BCRA Midget Lites, Hobby Stocks Headline Merced Speedway Show Saturday Night

Merced, CA...On the heels of last week's successful 16th running of the Ted Stofle Classic, Merced Speedway has another exciting show lined up for this week. The Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) Midget Lites make their first of two appearances on the quarter-mile clay oval. The Hobby Stocks are back this week along with the Mini Stocks, USAC Speed2 Midgets and the Mini Late Models.

Race Director Doug Williams has a connection to the BCRA Midget Lites. A few years after selling his Late Model, Williams started racing Mini Sprints and then Dwarf Cars as well when Delta Speedway added the class. Doug was a champion then too. Mini Sprints were soon brought to tracks bigger than the eighth-mile oval of Delta, and by the mid 1990's, they were sanctioned by BCRA. BCRA has had Midget Lites on their roster for over 20 years, and Williams is a champion and a BCRA "Hall Of Fame" member.

The Midget Lites get around the track nearly as fast as their Midget counterparts, and they have a great group of racers. Leading the charge this week will be reigning champion Craig Dillard. Dillard is also leading the standings, but the driver in second is off to a surprisingly strong start. Emilee Lindgen has ranked as high as eighth, but she now holds a 22 point lead over Dakota Albright in a good battle for second. Both of these drivers are a threat to win on race night. Fourth ranked Hunter Kinney won the race at Antioch earlier this year for his first victory. He leads rookie Kayla Green by just five points in another close point battle. These drivers are anticipated along with division veterans Terry Bergstrom and Scott Kinney, Scott Males, Charlie Caraccilo and others.

Don't look now but second generation racer Kodie Dean is leading the Hobby Stock point battle by just 12 markers over reigning champion Michael Shearer, who is still looking for his first win of the season. Dean and third generation leadfoot Garrett Corn have taken the division by storm this season with two wins each. Corn closed the Ted Stofle Classic last week with an impressive drive on the dry slick track that earned him the 29 lap feature victory. Chasing him across the line in that race was Dean.

Robbie Loquaci had a Top 5 finish last week, and that puts him third in the standings, 18 points behind Dean and nine points ahead of Kristie Shearer. Kristie has won several Main Events in this division in recent seasons and has finished as high as second in points. She could grab a win at any time. Other hard chargers to watch for this week include Mike Stockton, Shannon Nelson, Austin Van Hoff and Darren Miguel. 2015 champion Kevin Joaquin has been struggling just a bit so far this season, but he shouldn't be counted out.

There's a bit of a rivalry brewing between long time Mini Stock supporter Chris Corder and third generation racer D.J. Keldsen. Keldsen won the 2016 Watsonville championship and heard that the man to beat in Mini Stocks was three time champion Chris Corder, who fields several cars as the biggest supporter of this division in The Valley. The Keldsen reputation is one of racing hard and not backing down, and it's served them well through the years as John Keldsen, Lloyd Keldsen Sr. and Lloyd Keldsen Jr. are all Figure 8 champions. Last time out, D.J. Keldsen rolled the "General Lee" #01 Mini Stock after getting together with Jennifer Corder on the back stretch. He returned to race at Watsonville in a new car with the #68j, a clear reference to the #68c of Chris Corder.

C. Corder finally got his first Merced win of the year last time out, which was a big deal as he has struggled this year and rolled his car six times at Chowchilla a couple weeks earlier. That may have put the #48 car out of commission. Keldsen leads C. Corder by just three points, while Chris's sister Jennifer, herself a Chowchilla feature winner this year like her brother, is six points back. It should be pointed out that talented second generation racer Lucy Falkenberg had her best finish last time in second after winning a heat race. She is only four points out of the lead in third. Corder Racing teammate Destiny Carter had a Top 5 finish last time and has advanced to fifth in the standings. Other drivers to watch for this week include Jason Womack, David Richards, 2016 point ruunnerup Paul Laoretti and Shawn DePriest

The USAC Speed2 Midgets are in town for their first of two scheduled appearances. This is a group of young, up and coming open wheel drivers getting started on the bigger tracks. USAC has been branching out with their sanctioning in recent years and is now sanctioning 600 Micros at some of the smaller tracks. They are aware of the fact that it is important to start building the future stars of Midget and Sprint Car racing. This division has been running mainly at Madera and other paved venues, but they have been trying to branch out more with some dirt races. In fact, they are keeping dirt, pavement and overall point standings.

Jesse Love IV leads Annie Breidinger in the overall chase, 395-354. Breidinger has her two wins at Madera. Love has a win at Chowchilla, while Adam "The Shoe" Lemke" has a win each on pavement at Madera and dirt at Kern County Raceway, where they ran in support of the King Of The West Sprint Car Series. Lemke is fourth in the overall standings, 19 points behind dirt series point leader Tom Patterson. Patterson has a pair of seconds on the dirt to lead Love by four points, Lemke by five points and Breidinger by 11. These four drivers should be in Merced this Saturday night along with Blake Brannon, Antonia Boscacci and Jeremy Speck.

Rounding out the program will be the second appearance of the California Sharp Mini Late Models. Thus far, Tim Vaught has won a race each at Merced and Dixon. Riley Jeppesen surprised Timmy Crews to finish second last time out. These three drivers should be there this week along with second generation racer Ian Shearer, who has been doing a good job of making his laps and learning the car. Michael Shearer is the California dealer for these cars, and there has been lots of buzz as drivers are looking at this class as a possibility for them.

Saturday night should be another exciting night of racing at Merced Speedway. BCRA Midget Lites, Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks, USAC Speed2 Midgets and Mini Late Models should put on a good show for the fans. For further information, go to www.racemerced.com.

Merced Speedway Points
Hobby Stocks
Kodie Dean 194
Michael Shearer 182
Robbie Loquaci 176
Kristie Shearer 165
Austin VanHoff 158
Shannon Nelson 155
Garrett Corn 154
Mike Stockton 144
Darren Miguel 137
Billy Nelson 111

Mini Stocks
DJ Keldsen 115
Chris Corder 114
Lucy Falkenberg 111
Jennifer Corder 109
Destiny Carter 69
Jason Womack 69
David Richards 66
Paul Laoretti 39
Shawn Schwartzenberger 39
Shawn DePriest 38

BCRA Midget Lites
Craig Dillard 225
Emilee Lindgren 178
Dakota Albright 156
Hunter Kinney 128
Kayla Green 123
Scott Kinney 119
Terry Bergstrom 66
Danica Jo Parker 64
Jim Ridell 61
Roy Moody 52

Western USAC Midget2 Overall
Jesse Love IV 385
Annie Breidinger 354
Tom Paterson 335
Adam Lemke 316
Blake Brannon 303
Toni Breidinger 237
Antonia Boscacci 218
Cody Jessop 122
Joey Iest 119
Johnny Nichols 119

Western USAC Midget2 Dirt
Tom Paterson 150
Jesse Love IV 146
Adam Lemke 145
Annie Breidinger 139
Blake Brannon 129
Antonia Boscacci 67
Joel Rayborne 67
Cody Jessop 60
Jeremy Speck 58
Ashley Hazelton 19

Western USAC Midget2 Pavement
Jesse Love IV 239 (1)
Toni Breidinger 237 (2)
Annie Breidinger 215
Tom Paterson 185
Blake Brannon 174
Adam Lemke 171
Antonia Boscacci 151
Joey Iest 119
Johnny Nichols 119
Cody Jessop 62