CONCORD, NC – June 24, 2011 –
HUGE NIGHT: The DIRTcar Western Region banner will fly high over Antioch (Calif.) Speedway this Saturday night (June 25).
Promoter John Soares’s three-eighths-mile oval located about an hour outside of San Francisco is set to present one of the biggest programs of DIRTcar’s 2011 season on the Pacific Coast – a doubleheader featuring a 30-lap DIRTcar Western All-Stars Late Model Series presented by VP Racing Fuels A-Main and a special DIRTcar West UMP Modified event. Both races boast first-place prizes of $2,000, with the Late Model event offering $400 to start and the UMP Modifieds $150 to take the green flag.
The DIRTcar twinbill, which shares the weekend with the annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stop at the nearby Infineon Raceway in Sears Point, will provide fans a chance to see the top-three drivers in the Western All-Stars Late Model standings pull double-duty. Points leader Bobby Hogge IV of Salinas, Calif., second-place Chris Shannon of Merced, Calif., and third-place Richard Papenhausen of Chico, Calif., plan to compete in both divisions in search of a lucrative $4,000 sweep.
Hogge, 34, has already won DIRTcar-sanctioned features in each class this season, capturing a Western All-Stars Late Model show on April 23 at Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif., and three DIRTcar West UMP Modified mains. He’ll bid for his first triumph of ’11 at Antioch, a track that has treated him well in the past. He successfully ran his UMP Modified there almost weekly in the late ‘90s and early 2000s and won Western All-Stars events at Antioch in 2008 and 2009.
The alltime winningest driver on the Western All-Stars circuit with 18 career wins, Hogge holds a slight 14-point edge (455-441) over Shannon in the tour’s points standings through three events. Papenhausen sits third behind the former Western All-Stars champions (Shannon in ’08, Hogge in ’09) with 425 points, followed by Clarke Guglielmoni (395) and Paul Guglielmoni (376), both of Vacaville, Calif.
Hogge also is in the thick of the DIRTcar UMP Northwestern States points races for both classes, sitting third in the Late Model standings and fourth in the Modified rankings. Each division’s States points battle – which for both encompasses all DIRTcar-sanctioned events in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada – pays a $2,000 champion’s prize from a total points fund of $5,860 available to the top 15 finishers.
Shannon is currently second (Modifieds) and sixth (Late Models) in the DIRTcar UMP Northwestern States points standings, while Papenhausen ranks seventh in the Late Model and 23rd in the Modified standings. Shannon owns three Modified wins in 11 starts and Papenhausen owns one victory in four Modified starts.
Antioch DIRTcar West UMP Modified champion Troy Foulger, 20, of Martinez, Calif., leads the open-wheel division’s Northwestern States points standings. He’s still searching for his first win of 2011, but he has four runner-up finishes and hasn’t placed worse than eighth in 14 starts.
Saturday will mark the second Western All-Stars Late Model Series event of the season at Antioch. Jeff Decker of Morganhill, Calif., won the tour’s season opener there on April 16.
Antioch Speedway is located on the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds at 1201 W. 10th St. in Antioch, Calif. The track’s gates are scheduled to open at 5 p.m. and qualifying will begin at 6 p.m.
More information on Antioch Speedway can be obtained by logging on to www.antiochspeedway.com or calling 925-779-9220.
STAY ANOTHER DAY: Antioch’s sister track, Merced (Calif.) Raceway, will also host a $2,000-to-win DIRTcar West UMP Modified feature on Sunday evening (June 26), providing open-wheel teams even more incentive to compete back-to-back nights. Race time is 5 p.m.
More information on Merced Raceway can be obtained by logging on to www.racemerced.com.
COMING UP: The Independence Day weekend is shaping up as a big one for the DIRTcar Northwest I-5 Late Model Series, which will swing back into action after a one-year hiatus – and an early-season rainout – with three events at two tracks.
Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., kicks off the Northwest I-5 tour’s holiday extravaganza with a two-day show on Sat., July 2, and Sun., July 3. Full programs will be contested each evening.
The series will then head to Cottage Grove (Ore.) Speedway for a $2,000-to-win/$150-to-start special on Mon., July 4.
Oregon’s Trevor Glaser and Rob Mayea currently hold the top two spots in the DIRTcar UMP Northwestern States Late Model points standings.
LAND OF ENCHANTMENT: Aztec (N.Mex.) Speedway will host its Independence Celebration Weekend on July 2-3 featuring a two-day DIRTcar Southwestern Regional Challenge event for the Championship Late Model Association DIRTcar Series and the New Mexico Late Models.
The Sat., July 2, event will pay $1,000 to win and $200 to start, while the grand finale on Sun., July 3, will offer a $2,500 top prize and $300 to start.
For more information on DIRTcar’s Western Region, contact Chris Morgan, Director of Western Operations for World Racing Group/DIRTcar, at 805-637-1426 or cmorgan@DIRTcar.com.
Additional info on all of the series, sanctioning and member tracks of DIRTcar Racing is available at www.DIRTcar.com.
DIRTcar UMP Northwestern States Points Standings (After Week 21 – races through June 19):
Late Models (Rank/Driver/Races/Points):
1. Trevor Glaser 6 374
2. Rob Mayea 3 218
3. Bobby Hogge IV 3 191
4. Mark Carrell 3 189
5. Tory Swaygim 3 178
6. Chris Shannon 3 174
7. Richard Papenhausen 3 172
8. Bud Walberg 4 152
9. Brian Cronk 3 145
10. Rick Wyatt 3 136
11. Clay Daly 2 135
12. Mike Miller 3 132
13. Anthony Rested 3 131
13. Clarke Gugliemoni 3 131
13. Blaine Taylor 3 131
UMP Modifieds (Rank/Driver/Races/Points):
1. Troy Foulger 14 832
2. Chris Shannon 11 645
3. Scott Busby 8 472
4. Bobby Hogge IV 8 471
5. Andrew Krumm 7 322
6. George Lefler Sr. 7 293
7. Chester Kniss 7 278
7. Mike Shepherd 5 278
9. Nick Decarlo 5 270
10. Sean Ogara 6 265
11. Randy McDaniel 5 263
12. Ryan Mcdaniel 4 248
13. Mike Salazar 6. 245
13. Norman Beck 6 245
15. Bob Williamson 5 239
