Antioch, CA–This Saturday night, the racing program at Antioch Speedway will again be loaded with great racing throughout the night. The headliners will once again be the exciting All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Cars. Art McCarthy has hit his stride and Billy Aton will have to step up his game to keep the old veteran behind him in the standings. Also competing will be the Bay Cities Racing Association Midget Lites, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Hobby Stock and Hardtops.
Art McCarthy #19 and Billy Aton #26 battle for the lead in the Winged 360 Sprint Car Main Event last week. Photo by Paul Gould
The battle is heating up in the Winged 360 Sprint Car division between veteran Art McCarthy and Billy Aton. A past champion of this division at both Antioch and Petaluma, McCarthy seems to be making a run at point leader Aton. Art has won two of the last three Main Events and has now moved to within 21 points of the past Wingless Spec Sprint champion Aton in a good championship battle. Despite the fact that McCarthy has been winning, Aton is usually not very far behind him. Last week, it was Aton giving McCarthy all he could handle before the race ended abruptly.
What ended the race was a spectacular flip by Dan Gonderman. Gonderman was in the Top 3 battle when contact sent him flipping with three laps to go. It was the second flip of the season for the Top 5 ranked racer. Though he was not injured, we haven’t heard whether he’ll be ready to go for this race. Gonderman has been a regular competitor at the speedway for years and has also competed in the Wingless Spec Sprint division this season, earning two victories there.
Management has been growing this division over the past few seasons, and given the nice purse offered to the popular division, drivers seem to come in from various other places to compete every week. The local contingent continues to grow with other somewhat regular competitors including Burt Foland Jr., Rick Brophy, reigning champion Shawn Arriaga, Adam McCarthy, Tim Burcher and 2014 champion Chris Magoon.
The Bay Cities Racing Association Midget Lites pay their second and final appearance to the speedway this week. Last time, Craig Dillard scored the victory ahead of Australian Scott Males and Dakota Albright. Not surprisingly, the reigning champion Dillard has a comfortable lead in the championship battle, while the steady Kyle Offill and Males battle closely for second. Longtime competitor Scott Kinney, two time San Jose Speedway Sprint Car champion Charlie Caraccilo, Tim Kinser and Chris Hansen are other fast competitors in the group.
The Bay Cities Racing Association is a proud organization that has existed for over 70 years. The organization in its heyday sanctioned Midgets and Hardtop racing at several race tracks. When the Hardtop division was dropped, BCRA continued to sanction Midget racing.
It wasn’t until the 1990s when the Midget Lites came to the bigger tracks. BCRA actually renamed the division, which was once called Mini Sprints and raced on the small one-eight mile tracks, including the one in Stockton. At that time, a group called The Northern Stars had a very competitive circuit and called Antioch Speedway a home track. By the late 1990s, that organization faded away and BCRA took over the group. The Midget Lites compete at several venues during the course of the season and usually put on a good show. Saturday night should be no exception.
Speaking of competitive shows, the B Modified division is more exciting than ever. Six time Main Event winner Trevor Clymens seems to be on his way to his first track championship. Though he was shut out of the Main Event winner’s circle last week, he did win his ninth heat race of the year, keeping his lead over the steady Al Johnson, who finished fifth last week behind Clymens. However, these two drivers have company in the championship race, and it’s far from over.
A young up and comer named Shane DeVolder has been making his presence known not just at Antioch but elsewhere on the circuit. DeVolder had five second place finishes going into last week, but he finally broke through to get his first career Main Event win. Shane’s father is Petaluma Street Stock champion Dean DeVolder, and this young man got his start late last season at 16 years old. This is his first full season, and he is the top rookie in the group.
Saturday night was also a night to shine for Stock Car veteran Danny Jones. Danny had company in the battle for second place as the flying Brian Pearce was right there with him, but he still scored his division best second place finish. Jones is currently leading the race for the Hobby Stock championship, and Pearce is making a comeback from a hard crash suffered in his battle for a victory earlier this year. Both competitors should be out there this week. Other drivers to watch for include Chuck Golden, Randy Brown, Kevin Brown, Lloyd Cline and Paul Mulder.
The Limited Late Model championship battle may be in hand for 87 year old Larry Damitz. Damitz has four victories so far, and last week saw him come from the back of the pack to finish second behind another longtime racer, Mike Gustafson. In the point battle, Damitz put a little bit more distance between himself and second place, where the battle seems to be engaged at the moment.
After collecting a third place finish, rookie Kimo Oreta ended up passing three time feature winner Mark Garner for second in the standings. Garner had won his heat race earlier in the evening, but his luck in the Main Event went downhill from there. Oreta leads Garner by just six points at the moment, and both drivers will be hungry for victory this week. Other drivers to watch for include John Evans, John Keith, Jim Freethy and Lori Brown.
In the Hobby Stock division, it looked liked things might be over in the battle between rookie Guy Ahlwardt and Danny Jones back in early July. Ahlwardt was building what looked like it could be an insurmountable lead when things started to go bad for him. It just goes to show that you can’t take anything for granted in points racing. Danny Jones has been on a bit of a roll lately with four Main Event wins to his credit, and he now leads Ahlwardt in a still very close championship battle. This race looks like it could go down to the wire, and either one of these drivers is capable of winning it. Though Ahlwardt comes out there with a fast race car, Jones carries years of experience with him.
Either one of these drivers knows that to win from week to week you have to beat some competitive racers. One of them is third ranked Michael Cooper, who recently scored that first career feature win after five seasons. Cooper has been having a lot of fun this year racing with his brother in law and last year’s “Rookie Of The Year” Jordan Swank. Jordan’s cousin Cameron has also been fast, and either one of these guys could win on any given week.
The last month has been a difficult one for Natalie Perry, but she continues to come back with much enthusiasm. She is hoping to get the bad luck behind her as she makes another run for a feature win this week. Veteran Rob Waldrop and 2010 champion Chris Sorensen are other hard chargers who seem to make their presence known at the front from week to week. Other drivers to watch for this week include Top 5 ranked competitor Lindsay Buirch, hard charger Jason Jennings, Chris Long, Mitchell Loccicere and the steady Frank Furtato.
The Hardtop division is coming up on some big races. Next month, they bring back the Chet Thomson Memorial race at Antioch Speedway on September 10th. They also have a big upcoming exhibition at Calistoga on Labor Day weekend. They are coming off of a big race that honored past Petaluma and Antioch Speedway promoter, John P. Soares. In that race at Petaluma, Placerville competitor Jason Armstrong collected a win in only his second start in that car.
It’s uncertain who may show up to race in the group, but two Bay Area competitors anticipated finished second and third last week. Tommy Thomson made his first start of the season a good one as he drove his green #39 car to a second place finish in front of his friend, Dan Williams. Both of these drivers were pretty much on the ground floor of the Bay Area Hardtop movement nearly a decade ago. Williams comes with some experience as a past Mini Stock champion at Petaluma Speedway. Thomson is actually wheeling the car that he drove at Vallejo Speedway and won Main Events with in the 1970’s.
To get a win at Antioch Speedway, however, you might have to go through Dave Mackay to get it. He has two wins in Antioch and three wins on the circuit. Another hard charger to watch for is the guy who won the most dirt track races with the group last year, Rob Waldrop. Rumor was that Waldrop might be piloting a different car for owner Bill McLaughlin when the division hits the track this week. Other competitors to watch for include Ken Clifford, Dennis Armstrong, Larry Damitz and Steve Cloyes.
Saturday night will be a great night for a race at Antioch Speedway. With Winged 360 Sprint Cars, BCRA Midget Lites, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Hardtops and Hobby Stocks on the card, it is a packed program you won’t want to miss. For further information, check out www.antiochspeedway.com.
All Star Series Antioch Speedway Points
Winged 360 Sprint Car
Billy Aton 474
Artt McCarthy 453
Dan Gonderman 326
Burt Foland Jr. 242
Shawn Arriaga 189
Rick Brophy 174
Matt Barber 136
Bobby McMahan 136
Zack Lynsky 126
Matt DeMartini 120
Limited Late Model
Larry Damitz 516
Kimo Oreta 488
Mark Garner 482
John Evans 382
Mike Gustafson 336
Lori Brown 279
Jim Freethy 272
Paul Hanley 82
Billy Garner 80
Steve Studebaker 54
B Modified
Trevor Clymens 748
Al Johnson 728
Shane DeVolder 712
Danny Jones 582
K.C. Keller 494
Randy Brown 326
Brian Pearce 280
Lloyd Cline 271
Anthony Giuliani 269
Chuck Golden 248
Hobby Stock
Danny Jones 537
Guy Ahlwardt 528
Michael Cooper 450
Lindsey Buirch 432
Cameron Swank 408
Jordan Swank 404
Chris Sorensen 403
Rob Waldrop 334
Anthony Vigna 322
Natalie Perry 321
BCRA Midget Lites
Craig Dillard 813
Kyle Offill 774
Scott Males 713
Chris Hansen 600
Tim Kinser 556
Scott Kinney 541
Nate Buffa 519
Emilee Lindgren 510
Hunter Kinney 460
Charlie Caraccilo 408
