Antioch, CA…The DIRTcar Late Models make their sixth appearance at Antioch Speedway this Saturday night as part of a six division show on John Soares’s fast 3/8 mile clay oval. Joining them on the card will be the Wingless Spec Sprints, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Hobby Stocks and Dwarf Cars.
So far there have been four different winners in the five Late Model races held so far. A very competitive Late Model race was held two weeks ago, won by Bobby Hogge IV ahead of point leader Richard Papenhousen. Papanhausen has been consistent so far this year, though he has just one win. Twice he has finished second to Hogge, the first time losing the lead to Hogge with two laps remaining in the Main Event. He is doing what he needs to do to reclaim his spot as track champion, but if you know Richard, you know he wants to win races.
Jeff Decker has been in enough point battles in his time in Late Models to know it’s about getting consistent finishes. Last time out, he failed to make the Top 5 and lost a little bit of ground to Papenhsusen. Decker is a Main Event winner this season, and he’s hoping to rebound with another victory this week. At the moment, Decker is in no danger of losing third in the standings, and he trails Papenhausen by just 20 points. Like last year, this could be a battle that goes down to the final race of the season.
Despite a few difficult moments, including rolling his race car, Chester Kniss finds himself holding down third in the standings. Kniss leads Late Model diehard Dennis Souza’s by just seven points, with Hogge only nine points back. You never know when Hogge is actually going to show up, though it seems unlikely this week. Kniss picked up his first heat race win earlier this year, but he’s hungry to get his first Main Event victory. He is definitely up to speed with the leaders, and that win can happen at any time.
It’s hard to say who will show up and race this week as the track has seen some surprise visitors, including Andy Obetello, who finished third last time out, and one time feature winner Clay Daly, who rarely shows up at the track. Drivers to watch for this week include Mike Hynes, David Newquist, Denny Malfatti, Paul Guglielmoni and Rob Norris.
If anybody thought the Wingless Spec Sprint battle was over, Marcus Smith served a very big reminder last week that he is still in the hunt with past division champion Jim Perry Jr. Perry has had a rough go of it in the past few races, though he did manage a fourth place finish last time out. Driving for Richard Basden, Smith had three straight third place finishes leading up to last week’s Main Event win. It was the second feature victory of the season and makes things just a bit closer between he and Perry. The Perry lead over Smith is 16 points at the moment.
Though Rick Panfili continues to hold down third in the standings, the last race was not a very good one for him. After another strong showing in third, Roy Fisher has moved back to within 10 points of Brandon Burd for fourth in the standings. Burd is only 26 points behind Panfili at the moment. With Smith now engaging Perry in the championship battle, it will be interesting to see how Perry responds this week. However, there are some other drivers, in addition to the Top 5 competitors, very capable of winning Main Events, and other drivers to watch for this week include James East, Alan Miranda, Shannon Newton and Dan Gonderman.
The Wingless Spec Sprint class has a pair of rookies in its midst, led by 16 year old Adam Teves in the Lloyd Beard Special. Adam was coming off of a Top 5 finish the last time out, but unfortunately he blew a motor in his heat race last week to end his night. Word was he could be out of action for a race or two getting another motor back together. Meanwhile, rookie Kevin Box was making some good laps in only his third start at the speedway last week. The Wingless Spec Sprint division has been a good launching pad for some competitive Sprint Car racers, including past champions Ryan Bernal, D.J. Johnson and Billy Aton.
The B Modified point battle continues to get closer with each race. Despite missing a race, Trevor Clymens is closing in slowly on leader Al Johnson. Though Johnson has three second place feature finishes, Clymens has three feature wins, and he’s coming off of a second place finish last week. Johnson did win a heat race earlier in the night and grabbed a Top 5 feature finish, which kept the point damage down to a minimum, but he still only leads Clymens by 14 points at the moment. Johnson is still looking for his first feature win, and he may need it to keep Clymens at bay.
Shane DeVolder is hanging in there in the battle and coming off of his latest Top 3 finish. DeVolder is another driver looking for his first win, and he has a pair of second place finishes at Antioch Speedway so far this year. The driver of the moment last week was K.C. Keller, who drove a great race from the back of the pack to pass Clymens late and score his second feature win of the year. Will Keller be able to grab his third win this week?
Randy Brown #1hd was one of the original Street Stock drivers back in the late 1970’s, and he’s closing in on the Top 5 in points in is rookie season in B Modifieds. Photo by Beverly Kniss
Last week, Anthony Giuliani was headed for his third feature win when mechanical issues slowed him down. Giuliani has been spending some of his Saturday nights down at Santa Maria Raceway, where he’s been in contention for the track championship. Drivers to watch for this week include Lloyd Cline, Danny Jones, Randy Brown and brother Ron Brown and Lonnie Leonard, who picked up a heat race win last week.
Last week, it was a proud moment for the Garner family. Limited Late Model title contender Mark Garner was joined in the division by his son Billy Garner, making it three generations of the Garner family to compete at Antioch Speedway and four generations of the family to race. Though it was not the best of nights as far as results, Mark was still happy to be out there racing against his son. However, he cannot afford to have many bad nights like he did last week, or it’s going to wipe out any hope he has of winning the championship.
When you have a driver with the skill set of Larry Damitz, you have to be on your game. Despite the fact that he is 87 years old, Larry leads the point standings as he searches for his fifth championship in six seasons. “The Sundrop Kid” drove to his second feature win in a row and third of the year last week, coming from the back of the pack to do it. Chasing Larry across the finish line was the division’s all time feature win leader and two time champion Mike Gustafson.
Still keeping his name in contention is three time Hobby Stock champion Kimo Oreta. Though he is in his rookie season, Kimo is in contention for the track championship. He didn’t hurt his cause by finishing third in the Main Event last week. Oreta knows a thing or two about what it takes to win championships, and being a consistent Top 3 finisher is one of those things. He has yet to win his first Main Event in this division, but his heat race win two weeks ago shows that that a feature win may be just around the corner. Other drivers to watch for this week include Lori Brown, Jim Freethy, John Keith and the steady John Evans, who currently sits fifth in the point standings.
It has been a while since we’ve seen the Dwarf Car division at Antioch Speedway, but they are still very much a part of the show. With the time off, point leader Kevin Miraglio was keeping his skills sharp by grabbing Top 5 finishes in recent starts at Petaluma Speedway and with the NorCal Dwarf Car group. Miragio actually won the Main Event last time out and holds the biggest point lead at the track with a 40 point advantage over one time feature winner Mike Corsaro. The championship battle is very much between these two drivers, and Kevin knows he must stay on the top of his game or Corsaro could real him in.
Having a “Most Improved Driver” kind of season in third is Tim Reeder. Reeder had nothing but bad luck last season, but he has stayed consistent this year and holds a 24 point advantage over Corsaro’s teammate and open wheel veteran Charlie “The Hammer” Correia. Also hanging in there back in fifth in the standings, 34 points behind Reeder, is Buddy Kniss. Buddy suffered a wrist injury in his last start at the speedway, but he has since had the cast removed and has been engaging in his other passion, baseball.
The Dwarf Cars always put on an exciting program at the speedway, and you never really know who could win on any given week. Drivers to keep an eye on this week included Josh Miller, past Hobby Stock champion Robert Coe, David Rosa, Brian Gray and rookie Timmy Ryan.
Speaking of the Hobby Stock division, Danny Jones has engaged the battle with rookie Guy Ahlwardt for the track championship. Four time feature winner Ahlwardt was on his way to the front of the pack once again last week, but he did not get the repeat performance of the previous feature when Jones surrendered the lead on the last lap. This time, the Stock Car veteran Jones held on and recorded his second feature win of the year. The race is getting just a little bit tighter following the latest event.
While the battle for first is close, there’s also a good battle going on for third in the standings between Cameron Swank, Michael Cooper and Lindsay Buirch. Cooper certainly helped his cause with his Top 5 finish and heat race win last week. If not for his work schedule keeping him from making some of the races, Cooper would likely be in the title battle right now. Young Buirch is doing a great job of contending for a top five ranking in what is her first season at the track.
A hard crash two weeks ago knocked Natalie Perry #40 out of the Top 5 in points, but she should be back racing hard again this week. Photo by Beverly Kniss
Meanwhile, 2010 champion Chris Sorensen had another solid performance in fourth last week, coming off back to back third place finishes. He finished behind third place finisher Rob Waldrop last week. Both drivers will become players in the race to make it into the Top 5 in the standings if they keep up this pace, but more importantly, either one of these two drivers could win a Main Event on any given week. Other drivers to keep an eye on this week include Jordan Swank, Frank Furtado, Natalie Perry and rookie Anthony Vigna.
When racing resumes at Antioch Speedway this week, the fans will get to watch DIRTcar Late Models along with the All Star Series Wingless Spec Sprints, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Dwarf Cars and Hobby Stocks. It should be another great night of racing at the speedway. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.
Antioch Speedway Points All Star Series
Wingless Spec Sprint
- Jim Perry Jr. 374
- Marcus Smith 332
- Rick Panfili 332
- Brandon Burd 316
- Roy Fisher 310
DIRTcar Late Model
- Richard Papenhausen 362
- Jeff Decker 342
- Cbester Kniss 171
- Dennis Souza 164
- Bobby Hogge IV 162
Limited Late Model
- Larry Damitz 356
- Kimo Oreta 338
- Mark Garner 332
- Jim Freethy 272
- John Evans 252
B Modified
- Al Johnson 546
- Trevor Clymens 532
- Shane DeVolder 502
- Danny Jones 416
- K.C. Keller 374
Hobby Stocks
- Guy Ahlwardt 408
- Danny Jones 379
- Cameron Swank 334
- Lindsey Buirch 318
- Michael Cooper 310
Dwarf Cars
- Kevin Miraglio 320
- Mike Corsaro 280
- Tim Reeder 234
- Charlie Correia 210
- Buddy Kniss 200
