season.
Meanwhile, Siskiyou Motor Speedway ended their season with the annual Rod Restad Memorial race, paying $3000 to the IMCA Modified winner. Car count has been an issue for the division, but just like in the case of the Wild West Speedweek and John Arnberg Memorial races, the divers turned out for this one. In this case, there were 18 drivers. The bad news for the rest of the competition was that one of those drivers was Bobby Hogge IV. In his 20 years of racing an IMCA Modified, Bobby had never competed at this race track, but the team made a decision to make the trip this time. Luck of the draw put Bobby on the pole for this race, and he held off the efforts of Alex Stanford to pocket the winner's check.
Stanford still got second, which was good enough for a $2000 payday. Arnberg Memorial winner Ryan McDaniel grabbed third, which earned him $1000. The race was also the ninth point event of the season. Interestingly enough, there were nine different winners during the season. Duane Orsburn wasn't one of them, but he carried a five point lead love Albert Gill heading into the last race. Gill made a late season decision to make a run at the points, and he finished eighth in the finale. Gill had won the previous race, and the two time Medford champion emerged with the Yreka championship after Orsburn was eliminated in a first lap crash.
The IMCA Sport Modifieds had a pretty good season this year in which over a dozen different divers won Main Events. On Saturday night, it was yet another new winner in Rich McCoy. McCoy's Lightning McQueen painted car held off Kalvin Morton for the victory. Morton had won the race before as the Dwarf Car ace looks to make a move up in divisions next season. The week before, Jimmy Lipke's car took heavy damage in a race ending crash. He had it back together to finish off his championship winning effort by finishing eighth in the Main Event. Garrett Hamilton will rank second in the IMCA point race ahead of Doug Franklin. Interestingly enough, Hamilton will win the SCMA championship as Lipke never joined. Indications are that this division is poised for an even bigger season next year.
For years, Marilyn Yawnick has usually been somewhere in the Top 5 in the McDonald's Mini Stock standings, but she took it up a notch this season with a career best effort. Marilyn won four Main Events. What makes them noteworthy is that all four wins came ahead of 2015 champion, David Steele. Marilyn could not contain her excitement after win #4 petty much assured her of the championship going into the finale. Young Ethan Killingsworth served notice to Marilyn and the rest of the competition with his second win that he could be the driver to beat next season. After flipping his truck in July, past champion Terry Kendrick never quite recovered and settled for third in the standings. The flip pretty much ended his title hopes.
There will be some questions for next season, but the Mini Stocks and Sport Modifieds aren't two of them. Both divisions will remain fixtures at the speedway. Of concern will be the IMCA Modifieds as there were nights when no cars were there. SODCA Dwarf Cars and Outlaw Pro Stocks delivered cars on the nights they were booked, so seeing both classes back won't be a surprise. Then, there's a the case of the Outlaw Kart Track. The new one had its first race a few weeks ago to positive reviews. Indications are that this track will attract more racers in the coming season. The best news is that racing continues at Siskiyou Motor Speedway, and October will be a time to celebrate as the awards banquet takes place.
Coos Bay Speedway is set to run their Lucas Oil Late Model Open Show this Saturday night. It has become a tradition at the track to close the season with a special Late Model race. In this case, it pays $2000 to win, $1500 for second and $1000 for the third. The track is also running a combined Sportsman/Street Stock show that night. Coos Bay has crowned its Les Schwab Racing Series champions for the year in Dave May (Sprint Cars), Nathan Augustine (Late Models), Wayne Butler (Sportsman), Daniel Land (Street Stocks), Jeremiah Reiber (Hornets) and Ryder Johnson (Mini Outlaws).
Orland Raceway made it through their ten race season with a hint of optimism in the air. the track went from being doomed to having five champions in Steve Martin (Pure Stocks), Dan Webster (Mini Trucks), John Kirkpatrick (Mini Stocks), Jeremie Crismon (600 Micros) and Jesse Love (250 Micros). Promoter Rich Hood has elected to add at least two more races this year, the first of which is set for this weekend. It will be the regular divisions in a non point event. On October 15th, there will be an Enduro, a combined Mini Stock/Mini Truck race and Micros. There could be a race on the last Saturday of the month, though nothing has been announced. It's unknown what sort of Enduro turnout there will be, but the West Coast Enduro group is trying to drum up support.
Placerville Speedway has a big racing weekend set for October 14-15 that will feature Winged 360 Sprint Car and Wingless Spec Sprint Racing, among other classes. It's the inaugural NorCal Posse Shoot Out. Notable on the weekend agenda is a $3000 to win Winged 360 Sprint Car race on Friday and a $7000 to win Winged Sprint Car race on Saturday. Wingless Spec Sprints make a rare appearance for a $1200 to win Friday night race that will also see the Top 3 finishers receive special gold coins. The track has already crowned its champions, which include Mason Moore (Thompson Auto Winged 360 Sprint Cars), Eddie Gardner (DOMCO Plumbing Limited Late Models), Nick Baldwin (Jay's Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks) and Brian Cooper (IMCA Sport Modifieds). The track also held a special four race, extra money point series. It was the Placerville Posse Series, and Andy Forsberg (Winged 360 Sprint Cars), Ray Trimble (Limited Late Models) and Scott Grunert (Pure Stocks) won those respective championships.
In a final note, Steve Kerstulovich has announced that after two years, he is dropping the North West Modified Cup. The Modified drivers competed for over $4000 in point fund money, plus contingency prizes this past season thanks to various sponsors. He is, however, bringing back the Northwest Sport Modified Challenge for a second season and looking to expand further into California with North and South divisions. Steve is involving all of the racers in the discussion of how to proceed. As the season is over, he has announced the top drivers in the standings and their winnings.
Collen Winebarger $1500 - Wrap from DFG - $325 off a body install from MD Designs from Matthew Drager- 100 hero cards from Colville Printing Tiana Berkeley 100 min massage from Jetstream Aqua Massage Cory Penfold.
Mark Carrell - $750 - 50 hero cards from Colville Printing. 60 min massage from Jetstream Aqua Massage
John Campos - $500 - 50% off a fuel cell from Superior Fuel Cell by Paul Culp given from Lawrence O'Connor.
Jesse Williamson - $350 - Custom hood from Poverty Bay Bumper by Kelly Martin given from Lawrence O'Connor
Mark Wauge - $250 - Finishline SF15 Gloves from Ronda Ardell Rowe le-vel.com from Bill Rowe.
Craig Hanson - $200
Curtis Towns - $175
Kyle Yeack - $150
Steven Sturdevant - $125
Matthew Drager - $100 - Mulit Tool from Point S Springfield from Steven Sturdevant .
The Sprint Car division has been struggling. Medford are race fans do want to see this class, but they want to see cars. Considering where attendance had been for the previous few years, it might have been a risk even starting this class, and more so when the local drivers didn't get a "to win" total they found to their liking. The cars of such area racers as Garen Linder, Chadd Noland, Brent McGrath and Jared Ridge, among others, never showed for a regular race. McCann was hoping for Winged 360 Sprint Car support and made the strategic choice of booking on Extreme Sprint Car nights at Cottage Grove, rather than nights in which that track had 360's. This made it more difficult for Extreme Sprint Car support, and the 360's never really came. Also, a couple of the season's young guns skipped out on the Medford effort, though one of them returned.
The nervousness came as there were a whole lot of question marks considering who might support the finale. Back in action once again was Jake Wheeler as he wrapped up his championship season. When the Winged 360 drivers met and decided not to support the effort at the urging of a prominent Sprint Car figure, the Wheeler team caught their ire when Jake and his father Vern Wheeler Jr. supported the first two races. Vern won both races and announced his decision to retire after his second win. Optimism was that the count was ready to hit eight cars for the third race. However, the decision of Camden Robustelli to leave the effort, Jeffrey Hudosn and Todd Whipple's absence and Vern's retirement kept the count at four on what was the worst night for the track all season.
Eight drivers supported this final race as the track is said to be looking at Extreme Sprint Car rules next year with a eye towards making it possible for Winged 360 Sprint Car support with a few adjustments. This is because of drivers like Wheeler, Wayne Kniffen, Todd Whipple and Jeremy Lowe, who have supported the effort and understand it's going to take some time to grow things at the track. There is a definite movement to start Extreme Sprint Cars as David and his son Bailey Hibbard, Robustelli and Hudson have cars. Merissa Henson has a car, and Outlaw Kart stars Braden Cory and Tanner Holmes are said to be looking in this direction. The timing seems to be right as fans want Sprint Cars, but they also want to see a division that gets some support.
In the finale, two drivers had their opportunity to shine. The first was Kniffen, who won his first Sprint Car heat race and Trophy Dash. He had the fastest lap in the Main Event, but Hudson beat him at the start for the lead. From there, the talented 15 year old leadfoot drove to his first feature win in this class, wrapping up second and "Rookie Of The Year" status in the process. For Kniffen, third in the standings was something to be proud of. Neither of these drivers could challenge Jake Wheeler, who only needed to take a green flag to win it all. With one win, three seconds and two Trophy Dash victories, Jake has much to be proud of.
Past Extreme Sprint Car champion Raquel Ivie was a welcome edition to the roster in the finale, and she finished a solid third ahead of Jeremy Lowe, who looked good in running all the way to the checkered flag. Ivie was coming off of her second at the Extreme Sprint Car "audition" race a few weeks earlier. Unfortunately, the driver who finished third in that race, Cooper Desbiens, blew a motor in hot laps. Ivie's third place finish last Saturday came behind Rowdy McClennon. McClennon did all he could to reel in a big Hudson lead, but he still had to settle for second in the Mark Michelet owned car.
As of now, there will be Sprint Cars next season, but all of the details will be forthcoming. There is also some concern over The Valley Boys Auto Sales Outlaw Pro Stocks, but it can be said that Pro Stocks will be a part of the 2017 schedule at the track. This division is an important part of the roster. On Saturday night, they fielded 15 cars. There was a date booked at Yreka two weeks prior that was removed from the schedule, though not much was said about it. Some drivers were said not to be happy with racing conditions there, but other drivers are said to be interested in racing there next season depending on what happens with the Outlaw Pro Stock Association. They met on Thursday to discuss club matters.
Despite all of his dominance as a seven time winner, including the Haudenshild Honors Race and Billy Geyer Memorial Race, Steve Borror came close to losing the lead to Scott Flowers. There weren't enough positions for Flowers to overtake Borror, who was eliminated in a crash as he slowed to avoid Miles Deubert on the back stretch and was hit. However, S. Flowers set a good pace on the restart following that wreck and led until his son James Flowers' car caught fire for a red flag. When Scott's car broke in Turn 2, he was hit by wife Ginny Flowers. Rocky Nash took over and wrapped up a clean sweep performance to overtake another Flowers, Julia Flowers, for fifth in the standings. Scott would have to settle for second for the third straight year, and Matt Harlow's second place finish kept him third in the final rundown ahead of James Flowers.
The ultimate goal in the disarray of the association is to keep it all together, but there is also a faction of racers who just want to race. They enjoy doing it at the Medford track. Hopefully, this will be done in a way that keeps the majority racing at one track, rather than dividing the cars between Medford and Yreka. Yreka very well could welcome even a six car field at this point. If it can remain an association that races at both tracks, that would keep the continuity going. Pro Stocks were Medford's thing until management pretty much forced the formation of this association in order for the class to survive in 2012.
There were lots of unknowns going into the season for McCann. However, there was optimism that the Mini Stock division was on the upswing. On multiple occasions this year, car count reached 16, which was a good sign of progress. The experience factor kept the Main Event wins going to Bob Burkett, Gary Anderson and the returning David Steele. Steele was at a bit of an advantage as he came back to race and not worry about points after missing three events. Still, David won six times and only lost third in the standings by two points. It took some impressive driving by Andrew Hall in those last two races to hold Steele off, but Hall was up to the task as he drove his Pinto Wagon to back to back second place finishes.
For Bob Burkett, it was about time for him to win his first championship. With many victories in his career, he had finished second in the standings four times. Burkett had three wins this year as well as six Trophy Dash wins. His worst Main Event finish was the fourth place finish he had in the final race. A hot lap crash early in the season ended the title hopes for Gary Anderson, but he still used two wins to maintain second in the standings. All in all, it was a good season for both drivers.
One might wonder about parity in this division. It should be pointed out that most of the drivers in this class didn't have more than two years of experience, making even a heat race win a daunting task for all of them. Fifth ranked Merissa Henson, Hall and Kristopher Mix all had heat race wins, but Henson even had two Trophy Dash victories. Everything else was won by either Burkett, Anderson or Steele. A lot of rumors have persisted concerning rule changes in the class, but at this point, there are just adjustments being looked at to try to make things a little more competitive. Management knows that big rule changes are not what's needed to grow the class as this division seems to be the closest to B Main territory.
In the case of the Super 4's, the only thing management had to go on was this used to be a popular division at the track and several drivers wanted to come back after being away for a couple of seasons. Eight dates were booked, and the final two saw ten cars compete in each event. This division has turned into the pleasant surprise of the season, and it sounds like more cars are coming next year. With five wins, including his victory in the season finale, Lee Doty is the champion. He proved to be almost impossible to beat. John Barger had his rough moments, but he still held on for second, while Charlie Eaton used his second straight Trophy Dash win and season best second place finish in the finale to hold off Bill Spencer for third in the standings.
The good news is this division will be back next year and is an option as a place to go for Mini Stock drivers. The Hadley team made their presence known in the last two races. Past division championship runnerup Terry Hadley had a second place finish two weeks ago. Last week, his wife Krista finished third for the third time this season. Dan Prewitt had a night to shine earlier this season as the driver to keep Doty from winning six Main Events in a row.
The track had already crowned Mark Wauge as IMCA Modified champion two weeks ago by only two points as James Welshonse won the last race in a clean sweep. Duane Orsburn is third in the final rundown. Wauge's two wins opened the season, and his performance in the Haudenshild Tsribute race was seen by many as the drive of the season. Meanwhile, Mike Medel is the IMCA Sport Modified champion ahead of "Rookie of The Year" David Marble. With four wins, Jorddon Braaten finished third but he also won the Oregon State and Northwest Sport Modified Challenge Series championship. For IMCA enthusiasts, both divisions will remain a part of the program next year.
The Hornet division entered its third season at the speedway with optimism of a breakout season. That didn't quite materialize, but car count matched the season ending record from last year at six cars twice and average was up. Tim Hedges used consistency to beat two time winner Derrel Nelson Jr. by a slim margin in the end. Four time winner Joby Shields overtook John Hoult in the finale to rank third in the standings. Hedges intends to field three cars next year, and Nelson is said to be returning next year as well.
The Open Stock division was an attempt to see what fendered Stock Cars were out there that didn't fit into the rules of the Pro Stock class. Late Model drivers answered the call, including Bob Dees and his sons John and Garrett Dees. Mike Linder won the first two races, but a big night by Bob Dees in the finale tipped the championship in his favor in the end. John Dees was third. This is still a work in progress, but it is said that more cars are in the works for next season.
The OTRO Hardtops made five appearances during the year, though they did not run for points. Had they run for points, four time winner Trevor Thomason would have been the champion. Bill Trotter made things interesting with two second place finishes, and Mark Minter drove Bill's car to the other feature win. Five different drivers won Trophy Dashes, including Wylie Powell in B. Trotter's car, and Winnemuca, Nevada visitor Rhett Lange finished second twice to one second for Jimmy Del Castille. It is unknown what the club's plans are, but they are certainly a welcome addition on any night.
The Dwarf Cars put on some of the closest, side by side racing you will find at the track as two time champion Josh King, Chad Cardoza, Camden Robustelli and Brock Peters were feature winners in the regular SODCA events. In the end, Peters won the championship in a good battle with Robustelli and Kalvin Morton, who won all three Yreka races. Cody Peters finally joined his four time Medford feature winning father Brock by winning the preliminary Sportsman feature on Nationals Weekend. Cody won both Sportsman features last week at Marysville. The SODCA Dwarf Cars were down just a bit in car count from 2015, but the outlook is good for next season.
Meanwhile, Siskiyou Motor Speedway ended their season with the annual Rod Restad Memorial race, paying $3000 to the IMCA Modified winner. Car count has been an issue for the division, but just like in the case of the Wild West Speedweek and John Arnberg Memorial races, the divers turned out for this one. In this case, there were 18 drivers. The bad news for the rest of the competition was that one of those drivers was Bobby Hogge IV. In his 20 years of racing an IMCA Modified, Bobby had never competed at this race track, but the team made a decision to make the trip this time. Luck of the draw put Bobby on the pole for this race, and he held off the efforts of Alex Stanford to pocket the winner's check.
Stanford still got second, which was good enough for a $2000 payday. Arnberg Memorial winner Ryan McDaniel grabbed third, which earned him $1000. The race was also the ninth point event of the season. Interestingly enough, there were nine different winners during the season. Duane Orsburn wasn't one of them, but he carried a five point lead love Albert Gill heading into the last race. Gill made a late season decision to make a run at the points, and he finished eighth in the finale. Gill had won the previous race, and the two time Medford champion emerged with the Yreka championship after Orsburn was eliminated in a first lap crash.
The IMCA Sport Modifieds had a pretty good season this year in which over a dozen different divers won Main Events. On Saturday night, it was yet another new winner in Rich McCoy. McCoy's Lightning McQueen painted car held off Kalvin Morton for the victory. Morton had won the race before as the Dwarf Car ace looks to make a move up in divisions next season. The week before, Jimmy Lipke's car took heavy damage in a race ending crash. He had it back together to finish off his championship winning effort by finishing eighth in the Main Event. Garrett Hamilton will rank second in the IMCA point race ahead of Doug Franklin. Interestingly enough, Hamilton will win the SCMA championship as Lipke never joined. Indications are that this division is poised for an even bigger season next year.
For years, Marilyn Yawnick has usually been somewhere in the Top 5 in the McDonald's Mini Stock standings, but she took it up a notch this season with a career best effort. Marilyn won four Main Events. What makes them noteworthy is that all four wins came ahead of 2015 champion, David Steele. Marilyn could not contain her excitement after win #4 petty much assured her of the championship going into the finale. Young Ethan Killingsworth served notice to Marilyn and the rest of the competition with his second win that he could be the driver to beat next season. After flipping his truck in July, past champion Terry Kendrick never quite recovered and settled for third in the standings. The flip pretty much ended his title hopes.
There will be some questions for next season, but the Mini Stocks and Sport Modifieds aren't two of them. Both divisions will remain fixtures at the speedway. Of concern will be the IMCA Modifieds as there were nights when no cars were there. SODCA Dwarf Cars and Outlaw Pro Stocks delivered cars on the nights they were booked, so seeing both classes back won't be a surprise. Then, there's a the case of the Outlaw Kart Track. The new one had its first race a few weeks ago to positive reviews. Indications are that this track will attract more racers in the coming season. The best news is that racing continues at Siskiyou Motor Speedway, and October will be a time to celebrate as the awards banquet takes place.
Coos Bay Speedway is set to run their Lucas Oil Late Model Open Show this Saturday night. It has become a tradition at the track to close the season with a special Late Model race. In this case, it pays $2000 to win, $1500 for second and $1000 for the third. The track is also running a combined Sportsman/Street Stock show that night. Coos Bay has crowned its Les Schwab Racing Series champions for the year in Dave May (Sprint Cars), Nathan Augustine (Late Models), Wayne Butler (Sportsman), Daniel Land (Street Stocks), Jeremiah Reiber (Hornets) and Ryder Johnson (Mini Outlaws).
Orland Raceway made it through their ten race season with a hint of optimism in the air. the track went from being doomed to having five champions in Steve Martin (Pure Stocks), Dan Webster (Mini Trucks), John Kirkpatrick (Mini Stocks), Jeremie Crismon (600 Micros) and Jesse Love (250 Micros). Promoter Rich Hood has elected to add at least two more races this year, the first of which is set for this weekend. It will be the regular divisions in a non point event. On October 15th, there will be an Enduro, a combined Mini Stock/Mini Truck race and Micros. There could be a race on the last Saturday of the month, though nothing has been announced. It's unknown what sort of Enduro turnout there will be, but the West Coast Enduro group is trying to drum up support.
Placerville Speedway has a big racing weekend set for October 14-15 that will feature Winged 360 Sprint Car and Wingless Spec Sprint Racing, among other classes. It's the inaugural NorCal Posse Shoot Out. Notable on the weekend agenda is a $3000 to win Winged 360 Sprint Car race on Friday and a $7000 to win Winged Sprint Car race on Saturday. Wingless Spec Sprints make a rare appearance for a $1200 to win Friday night race that will also see the Top 3 finishers receive special gold coins. The track has already crowned its champions, which include Mason Moore (Thompson Auto Winged 360 Sprint Cars), Eddie Gardner (DOMCO Plumbing Limited Late Models), Nick Baldwin (Jay's Welding & Fabricating Pure Stocks) and Brian Cooper (IMCA Sport Modifieds). The track also held a special four race, extra money point series. It was the Placerville Posse Series, and Andy Forsberg (Winged 360 Sprint Cars), Ray Trimble (Limited Late Models) and Scott Grunert (Pure Stocks) won those respective championships.
In a final note, Steve Kerstulovich has announced that after two years, he is dropping the North West Modified Cup. The Modified drivers competed for over $4000 in point fund money, plus contingency prizes this past season thanks to various sponsors. He is, however, bringing back the Northwest Sport Modified Challenge for a second season and looking to expand further into California with North and South divisions. Steve is involving all of the racers in the discussion of how to proceed. As the season is over, he has announced the top drivers in the standings and their winnings.
North West Modified Cup
Collen Winebarger $1500 - Wrap from DFG - $325 off a body install from MD Designs from Matthew Drager- 100 hero cards from Colville Printing Tiana Berkeley 100 min massage from Jetstream Aqua Massage Cory Penfold.
Mark Carrell - $750 - 50 hero cards from Colville Printing. 60 min massage from Jetstream Aqua Massage
John Campos - $500 - 50% off a fuel cell from Superior Fuel Cell by Paul Culp given from Lawrence O'Connor.
Jesse Williamson - $350 - Custom hood from Poverty Bay Bumper by Kelly Martin given from Lawrence O'Connor
Mark Wauge - $250 - Finishline SF15 Gloves from Ronda Ardell Rowe le-vel.com from Bill Rowe.
Craig Hanson - $200
Curtis Towns - $175
Kyle Yeack - $150
Steven Sturdevant - $125
Matthew Drager - $100 - Mulit Tool from Point S Springfield from Steven Sturdevant .
North West Sport Modified Challenge
Pay Out for 2016
1st $600 - Jorddon Braaten
2nd $350 - Jimmy Lipke
3rd $250 - John Henry
4th $200 - Mike Medel
5th $100 - Garrett Hamilton
