Championship Battles Taking Shape At Orland Raceway

Orland, CA...July 28...The second half of the season at Orland Raceway officially begins this Saturday night with round #6 of racing for the track's regular Hobby Stocks, Mini Trucks, Mini Stocks and Micro Sprint Car classes.


Considering the racing program had pretty much been written off for this year, promoter Rich Hood and his crew have done an amazing job of getting things going. With about a month left to prepare for the season when the contract was awarded in May, the hard working crew got things going in time for the season to open on June 4th.


The new management has been dedicated to keeping things family friendly, and they've already done a few things for the kids this year. One of the popular things has been the bike giveaways, which will continue as the season unfolds. At the most recent race, they had the local Girl Scout Troop selling sweets to raise money for their group. The little girls also served as trophy kids for all the Main Event winner's that night.

Management continues to work at coming up with other ideas to keep things family friendly. They've also improved the racing surface with more clay to promote better racing on the one-fifth mile oval track. They've held five successful races and are already considering more races for the future in addition to the five events remaining. With five races in the books, there are some close championship battles taking place.


In the Mini truck division, consistency has been the key to William Fogle leading the point battle over "Rollin" Olin Crane, 226-213. Crane is already a two time feature winner this year. Not to be left out of the mix is two time Main Event winner Dan Webster, who has 208 points and is only 18 points out of the lead despite the fact that he missed the season opener. Reigning champion Keith Ross has an eight point lead over past champion Ross Vige, 158.-150, in the race for fourth.


Consistency has also been key to Jeff Bennett leading past champion John Kirkpatrick in the Mini Stock point battle, 250-234. Neither of these drivers has yet to win a Main Event this season. One driver with a Main Event win is 2012 champion Robert Hunt, who finds himself third with 207 markers. Two time winner Tom Davis and Eric Hammond currently round out the top five, and Davis leads Hammond, 161-144 in the battle for fourth. Though not in the point battle, Donovan Chilton has two wins in his two appearances.


With a feature win to start the season off, past Hobby Stock champion Steve Martin currently has a 37 point lead over one time Main Event winner Jeremy Langenderfer, 245-208. Langendefer is not too comfortably ahead of Cody Bundy in the race for second, 208-184. Bundy is driving the #12 car previously driven by Hood, who finds himself too busy with promotional duties to get much racing time. Mel Beyers is holding a one point lead over Earl Adams, 137-136 in the race for fourth. With Brad Ray, Jason Armstrong and Shannon Collin also on the winner's list, we have yet to see a repeat winner in the competitive class.


While the Hobby Stock division is one of the stronger classes at the track, Micro Sprint racing is still trying to establish a car count this year. There is a nice battle going on between point leader Skyler Richter and reigning champion Jeromie Crismon in the 600 Micro Sprint division. Richter leads Crismon, 162-156. In the last few years, these two drivers have been battling for supremacy in this class. A feature winner last season, Tony Alosi runs third in the standings with a 108-103 margin over Dean Slinkard. Meanwhile, Andrew Love leads the 250 class by a wide margin over Dave McKinnon, 192-103. McKinnon finds himself leading Robert Baker by just two points, 103-101, and reigning champion Jessie Garland is only 8 points out of second


Considering that Rich Hood and his crew got a late start in getting everything ready, they've done a great job of getting Orland Raceway back up and running with five races in the books. Five more races remain on the schedule, but there is word that Hood is negotiating possible additional dates and also considering adding other divisions to the mix.


For now, Hobby Stocks, Mini Stocks, Mini Trucks and the two Micro Sprint Car classes are on the schedule for this Saturday night. Gates open at 5:00 p.m with the first race to start at 7:00 p.m. General Admission is $7:00 with children 7-12 just $5.00. Children six and under are free. For further information, go to www.orlandraceway.org.


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Former announcer and magazine publisher and co-founder of Spec Sprints... Fighting to preserve racing history and honor the greats who made it so special... As long as we still have local race tracks, the sport has a future... Let's make it a good one!
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