|
Kevin Kovac
MEDFORD, Ore. (September 24) - The 2009 DIRTcar Northwest I-5 Late Model Tour championship will be on the line this weekend at Southern Oregon Speedway.
An exciting inaugural season under the DIRTcar Racing banner for the Northwest's premier dirt Late Model series is headed for a dramatic finish. John Duty of Portland, Ore., leads the points standings by just two points over Jeremy Shank of Salem, Ore., entering the one-third-mile oval's 'Battle at the Border,' which features full points shows on both Friday and Saturday night (Sept. 25-26).
A 30-lap A-Main will headline the Friday program and a 40-lap feature is scheduled to close out the DIRTcar Northwest I-5 Late Model Tour campaign with a flourish on Saturday. Both events will pay $1,500 to win.
"There's no better way to cap off a very successful first season for the DIRTcar Northwest I-5 Late Model Tour than with a down-to-the-wire championship battle at a fine facility like Southern Oregon Speedway," said Chris Morgan, the director of the World Racing Group's DIRTcar Racing Western Region. "We've heard a lot of positive feedback on the 2009 season from tracks, race teams and fans and a thrilling finish is going to provide even more momentum heading into 2010."
With eight races at five different tracks in Oregon and Washington completed (two other scheduled events at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., were lost to rain over Labor Day weekend), Duty heads into this weekend's action with a precarious points edge over Shank. Third-place Mike Miller of Springfield, Ore., is 88 points out of the lead, so it appears that Duty and Shank will race head-to-head for the crown.
Duty, 43, is winless on this season's Northwest I-5 Tour but has finished second twice - to Shank on May 13 at Willamette, and on July 3 in the first series visit of the year to Southern Oregon. He grabbed the points lead after Southern Oregon's summer event from Shank, who broke a radius rod in his heat and finished 16th in the A-Main following his involvement in two tangles, and hasn't relinquished it since.
A series championship would be a grand end to a 2009 season that started in rough fashion for Duty. He fractured the humerus bone and suffered nerve damage in his right arm on April 12 when he slipped and fell off a borrowed trailer from which his team was unloading equipment. Duty was sidelined from racing for a month before returning despite still feeling numbness and weakness in his right hand and fingers.
The 30-year-old Shank, meanwhile, is gunning for a championship double in 2009. One week after securing his first career Late Model track title at Willamette, Shank will go for the gold on the Northwest I-5 Tour. He leads all drivers with six top-five finishes on this year's series - including his spring win at Willamette and three runner-up placings - but has had to fight back from consecutive disappointing outings during the Fourth of July holiday swing (16th at SOS, 18th at Willamette after breaking a right-front lower control arm during pre-feature track packing and then entering the race several laps down).
Southern Oregon's 'Battle at the Border' weekend promises to be a wide-open affair, as evidenced by a very competitive 2009 Northwest I-5 Tour season that has seen just one driver, Jimmy Whisler of Lincoln City, Ore., score two victories. Other victors include Shank, Casey Vitale of Albany, Ore., Brett McCutcheon of Sweet Home, Ore., Rob Mayea of Bend, Ore., Steve Moore of Scio, Ore., and Greg Walters of Brownsville, Ore.
This weekend's field is also expected to DIRTcar Western Allstars Late Model Series standout Nick Bartels of El Segundo, Calif., a rising 21-year-old star who is making the trip north in hopes of maintaining his lead in the UMP DIRTcar Racing Pacific Region points standings. The new-for-'09 regional points race combines drivers' finishes in Western Allstars and Northwest I-5 Late Model Tour events.
Southern Oregon Speedway's gates are scheduled to open at 4 p.m. and racing is set to begin at 6 p.m. on both Friday (Sept. 25) and Saturday (Sept. 26).
An open event for the 4-Cylinder division is also part of the weekend's action. Qualifying heats will be run on Friday, with a Trophy Dash and the feature part of the Saturday card.
Friday's general admission is $10, with kids (7-12) and seniors (60-and-older) charged $8. Saturday's tickets are $15 and $12 (kids and seniors). Children 6-and-under are admitted free both evenings, and pit passes are $35 each night or $50 for a weekend pass.
"We're getting lots of calls from spectators and drivers interested in the weekend," said Richard Barney, who operates Southern Oregon Speedway with Ric Donnelly under the banner of B&D Racing, LLC. "We're very excited to close out the 2009 season with a big weekend of DIRTcar Late Model racing."
Barney said fans are also invited to visit Lava Lanes, which is five miles from the speedway on Crater Lake Highway in Medford, for a special pre-race gathering on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Breakfast will be served and several drivers will be on hand with their cars to meet fans.
For more information, visit www.sospeedway.com or call 541-245-2755.
Additional info on all of the series, sanctioning and member tracks of DIRTcar Racing is available at www.DIRTcar.com.
2009 DIRTcar Northwest I-5 Late Model Tour Points Standings:
1. John Duty 1173
2. Jeremy Shank 1171
3. Mike Miller 1085
4. Rob Mayea 1020
5. Billy Workman 976
6. Mark Carrell 753
7. Rob Campos 741
8. Jim Whisler 713
9. Steve Moore 674
10. Ryan Gerig 652
|
