After Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was all done and over with; the record stood at 1-3. The worst part about this is I’m not talking about Pirates baseball; I’m talking about how many races I got to see versus how many were scheduled for me to see this past weekend. The only show that beat out Mother Nature on my roadtrip weekend was the Friday night portion of the World of Outlaws Spring Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Night number 2 of the World of Outlaws Spring Nationals and the Lincoln Speedway Sprint Spectacular featuring Kasey Kahne weren’t so lucky; both ending with cancellations. With rain forecasted for the next 11 years, I don’t see much hope for sunshine in the future. I guess I’ll try and be optimistic and look forward to seeing sunshine and sprint cars next weekend.
With rain taking away the KISS event at Gas City, Indiana, Lernerville Speedway’s DIRTcar Challenge $2,000 to win event early, and Attica Raceway Park’s FAST program just as the night was about to begin, the only hope for excitement in this region was at Williams Grove Speedway for their annual springtime World of Outlaw invasion. Luckily, I made the right decision in traveling east for the weekend and was privileged to see at least one night of action. 41 cars signed in for the 25 lap event. With threatening weather in the surrounding area, the program was shortened to one lap qualifying which saw Brian Leppo take top time honors. Leppo would take his turn leading laps in the A –main before having to surrender to Stevie Smith and eventual winner, Daryn Pittman. Pittman would take the lead with a handful of circuits remaining and hold on to win his first Outlaw win under Heffner Racing; Brian Leppo would hang and finish 2nd in his Swope Salvage number 71 – with “Double Down” Jason Sides rounding out the podium finishers.
The rest of the weekend pretty much sums up like this; wet. Williams Grove would attempt to get night number 2 in the books but a light rain and constant mist would stop the show from going on. 44 cars were signed in before the event was declared deceased. The 358/360 challenge at Selinsgrove Speedway over the weekend was lucky enough to get their program in the books. ASCS National Star, Shane Stewart, was a guest driver in a URC ride and took home the $3,000+ payday. As I was buying some gear on Friday evening just before Last Chance Showdown action, I noticed Shane hanging out at the Joey Saldana apparel trailer, not even thinking that he could be in town for the Selinsgrove race the next night. Needless to say, the current ASCS National point’s leader took home some PA money after Saturday night’s victory.
The World of Outlaws will be back in action next Friday and Saturday evening’s in areas just west of Pennsylvania. The “Greatest Show on Dirt” will be visiting Attica Raceway Park in Attica, Ohio on Friday before traveling north into Michigan to compete at the I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, MI. Joey Saldana of Brownsburg, Indiana, still sits on top of the point’s standings. The Redbull trailer is awesome inside; just saying.
California wasn’t deprived of sprint car action on Saturday night. The King of the West Series would welcome another new winner in the early 2011 season; Tommy Tarlton picked up the win at the Tulare Thunderbowl on Saturday evening during round 6 of the California based 410ci series. Over 30 cars signed in for the event with Ian Madsen taking fast time honors. Jonathon Allard would lead much of the event before a slide job gone wrong by Tim Kaeding would end both of their nights. Tommy Tarlton would be the eventual winner over Brent Kaeding and Evan Suggs. Tim Kaeding still holds the point lead in the series by 22 points over Evan Suggs and Jonathon Allard.
The All Star Circuit of Champions event at Mercer Raceway Park in Mercer, Pennsylvania was rained out early in the weekend. With lots of wet weather forecasted during the weekend’s entirety, Mercer decided to postpone the event until next Saturday night, May 21st. The traveling All Stars will try to invade Mercer one more time next weekend. $5,000 is on the line. Dale Blaney currently sits on top of the points standings in all three criteria’s.
USAC and KISS action pick back up next weekend. Friday night will feature wingless Indiana action at Bloomington Speedway in Bloomington, Indiana with the USAC National Sprint Cars coming to town. Saturday night will allow for most of these teams to have a double race weekend with KISS action taking place at Lawrenceburg Speedway just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday night. Bryan Clauson currently sits on the top spot of the USAC National Sprint Car point’s standings; with Brady Short holding on to the top spot in KISS points after only one night of competition thus far in 2011.
The Fully Injected team will hopefully be back in action this weekend; with most competing at Lernerville Speedway on Friday night and Mercer Raceway Park on Saturday evening -where the All Stars and local Western PA regulars will be trying to take home the $5,000 to win payday. I will be visiting Fully Injected teammate Brandon Matus’ shop on Wednesday evening to play Spielberg for another edition of “Behind the Scenes.” Stay tuned for more on that! Fully Injected’s lone Midwest representative had a better weekend when comparing it to the last few. I guess one additional positive that she had this weekend over anybody us is she actually got to race! Destini Clark competes in 305ci competition at the 34 Raceway in the state of Iowa each and every weekend. After suffering some bad luck last weekend, the youngster in sprint car competition came home with a top 15 finish and a car that rolled onto the trailer in one piece. “Although the finish was not the best, we brought the car home in one piece…that’s a success for us at this point and we will build on that!” quoted her father. Next weekend is a new week and hopefully things turn around for the 305ci competitor.
Hopefully next Monday will offer a little more material to read. I think I’m actually becoming depressed from this constant wet weather. From what I understand, the reason humans become “down” or “depressed” during times with lacking sunshine is because the body lacks essential vitamins we receive from the sun. Also, the body’s temperature rises slower and sometimes doesn’t reach its expectancy causing fatigue and drowsiness. I read that in a book …I just can’t remember where. So there; your scientific “who cares” fact of the week.
Thanks for reading everybody. Enjoy your week- and as always; RACE OPEN WHEEL!