Racing Season Continues Saturday At Siskiyou Speedway

Yreka, CA...Weather and a difficult fire season has taken a toll on racing season at Siskiyou Motor Speedway this year. Earlier this year, two events were rained out as the track was trying to hold them. Not long into the attempts to run heat races, both events were canceled due to the rain. When the Hornbrook fire broke out two weeks ago, the fire crews used the Siskiyou Fairgrounds as a base camp. This forced the cancellation of the July 9th and 14th races. Word came out on Wednesday evening that the July 21st race will happen. Saturday night is being billed as Christmas in July. This is an annual event that features kids rides in the race cars and free gifts to all Jr. Fan members. The track's regular IMCA Sport Modified and Mini Stock divisions are scheduled to appear along with the Calculated Comfort Outlaw Pro Stock Association.

Dr Scott Lenz won the most recent Pro Stock race, which was his second victory at the track this year and third on the circuit. Lenz is showing no signs of slowing down from last year, when he won the association championship. His lead right now over Scott Flowers is 38 points. Flowers always seems to be near the top of the point list, but it's been a few years since he's put his car in the Winner's Circle. He has two seconds and a third at Siskiyou Speedway this year, and that's good enough to keep him 20 points ahead of his son, James Flowers.

Interestingly enough, fourth place Matt Harlow is the only driver in the field who has earned Top 5 finishes in all four races in Yreka so far. His best effort came in the most recent race, where he finished third. This has put Harlow six points behind James Flowers for third, eight points ahead of Steve Borror. Borror won the season opener and finished second at the most recent race, but the 2016 association champion skipped a race. Numbers have been up for the group this year in Yreka, and Ginny Flowers, Johnny Cobb, John David Duffie, Julia Flowers with Roy Bain count themselves among the Top 10 in the standings at the moment.

The IMCA Sport Modified division went into their ninth event before finally seeing a repeat winner in 2016 champion Jimmy Lipke. Jimmy has chosen to miss some races to test his ability against other drivers at other tracks, but his second win moved him into third in the standings. The leader after nine events is Trevor Tiffee. Trevor is having a bit of a Cinderella Season. It's not likely that people expected him to be the point leader at this stage of the season, but with six Top 5 finishes including a first and a second, he has a real shot at collecting the championship. Ryder Boswell is shown in second, though he now is a ways behind after missing a race.

There are a few names absent from the roster this year, but the competitive nature of this division continues the trend from last year. You really never know who will win on any given week. Victories have been earned by Jorddon Braaten, Justin Foux, reigning champion DJ Bottoms, Tim Elias, Matt Sanders, Keith Brown Jr, Lipke and Tiffee. There are still a few drivers knocking on the door to victory, including rookie Ethan Killingsworth, who finished second last time out, and Boswell, Cory Biggs and Randy Wright, who have finished as high as third.

The experience factor seems to be playing out to the advantage of reigning champion Marilyn Yawnick, Terry Kendrick and Mike Whitaker in the Mini Stock race. These three drivers are all running closely in the championship battle. Yawnick, however, is the only driver with a feature win of the three so far this year. She's posted three wins and finished second twice. Kendrick and Whitaker each have two seconds and three third place finishes. The way things are going, this battle may go down to the wire.

The division has seen a couple of newcomers join the field. Darek Alford and Zac McMurray are both in their teens. McMurray currently leads the rookie race ahead of Jason Frost, and much like the championship battle, there's only a few points separating these two. Because Alford missed a race in the former Devon Weiser car, he's a bit further back. However, he does have two heat race wins and two fifth place feature finishes. 2015 champion David Steele makes visits to the speedway and has five wins to his credit so far. Other drivers in the field including Dennis Jorgensen, Aaron Jorgensen, Mike Frost, Tiffany Cobb and Heather Ryan.

Fans looking to fill their need for speed will get a good show on Saturday night with this three division lineup. For further information, go to www.siskiyoumotorspeedway.com.