Racing for Championship Points
This Saturday night is a great opportunity for our race teams to focus on championship points. It’s easy to get pre-occupied with the big events and forget about how important divisional championships are at Speedway 660. A big night this early in the season could propel a driver to the top of a division on our Night of Champions in late August.
The Early Leaders
The racing has been great so far this season. Greg Fahey is at the top of the leader board in the O’Leary Auto Group Pro Stock Division. Greg is on a mission this year after losing his bid, on the 2010 Night of Champions, for a third straight title.
Glyn Nott leads the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman Division after two events. Glyn has a first and second in the features and looks to build on that strong start this Saturday night. Nott has always been a top contender in our sensational sportsman division, but has never won the championship. Perhaps 2011 is his year.
Ricky Cashol needs no introduction to Speedway 660 fans. He’s one of those guys fans either love…or well…you get the picture. Rick “The Villan” has four RV World Street Stock championship trophies on the mantle and makes no bones about planning to hoist number five in 2011! With a first and second in two features so far, Rick may very well make it happen again.
Best not forget our two newest divisions. Ryan Messer, who leads the points, is looking for his second straight Hanwell Village Mart Bandolero Division Championship. And Kevin Peterson has served notice that he is out to defend his 4 Cylinder Division title.
There’s a lot of racing between now and August 27th. Don’t be surprised if all of these championships are decided on the last laps of the features on Speedway 660’s Night of Champions.
All in the Family!
It’s great to see new race teams at Speedway 660, but even greater to see drivers move on up as they get more seat time. Steve Halpin has landed in a Pro Stock this year. Steve was one of the young guns in Sportsman, but is making a smooth transition to compete with “The Big Boys”.
How about Steve Seveck who has jumped from Enduro to Sportsman this season? Last week Steve drove home in third place in the feature! Cousins Brandon Harris (son of Matt) and Mark Harris (son of Myles) are also newbies in the world of Sportsman racers.
Andrew Rodgers – grandson of Bob, son of Steve and brother of Matt – is “cutting his teeth” in street stock this year. Andrew and Matt are both teenagers who are going to carry on the Rodgers tradition in racing for years to come.
Courtney and Alexandra O’Blenis – daughters of Dave – are two of the newest Bando racers this year. Ken MacKenzie Jr. – obviously the son of Ken – is also competing in the Bandolero division.
Saturday Night Hero
It was pretty much a “no brainer” when it came time to pick our Saturday Night Hero for last week. Johnny Clark overcame adversity to win the PASS 200. Clark broke a power steering hose in the first half of the race, but dealt with that challenge and won for the third consecutive time at Speedway 660. He also won the PASS 200 and AutoValue 250 in 2010. JC will be out to make it four in a row in this year’s edition of the AutoValue 250 on SpeedWeekend.
Clark’s winning streak reminds us of another driver who pretty much owned Speedway 660 a decade or so ago. The late Scott Fraser dominated competition here and we used to call this place Fraserville. Perhaps now we should be calling Speedway 660, Clarksville!
Championship Points
Saturday night is going to be a good one. Every race team will be looking for a great points night. We will run Bando and 4 Cylinder Division heat races at 6:20PM and racing in our Big Three Divisions will start at seven. So you had better get down to Speedway 660 – we’ll see you at the races.
