Dwarf Cars To Invade Merced Speedway This Weekend

Merced, CA...It's time for the return appearance of the Western States Dwarf Car Association Nationals event at Merced Speedway. The event, hosted by the South Bay Dwarf Car Association, pits some of the best Dwarf Car racers on the West Coast against each other in the spirit of great competition. Saturday's event will also include the Hobby Stocks, California Sharp Mini Late Models and the Valley Sportsman division.

Drivers start showing up on Thursday night, and the first race is on Friday night. They break the Dwarf Car groups into three with a Pro division, a Veteran division for the older competitors and a Sportsman division for the newcomers. Drivers who finish in the Top 10 on Friday night earn starting spots in the Fast Heat on Saturday to determine the first five rows of the Main Event. This becomes very important in the Pro division, which is expected to have enough cars for a B Main again this year. Last season, roughly 70 total competitors signed in for the two day show.

The records show that the Pro division 30 lap Main Event was won last season by Matt Sargent. Matt is a past South Bay champion who has been racing with the Sin City Dwarf Car group in Las Vegas. Reigning NorCal Dwarf Car champion Danny Wagner finished second and Oregon PHRA competitor Jake Van Ortwick ran third. Past NorCal champion Ryan Winter and St Helens, Oregon racer James Brinster completed the Top 5 as 24 drivers started the Main Event.

You might think that the Pro division is the main attraction, but the Veteran division offers some of the closest racing on Nationals weekend. NorCal competitors dominated the Top 5 at last year's race with Kevin Bender winning ahead of Mike Reeder, Kevin Miraglio, Scott Dahlgren and Buddy Olschowka. PHRA Dwarf Car racer Jake Tupper won the Sportsman Main Event ahead of NorCal racer Josh Wiesz and NorCal competitor Devin Kammermann.

The Dwarf Cars put on such a great show that they themselves are worth coming out to watch, but they will be joined by the track's Hobby Stock division on Saturday night. Through the consistency of being the only driver with six Top 5 finishes in six starts, Shannon Nelsen holds a 13 point lead over reigning champion and three-time winner Kodie Dean. Nelson is searching for her first feature win since 2015 and has come very close. Her teammate, Kristie Shearer, is 25 points out of the lead and 12 behind Dean. These three have been running strong all season long, but other drivers to watch include Mike Germait, 2016 champion Michael Shearer, Austin Van Hoff and Robbie Loquaci.

The California Sharp Mini Late Model division has a close three-car battle for the point lead. After picking up a win at the recent event, second generation racer Riley Jeppesen is only four points behind one time winner Tim Crews. Riley's father Robby is a past Street Stock champion at the speedway. Not to be forgotten in the mix is Carson Guthrie, who sits third and is only nine points out of the lead. Jesse Burks is a two-time winner, but a bad start in his season opening race leaves him 39 points out so far. These four along with Ian Shearer are anticipated this week.

The Valley Sportsman division has a rather interesting battle taking place. At the top of the list you will find Watsonville Speedway Hall Of Famer and four time Sportsman champion Jerry Cecil. Cecil leads newcomer Rick Elliott by five points, but both drivers are still looking for their first wins of the season. Reigning Champion Jeff Bristow has put Chris Falkenberg behind the wheel of his car, resulting in a pair of victories for Falkenberg. He leads one time winner Chris Birdsong by one point in the battle for third while rookie Chris Corder is only seven points out. The last time out, the division saw another Watsonville Hall Of Famer, Ray Johnson, make his debut. So far, there have been nine different racers, and there's at least a half a dozen others out there that could be a part of this show.

Dwarf Car Nationals weekend is a chance for fans of this style of racing to come and see the very best that Dwarf Cars have to offer. The fact that Saturday night will also include the other three divisions will make it even more enticing to the fans. For further information, go to www.racemerced.com.