Speedweek Battle Heats Up Heading Into Weekend Finale
WST Speedweek Series Comes To Southern Oregon Speedway
The
Western Sprint Tour Speedweek Series runs their finale on Saturday
night at Southern Oregon Speedway. They series kicked off at Sunset
Speedway last Sunday, followed by stops at Cottage Grove Speedway,
Willamette Speedway and Coos Bay Speedway. Friday is to be the fifth
race at Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka, and Cory Eliason leads a trio
of Californians in the standings heading into Friday.
The
series started off looking like it might go in four time champion Roger
Crockett's favor. The current Cottage Grove Speedway point leader won
the Sunset and Cottage Grove races impressively to set the early pace in
the standings. Also notable was Medford's Garen Linder's fifth place
finish in the Sunday race. Unfortunately, Crockett's luck went south on
the opening lap at Willamette. A car spun on the front straightaway
and into his path, causing Crockett to flip. Crockett then missed the
Coos Bay race making repairs.
With Crockett out of the
picture, Eliason used an amazing run on the outside to pass Jason
Solwold for the win at Willamette and take over the series point lead.
With four Top 5 finishes, California champion Steven Tiner is second in
the points, but he has pressure from behind in the form of another
Californian, Justyn Cox. Cox had a flag to flag romp at Coos Bay to
become the third different winner. Also of note was Medford Pennzoil
Sprint Car point leader Jake Wheeler, who finished third at Coos Bay.
The
battle for the Speedweek Title will be between Eliason, Tiner, Cox and Washington's Trey Starks,
but there are some other contenders to watch in the battle for a
feature victory. Of note are Crockett, Linder, Wheeler, New Zealand's
Daniel Anderson, Wayne Kniffen, Jeremy Lowe and Aaron Miller.
Joining
the Sprint Cars on Saturday will be SODA Dwarf Cars and Mini Stocks.
Kalvin Morton had a checkered flag and win #4 in his site last week when
he tangled with a slower car and flipped on the last lap in the Dwarf
Car Main Event. The win went to Camden Robustelli ahead of Brock
Peters, and the three should be in action on Saturday along with Ryan
Smith, Rob Gergel, Chad Cardoza, Cody Peters and Randy Slater.
With
three wins and two seconds in the five Mini Stock racers held so far,
point leader Bob Burkett has been the man to beat. 2014 champion Gary
Anderson and 2015 Yreka champion David Steele are the other winners, and
all three are anticipated this week to continue their close battle up
front. Fourteen year old Marissa Henson leads a close battle with
Anderson, Andrew Hall and Kris Mix in the race for second in the
standings, and a field of at least a dozen competitors is anticipated
this week.
Gates will open at 5:00 p.m. with the first
race scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. Adult tickets are $18.00 with
Seniors and Juniors $12.00. Children 5 and under are free. For further
information, go to www.southernoregonspeedway.com.
Speedweek Points after four races
1 Cory Eliason 348
2 Steven Tiner 337
3 Trey Starks 310
4 Justyn Cox 299
5 Jake Wheeler 261
6 Kelly Miller 255
7 J.J. Hickle 224
8 Daniel Anderson 219
9 Mitchell Faccinto 218
10 Shane Forte 212
2 Steven Tiner 337
3 Trey Starks 310
4 Justyn Cox 299
5 Jake Wheeler 261
6 Kelly Miller 255
7 J.J. Hickle 224
8 Daniel Anderson 219
9 Mitchell Faccinto 218
10 Shane Forte 212
Mini Stocks
43 Bob Burkett 184
17h Marissa Henson 136
0 Gary Anderson 135
007 Andrew Hall 134
89 Kristopher Mix 125
49h Eric Hanson 88
2d Devon Weiser 74
87 Dillen Lausen 71
9c Mike Cloud 69
7 Mikey Johnson 68
SODCA Dwarf Cars
18s Kalvin Morton 585
2s Brock Peters 547
26s Ryan Smith 488
06s Randy Slater 475
25s Camden Robustelli 471
17s Rob Gergel 456
62s James Edwards 444
30s Cody Peters 423
109s Josh King 390
4s Joe Sanders 308
WST Speedweek Series Comes To Southern Oregon Speedway
The Western Sprint Tour will wrap up their six race Speedweek Series on Saturday night at Southern Oregon Speedway. The series runs six races in Oregon and Northern California in a seven day span. Also on the card will be the SODCA Dwarf Cars and Mini Stocks.
Back in the 1980's, there was a Sprint Car group in California called NARC that started holding this special week long series in the summer called Speedweek. The best drivers came out and ran every race that week, and a Speedweek champion was crowned. The event grew every year and eventually attracted the attention of the Pacific Northwest Sprint Car crowd. In 1998, a Speedweek Series was started in Oregon and Washington.
Perhaps it's only fitting that it was third generation California racer Bud Kaeding winning the first championship. The Kaeding name is one of the biggest in Winged Sprint Car racing on the West Coast. In 2004 and 2005, Bud's legendary father Brent Kaeding added his name to the list of champions. Californians have fared well through the years, led by four time champion Steve Kent. Of course, Oregon is well represented by one of the biggest Sprint Car names in the state, Roger Crockett.
The son of Placerville Sprint Car legend Brian Crockett, Roger has built up an amazing resume for himself. He's won most of the big races in the state along with several track championships. When it comes to Speedweek, he's a four time champion, and nobody has notched more Speedweek victories than Roger. In fact, he added two more wins in the series opener on Sunday at Sunset Speedway and then at Cottage Grove on Monday. This gives Crockett 21 wins all time. Monday's race at Cottage Grove was actually the 100th Main Event in the 19 years of Speedweek.
Roger will be out to try to bring the Speedweek championship trophy back to Oregon following back to back championships from Californians Kyle Hirst and Colby Copeland. Neither driver is competing for the full week this year as Hirst currently leads the King Of The West Series. However, a few Californians are competing, led by veteran Steven Tiner, Cory Eliason, Justyn Cox and second generation racer Mitchell Faccinto.
Eliason won the third race of the series at Willamette. He won it in exciting fashion with an impressive outside pass on race long leader Jason Solwold with two laps to go. Since Crockett flipped after a spinning car veered into his path at the start, Eliason was the point leader heading into Round #4 at Coos Bay Speedway.
Another second generation racer, Garen Linder, is running all six events and started off with a solid fifth place run at Sunset Speedway. Garen is hot on the trail of his first win of the year, and he has won at Southern Oregon Speedway in the past. New Zealander Daniel Anderson will be coming and a few others anticipated for this race include Shannon Forte, Donny Waddell, Kenny Miller and Washington's Nate Vaughn.
Jake Wheeler will be hoping to defend the local honor. The third generation racer leads the local point standings and has three seconds and a win so far. In addition to Wheeler, the track regulars will be represented by Wayne Kniffen, Todd Whipple, Jeremy Lowe and Aaron Miller. Anderson California's Chelsea Blevins has indicated that she will be there as well. A good field of Sprint Cars will be in action on the three/tenth mile clay oval, and it should be a good show.
Joining the Sprint Cars on the card will be the track's Mini Stock division. With three feature wins so far, Bob Burkett is leading the way in the point standings. Remarkably, Burkett has never won the division championship, but he as racked up numerous feature wins and four second place seasons through the years. A close battle for second in the standings has 14 year old Marissa Henson leading one time winner Gary Anderson, Andrew Hall and Kristopher Mix going into the night.
Also competing will be the SODCA Dwarf Cars. Camden Robustelli won last week and will be going for two in a row. Three time Yreka winner Kalvin Morton leads the standings so far, and he is hoping to rebound from an incident last week that saw him flip from the lead on the last lap. With Brock Peters, Chad Cardoza, Randy Slater, Josh King, Ryan Smith and young Cody Peters in the field, it's anybody's guess who will win the race.
The three division show should be a good one. Gates will open at 5:00 p.m. with the first race to fire off at 7 p.m. sharp. General admission is $18.00 with seniors and Juniors $12.00.For furth er information, check out www.southernoregonspeedway.com.
Point Standings
Speedweek After 3 of 6 Races
1 Cory Eliason 267
2 Steven Tiner 254
3 Roger Crockett 248
4 Trey Starks 223
5 Justyn Cox 206
6 Kelly Miller 186
7 Kyle Hirst 180
8 Nate Vaughn 174
9 Mitchell Faccinto 171
10 Daniel Anderson 165
Mini Stock
43 Bob Burkett 184
17h Marissa Henson 136
0 Gary Anderson 135
007 Andrew Hall 134
89 Kristopher Mix 125
49h Eric Hanson 88
2d Devon Weiser 74
87 Dillen Lausen 71
9c Mike Cloud 69
7 Mikey Johnson 68
SODCA Dwarf Cars
18s Kalvin Morton 585
2s Brock Peters 547
26s Ryan Smith 488
06s Randy Slater 475
25s Camden Robustelli 471
17s Rob Gergel 456
62s James Edwards 444
30s Cody Peters 423
109s Josh King 390
4s Joe Sanders 308
Speedweek Stats
1998 Bud Kaeding
1999 Brad Furr
2000 Steve Kent
2001 Steve Kent
2002 Steve Kent
2003 Roger Crockett
2004 Brent Kaeding
2005 Brent Kaeding
2006 Steve Kent
2007 Shane Stewart
2008 Roger Crockett
2009 Jesse Hockett
2010 Roger Crockett
2011 Kyle Larsen
2012 Mitch Olsen
2013 Roger Crockett
2014 Kyle Hirst
2015 Colby Copeland
2015 Points
Colby Copoeland 521
Kyle Hurst 506
Roger Crockett 496
Steven Tiner 489
Justyn Cox 466
Trey Starks 460
Phil Dietz 420
Garen Linder 408
Colby Wiesz 380
Michael kofoid 372
2014 Points
Kyle Hirst 862
Colin Baker 827
J.D. Hickle 677
Trey Starks 669
Jonathan Allard 650
2013 Points
Roger Crockett 985
Henry Van Dam 841
Mason Moore 836
Trey Starks 816
Cam Smith 789
2012 Points
Mitch Olsen
Henry Van Dam
Roger Crockett
Reece Goetz
Cam Smith
2011 Points
Kyle Larsen 576
Roger Crockett 540
Henry Van Dam 528
Trey Starks 521
Seth Bergman 473
Top 10 Winners
Roger Crockett 21
Steve Kent 13
Brent Kaeding 10
Shane Stewart 7
Brad Furr 5
Travis Rilat 5
Kyle Hirst 4
Wayne Johnson 4
Colby Copeland 3
Jesse Hockett 3
