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Track Championships On The Line At Antioch Speedway Saturday Night

By Candace Martin
Antioch, CA...It's been an exciting season at Antioch Speedway, but the point battles are just about ready to conclude. On Saturday night, the track will know who five more of its champions are. After that, there's still going to be plenty of special event action throughout the month of October.

This Saturday night, the classic lineup of IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, Pacific Coast Hobby Stocks and Wingless Spec Sprints will be competing. The Sport Modified and Hobby Stock championships are still very much up for grabs, while second in the other three divisions is still to be determined.

People are still talking about the action that took place on Hall of Fame Night last week. The track was hooked up and the fans saw some of the best racing they've seen all season long. There is every indication that more close racing action will be taking place this Saturday.

Oakley's Kellen Chadwick was one of the youngest champions in Antioch Speedway history when he topped the IMCA Modified field in 2006. It's likely that he would have won more championships after that, but he chose to pursue wins in big money races at other venues. Big wins for him include the R Charles Snyder Salute in Medford, Oregon and the Beads Shipwreck Nationals in Elma, Washington. He is also a two-time IMCA Wild West Speedweek champion in Oregon.

Two years ago, Kellen came so close to beating Nick DeCarlo of Martinez for the championship that IMCA ultimately had to audit the points to determine he fell just a few points shy of it. On Saturday, all he needs to do is take a green flag in his heat race to clinch his second Antioch title. Kellen has a pair of feature wins this year, and he'd love to add to that with the championship season finale.

The last time out, reigning State and Merced champion Andrew Pearce of Oakley put on a driving clinic in picking up his first win of the season. In doing so, he gained a two-point lead over six-time champion Troy Foulger of Oakley in the race for second. Bobby Hogge IV has a pair of wins as he gets closer to 80 combined wins at Antioch Speedway. Nobody has more wins than the Salinas leadfoot.

Jacob Mallet Jr picked up another win in Medford last week as he wraps up the State title. At Antioch, he's only two points ahead of Reno, Nevada's Katelynn Robertson in the race for fifth.

Once again, the closest championship battle is taking place in the IMCA Sport Modified division. Jason Ryan Jr of Oakley and his crew had much work to do to get his car ready for last week. There was uncertainty as to how it was going to run, but Ryan removed those doubts by outdueling reigning State champion Trevor Clymens of Brentwood for his much-needed second win of the season.

When Ryan grabbed the win, he moved to within one point of two-time winner Kenny Shrader a Pacheco for the lead. Shrader could only manage a fourth place finish last week, but that kept him ahead. Shrader wasn't planning to run for points when the season started, but now he'd love to notch his second-consecutive championship. This is a battle that will go down to the final checkered flag.

Tommy Clymens Jr of Oakley has been knocking on the door to his first Sport Modified win. Through the years, he's picked up Mini Truck and Hobby Stock wins, but he's been running very strong lately in his Sport Modified. To illustrate this, he led some Main Event laps last week after winning his first heat race in the division. Tommy settled for third, which gave him a 28-point advantage of rookie James Graessle of Antioch in the race for third in the standings.

The absent Kelly Campanile of Oakley is fifth, 24 points ahead of Chuck Golden of Pittsburg. Golden fell just short of winning his second-straight Watsonville title, but he did win State championship honors. As it is, Golden is just three points ahead of two-time winner Dylan Connely of Antioch.

The Pacific Coast Hobby Stock championship battle was poised to see a big change last week in favor of Clarence Holbrook III of Galt. Holbrook was in the hunt for the win when he got caught up in another driver's spin and fell back several positions. Rather than possibly taking the lead, he ended the night still 12 points behind Ryan Hart of Dos Palos. Hart started deep in the pack and ended up fifth.

Holbrook has won four times this year, while Hart has a pair of victories. However, it was the win by Aidan Ponciano last week that won the hearts of the fans. Aidan's grandmother, Denise McCown, passed away during the week. He was able to score his first win in two years, which he dedicated to her.

The McCown family has supported Hobby Stock racing for over 20 years. Denise, like her husband Dan and daughter Megan, is a division champion. They've combined for almost 30 wins as a family in this division. Aidan is looking forward to leading a memorial lap for his grandmother this weekend.

Despite missing a couple of races, the win for Ponciano last week gives him a shot at fifth in the standings. 2020 champion James Thomson, who leads at Petaluma, has clinched third. Jared Baugh of Pittsburg holds on to fourth with enough of an advantage to clinch the position. Rick Rogers of San Pablo leads Ponciano by six points in the race for fifth, while Maddie Motts of San Pablo is 28 points back in seventh.

With his fourth win of the season last week, Jacob Tuttle of Oakley has clinched his first Wingless Spec Sprint title in the Ted Finkenbinder owned car. Steve Maionchi of Sonora moved into second, 14 points ahead of two-time champion Bob Newberry of Brentwood. However, Maionchi may not make it this week due to a wedding. Even if he doesn't, he'll still match his best ever effort in the class in third in the standings.

Rookie John Ulrich of Antioch has moved into fourth in the standings and will maintain the spot just by taking the green flag in the Main Event on Saturday. Blake Bower of Brentwood is still holding onto fifth in the standings, just four ahead of Chris Geilfus of Antioch. Geilfus had his best ever finish in the division in third last week. Only 14 points out of the fifth spot is past Petaluma champion Ryon Siverling of Concord. Even Roy Fisher of Antioch has a reasonable shot at fifth, 22 points behind Bower.

Jason Jennings of Antioch has secured the IMCA Stock Car title. At Hall of Fame Night last week, Jason talked about the influence Hall Of Famer Duane Hodges had on his and his family's career. He runs Duane's #42 and will continue to do that. He had a feature win earlier this year that propelled him further into the point lead. Last week, he turned in a valiant effort in giving Mitch Machado of Rohnert Park all kinds of pressure, but he settled for a close second in that race.

With his third place finish, Jason Robles of Rio Vista moved 12 points ahead of State champion Scott Foster of Oakley in the race for second. If Robles can hold on, this will be the third-straight season in which he's been runner up. He has two wins this year, but he'd love to win the finale. Reigning champion Troy Foulger holds a 28-point lead over Fred Ryland of Brentwood in the race for fourth in the standings. After Machado's first win in the division, he moved within 19 points of Ryland for fifth in the standings.

Saturday night will wrap up all five of these championship battles, and there's still some opportunity for drivers to increase the size of their trophies at the banquet. There is lots of excitement on tap, and this is a night you won't want to miss at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds racetrack.

The gates will open at 4:00 with the first race starting at 6:00.

Adult tickets are $20, Senior/Military $15, Kids (5-12) $15 and kids four and under free.

For further information, go to www.raceantiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway by PROmotions Facebook page.

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