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I've had a very busy week, so I'm getting this posted a little later than usual. Sorry about that.
Top Ten Hottest Drivers of the Week
10. Bobby McMahon: McMahon brought home his first Silver Dollar Speedway Track Championship this week, winning the title by 40 points over Mark Hall. Consistency was the name of the game for McMahon, while only going to victory lane once this season on July 10, McMahon had nine Top Fives, and finished in the Top Ten in all thirteen points paying events of the 2009 season. In his final outing of the 2009 Track Championship Season, McMahon finished the A-Main in a very solid fourth place, a good run on the night when he would be crowned champion. But now its time to gear up for the Gold Cup Race of Champions and a run against the World of Outlaws and the best sprint car drivers in the country, and then maybe Bobby will have time to celebrate his championship.
9. Jimmy Nier: Another track Champion was crowned this weekend at the K-C Raceway in Chillicothe, Ohio. Nier, who is a former promoter at the track had quite an impressive season. Nier shocked many on July 3, when he beat the All-Star Circuit of Champions to pick up the first ASCoC win of his career. Nier also had an impressive sixth-place run against the World of Outlaws in July, making himself the top-finisher of the three-car contingent of locals who would finish in the top ten that night. Nier also picked up the win in two weekly shows at the K-C Raceway and has one win at the Skyline Speedway as well. Nier also never had a bad night. Not once all season did Nier finish outside the Top Ten in weekly competition at K-C Raceway, with his only finish outside the Top Five in non-weekly competition was the sixth against the Outlaws, surely nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, in only one weekly event did Nier even finish outside the Top Three. That occurred this weekend in the season finale. But I'm sure Nier was consoled after getting this "poor" finish when he was presented with the track championship shortly afterward. What a year for Jimmy Nier. He will be one for the Ohio fan-base to watch next season.
8. Tommy Worley Jr.: Mark Dobmeier, or wait, sorry, I mean Tommy Worley Jr. has just made it four feature wins in a row at the St. Francois County Raceway in Farmington, MO. The only person to dominate the weekly competition like that anywhere in the country is the driver of the Lunstra Racing #13 up at the River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND. Worley seems to have gotten as greedy, as Dobmeier. He just doesn't want to share. Add to these four wins the Midwest All-Star win last week, and you get an incredible five feature wins in a row for the Forty Years Young Tommy Worley Jr. from Missouri. What an impressive streak, the best in the country at the moment. It will be interesting to see if this keeps going.
7. Jack Sodeman Jr.: Sodeman picked up his first championship this weekend at the Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio. And Sodeman capped off the season by going to victory lane Saturday night. It was his third feature finish of the season at the Sharon Speedway, to go along with eight Top Fives and ten Top Tens, including the eighth-place finish in the Lou Blaney memorial won by Tony Stewart. Again, Sodeman showed incredible consistency, never finishing outside the top ten and only once finishing outside the top five in a points paying event. This consistency allows Sodeman to call himself a Champion.
6. Rod George: A third-place finish in the season finale at the Lernerville Speedway allowed Rod George to seal up the Lernerville Speedway Track Championship. It is George's third Championship at Lernerville, with his first coming twenty-three years ago in 1986, and then in 2002. However, for the past few years, George had been running at the Tri-City Speedway on Friday nights, where he was the all-time leading feature winner. But with the closure of Tri-City at the end of 2007, George needed a new stomping ground. Thus, Rod returned to Lernerville, to battle with the likes of the "Apollo Rocket" Ed Lynch Jr., Bob Felmlee and Kevin Schaeffer. In 2008 Schaeffer would hold on for his third consecutive title. But this year, George would not be denied., winning the Track Championship by 15 points over Ed Lynch Jr., on the strength of two feature victories. George should also have another Track Championship coming in the next few weeks as he has been dominate at the Mercer Raceway Park, with his last win coming this Saturday night, one night after being crowned Champion at Lernerville. What a way to celebrate!
5. Todd Shaffer: Another driver who leads the points at two tracks this year, Todd Shaffer has just taken the first of the two, at the Port Royal Speedway. Shaffer had actually clinched the points championship last week, but this week, he was officially given the title. Shaffer finished sixth in the season finale on Saturday night. Shaffer dominated the points, with three wins this season at the Port Royal Speedway, winning the Season Championship by 205 points over Mike Erdley. Shaffer has a career total of 89 wins at the Port Royal Speedway, and has just earned his f Port Royal Speedway Track Championship. Todd Shaffer also leads the points at the William's Grove Speedway by 270 over Mark Smith. He looks in good shape, but still has until October 16 before that season comes to a close.
4. Terry McCarl: After a disappointing sixteenth at the Nationals, McCarl has now picked back up his hot streak at Knoxville. McCarl got his third consecutive weekly win at the Knoxville Raceway. When you're going up against guys like point leader Johnny Herrera, 2007 Champion Brian Brown, Dusty Zomer, 2005 Champion Kerry Madsen, 2006 Champion Billy Alley, Don Droud Jr., Mark Dobmeier, Two-Time Champion Skip Jackson, and Lynton Jeffrey, among others, this is no easy task. What is also very impressive is the fact that McCarl now sits third in the Knoxville Raceway 410 Points Standings even though he has missed three races. This is possible with Knoxville's points system that places so much more emphasis on strong finishes, with one win being worth more points alone than four last-place A-main finishes, and more than six times that of not qualifying for the A-main. To put this in perspective, an Outlaw win is worth as much as two non-qualifying nights. I think it would be safe to say, with McCarl only sitting 150 points behind leader Johnny Herrera, that if McCarl hadn't missed those three races, he would be in the point lead looking for his seventh Knoxville Raceway Championship. It will be interesting to see if Terry can make it four in a row to close out the Knoxville Raceway Sprint Car Season.
3. Chris Andrews: At the beginning of the season, who would have picked 21-year old Chris Andrews to win the Track Championship at the Attica Raceway Park. Anyone? In what I would consider the third toughest weekly field in the country, behind Knoxville and William's Grove, not necessarily in that order, Byron Reed looked to be on his way to his fifth consecutive track championship, with Andrews trailing by 25 points. But due to a rain out the week before the season finale, the Attica officials decided to make this week's race worth double points. This added to the excitement, and gave Andrews a fighting chance. But even Andrews himself knew that disaster would have to strike for Reed to finish far enough back for this to happen. But how often do we see these situations, where an upset could occur if the Favorite had some bad luck in the final race, but the favorite has a flawless race and coasts to a championship. Those disasters seem to only happen to the underdog, giving a defending champion another title, right? Wrong! After getting caught up in a wreck and having to go to the tail, Reed was only able to get back up to finish thirteenth. Andrews finished fourth and that was all he needed, gaining 36 points and winning the Attica Raceway Park Track Championship in only his third year in a 410 Sprint Car. What an upset! But, regardless of the last minute double points decision, regardless of the wreck that cost Byron Reed the Championship, Andrews deserved this. The 2007 National 410 Rookie of the Year was the winningest driver at the Attica Raceway Park this season, with three wins, one more than both Dale Blaney and Craig Mintz, Byron Reed, surprisingly didn't have any wins at Attica this year. So I think that Andrews is the right man to be taking the Title this year. With three more races left at Fremont, and Andrews solidly in fourth in the FAST Standings, Andrews just has to focus on trying to get first win at Fremont next weekend in the FAST Season Finale.
2. Mark Dobmeier: It was the second time this season that Dobmeier won both at River Cities and Huset's in the same week. That seems kind of surprising since Dobmeier has one all but two of the weekly shows at River Cities and has five wins at Huset's this season, but in three of those five weeks, either River Cities had rained out or the World of Outlaws were in town. However, this weekend, Dobmeier wrapped up the River Cities Points Championship, officially, as if there was any doubt, It was Dobmeier's seventh win of the season at River Cities and his second consecutive. It was also the second consecutive win for Dobmeier at the Huset's Speedway for a total of five, giving Dobmeierhis twelfth Sprint Car A-Main Feature win of the season. Mark Dobmeier looks to be on his way to the Track Championship at Huset's as well. This would be his third consecutive Huset's Track Championship. Next week Dobmeier has one last chance to get a win at the Knoxville Raceway this season, something he has yet to do. But right now, Mark can be happy, knowing he won the River Cities Track Championship in dominating fashion.
Hottest Driver of the Week- Joey Saldana: When I first started these posts, I didn't think that it would take ten weeks for Joey to get Hottest Driver of the Week. Right about when I started these posts was the time when Joey started to go on his slump. His big win at the Ironman 55 was overshadowed by Terry McCarl's awesome five-win streak at Knoxville and Huset's over the course of one week. But finally, there was no doubt that Joey would be number one this week. The "Brownsburg Bullett" swept both the World of Outlaw's features at the Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, his first win on Canadian soil, or should I say, first two wins. And Joey didn't just win, he smoked them. On the first night after moving from tenth to second in the six-lap Crane Cams Dash, Joey dominated the Feature making the rest of the cars look like they had 305's in them. The second night was also dominate, while not quite as much so. To win two consecutive nights with the World of Outlaws is not an easy task these days. Saldana and Schatz are the only two to accomplish this feat in 2009. But Saldana is the only one to sweep a weekend in 2009, and he's done it four times; first when he took wins at Lonestar Speedway and Houston Raceway Park in back to back nights, then on TV at the Dirt Track at Lowe's Motor Speedway and then at the Virginia Motor Speedway the next night, and the sweeps at the Dodge City Raceway Park and this week at the Castrol Raceway. Joey now sits 112 points behind Schatz in third in the World of Outlaws Points Standings, and leads in Outlaw A-Main Feature wins, at 15, a career best for Saldana. Regardless of whether Joey wins the World of Outlaws Championship this year, it has been an incredible season for the Kasey Kahne Racing Budweiser #9 Team.
Honorable Mention: Brian Montieth, Gerard McIntyre Jr, Brock Mayes, Ed Lynch Jr., Kyle Hirst
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