LIGUORI, FERNS, OLEEN, GALLOWAY, SIMPSON ALL SCORE FOCUS WINS

 


Five states host USAC Ford Focus races this week as the battles for 2009 championships intensifies. The Midwest series competes at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway Friday, then joins the UMARA series for Saturday’s “Salute to Mel Kenyon” race at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Ill. Carolina Series competitors are gearing up for Saturday’s race at Hickory Motor Speedway, while the California Dirt and Junior Focus contingent heads for Ventura Raceway for a Saturday night engagement. The Utah Ford Focus series also competes at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City Saturday.


 


Series point leaders entering this week’s competition include Joe Liguori of Tampa, Fla. (Midwest and UMARA), Sean Dodenhoff of Bakersfield, Calif. (California Dirt), Jeremy Frankoski of Huntersville, N.C. (Carolina) and Kyle Edwards of Fountain Valley, Calif. (Junior Focus).


 


Liguori led the final 20 laps of Saturday night’s 25-lap USAC Midwest/UMARA feature at Morris after passing Tyler Cottongim on lap six. Cottongim finished second behind Liguori’s C & R Racing Beast. Michael May, fast qualifier Jimmy Simpson and Tanner Whitten rounded out the “top-five” behind point leader Liguori.


 


Simpson, of Indianapolis, Ind., led all 30 laps on his way to his first USAC Midwest/UMARA Ford Focus feature victory Wednesday at Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville, Ind. Trailing his Fat Tommy’s Restaurant Beast were Liguori, May, fast qualifier Cottongim and Tanner Whitten.


 


Taylor Ferns of Shelby Township, Mich. earned her fifth career USAC feature win and her fourth this year Saturday night, leading the final 10 laps to win the 12-lap USAC Junior Ford Focus race at All American Speedway. Series point leader Kyle Edwards finished second ahead of Andrew Murray and Brandon White.


 


Jeff Oleen of Bethesda, Md. paced all 25 laps of Saturday night’s USAC California Pavement Ford Focus feature at the All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif. Trailing him at the checkered flag were series point leader Nick Romano, fast qualifier Garrett Peterson, Cody Gerhardt and Tim Skoglund. The series resumes June 13 at the Madera (Calif.) Speedway.


 


Grant Galloway of Lakeville, Ind. finally tracked down Dillon Welch on the white-flag lap and led to the checkered flag to win Wednesday’s 30-lap USAC Kenyon Midget feature at the Illiana Motor Speedway. Galloway piloted the Todd Galloway Construction/84 Lumber Yamaha to the win over Welch, Dalton Armstrong, Nick Hamilton and Taylor Ferns.


 


Kipp Posey of Lehi, Utah leads the Utah Ford Focus series to Sayurday's race at Rocky Mountain Raceways in the Utah capital.