Sprint Cars Highlight Five Division Program At Antioch Speedway


The the 2016 season is in high gear at Antioch Speedway. The racing community is on a high  following last week's six division event. People are saying that was the best race yet this season, and they follow it up with a program that will be headlined by the Sprint Cars this week. In addition to the Winged 360 Sprint Cars and Wingless Spec Sprints, divisions featured on Saturday night will include the B Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Hobby Stocks.

Bragging rights in the Winged Sprint Cars have been earned by Art McCarthy and Billy Aton. Aton followed up on his third place finish in the season opener with an impressive feature win last time out. As the track continues to establish this division, surprise entrants show up just about every week. The most recent race was no exception as young guns, Giovanni's Scelzi and Koen Shaw finished second and third, respectively.

Aton has been absent from the speedway for the past few years, but the past Wingless Spec Sprint champion was a Main Event winner back in 2011 in the winged class. Aton's return means that he could be the driver to seriously challenge the veteran McCarthy for this season's championship.

McCarthy and 2015 champion Shawn Arriaga were heat race winners in the most recent event, and they battled for fourth in that Main Event with Arriaga edging McCarthy. Coming off of back to back Top 3 point seasons, the past Antioch Speedway Winged Sprint Car champion McCarthy is hoping to get his second track championship at the speedway this year.

2014 Titlist Chris Magoon made many young fans happy in the most recent race as he handed out autographed photos and candy in front the grandstands during intermission. It's been nearly two years since he won a Main Event, and he'd like to get one this week. Fellow Top 5 ranked ranked racer Dan Gonderman, Rick Brophy, Ricky Brophy, Adam McCarthy and Fred Arriaga are among the other drivers we're anticipating this week.

When the Wingless Spec Sprint division was established at Antioch Speedway in 1999, Rick Panfili was among those on the roster. Panfili has never won a Main Event in this division and has ranked third in the points these past two seasons. Following his second and fourth place finishes, Panfili finds himself ranked second in the point standings, just two points behind Jim Perry Jr. and in front of season opening feature winner Dan Gonderman. Panfili is hungry for victory, and he seems poised to get one on any given week.

After winning "Rookie Of The Year" honors and ranking second in the standings last year, Marcus Smith landed the ride driving for Richard Basden this season. His first start at Marysville earlier this year resulted in him flipping the car.  That was followed by a blown motor. However, Marcus has continued to come back, and his perseverance was rewarded last week with an impressive Main Event win. Interesting enough, the car that Marcus was building to run this year, driven by Dan Gonderman, won the season opening Main Event. Smith is trying to make up for lost time and is climbing the point ladder quickly.

While Smith picked up his first win in the division last week, Alan Miranda was hoping to do it and ended up with a career best second. The protégé of past Spec Sprint champion Gary Nelson Jr. seems poised to win one at any time. A field in the mid teens competed last time out, and it's anticipated that it will be pretty much the same this week with rookie Adam Teves, James East, father-son champions Jim Perry Jr. and Jimmy Perry III, Roy Fisher and defending champion Kyle Bakkie among the others we're looking for this week.

The B Modified division continues to be a wide open race. In the most recent event, Trevor Clemens finally grabbed his first win of the season. Because the division is booked just about every week this season, car count has been a bit strained. However, Al Johnson has persevered and is at the top of the point list. Being a leader isn't enough for Johnson, who is hoping for his first career feature win. Johnson matched his career best effort with another second second place finish last week. Could this be the week he finally wins?

Another driver making great strides this season is Shane DeVolder. DeVolder earned a career best second place feature finish recently, and was 4th last week after winning his first career heat race. His father, Dean DeVolder, is a Street Stock champion at Petaluma.

Speaking of family racers, Randy Brown has joined the ranks of the B Mod racers this year. The brother of veteran Ron Brown, Randy began racing at Antioch Speedway in the late 1970's in a Street Stock. He also did some Late Model racing in the early 1980's. Brown is working out the bugs in his new car and made his second start last week. Meanwhile, brother Ron had a solid third place finish ahead of Danny Jones last week.

You really never know who will show up on any given week for B Mod racing at Antioch, but drivers who could be there include 2015 Champion Fred Ryland, Patty Ryland, K.C. Keller, Chuck Golden and Tim Hammett.

Larry Damitz keeps right on going at Antioch Speedway. With the Limited Late Models off last week, Larry ran his Modified Hardtop to a feature win. The winner of the season opening Main Events sits atop the point ladder ahead of "Rookie Of The Year" hopeful Kimo Oreta.

When last we saw the Limited Late Model division, the division's All Time Main Event win leader and two time champion Mike Gustafson picked up the featured victory. Lori Brown was working on another top three finish when mechanical issues hit. Another driver who has had his share of troubles this year is Mark Garner. Garner will be out to try and turn things around this week.

White Damitz, Oreta and Garner are in the championship battle, Jim Freethy is another one trying to shake off the mechanical gremlins. The last time out, his car caught fire. It seems likely that if Freethy can keep things together, he'll get a Main Event win this year. Other drivers we'll be watching for include John Keith, John Evans and Eric Berendsen. Evans is hoping for good things after purchasing the car of 2014-2015 point runner up Mike Hynes. The cars of Calvin Lewis, Chris Long and Jim Robbins are among the ones we could be seeing at some point this year.

The Hobby Stock division has remained a wide open affair. After four races, we have four different Main Event winners. Last time out, Kimo Oreta took advantage of an off night for the Limited Late models to bring his Hobby Stock out to the track. He was rewarded with the Main Event victory. Rookie Guy Ahlwardt is one of the feature winners this year, and he finished a strong second last time out. Ahlwardt's success so far this year has him leading the point standings ahead of surprising fellow rookie Lindsey Buirch.

Cameron Swank has a pretty fast car and has heat race success this year. However, his best effort in the Main Event last week, a third, gives him hope that a Main Event win could be just around the corner. He held off another of this season's feature winners, Chris Sorensen, for that finish. Natalie Perry maintained her Top 5 point effort with a fifth place finish.  Back in seventh was the season debut of the #88 car of Kevin Taylor. We hadn't heard confirmation, but we believe he could be related to past Street Stock driver and feature winner in that class, Chuck Taylor.

There are several competitive cars in this class, and we believe there will be more new feature winners to come. Some of the drivers we're looking for this week include Calvin Louis Jr., Steven Rogers, past champion Dan McCown, Jordan Swank and Michael Cooper.


To recap, Winged Sprint Cars, Wingless Spec Sprints, B Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Hobby Stocks will make this a five division show that you will want to see. For further information, go to the track's official website at www.antiochspeedway.com.


Antioch Speedway Points


Winged 360 Sprint Car
Art McCarthty    104
Bill Aton    102
Chris Magoon    86
Dan Gonderman    78
Rick Brophy     70
Jarrett Soares    54
Giovanni Scelzi    50
Shawn Arriaga    50
Koen Shaw    46
Steve Jaquith    44

Wingless Spec Sprint
Jim Perry Jr.    98
Rock Panfili    96
Dan Gonderman    94
Alan Miranda    90
Roy Fisher    84
Marcus Smith    84
Shannon Newton    82
James East    76
Kyle Bakkie    76
Brandon Burd    68

B Modified
Al Johnson    230
Trevor Clymens    184
Shane DeVolder    178
Danny Jones    160
Brian Pearce    144
Fred Ryland    110
Anthony Giuliani 109
Patti Ryland    104
K.C. Keller    94
Ron Brown    90

Limited Late Model
Larry Damitz    100
Kimo Oreta    98
Mark Garner    92
Lori Brown    90
Jim Freethy    84
John Evans    82
Mike Gustafson    50
Donny Richardson 6

Hobby Stock
Guy Ahlwardt    190
Lindsey Buirch    148
Danny Jones    147
Chris Sorensen    136
Natalie Perry    135
Michael Cooper    132
Cameron Swank    130
Jordan Swank    118
Calvin Louis Jr. 90
Russell Shearer     82