Racing At Siskiyou Speedway Put On Hold Due To Fires In The

Yreka, CA...Racing at Siskiyou Motor Speedway has been suspended while fire fighting crews use the fairgrounds as a base. The Hornbrook fire has been devastating as people have lost their homes. At a time like this, it's good to remember how lucky we are that we get to enjoy the things in life that we have. People can lose it all in an instance. Eventually, racing season will go on, but for some people, life will never quite be the same.

The IMCA Sport Modified division at Siskiyou Speedway has seen eight different feature winners in nine races. Finally, after the most recent race, we got our first two-time winner in 2016 champion Jimmy Lipke. Lipke has been running strong as he challenges himself at various venues. In fact, he came within a few inches of picking up a feature victory at Southern Oregon Speedway last Saturday night.

For Trevor Tiffee, this had been a story book season. Little did he know when he made the commitment to run for points that he would be the driver leading the standings nine races into the season. Trevor has also picked up a feature win and is hoping to add to that before the season is over. With a pretty good lead in the standings right now over second place Ryder Boswell, all Tiffee needs to do now is stay out of trouble and the championship could be his. The Saturday July 14th race looks doubtful, and July 21st is up in the air as well. Then, the fairgrounds will shut down the race track for a month due to the County Fair. There is only about a month of racing after that before the season closes.

For Boswell, second in the standings is still not bad. He was unable to make it to 4th of July race due to prior commitments. However, a feature win is still on his radar as well. Second in the standings is still very much in his control as long as he has no major problems for the remainder of the season. If he slips up just a little bit, he could be challenged by Lipke, who has settled into third.

Rookie Ethan Killingsworth is working his way towards the Top 5 and is currently just 14 points behind. Ethan had an impressive showing last time out as he finished second in the Main Event as well as his heat race and the Trophy Dash. It could be that Ethan will be the ninth different winner this season as he gets more used to his car. Another driver looking to get into the Winner's Circle is Randy Wright, who is six points ahead of Killingsworth in the standings. Other drivers on the Winner's List are Matt Sanders, Justin Foux, DJ Bottoms, Keith Brown Jr, Jorddon Braaten and Tim Elias.

The Mini Stock division is a three-car battle out front between Marilyn Yawnick, Terry Kendrick and Mike Whitaker. About 15 points separate Yawnick from third place Whitaker. Marilyn is the only one of the three with a feature victory, and she has three of them so far. Kendrick and Whitaker are both knocking on the door as both drivers have two seconds and three thirds. Yawnick and Whitaker are both two time champions in the class while Kendrick has one Mini Stock title to his credit.

The division has seen a few rookies join the ranks, including teen competitor Zac McMurray and Darek Alford. Alford now has a pair of fifth place feature finishes and two heat race wins, but his absence from a couple of races has dropped him further back behind the close battle between McMurray and Jason Frost for fifth in the standings. The battle for the championship and top rookie honors both figure to go down to the wire.

The Calculated Comfort Outlaw Pro Stock division has had four races at the track so far and a pair of races that have been canceled due to rain. With two feature wins here and one in Medford, reigning champion Dr. Scott Lenz holds a 33 point lead over perennial championship contender Scott Flowers. Flowers has a pair of seconds and a third so far, but he fell a few points further back with a disappointing effort last time out. In fact, Scott leads son James Flowers by just 20 points in the race for second, while Matt Harlow is only 26 points back in 4th and Steve Borror is 34 points back in fifth. Borror won the opener and finished second at the Fourth of July race behind Lenz. Harlow had his best finish of the season in third that night and is the only driver in the group with four Top 5 finishes in the four Yreka races. When they return, hard chargers such as Ginny Flowers, Johnny Cobb, John David Duffie, Julia Flowers and Roy Bain should be among the field.

We've also had our first peek at the Outlaw Kart point standings after five events have been held so far. As with the big track, the little track is on hold until the fires get contained. In the Beginners Box Stock Sealed division, Shailene Horn finds herself with an 82 point advantage over Mike Wheeler Jr. Wheeler won the first three races of the season. Reigning indoor champion Carson Henson is 35 points behind Wheeler. There is also a Beginners Box Stock Open class, which is being led by 50 points by Chase Smith ahead of Austin Bartholomew.

Tyler Steinhoff has a 41 point lead over reigning champion Taylor Fuller in the Box Stock division. Tyler's brother Brandon Steinhoff is only eight points behind Fuller for second. In the 250 ranks, Cale Cunial now leads Logan McKnight by 89 points. It's closer in the race for second as McKnight leads Bodee Weiser by 11 points and Braden Weiser by 13.

Josh Steinhoff leads teammate Kyle Romociotti by 11 points in the 500 Open Class with Joshua Lewis 33 points back in third. Rounding out the roster is the UAS Speedway Kart class, where Steve Rambo leads reigning champion Brionna Fuller by 25 points. Johnny Hoult is 43 points out. The hiatus for the track might be good news for Fuller, who is nursing a broken arm suffered at home while she was doing cartwheels about 3 weeks ago.

It's uncertain when racing will get back underway. The next event scheduled for the little track's Kart program is July 27th, while the final July race for the big track is the 21st, featuring IMCA Sport Modifieds, Mini Stocks and Calculated Comfort Outlaw Pro Stocks. For further information, go to www.siskiyoumotorspeedway.com.