Antioch, CA.— Antioch Speedway wraps up the month of September with both the Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Wingless Spec Sprints as well as the A and B Modifieds on the schedule this Saturday night. The six division program will be rounded out by the Limited Late Models and Hobby Stocks.
Promoter John M. Soares threw his All Star Series competitors a curve ball when he announced on Thursday that the October 8th and October 22nd races that were recently added to the schedule will be point races. The possible exception to this is the rumored Winged 360 Sprint Car date that may be added on the 22nd. That division will in fact conclude a very close point battle this Saturday night.
The October 8th John Soares Sr. Memorial Top Dog Race is already slated to pay $1500 to win in both the DIRTcar Late Models and A Modifieds, while paying $850 to win in both the B Modifieds and Hobby Stocks. As of now, all four divisions will award points for the regular track competitors. However, before they get to that race, there is this Saturday night’s race to consider.
Only one point race remains on the Antioch Speedway All Star Series racing schedule this week as the track gets ready to crown six more champions. After this race is the special October 8th John Soares Sr. Memorial Top Dog Race for extra prize money. This Saturday night, Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Wingless Spec Sprints, A Modifieds, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Hobby Stocks are all on the schedule. Two divisions have already crowned their 2016 champions as Richard Papenhausen is the DIRTcar Late Model champion and Kevin Miraglio is the Dwarf Car champ.
In no division is the championship more uncertain than in the Winged 360 Sprint Cars as Billy Aton has been battling veteran Art McCarthy all season long. The 2009 Wingless Sprint Champion, Aton took a step towards the championship last week when he finished second in the Main Event. If not for a lost wheel in a Main Event that he was leading recently, he would likely have three wins now. As it is, the second place finish he earned last week was his sixth Top 3 finish in his last eight starts as he added just a little bit to his lead over three time winner Art McCarthy.
McCarthy wasn’t far behind Aton with a fourth place finish as the veteran of many years of open wheel racing battles to overcome the night in which he failed to start the Main Event due to mechanical issues. The fact that McCarthy has gotten this close to Aton is an indication of just how good of a driver he really is. With the steady stream of up and coming young talent that comes to town each and every week, these two drivers have maintained a good championship battle all season long.
Last week, the other big storyline of the division continued as Colby Johnson won his first Main Event in only his second start in this division. Johnson is the great grandson of Pacheco Hardtop legend Johnny Franklin, and the Micro Sprint graduate drove a great race to score the victory. The fans generally see anywhere from 10-14 Sprint Cars on any given week, and other racers to watch for this week include third place point competitor Dan Gonderman, Burt Foland Jr, Shawn Arriaga, Aaron Miller, rookie Tim Burcher, Ricky Brophy, Chris Magoon and previous winner Matt Barber.
In all of the drama that went down in the previous Wingless Spec Sprint race, the championship seemingly belongs to open wheel veteran Jim Perry Jr. Perry recorded his third win of the season last time, adding to his division all time leading win total of over 40 victories. This would be his second championship in the division, and a bit of a heart breaker for Marcus Smith.
Smith was steadily gaining on Perry in the point race until he blew a motor in his heat race last time out. With the Richard Basden owned car done for the night, Smith hopped into his own car and drove to a second place finish, only to find out that he would receive no points in that car since Adam Teves qualified it with his heat race win. Because of that, Smith has his hands full trying to hold off division original Rick Panfili and Roy Fisher in the battle for second.
Smith is clinging to a 10 point lead over Panilli and a 20 point advantage over Fisher. While Smith and Fisher both have feature wins, Panfilli is still searching for his first career feature win since starting in this class when it began in 1999. Rick has finished as high as second in the Main Event this year and is hoping to come up with a big finish to claim his highest career point ranking in second. It will be interesting to see what happens here.
Despite some rough luck this year, past Chowchilla Speedway champion Branden Burd has a solid hold on fifth in the standings. Other drivers to watch for in the competitive division include likely “Rookie Of The Year” Adam Teves, Shannon Newton, James East, reigning champion Kyle Bakkie and feature winner Jeremy Newberry.
In the A Modified division, Carl Berendsen II has reason to celebrate. The second generation racer is seemingly on his way to a second division championship in three years. Prior to last week, he still hadn’t won a Main Event. Carl is a multi time point runner up in Street Stocks and a winner back in those days. He debuted a new car during the season in hopes of getting his first win, and that mission was accomplished last Saturday night as he held off heavy hitters Duane Cleveland and Troy Foulger for his first career victory. In doing so, Carl took a major step towards his second division championship.
Trent Wentworth recorded another Top 5 finish and gained a few points on point runner up Scott Busby, but Busby has a good chance of holding down the position as long as he has a respectable showing in the Main Event this weekend. Wentworth may have a shot at second, but he also has to hold off second generation racer Sean O’Gara, who is within striking distance of third. Unlike two time feature winner Busby, Wentworth and O’Gara are still looking for their first Main Event victories.
What is further amazing is the fact that Troy Foulger is still without an Antioch feature win this year as the winner’s list includes 11 drivers at this point. Will there be another new winner to add to the list this week? Other drivers to watch for this week include rookie Bobby Montalvo, Norman Boeck, Brian Cass, Aaron Crowell and Josh Combs.
Trevor Clymens is on the cusp of his first career track championship after coming close to that goal back in his days in the Pure Stock division. With seven B Modified Main Event wins this year, Trevor has had an amazing season. Unless he has a major misstep this week, Clymens will beat Al Johnson for the championship, while Johnson settles for his second straight runner up season. Clymens lost his battle with two time Petaluma Modified champion Nick DeCarlo and would settle for second in last week’s Main Event.
As it looks like Johnson will come up short in his championship bid, he would still very much like to score his first career victory. Johnson has multiple second place finishes. The third place driver, Shane DeVolder, has six second place finishes, but the likely “Rookie Of The Year” did get his first win earlier this season. With two Main Event wins to his credit, K.C. Keller maintains a Top 5 point position.
Last weekend was a milestone evening for one of the track’s three famous Brown families. Long time Speedway competitor and two time Limited Late Model champion Ron Brown returned and got a Top 5 finish. Chasing him across the line in the next two positions were his brothers, Randy Brown and Kevin Brown. It was the first time that the three brothers had competed in a race together. Randy Brown has competed in most of the races this year and is currently sixth in the standings, while Kevin has a pair of fifth place finishes this year. The B Modified drivers have been putting on some good shows this year, and other racers to watch for this week include Chuck Golden, Anthony Giuliani, Tim Hammett and Mike Mates.
It has been an amazing rookie season for Guy Ahlwardt in the Hobby Stock division. Guy picked up his fifth Main Event win of the season last week to apparently clinch the track championship. He has further announced that it looks like his car has been sold and he will be moving up to the B Modified division next season. As good as he has looked all season, most people would agree that he is ready for this move.
Fellow rookie Lindsey Buirch has done a good job of improving from week to week this season. The talented teen competitor drove to another Top 5 finish last week and would appear to be headed for a second place point season. Last season’s point runner up and second generation racer Jordan Swank also grabbed a Top 5 finish last week to move up into third in the standings.
What has been interesting to observe in recent weeks is the rise of Frank Furtado as a competitor capable of winning. It wasn’t that long ago that Frank picked up his first career Main Event victory. Last week, the Top 10 point runner drove his battle scarred #81 car to a heat race victory before finishing second in the Main Event. Also looking good in third last week was 2010 champion Chris Sorensen. Sorensen was reportedly done for the year, but his fellow competitors chipped in to make sure he returned. The Sorenson team has been instrumental in the bike giveaways for the kids that have been happening at Antioch Speedway in recent weeks.
It should be another competitive field this week as drivers battle to see who can win the point season finale. Other competitors to watch for include Anthony Vigna, Top 5 ranked Michael Cooper, Cameron Swank, Natalie Perry and Chris Long.
Once again, 87 year old Larry Damitz seems to headed for the Limited Late Model championship. With five Main Event wins to his credit, Larry will be the champion for the fifth time in six seasons. The question now is who will end up second? The battle is on between Kimo Oreta and five time winner Mark Garner. Oreta has a two point lead despite having no wins in the Main Event this year. Basically, when Garner isn’t winning, he’s usually not finishing, but Oreta usually finds his way to the checkered flag.
Last time out, Garner won one of the more exciting battles of the year by holding off the impressive Ryan Cherezian, who drives the only pickup truck in the field. It was Ryan’s best finish of the season. It should be another good race, and other drivers to watch for this week include Mike Gustafson, Lori Brown, the steady John Evans, Jeff Kendrick and rookie Billy Garner.
The All Star Series point finale at Antioch Speedway should be a good one, and the program will feature Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Wingless Spec Sprints, A Modifieds, B Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Limited Late Models. For further information on this event and the coming John Soares Sr. Memorial Race, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.
Antioch Speedway All Star Series Points
Winged 360 Sprints
Billy Aton 642
Art McCarthy 635
Dan Gonderman 392
Burt Foland Jr. 334
Shawn Arriaga 283
Matt Barber 220
Matt DeMartini 202
Marissa Polizi 201
Rick Brophy 174
Jenna Frazer 163
Wingless Spec Sprint
Jim Perry Jr. 526
Marcus Smith 464
Rick Panfili 454
Roy Fisher 444
Brandon Burd 411
Dan Gonderman 290
Adam Teves 251
Shannon Newton 248
James East 244
Kyle Bakkie 224
A Modifieds
Carl Berendsen II 566
Scott Busby 493
Trent Wentworth 472
Sean O’Gara 458
Bobby Montalvo 452
Troy Foulger 341
Norman Boeck 304
Aaron Crowell 284
Raymond Lindeman 274
Brian Cass 256
B Modifieds
Trevor Clymens 952
Al Johnson 910
Shane DeVolder 874
K.C. Keller 658
Danny Jones 636
Randy Brown 408
Chuck Golden 358
Brian Pearce 334
Anthony Giuliani 321
Lloyd Cline 271
Hobby Stock
Guy Ahlwardt 742
Lindsey Buirch 602
Jordan Swank 572
Michael Cooper 544
Danny Jones 537
Chris Sorensen 529
Frank Furtado 491
Cameron Swank 456
Anthony Vigna 454
Natalie Perry 379
Limited Late Model
Larry Damitz 674
Kimo Oreta 628
Mark Garner 626
Mike Gustafson 478
John Evans 418
Lori Brown 415
Jim Freethy 272
Jeff Kendrick 132
Billy Garner 120
Ryan Cherezian 99
