Sprint Cars Return, $750 To Win Modified Race
Saturday Night At Antioch Speedway

Antioch, CA...The season is in high gear at Antioch Speedway as the gates open for an exciting racing program this Saturday night on the three-eighth mile clay oval. The All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Cars are back this week to provide the fans with some high octane entertainment. The A Modifieds will race for $750 to win with history in the sights of one of the competitors. Also on the card this week will be the Wingless Spec Sprints, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Hobby Stocks.

The Winged 360 Sprint Car championship season was rocked in the opener when Art McCarthy suffered a mechanical issue that kept him from starting the Main Event. This happened to the 2016 point runnerup last season, and his come back rally fell just short in the end. McCarthy is as fast as they come, and he'll be out for redemption this week. There are some hungry young drivers looking to stop him. They are led by BCRA Midget Lites graduate Kyle Offill. Kyle landed a good ride for his rookie season and piloted it to wins in both the heat race and Main Event at the opener. Looking like that, a "Rookie Of The Year" winning championship season is a possibility.

Grants Pass, Oregon long tow Aaron Miller has confirmed his intentions to race for points at Antioch. Miller got his first career feature win in this class last season at his home track in Medford, Oregon. Last time out, he was holding off the threats of Marissa Polizzi before spinning from second. Miller will be a threat to win, but the same can be said for Polizzi, who finished fourth last time out. Open wheel veteran Burt Foland Jr. finished second ahead of Bryan Grier. It could be an exciting battle as Offill, Miller, Polizzi, Grier and Foland all have a head start on McCarthy. Other drivers to watch for this week include 2016 "Rookie Of The Year" Jenna Frazier, Dan Gonderman, Tim Burcher and 2015 champion Shawn Arriaga.

The A Modified competitors have extra incentive this week. Their purse has been increased to $750 to win. We saw Kellen Chadwick put the Brian Pearce car through its paces with an impressive victory last week. A potential battle between Chadwick and five time champion Scott Busby never materialized after Busby hit the wall in hot laps and was done for the night. Busby's points took a hit, but he'll try again this week to tie J.D. Willis at the top of the all time win list with 72 Antioch victories.

Bobby Motts Jr. is off to a good start with a pair of Top 3 finishes as he has his sights set on his first division championship. He has an eight point lead over Gregg McElhaney and a ten point advantage on Mike Salazar. Motts wheels the former Nick Caughman Jr. Petaluma championship car, and he's driving in memory of another Petaluma champion and family member, Steven "The Hammer" Cunningham. Like Cunningham, Motts is a Street Stock champion, but he won his championship at Antioch.

McElhaney has been absent from the scene for a few years, but he was a Modified competitor about 15 years ago. Salazar has looked fast so far this year despite dealing with various mechanical issues. He's been a Top 3 point competitor in the past, so a championship run is not out of the question for him. Sean O'Gara, Gary Hetrick and rookie Eric Berendsen are some of the regulars to watch for this week. With the extra money in the purse, you never know who else might show up.

The Wingless Spec Sprint championship battle will have a different look this season. Bryan Grier showed up last week and won the Main Event after bad luck stopped Alan Miranda once again. Grier won his heat race and was running second in the feature when Miranda's race ended four laps from the finish. Grier is the 2014 champion at Watsonville, but he's only competed in the division occasionally since then. Making this year even more exciting for Grier is the fact that he also has a Winged Sprint Car. Miranda is familiar with heartbreak when it comes to races that got away. He has finished as high as second, but one night in 2015 saw him lead a race for 19 and a half laps before the second place driver made an aggressive move in Turn 3 that ended the race for both drivers.

We didn't see reigning champion Jim Perry Jr. last week, but two of his closest rivals from last year, Roy Fisher and Rick Panfili, finished third and fourth, respectively. Jeremy Newberry may decide to give the point race a shot after the former NFL All Pro offensive lineman finished second last week. Robert Floyd and Abigail Gonderman made their first Antioch starts in the class and ended up finishing sixth and seventh, respectively. Opening night results suggest that Grier, Fisher, Panfili and Miranda may be in the championship hunt this year, but you shouldn't count out past Chowchilla champion Brandon Burd, James East and Tyler Henriques when the division roars back into action this week.

We've talked about reigning B Modified champion Trevor Clymens and K.C. Keller as drivers to watch this year in the championship battle. Clymens won their season opener, but he struggled back in seventh last week. K.C. Keller has a pair of Top 3 finishes to take a 96-92 lead over Clymens in the standings. Randy Brown is getting closer to his first B Modified feature win. Following the fourth place finish he had last week ahead of Mike Mates, Randy is only six points behind Keller. Brown was also a heat race winner last week. Randy has driven different cars through the years, including Street Stocks and Late Models, and you shouldn't count him out.

The other driver who reminded everybody that he is a contender on race night is Todd Gomez. Gomez is a past Street Stock champion making his first starts in a B Modified. He was all smiles after his feature win last week ahead of "Mean" Megan Ponciano. Ponciano has moved on from the green paint job, and the past B Mod point runner up and Hobby Stock champion is due to get another B Modified win. Another hard charger, Mark Garner, has a pair of DNF's this season. Other drivers to watch this week include Kevin Brown, Doff Cooksey, Tim Hammett and Chuck Golden.

The Limited Late Models kick off their first season in several years without Larry Damitz in the field. 2016 "Rookie Of The Year" Kimo Oreta will be piloting the familiar Sundrop Racing Team #15 car this year in a bid for the championship. Oreta held off Mark Garner for second in points last year, and he can count on some stiff competition from the third generation racer. Other than Damitz, nobody has had more wins in this division in recent seasons than Garner, who is looking to add his family's name to the list of Antioch Speedway champions.

Mike Gusatfson's name is already on that list three times. He will be tough to beat when he's there. Nobody has more Limited Late Model wins at Antioch than Gustason. Third generation racer Chester "Buddy" Kniss will make his division debut after finishing third with "Rookie Of The Year" honors in Dwarf Cars last season. Kniss was at the track last week making practice laps. The steady John Evans, Jim Freethy, Jeff Kendrick, John Keith and Top 5 Petaluma Speedway competitor Ryan Cherezian are among the others to watch for this week.

The division making everybody take notice so far is the Hobby Stocks as car count approaches 20. Several new drivers have joined the field. As a past Mini Stock champion and second generation racer, Brent Curran isn't new, but he is a rookie in Hobby Stocks. He drove a great race last week to score the feature win. Brent battled fiercely with Cameron Swank for several laps last week before Swank pulled ahead. However, Swank nearly spun in Turns 1 and 2 after taking a white flag. The son of past Street Stock racer Glenn Swank, Cameron has been fast since he started racing, but various little things have kept him out of the winner's circle. He is due to get a win.

To win at Antioch these days, you have to beat racers like Chris Long and Michael Cooper. Both drivers have wins this year. The points show Curran and Long tied for the lead, Cooper eight points back and Swank 14 tallies out of the lead. Long had an Antioch Figure 8 legend in his car for hot laps last week as "Flyin" Brian Holden took the wheel. This is the first time Holden has driven a race car at Antioch since a motorcycle accident left him with one arm. He's raced at Placerville since then, but Long is trying to get Brian back into racing at Antioch. Holden might have felt at home in #99 since that was is old car number. Long finished second in the Main Event last week ahead of Cooper.

Lori Brown scored a hard fought heat race win last week ahead of Long. Once again, she drives the familiar #65 Roses car in memory of past Late Model and Street Stock competitor Kimberly Myers. Myers, who was a past recipient of the NASCAR "Real Heroes" award, lost her battle with Cystic Fibrosis. She never let it slow her down or dampen her spirits when she was at the track. Brown is hoping to put the car in the winner's circle this season. Other drivers to watch for this week include Jordon Swank, Frank Furtado, Chris Bennett, Russell Shearer, Lindsey Buirch and Joey Ridgeway.

Saturday night is sure to be an exciting night of racing at Antioch Speedway. All Star Series Winged 360 Sprint Cars, A Modifieds, Wingless Spec Sprints, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Hobby Stocks are all part of the lineup. For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.