SOUTHERN OREGON SPEEDWAY
Sprint Cars, Late Models Headline Kids Night At Southern Oregon Speedway
Enrique Jaime #48 is on the verge of his first Sprint Car feature win after two third place finishes.
Bree Tritchler #17 is only four points out of the Hornets point lead after a pair of third place finishes.
David Steele #67 is two wins shy of the All Time Mini Stock win record and has won four races so far this year.
2016 champion Bob Dees #6 will be out to win his first Late Model Main Event this Saturday night
Southern Oregon Speedway is having Kids Night this Saturday night. There will be free admission for all kids 12 years and younger. The night will also include bike giveaways and free Hot Wheels to the first 100 kids through the gates. The Kendall Oil Winged Sprint Cars will be racing once again. Also on the card for the night will be the Late Models, Bobbio’s Pizza Mini Stocks and JOAT Labs Hornets.
David Hibbard is hitting his stride as he has now won four of the five Kendall Oil Winged Sprint Car Main events so far this season. In the past two weeks, Hibbard has not won the Scramble, which determines who gets the pole position for the Main Event. Last week, it was Garen Linder making a surprise entrance and winning both his heat race and the Scramble. A week earlier, the division’s top rookie, Blaine Cory won his heat and the Scramble. In both cases, Hibbard still found his way into the lead. Last week’s Main Event ran 25 laps without a yellow flag, and nobody could stop Hibbard from leading all the way in victory.
However, the rapidly improving Cory has posted back-to-back second place finishes. Cory surprised Linder during the most recent race by making a mid race pass to take over second. While Hibbard now holds a 38 point lead ahead of Jeffrey Hudson, Cory has pulled into a tie with David’s son Bailey Hibbard for third in the standings, 14 points behind Hudson. People are now talking about the potential of Cory being the next Main Event winner. Enrique Jaime vacated third in the points as the team discovered motor problems last Friday night. He is anticipated this week along with other hard chargers such as 2009 champion Charlie Thompson, Merissa Henson, Aaron Miller and Calvin Hibbard.
In four Late Model races we have seen four different Main Event winners. A look at the top of the standings shows that three of those winners occupy the first three positions. To maintain his point lead, Nathan Augustine was forced to borrow the Don Garrett Jr car last time as he awaits a new car following the destruction of his own ride at the third event. Augustine leads rookie Miles Deubert by just seven points. Dave Foote only holds a two point advantage over John Dees for third. Dees has a pair of seconds and a third as he searches for his first career victory. These four drivers are anticipated this week along with Garrett, Bob Dees, Garrett Dees, Mike Linder and Eric Massey. Word from California is that 2017 Antioch Speedway point runner-up David Newquist and teammate Joey Olschowka will be back once again this week.
David Steele continues his quest for his first Bobbio’s Pizza Mini Stock championship. Though Steele has won well over 20 Main Events here, he has never won the track championship. He does have the 2015 Yreka championship to his credit. With four feature wins so far this season, Steele leads the much improved Hunter Magnan by 31 points. Magnan is closing in on his first career win, and he leads reigning champion Kristopher Mix by 24 points in the battle for second. Mix is the only other driver in the field with a Main Event win so far. Other drivers to watch for this week include 2014 champion Gary Anderson, 2013 champion Steve Goetz, Michael McLeod and Ashtin Hedges.
Speaking of Hedges, the young hard charger now finds himself in the thick of the JOAT Labs Hornets championship battle following his second feature win last time out. He is tied with reigning champion Jason Stoutenburgh for the lead, two points ahead of 2016 champion Tim Hedges and four in front of the surprising Bree Tritchler, who finished second in the most recent Main Event for the second straight week. One time winner Brandon Wonsyld vacated the point lead due to a prior commitment two weeks ago. He slipped to fifth, one point ahead of another one time Main Event winner, Chris Boynton. All of these drivers are anticipated this week, along with Derrel Nelson Jr, Zach Nelson, Dylan Irving and John Ferreira.
There is sure to be some great racing at the speedway this Saturday night, and kids get in free. Gates open at 5 p.m. with the first race starting at 7 p.m. General Admission is $12, while Veterans and Seniors are $6. For further information, go to www.southernoregonspeedway.com.
Southern Oregon Speedway
Point Standings
Kendall Oil Sprint Cars
3 David Hibbard 169
L88 Jeffrey Hudson 131
1 Bailey Hibbard 117
94 Blaine Cory 117
48e Enrique Jaime 103
Late Models
24 Nathan Augustine 125
38 Miles Deubert 118
75 Dave Foote 102
16 John Dees 100
6 Bob Dees 80
Bobbio’s Pizza Mini Stocks
67 David Steele 187
33m Hunter Magnan 156
89m Kristopher Mix 132
55 Steve Goetz 99
45g Garrett Fredrickson 83
JOAT Labs Hornets
54a Ashtin Hedges 139
007 Jason Stoutenburgh 139
14t Tim Hedges 137
17 Bree Tritchler 135
7 Brandon Wonsyld 119
