Hello again race fans.
The second Appalachian Mountain Late Model Speedweek is history and this years series has been better than the first. Good crowds and car counts have been found at most tracks. Traveling drivers have visited the region and only bigger and better things will come as a result. J.R. Keiffer and his staff have done an outstanding job with the event and deserve a pat on the back for a job well done.
Tonight the super sportsman cars visit Port Royal Speedway where Rich Eichelberger will attempt to keep his winning streak alive. Eichelberger has won the last two sportsman races run and is the current point leader. Two features will be run for the sportsman cars as one is a make up race from May 15. Tim Wilson holds a ten-point lead over Scotty Haus in late model action at Port Royal. Rick Lafferty has a 25-point lead over Justin Henderson and Chad Layton in the sprint car division.
The URC sprint cars will return to Selinsgrove Speedway to make up a rained out program on August 21. The late models are also part of that show. Tonigh,t the Snyder County oval hosts a regular four division show consisting of 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks and roadrunners. Action gets under way at 7:30 p.m.
The All Star Circuit of Champions have returned to the area after a quick trip to Canada. They raced last night at Williams Grove and are at Lincoln Speedway tonight. Port Royal Speedway will make up its rained out All Star show on Saturday, Sept. 25. That night is also the Kenny Weld Memorial race at Lincoln Speedway.
The Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek is right around the corner. Lincoln Speedway kicks off action on June 26 when the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial race will be run.
NASCAR driver David Stremme and girlfriend Ashley Diehl were at Port Royal Speedway last Saturday night. Stremme raced Sunday at Pocono. Denny Hamlin was the winner at Pocono over teammate Kyle Busch.
This week the Cup cars race at Michigan International Speedway. Race time tomorrow is 1 p.m. with TNT's race coverage starting at noon. Mark Martin is the defending race champion. During last years event Jimmie Johnson dominated only to run out of fuel with two laps to go. Greg Biffle inherited the lead only to run out of gas on the final lap.
At this point in the season, Kevin Harvick (2,063 points) is the Cup leader over Kyle Busch(2,044), Denny Hamlin (1,927), Matt Kenseth (1,893) and Kurt Busch (1,881).
Dale Earnhardt Jr. last won at Michigan in 2008. Despite having 18 Sprint Cup wins, Jr. is winless in the last 71 races. He has won just one race in 86 starts for Hendricks Motorsports.
In other area news, Doug Esh was out of the Trone Racing No. 39 briefly before being returning to the ride. Esh's season has not gone well, but I look for things to turn around soon. Sometimes a team just has to work their way through tough times and the Trone team is good enough to do that.
Four local 410 sprint car drivers ran with USAC during their eastern wingless tour. Johnny Mackison Jr. and Brian Montieth finished fourth and fifth respectively at Lincoln last week. Brent Marks and Kyle Moody also competed. Moody's best finish was 12th. Marks ran 16th at Lincoln.
Until next week, please drive safely!
