Winged Sprint Cars, Late Models Headline Six Division Show At Antioch Speedway

Antioch, CA...The solid start to the 2016 season at Antioch Speedway continues. The track is coming off of back to back 70 plus car fields, and promoter John M. Soares has another good program lined up for this Saturday night. Headlining the event will be the exciting DIRTcar Late Models and Winged 360 Sprint Cars along with Wingless Spec Sprints, A Modifieds, B Modifieds and Dwarf Cars. It is sure to be another show the fans won't want to miss.

The Late Models are coming off of a strong turnout last time that saw Clay Daly make a rare appearance and come home with another victory. Daly is currently in the Pacific Northwest assuming the Crew Chief duties for the two car Jenner Racing Team in the Wild West Modified Series. It is anticipated that defending champion Jeff Decker and 2014 champion Richard Papenhausen will be among the competitors this week. Papenhausen holds a slight advantage over Decker in the latest point standings.

Another team likely to be there will be the two car team of Paul Guglielmoni and Terry Kuntz. Paul actually owns a few different race cars and is known for bringing at least two of them to the shows that he supports. Also expected this week will be Top 5 competitor Chester Kniss, who is very much in the hunt for his first Late Model feature win. Recently married David Newquist currently sits third in the standings and is anticipated this week along with Dennis Sousa, Danny Malfatti, Mike Hynes and others.

The Winged Sprint Car division has been wide open, and you never know who might show up for a race on any given week. There are four different winners in four races, and while point championship contenders Billy Aton and Art McCarthy are two of those winners, other wins have been one earned by Koen Show and Shawn Conde. The lure of a good purse and a fast racetrack is bringing Sprint Car drivers from several different tracks to the John Soares prepared three-eighths mile clay oval.

There were 14 competitors in action last time out, and hard chargers like Dan Gonderman and Rick Brophy have been strong supporters for the season so far. Other drivers to watch for this week include reigning champion Shawn Arriaga, Sprint Car and open wheel veteran Burt Foland Jr., Ricky Brophy, Adam McCarthy and newcomer Tim Burcher.

Not surprisingly, Jim Perry Jr continues to pace the field in the Wingless Spec Sprint division. It may be difficult keeping this open wheel veteran from winning his second division championship. He has already won over 40 Main Events in this division in his career to put him at the top of the all time win list. Perry is coming off of a Top 3 finish last time out in a race won by Jason McIntosh. Joining these two drivers on the winner's list are two time champion Dan Gonderman and title hopeful Marcus Smith.

Smith had to get back behind the wheel of his #28 car for the most recent race and was a heat race winner. There is a good battle in the standings as longtime division competitor Rick Panfili, Shannon Newton, defending champion Kyle Bakkie and James East are others in the championship hunt. Though not in the hunt for the points right now, third generation racer Jimmy Perry III should not be counted out in the quest for victory.

The A Modified division has been a very intriguing contest. We know that we have three drivers who are trying to win the championship at this moment. There is the five time champion Scott Busby, who many might think is the guy to beat, but 2014 champion Carl Berendsen II is the point leader and Raymond Lindeman is also very much in the hunt. Berendsen has more reason to come out fast this week in his new car as he is still looking for his first career victory in this division. Carl has been a hard charger through the years and was a feature winner and two time point runner up in Street Stocks before getting into the Modified.

Because drivers will drift in and out as they are also competing for All Star Modified Tour points, you never know who might show up next, but rookie Bobby Montalvo, Sean O'Gara, John McDougall and Norman Boeck are among the drivers you might see this week. Trent Wentworth is coming off of another strong Top 5 finish last time out and is another driver to keep an eye on in the race for victory.

Victory is something that B Modified point leader Al Johnson would very much like. He had a Top 5 finish last week and has three second place finishes so far this year, but he can feel the presence of three time feature winner Trevor Clymens climbing up the point ladder. Trevor is coming off of another feature win on a night in which his suspension was hurt from a crash in the heat race that he won earlier that evening. Clymens may be the driver to beat this week, but after his second runner up finish last week, rookie Shane DeVolder will be hoping to get his first win.

Double division racer Danny Jones enjoyed a solid fourth place effort and is also not far behind DeVolder in a good race for third in the standings. K.C. Keller gave it a good run and battled Clymens for several laps early in last week's feature. He was also a heat race winner. Lonnie Leonard, Lloyd Cline, Randy Brown and Ron Brown are other drivers you might see this week, and you never know when reigning champion Fred Ryland may show up for another chance at a win. Ryland recently picked up wins at Southern Oregon Speedway and Siskiyou Motor Speedway.

Not to be forgotten in the mix is the always exciting Dwarf Car division. Kevin Miraglio has yet to win, and yet he has stretched his point advantage over one time feature winner Mike Corsaro to 40 points. It's still very early in the game, and Kevin hasn't had his dose of bad luck yet. He is hoping he can get his first Antioch feature win before that ever happens. Another driver looking for a feature win who may just get it is third place point runner Tim Reeder. Reader had a year last year in which a lot of things went wrong, but he always came back enthusiastically and gave it his best. He seems poised for that big moment to happen this year.  Third generation racer Buddy Kniss is balancing a  baseball career with Dwarf Car racing, and he currently has 78 year old Charlie Correia just two points behind him in the battle for fourth. Consider that Buddy is a teenager in high school and Correia has been racing for many years. Charlie is one of the longest running Dwarf Car drivers in the state of California and raced a Super Modified for years before that.

Though there are drivers who have come and gone in this division, the support of past Hobby Stock champion Robert Coe, Josh Miller, open wheel veteran Brian Gray and David Michael Rosa has helped keep the car count in double digits this year. Wade Humphrey is recovering from a broken leg suffered in a flip in the last Main Event, which was won by Thomas Leiby. As for Humphrey, it appears as if he will get back behind the wheel of his car once he is able to.

The racing is sure to be exciting at Antioch Speedway this Saturday night, and the divisions will include the Winged 360 Sprint Cars, Late Models, Wingless Spec Sprints, A Modifieds, B Modifieds and Dwarf Cars. For further information on this and other happenings at the speedway, go to www.antiochspeedway.com.

Antioch Speedway
Northern All Stars
Point Standings

Winged 360 Sprint Cars
Art McCarthy 194
Billy Aton 190
Dan Gonderman 140
Rick Brophy 134
Shawn Arriaga 132
Chris Magoon 126
Burt Foland Jr. 114
Koen Shaw  100
Jarrett Soares 88
Ricky Brophy 64

DIRTcar Late Model
Richard Papenhausen  156
Jeff Decker 144
David Newquist 134
Chester Kniss 126
Bobby Hogge IV 106
Dennis Souza 78
Mike Hynes 69
Danny Malfatti 66
Troy Foulger 52
Clay Daly 50

Wingless Spec Sprints
Jim Perry Jr. 190
Roy Fisher 174
James East 168
Rick Panfili 164
Shannon Newton 160
Kyle Bakkie 158
Marcus Smith 156
Brandon Burd 148
Alan Miranda 124
Adam Teves 122

A Modified
Carl Berendsen II 242
Raymond Lindeman 226
Scott Busby 211
Trent Wentworth 186
Troy Foulger 182
Bobby Montalvo 172
Sean O'Gara  168
John MacDougall 150
Aaron Crowell 146
Josh Combs 106

B Modifieds
Al Johnson 364
Trevor Clymens 328
Shane DeVolder 318
Danny Jones  296
K.C. Keller 226
Brian Pearce 176
Fred Ryland 164
Randy Brown 150
Lonnie Leonard 148
Lloyd Cline 144

Dwarf Cars
Kevin Miraglio 266
Mike Corsaro 226
Tom Reeder 192
Buddy Kniss 174
Charlie Correia 172
Robert Coe 162
Timmy Ryan 148
Josh Miller 134
Brian Gray 131
Wade Humphrey 122