USAC REGIONAL RACING PREVIEW: JULY 2-4, 2020
USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CARS
The USAC Rapid Tire East Coast Sprint Cars come firing out of the gate for the first time in 2020 with a weekend double-dip Thursday, July 2, at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y. and on Friday, July 3, at Big Diamond Speedway in Pottsville, Pa.
Thursday’s round at Orange County is the first at the track in the series’ three-year history. The United Rentals DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds are also on the event lineup along with twin 50-lap features for the Modifieds.
The pits open at 3pm ET followed by a mandatory drivers meeting in the covered grandstand. Sprint Car hot laps are slated to begin at 6:30pm followed by pre-race ceremonies and racing action.
Tickets for the event can be found at https://www.orangecountyfairspeedway.net/drive-in-tix/.
On Friday, the series makes a return trip to one of its familiar venues on the schedule, Big Diamond Speedway in Pottsville, Pa. Two-time and defending series champ Steven Drevicki (Reading, Pa.) won at Big Diamond twice in 2019 while Timmy Buckwalter (Douglassville, Pa.) won once. Ryan Godown (Ringoes, N.J.) and Joey Biasi (Mary D, Pa.) won there in 2018.
Modifieds, Sportsmans, 602 Sportsmans and Roadrunners will be on hand, plus fireworks! General admission tickets are $25 for adults, $23 for seniors, $10 for kids age 10-11 and free for children under the age of 10 as well as active military with a valid ID. Gates open at 5:30pm ET with hot laps at 7:15pm and racing to follow thereafter.
WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CARS
Race number five of the Wholesale Batteries Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Car season comes to U.S. 36 Raceway in Cameron, Mo. this Friday night, July 3.
The series has already seen four different winners in the first four races of its inaugural season: Springfield, Missouri’s Kory Schudy (I-35 Speedway), Topeka, Kansas’ Wyatt Burks (81 Speedway), Lincoln, Nebraska’s Don Droud Jr. (Lakeside Speedway) and Nixa, Missouri’s Wesley Smith (Bethany Speedway).
Pits open Friday at 4pm CT, grandstands at 6pm, with hot laps set for 7:30pm with racing following right after. Adult general admission tickets are $20, seniors/military with ID are $18 and children age 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $35 apiece. Online tickets are available at https://market.myracepass.com/store/tickets/?store=17636.
The Sprint Series of Nebraska, IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sports Mods are also on the event card.
USAC MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Don Droud Jr.-730, 2-Kory Schudy-700, 3-Wyatt Burks-695, 4-Wesley Smith-650, 5-Chris Parkinson-620, 6-Zach Clark-540, 7-Brian Beebe-430, 8-Kyle Lewis-430, 9-Braydon Cromwell-405, 10-Mark Lane-385.
USAC MIDWEST REGIONAL MIDGETS & USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGETS
The return of the USAC Midwest Regional Midget division comes back to Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind. this Saturday night, July 4, as part of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular festivities which also features the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship.
The event will utilize an open format, allowing both current National and SpeeD2 engines. The event will pay points toward the USAC Midwest Regional Midget standings and a champion will be crowned at the conclusion of the season. Furthermore, USAC SpeeD2 licensed competitors will be eligible for bonuses and will earn points toward the USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget Championship.
Tyler Nelson (Olathe, Kans.), Sterling Cling (Tempe, Ariz.), Michael Pickens (Auckland, N.Z.), Chase Jones (Greenwood, Ind.), Sam Johnson (St. Peters, Mo.) and Russ Gamester (Peru, Ind.) each won USAC Midwest Regional Midget feature events during the 2019 campaign.
The Midwest Thunder series, similar to sports car racing, will compete in a “race within a race” format where the top SpeeD2 finishing car and driver in the feature event will be recognized on the front stretch following the race as the winner of the Midwest Thunder race.
Chett Gehrke (Broken Arrow, Okla.) won the most recent USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget event at Lincoln Park in 2018 during that year’s Bill Gardner Sprintacular.
Three-time and defending Midwest Thunder champ Aaron Leffel (Springfield, Ohio) has won all three Midwest Thunder features this season, two non-points events and one paying points toward the championship. He leads the points coming in.
On Saturday at Lincoln Park, adult general admission tickets are $25 while children age 10 and under are free. Pit admission is $35. The pits open at 3pm ET with the front gate opening at 4:30pm and hot laps at 6pm. The USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars and Midwest Sprint Car Series are also in competition this night as well as the RaceSaver 305 Winged Sprints.
Tickets are on sale for this event now, exclusively at www.usactickets.com.
All these events can be seen LIVE exclusively on FloRacing.
USAC MIDWEST MIDGET THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET SERIES POINTS: 1-Aaron Leffel-70, 2-Chett Gehrke-67, 3-Jacob Denney-64, 4-Cory Guingrich-61, 5-Stratton Briggs-58, 6-Abby Hohlbein-55, 7-Adam Schmenk-52, 8-Zane Briggs-49, 9-Mark Nieft Jr.-46, 10-Zack Gingerich-43.
USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGETS
The lone trip of the year for the USAC Eastern SpeeD2 Midgets to Timmonsville, South Carolina’s Florence Motor Speedway arrives this Saturday night, July 4.
Last year, Neal Allison (Greensboro, N.C.) captured the victory while current series point leader and three-time and defending series champion Jessica Bean (Farmland, Ind.) jumped to the front to lead the first 10 circuits before Nolan Allison took his turn at the front from laps 11-16.
The back-and-forth battle between the two swung back to Bean’s advantage as she took over the lead nearing the halfway point on the 17th lap.
Her quest for a first victory of 2019 came up six laps short as Neal Allison took control on the 30th lap and drove to victory, his third overall at that point of the 2019 season, over Bean, Chris Lamb (Colfax, N.C.), Levi Riffle (Winston Salem, N.C.) and Nolan Allison (Greensboro, N.C.).
Bean captured the victory in the 2020 season opener on June 13 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C. The win was her fourth-straight in the series dating back to the end of the 2019 season. That’s the second longest winning streak in series history behind Nolan Allison’s five consecutive victories during the 2017 season.
Also on the night’s lineup at Florence are Dual Late Model /Challenger races, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Country Legends, Thunder & Lightning and Grocery Getter/Bangers.
USAC EASTERN SPEED2 MIDGET POINTS: 1-Jessica Bean-76, 2-Chris Lamb-72, 3-Bradley Swift-66, 4-Hunter Wise-64, 5-Daytona Spicola-62, 6-Mason Hoskins-56.
