‘FI’ teammate, Scott Priester, at Lernerville Speedway over the weekend in his own Metplas, #11- Rick Rarer Photo
With the All Star Circuit of Champions getting a taste of PA Posse dirt over the weekend-resulting in a Lance Dewease win at Williams Grove and a Danny Dietrich win at Lincoln Speedway-the traveling 410 All-Stars will turn to a new focus: Ohio.
The All Star Circuit of Champion’s Ohio Sprint Speedweek; what more is there to say? Eight nights of sprint car racing in a nine day time span; filled with grueling miles of Ohio traveling, summer heat and muggy nights, sprint car upkeep and car maintenance, fierce competition, hot red tempers, and stereotypical track foods consisting of cold burgers, soggy fries, and over priced chicken sandwiches. But in all honesty, how can somebody not love every minute of that?
Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio will be the initial launch site of Ohio Sprint Speedweek 2011. David Gravel was the 2010 Ohio Sprint Speedweek Champion and looks to defend his crown in 2011. After the initial start at Attica, the boys head to K-C Raceway in Chillicothe, Ohio for a $5,000 to win event on Saturday evening. On Sunday and Monday evening’s, the All-Stars will overtake the Millstream Speedway and Waynesfield Raceway Park for a pair of $5,000 to win events in upper northwest Ohio.
Tuesday night will consist of a familiar stomping ground for most of the Ohio travelers and FAST competitors; Fremont Speedway in Fremont, Ohio will be the environment shaken and stirred by the Ohio Sprint Speedway on Tuesday evening.
Soon after the checkers fall at Fremont, the Ohio Sprint Speedweek tour will then have to swing east to Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio for a Wednesday night stop also worth $5,000. Thursday will allow for a breather and a cool down time for the 410 competitors. With no racing scheduled for Thursday evening, teams and drivers will have a chance to regroup and catch up before the last segment of the Ohio Sprint Speedweek takes off.
Consisting of stops at Limaland Motorsports Park and Fremont Speedway in upper northwest Ohio, the All-Star will end their Sprint Week with a bang. The main difference between the first stop at Fremont Speedway and the ‘Finale,’ is the extra $5,000 to the winner; equaling a $10,000 payday at the Sprint Week finale at Fremont Speedway on Saturday, June 25th. The hardest of hardcore sprint car fans will hit the highways with the race teams in hopes of clear weather and side by side racing at all 8 scheduled events.
In other random Ohio news; Danny Smith, Randy Hannagan, and Sheldon Haudenschild were all winners in Ohio this weekend- as well as Byron Reed who picked up the FAST victory at Fremont on Saturday night.
Brian Ellenberger made a sweep in Western Pennsylvania; taking victories at Lernerville Speedway and Mercer Raceway Park – Rick Rarer Photo
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series will have their own share of action this weekend at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The North Dakota facility will host the ‘Greatest Show on Dirt’ for two full nights of action kicking off this Friday evening. Donny Schatz, a native of Fargo, North Dakota, recently took over the points lead at the conclusion of the Knoxville Mediacom Shootout at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa this past weekend. He currently has a slim lead over Kasey Kahne Racing’s own Joey Saldana.
Speaking of Kasey Kahne Racing, it appears that Kasey himself, along with KKR part time World of Outlaw’s star. Brad Sweet, will be racing in the first six night’s of Ohio Sprint Week.
FAST action as well as King of the West Series action, which I regularly keep up with and avidly post about, will have a weekend off. As far as the King of Indiana Sprint Series competition is concerned, they will be back in the saddle again. Next Sunday, June 19th, Jon Stanbrough and the rest of the KISS regulars will head to Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana for another round of King of Indiana competition. In case readers were not already aware, all KISS races pay a handsome $2,500 to win with all feature starters guaranteed $250. KISS also has a $3,600 point fund with $1,000 being awarded to the champion. Jon Stanbrough, who was also the winner of the USAC Eastern Storm stop at Lernerville Speedway, has won a record 5 KISS titles since 2001 and owns 17 wins.
USAC Mopar National Midget Series ‘Indiana Midget Week’ came to a conclusion yesterday evening at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Indiana. Michael Pickens, a New Zealand native, won the battle at Kokomo-leading the last 2 laps to score his first USAC win- but Bryan Clauson won the war; winning the 2011 Indiana Midget Week title. Bryan Clauson also leads the current USAC National Midget Series points standings over Bobby East and California native, Darren Hagen.
ASCS National Tour action saw Jack Dover return to victory lane for the 6th time in ASCS National Tour career over the weekend at Eagle Raceway in Eagle, Nebraska for the 2011 Eagle Nationals. The rising 360 national tour had 42 entries with heavy hitters such as Shane Stewart, Jason Johnson, Gary Wright, Johnny Herrera, Brady Bacon, Danny Wood, and Wayne Johnson all in attendance. Dover’s win was worth $6,000. Bixby, Oklahoma native, Shane Stewart, still sits on top of the points standings.
With June speedweek events on the brain, the 2011 Pennsylvania Speedweek Sprint Series will kick off in the near future; with action kicking off on June 25th at Williams Grove and lasting until Sunday, July 3rd – at Selinsgrove Speedway. Similar to Ohio Sprint Week, the Pennsylvania 410 Speedweek Sprint Series will feature an 8 race schedule in 9 days across Pennsylvania and Maryland. More on that to come later!
Much more to discuss this week. A trip to Scott Priester’s shop and another Fully Injected production is in store! Keep up with everything here at www.fullyinjected.com
and as always- RACE OPEN WHEEL
