It is the first of July, my lovely wife Christine's birthday, and the mid-point of the racing season here in the Midwest, so let's take a look at how the state points are shaping up for 2010.
All Iowa Points
Ray Guss Jr. appears to be well on his way to his second straight, and fifth overall Late Model title as he is just one point shy of doubling up the point total that second-place driver Terry Neal has. Not counting last night's Deery show at Independence, "The River City Hustler" has already notched ten feature wins and twenty-three top-five finishes. Very impressive numbers for a full season, let alone a half of one that has been plagued by rain! Craig Preble's seven wins out at I-80 has him in third with Mark Burgtorf and Jeff Aikey completing the top five.
The Modified race is shaping up to be a good one with five names that we haven't seen at the top of the list before leading the way. Richie Gustin sits atop the standings right now on the strength of eleven feature wins while Michael Long and his ten feature wins ranks second. Jacob Waterman from Davenport and Jimmy Cole from Sioux City are tied for third while Quad Cities driver Doug Crampton ranks fifth. Defending champion Jeremy Mills lurks in the sixth spot and could still make a run to repeat.
In the Stock Cars Dustin Smith is looking for his third straight All Iowa Points title and he holds a solid twenty-three point lead over Nathan Wood at mid-season. The 2006 Hobby Stock state champion Donavon Smith sits in third right now one point ahead of Chad Palmer while southeast Iowa driver Jeff Mueller has recently climbed to fifth.
Austin Kaplan and Jesse Sobbing chased Kevin Sather in the Limited Modified standings in 2009, but with Sather making the jump to Late Model this season Kaplan and Sobbing are racing for the front. Young Cayden Carter has been making a lot of noise lately and will likely make it a three driver battle for the top spot and don't count out the next group of drivers Jeremy Embrey, Karl Brewer, Tad Reutzel and Brett Meyer who are not far behind.
Devin Smith is trying to break the two year grip that Shannon Anderson has had on the Hobby Stock points chase and, with thirteen feature wins, Smith currently holds a seventeen-point edge on Anderson. Chad Gentz, Dustin Larson and Michael Murphy are trying to keep pace with the leaders in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
For the second year in a row the most wide-open race is in the Four Cylinder division where only twenty points separate the top eighteen drivers. Defending champion Nate Coopman holds a two-point lead right now over Jay DeVries while Bryce Bailey is only four points back. One note here, the three Simmons Promotions tracks (Farley, West Liberty and Dubuque) did not have their results up until after the Tuesday update and one driver, Tyler Kelly, had a thirteen point weekend in this division. So look for that group near the top to grow even more in the coming weeks.
In the three Sprint Car divisions it is transplanted Aussie Lynton Jeffrey leading the way in the 410's while Jack Dover sets the pace in the 360's. And Ryan Voss is a new name on top of the 305 standings.
A full rundown of the All Iowa Points can be found at PositivelyRacing.com
Missouri
Defending champion Donnie Timmerman has returned to the top of the Late Model standings holding a five-point lead over both Justin Wells and Terry Phillips. Two-time champion Jack Simmons is in fourth and Larry Jones rides fifth.
Jesse Stovall has paced the Modified standings since the start of the season, but his lead has now shrunk to just seven points over STL-area driver Rusty Griffaw. Jason Russell, Dustin Boney and Johnny Bone Jr. are tightly grouped in third, fourth and fifth.
Colt Cheevers has a huge 39-point lead over Steve Muilenberg in the Limited Modifieds with Kenny Harris, Adam Hemby, J.C. Morton and defending champion Brad Smith next in line.
Jesse Hockett won the All Missouri sprint car title in 2009 and was leading the points in 2010 before his tragic death. Randy Martin now leads at mid-season with Jonathan Cornell in second.
In the Limited Late Models you have a brand new leader this week in Vance Wilson. Bob Test is six points back in second followed by Mason Oberkramer, Jamie Robards and Jason Bodenhammer.
It should be noted that we are having troubles getting full results out of three Missouri tracks this season. Butler Motor Speedway only reports its winners, if they even report at all. We can only get the top two or three out of the Dallas County Speedway each week and the Double X Speedway only provides results in a story format that sometimes can be confusing as to who finished where behind the winner. The state points are only as good as the reporting of the results by the tracks, so if your favorite driver doesn't have as many points as you think he should, that is probably the reason why.
A full rundown of the All Missouri Points can be found at PositivelyRacing.com
The big Independence Day weekend of racing kicks off tonight with the Liberty Cup at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson and the debut of the MARS Late Models at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. We hope that you have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend and that you will take in one or more racing events at your area tracks. Support the Sport, Be Positive!!
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