Press Release by Jim Pluhar
Santa Maria, CA 9-16-09

West Coast 360 Sprint Cars, Papich Construction IMCA Modifieds, NMRA TQ Midgets, and MMI Factory Stocks will be in action Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway.

Justyne Hamblin, of Hanford, is tied with Bakersfield's Rusty Carlile for the lead in the Sprint Car championship after last Saturday's event at Kings Speedway in Hanford. Previous point leader Peter Murphy, of Clovis, missed last week's event, dropping to third, 22 points behind the leaders. Richard VanderWeerd, of Visalia, who won the August 15 event at Santa Maria, is fourth in the standings, trailing by 89, and Kerman's Davey Pombo fills in the top-five at minus 102.

With a 43 point lead in hand over Doug Thornton, of Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande's Chad Weber has clinched the 2009 Modified title. The race is now on for the runner-up spot with a 3 point spread between Thornton and Tony Toste of Arroyo Grande. Defending champ Danny Lauer, of Santa Maria, is 22 points out of second. Fifth place Daylan Coffey, of Santa Maria, is a single marker ahead of Arroyo Grande's Jason Papich as he fights to stay in the top-five.

Scott Dobson, of Newbury Park, has a 59 point cushion over Sunland's Kenny Wiley and 79 points over three-time-in-a-row Santa Maria Speedway feature winner Richard Ortega, Jr., of Camarillo, in the TQ points race. West Evans, of Moorpark, is 87 points back and Camarillo's Bruce Hiroshima is 120 out of the lead.

Arroyo Grande's Dale Sylvester leads Michael Frazier, of Santa Maria, by 35 points in the Factory Stock division with two points races to go. Frazier is a mere 2 points ahead of third place Mike Leland of Atascadero. Gary Rayburn, Jr., of Grover Beach, and Kevin Linson, of Arroyo Grande, trail the leader by 62 and 63 points respectively.

Spectator gates will open at 4:00 p.m. with qualifying at 5:00 p.m. and racing at 6:00 p.m. Admission prices will be: $14.00 for adults, $12.00 for seniors & military and their spouses, $5.00 for children 6 to 12, with kids five and under free. Parking and camping is always free. SMS is located 1/4-mile north of the 101/166 interchange on Hutton Road.