IMCA Modifieds Back At Merced Speedway Saturday Night

Merced, CA...Saturday night is Steitz Towing Night at Merced Speedway, and it's also a night of IMCA Modified and Sport Modified racing.  Also on the program will be the Mini Stocks and the Valley Sportsman division.  Promoter Ed Parker has been shaking things up with lots of variety this year, and this will be another exciting night of racing on the quarter-mile clay oval.

It's not a big surprise to look at the top of the point list and see Randy Brown leading the IMCA Modified standings after three races.  When you don't finish outside the Top 3 in the Main Event in all of your starts, you will be hard to beat in a point race.  Brown made a couple of late passes in the Ted Stofle Classic to get second, but winner Paul Stone was off in another time zone.  A race earlier, Randy had a win in his sights until being passed late by Ethan Dotson.  You know the reigning track champion will get a win this season, but will it be this week?

The one point per position nature of the IMCA point structure puts Brown 16 points ahead of past Hanford champion Mike Villanueva.  Mike has always been around as a threat to win, but he's avoided point racing in recent seasons.  He certainly has the skill set to make a run at it if he has that goal in mind.  The two drivers behind Mike are past Merced champions Bill Egleston and Chris Shannon.  They are locked in a tie for third, 12 points out of second.  Chris has been enjoying racing more these days as his teen son D.J. is out there racing with him.  Chris was also a Late Model competitor when Merced had a divsion and then later with the CarQuest group.  Egleston has a Late Model, and he enjoys going down to Bakersfield when he gets a chance.  Either Shannon or Egleston could be a threat to win this week.

Bruce "Bubba" Nelson might have been thinking his first Merced win was just around the corner after winning a thrilling three-car battle for victory earlier this year at Chowchilla.  It may not have happened at his home track yet, but as a two time Hobby Stock champion and a feature winner in both Hobby Stocks and Sport Modifieds, Bubba has what it takes to win in this division too.  Hard chargers like Ryan Porter, Ryan Larimer, Derek Nance, Ramie Stone and Ricky Thatcher will make Saturday's show an exciting event.

Five races into the IMCA Sport Modified season, Fred Ryland holds a slim seven point advantage over Jeremy Hoff in the championship battle.  Neither driver has a win yet, but both are consistent Top 5 finishers.  Another thing these two leadfoots have in common is both are past Antioch champions in this division and both are feature winners in the past at Merced.  You won't keep these two out of the winner's circle for long.  Young Chase Thomas has quietly worked his way into third in the standings, 35 points out of the lead.  Merced championships are something the Thomas family knows all about.  Chase's father Darren Thomas is a three time Street Stock champ, and he's the proud father of two sons currently in the Top 10 in points.  Keep an eye on both Chase and younger brother Tanner Thomas this week.

Even when Rick Diaz misses a race, he's still not out of the title hunt.  The reigning two time champion has three wins to rank just 37 points behind Ryland.  The road to victory still goes through him.  However, rookie Chuck Weir and third generation racer T.J Etchison III both count themselves among this season's feature winners.  Some talented racers make Sport Mod racing at Merced exciting to watch, and other drivers to keep an eye on this week include Chris Falkenberg, Paul Espino, Tim Elias, Dwayne Short, Josh Hensley and Mark Odgers.

The anticipated showdown between reigning Mini Stock champion Chris Corder and reigning Watsonville Mini Stock champion D.J. Keldsen last week never happened.  Keldsen skipped the race and surrendered the point lead to Chris Corder.  Was it merely a case of avoiding the inevitable?  It's hard to say, but Corder sped to his third win of the season.  A Keldsen won at Watsonville last week, but it was Cody Keldsen doing the honors this time.  This just means that the next time the Keldsen's come to town, it will be twice as tough to beat them.  Jennifer Corder had her brother in her sights last week, but it all slipped away with mechanical problems in the Main Event.  Both Corder's had won heat races earlier in the evening.

It's a young and enthusiastic group of drivers in the Mini Stocks at Merced Speedway these days, led by second year racer Destiny Carter.  After her fourth place finish last week, Destiny is within a few points of third in the standings.  Lucy Falkenberg is still in front of her on the strength of a career best second place finish in her most recent start.  Speaking of career bests, Shawn DePriest did a great job in finishing second last time out.  Other drivers to watch for this week include Tyler Jackson, Helena Guzman and Jeremy Perry.

The Valley Sportsman division is back this week for their third appearance.  So far, feature wins have gone to Chris Birdsong and Jeff Bristow, who has his car up for sale.  We also got to see the beautiful #62 car of Eric Sealy last time out.  Kenny Birdsong announced that son Chris will be driving his Rod Poor Tribute Car this week.  Other drivers to watch for include Shannon Fry, Jeff West and two time champion Mike Friesen.

Merced Speedway will have an exciting show this Saturday night with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, Mini Stocks and the Sportsman division all in action.  For further information, go to www.racemerced.com.