Newswire

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – A Duke is king of the Pennsylvania Sprint Series. Third-year RaceSaver driver Kenneth Duke topped points for the IMCA-sanctioned winged tour, with a win and 12 more top five finishes in 25 PASS tour dates. “It’s a tough series here in Pennsylvania,” noted Duke, from Selinsgrove. “When you get 25-30 cars a night, it’s hard to get a lot of wins.” He raced go-karts up and down the East Coast before 11 seasons in the micro sprints. The Rac­eSaver cars caught his eye one night at Clinton County Motor Speedway. “We decided we wanted to give them a try but could never afford it until we started watching the 305s at Clinton County,” Duke said. “It was kind of surprising at first with the difference in horse­power. I really think the key was that I started to understand the car, what it needed to go fast and get­ting seat time on bigger tracks.” “After running micro sprints on quarter-miles, running on 3/8- and half-mile tracks took a little get­ting used to,” he [Read More]

DAYTON, Va. – A feature win in North Carolina proved the highlight of Jerald Harris’ third consecutive Virginia Sprint Series championship campaign. Harris already had victories at Eastside Speedway and Shenandoah Speedway before taking the much-hoped for IMCA EMI RaceSaver tour checkers at Dixieland Speedway. “We’ve tried for years to win there,” said Harris, who thought way outside the box ahead of the Aug. 12 event. “I was just trying a setup that went away from how you should set up a Sprint Car and it worked. And after our heat race, all I did was change a pound or two of air pressure.” While his win total was down from five in 2014 and six last year, the Dayton, Va., driver was consistent enough throughout the year to edge Anthony Linkenhoker for the series crown despite breaking and being scored 10th on championship night. “Each year it gets harder to win in this series. We were happy we won it again. There was some luck involved,” he said. “Some nights were easy and some were [Read More]

OAKLEY, Calif. – Kellen Chadwick had a feeling that he could be competitive in the Wild West Shoot Out. He didn’t anticipate winning four of the six $1,000 to win Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified tour features in his home state of California, Oregon and Washington. After a runner-up finish on opening night at Southern Oregon Speedway, the Oakley charger took back-to-back checkers at Siskiyou Motor Speedway and Cottage Grove Speedway. He was 15th on night two at Cottage Grove and Willamette Speedway got rained out after he won qualifying heats and redrew the third starting spot in the main event. Chadwick wrapped up the tour crown with wins at Sunset Speedway Park and Willamette Speedway. “We had talked about going on the tour earlier in the year but didn’t decide to go until about a month ahead of time,” he said. “I had been to all the tracks before except Willamette.  I’d raced at Southern Oregon’s Lon Skinner Memorial and done well and had won before at Elma and Cottage Grove. While a record [Read More]

PACE, Fla. – At the end of a nerve-wracking finale, Jason Barnhill became a repeat champion in the Bay Area Emerald Coast Tour. Locked in a tight battle with Kyle Rutkoski for the Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified series crown, Barnhill had to race his way through the Sept. 24 field at Southern Raceway after exiting to replace a cut tire and restarting at the back. His fourth place finish gave him a one-point edge over Rutkoski in the final tour standings. “I think the second championship was more satisfying. It was good to know we could back it up and winning it last year wasn’t just luck,” said Barnhill, from Pace, Fla. “One of the biggest things for us this year was maintenance. I spent more time under the car than in it. The two times I finished outside the top five were both drive train issues.” The second annual series returned with dates at Southern, Northwest Florida Speedway and Flomaton Speedway. Barnhill won five of the 15 Bay Area Tour features, including a [Read More]

BROOKFIELD, Mo. – The motto for Hunter Marriott’s 2016 season was “Have race car, will travel.” The Brookfield, Mo., driver was champion of the Kupper Chevrolet Dakota Classic Tour during a season that saw him win Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified series and special events, as well as weekly features in Arizona, Iowa, Wisconsin and North Dakota. “Winning the tour championship was pretty awesome. The more work we put into it, the better we got. We got a ton of races, we’ve got a good team and we learned a lot,” said Marriott, who traveled to a staggering 28 different tracks over the course of 46 starts. “I believe if you can unload at someplace you’ve never been and race well, you become a better driver. You’ve got to be a traveler.” Marriott prevailed in a record-setting tour that saw an average of better than 90 entries a night. He followed the main event win at Williston Basin Speedway with a runner-up showing at Southwest Speedway and wrapped up the title by finishing third at [Read More]

JACKSON, Wy. – The opportunity to travel helped Chris Clark decide the Xtreme Motor Sports IMCA Modified division was right for him. Following a stellar 2016 season, the Jackson, Wy., hotshoe traveled to the IMCA national banquet in Lincoln, Neb., to accept his first track and state awards in the class. “We did some things, especially the first half of the season, when everything I touched turned to gold,” said Clark, a seven-time feature winner as well as the top driver in track standings at Atomic Motor Raceway and Idaho Falls Raceway, as well as the Allstar Performance Idaho State champion. “I never expected to have a season like this.” His success came aboard a 2012 GRT Clark has driven for three years. He’d purchased the car from perennial top runner and former Wild West Tour foe Justen Yeager. “Justen really helped with the learning curve. Buying that car and stepping up in other areas of our program, from custom built shocks and other components and even a better seat from The Joie of Seating [Read More]