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A Brief Antioch Preview For Saturday (Read 656 times)
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A Brief Antioch Preview For Saturday
04/23/15 at 11:58pm
 
You wanna know a secret? DIRTcar Late Models and Winged 360 Sprint Cars will be at Antioch Speedway on Saturday night Wink  Okay, it's not really a secret.  It's on the schedule.  It's just that the PR team isn't really spreading the word and it's not being advertised in any sort of way.  That's not meant to be a negative comment.  I just want to see this thing succeed Smiley

I'm just here in a unofficial capacity to say that this show is happening and give you an idea of what may be there.  People will no doubt be asking on social media how many cars are there and who is there and that sort of thing.  

I already gave you a preview of the 360 Sprints.  I think you can expect to see racers like 2007 champion Art McCarthy, defending champion Chris Magoon, two time Spec Sprint champion Dan Gonderman, past Petaluma Sprint Car champion Shawn Arriaga, Anthony Espinoza and Zack Lynsky among the field.  I can't speculate on who may come in from Petaluma.  There are a few who visit when they can, but we'll see what happens.  Saying 8-12 cars should be there is reasonable.

Now, the Late Models are another matter.  We've seen no less than ten cars at each of the first four races, and we have three different winners to show for it.  Last time out, it was two time Petaluma champion Paul Guglielmoni winning the Main Event despite constant pressure from Jeff Decker and Richard Papenhausen.  Decker and Papenhausen (2) have feature wins this season as well.

Actually, Troy Foulger was probably five laps away from puling off an amazing victory.  He nearly beat Decker to the line for second.  This wasn't a bad comeback for Foulger, who had some heat race issues to resolve.  David Newquist is quietly having a Top 3 season a both Chico and Antioch.  He's third at Antioch, but he lost a driveline on the track last time.  

I don't anticipate a change in car count.  I think 10-12 cars is reasonable, and this hasn't been a bad show for what it is.   As Guglielmoni showed last time, Decker and Papenhausen can be beat.  We're hoping to see Dennis Souza's car back after his rollover last time, and Chester Kniss, Rob Norris, Danny Malfatti and Mike Hynes are others we're looking for this week.

IMCA Sport Mods have been an interesting show.  It's not often that a driver from the Antioch area goes for a National championship, but Fred Ryland is doing just that.  Fred is a ten time winner on the circuit, who leads several point lists at the moment.  This includes Antioch.  Keith Brown Jr. is second in points to Ryland at Antioch and in the State, and Keith finally got his first win of the year last week at Chowchilla.

This group seems pretty evenly matched, and Patti Ryland surprised the house by holding off Ron Brown to win the Main Event last time the class was in Antioch.  Paul Mulder, Al Sotomayor and Al Johnson have also looked good at Antioch and should all be there.  Again, a car count in the 10-12 range is anticipated.

Dwarf Cars are the big division most weeks, and these guys have been putting on a good show.  In five races, point leader and two time defending champion Danny Wagner has three wins.  16 year old Adam Teves and Jack Haverty each have a win, but Haverty has some front end damage to repair after a crash last week.  Wagner leads Adam's father, David Teves, in a close battle, while Mike Corsaro leads another good battle for third.

Racers like Jerry Doty, Kevin Miraglio, ageless veteran Charlie "The hammer" Correia, Thomas Leiby and Miranda Chappa could contend for the next victory.  I anticipate a car count in the 12-16 car range for this race.

Wingless Spec Sprints.  I keep insisting on the "Spec" name since my friend Don and I actually named this class, but they call them "Econo" after the rule changes that were made to bring the costs in line six weeks before the season.  The changes meant that many of the regulars had changes to make to be legal this year AND most drivers who might want to visit will be illegal.

So, car count is dependent upon locals who are legal and want to race.  A week earlier, attrition hit the class hard, and that left just five competitors last week.  This division really is starting over.  It looks like Kyle Bakkie, Rick Panfili and Marcus Smith are committed to running for the points, and they run in order at the moment.  Bakkie has two wins, and Smith is showing improvement after his second top three finish in a row.

NFL alumni Jeremy Newberry was the one in second last week, and he could be a big threat to win this week.  I anticipate that at least a couple of the drivers absent from last week will be there, but whether that's past champion Jimmy Perry III, Alan Miranda, Chase Wood Jr. or whomever, I don't know.  My guess is 6-10 cars.  Over time, I hope this class will grow again, because these cars have proven to be a strong class over the past 17 years.

Nights like this make me wish the Hobby Stocks were there, BUT those drivers need and deserve a week off.  They've been out there for every race since March and have put on a good show.  They need a chance to regroup and get things together for next week.  

However, I think the Late Models should be good, the Dwarf Cars continue to be good, watching Ryland go for a National championship has been interesting and the 360 Sprints could surprise us this week.  It should still be an interesting show.
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