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Top Ten Hottest Drivers of the Week
10. Jessica Zemken: It's been quite a while since we've had the opportunity to see a driver run the alphabet with the World of Outlaws. After spinning during qualifying on Tuesday night at the Ohsweken Speedway, JZ was forced to start back in the tenth position in her heat, and after failing to get to a transfer spot found herself in the C-Main. Usually when a driver finds themselves in a World of Outlaws C-Main it means they have almost no chance of making the show. However, no one told Jessica this. Zemken would easily take the checkered flag in the C Feature, moving on to start 13th in the B-Main. To make the A-Main, Jessica would have to get herself all the way to the fourth position, and she did just that, qualifying herself for the main event. However, Jessica did not stop here. After starting in the 24th position, Jessica would become the first female driver in quite a while to earn a World of Outlaws Hard Charger award, advancing 17 spots to finish in the 7th position, passing names such as one-time World of Outlaws Champion Danny Lasoski (last week's Hottest Driver), 2005 Knoxville Nationals Champion Kraig Kinser, 2008 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year Lucas Wolfe, and soon to be 2009 Rookie of the Year Brian Ellenberger. Zemken also had gotten by Joey Saldana before he was able to get back around her. What makes this so impressive is that JZ has only had a 410 under the hood three times this year. All three were against the World of Outlaws, and two out of three were Top Ten's. It's a shame that Jessica had motor problems on Wednesday night, because it could have been three out of three.
9. Randy Hannagan: The "Hurricane" had a busy week, and he started it out on the right foot. Traveling with the All-Stars to the Heartland for the "Thunder Through the Plains" Tour, the 2008 Ohio Speedweek Champion picked up his first All-Star Circuit of Champions Feature win of the season Wednesday night at the US 36 Raceway in Osborne, MO. Hannagan would follow the All-Stars to the historic Belleville High Banks in Kansas, posting the second quickest time of the night Wednesday night on the ultra quick track, one of four clocking in under the previous track record held by Paul McMahon. Hannagan would finish the Feature in fourth, one of only six on the lead lap. However, instead of following the All-Stars to Huset's Saturday night, Hannagan would join a handful of drivers in heading to Knoxville, to do some preparation for the Nationals. Again Randy would be fast in qualifying, posting the second fastest time of the night, and would have a decent finish, posting a top ten at the Knoxville Raceway with a ninth place. It was a long week, but a good way to spend it, as the Knoxville Nationals approaches.
8. Scott Winters: Scott Winters got what was probably the biggest win of his career Saturday night at the Huset's Speedway in Brandon, SD, an ASCoC victory, the first of his career. What a way to defend one's home turf. With Mark Dobmeier having troubles, it looked like the All-Stars were going to have their way with the locals, but the driver of the 23W had other plans. Scott decided that the All-Stars weren't going to repeat the dominance of last year. He thrilled the crowd, taking the checkered flag in front of Gary Wright, putting his name in the ASCoC record books. In fact this night was the exact opposite of last year, in which the All-Stars took the top four positions, with Dobmeier finishing fifth. This year however, the highest finishing All-Star regular was last year's winner, Tim Shaffer. However, Winters was the only local driver to finish in the top 5, getting the win ahead of Wright, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Tony Bruce Jr., and Shaffer. It was too bad that Winters had problems on Sunday night, or his weekend might have been even better.
7. Kerry Madsen: The "Mad-Man" completely decimated the field to Thursday Night at the Belleville High Banks. It was pure domination, as Kerry took the checkered more than seven seconds before second-place Terry McCarl, only allowing six drivers to finish on the lead lap. Madsen even lapped All-Star point Leader Tim Shaffer, who has six wins with the All-Stars this year. It showed haw fast "the Mad-Man" can really be when they have the right set-up under the car. Madsen posted some other solid finishes this week as well, starting off by finishing sixth with the all-stars at US 36 Raceway. After Belleville he would join the handful of drivers heading to Knoxville for the Saturday Night show. Aside from some controversy Madsen was involved in due to a run in with Chris Morgan, Madsen had a strong night finishing fifth. Madsen has now moved into the top 5 in Knoxville Championship Cup 410 points, now sitting 328 points behind leader Johnny Herrera. Kerry seems to have been on the right track lately, posting a feature win during the Twin Features night at Knoxville at the beginning of July, winning an MASS Feature a week ago, and now taking the checkers with the ASCoC at Belleville. We'll have to see if he can carry this momentum into the Knoxville Nationals.
6. Cody Darrah: Darrah took the victory at one of the biggest races of the year held at the Port Royal Speedway, appropriately named the "Dream Race Extreme". With all of Pennsylvania's finest in attendance, the winner was going to have to be on their top game. Forty cars showed up, one of the biggest PA Posse fields assembled all year, even bigger than the field at the William's Grove Summer Nationals. Darrah started the night by timing second fastest, behind 2009 Ohio Speedweek Champion Stevie Smith. But Darrah wouldn't settle for second in the Dream Race, taking the lead from Don Kreitz Jr. on lap 23 and holding off this year's PA Speedweek Champion, Greg Hodnett to claim his first Dream Race victory. The win was worth $15,000, and Cody can add this win to the $25,000 National Open win from last year.
5. Jason Sides: At the same track that Jason Sides was able to get his second career World of Outlaw A-Main Victory, Sides got his third this week, and first of 2009. Sides almost won on the first night at Ohsweken, before cutting down a tire after running over some debris on the track. But Sides would rebound on Wednesday night, making it two out of three at Glenn Styres' Ohsweken Speedway. Sides has been knocking on the door all year, with four second place finishes, fourteen top fives and 31 Top Tens this season. Sides has improved so much over last year, now sitting at sixth in World of Outlaws points. Now it is up to "Double Down" Jason Sides to try to make 2009 his first ever multiple win season with the World of Outlaws.
4. Tyler Walker: With two races left to go in the Golden State Challenge Series King of California season, Tyler Walker has tied the Single-Season Wins record of eight set in 2004 by Tim Kaeding. Walker picked up win number eight of the 2009 GSC season at the Petulama Speedway on saturday night. He also stretched his point lead out to what can now be said to be a "small" bit of breathing room, as his point lead has now moved into the double digits. However, the GSC points battle is still extremely close, with Tyler walker sitting just 16 points ahead of second-place Jonathan Allard, and 18 points ahead of third place Brent Kaeding. Thus, Tyler will have to continue has strong runs if he wants to win his first ever King of California series Title. It might even take Tyler a recond-breaking ninth A-Main Feature win to do so.
3. Jason Meyers: With Saldana faltering lately, Meyers seems to be the only person with any chance of beating Donny Schatz for the 2009 World of Outlaws Championship. And with Meyers sitting 50 points behind Schatz added to the fact that Schatz has been as strong as ever over the last couple of weeks, one might even say that is a slim chance. Regardless of what kind of shot Meyers has for this year's Outlaw Title, he did have a very strong week, posting three Top Five Finishes in three World of Outlaws events held this week. The first of these Top Fives was also a notch on the wins column, as Meyers held off his rival, Donny Schatz, at the Ohsweken Speedway for his fifth win of the season. On the second night, Meyers would have to settle for a fourth-place finish, which he would match at the K-C Raceway in Chillicothe, OH, completing a trifecta of Top fives with the World of Outlaws. There was only one other driver that did that this week…..
2. Terry McCarl: No McCarl wasn't that other driver, you'll have to keep reading, but McCarl was the only 410 driver in the country to post two wins this week. McCarl, like Hannagan and Madsen began his week following the All-Stars as they thundered through the plains. He would start out with a decent seventh place finish at the U.S. 36 Raceway. But would set a blistering fast new track record at the Belleville High Banks, turning the fastest lap ever in the tracks 99 year history. However, McCarl would run into a "Mad-Man" in the A-Main, being no match for Madsen's dominance. However, Madsen would be no match for McCarl on Saturday night at the Knoxville, as McCarl finally was able to pick up a regular weekly show win at the Sprint Car Capital of the world. Unlike, Hannagan and Madsen, McCarl would head to Huset's for the Sunday night All-Star show. Neither the All-Stars nor the locals were any match for TMAC, who as a former local driver at Huset's, is the tracks all-time winningest driver, getting win number 82 this week. It was also McCarl's second All-Star A Feature win of 2009, and the thirteenth of his career. McCarl has been extremely strong this year, and seems to be the most likely person to defeat Schatz at the Knoxville Nationals this year, but this will be no easy task.
Hottest Driver of the Week- Donny Schatz: For the third time, Schatz is the hottest driver of the week. He was one of only two drivers to finish in the top five in all three World of Outlaws events this week, with a first, and two second-place finishes. This was just a bit stronger than Meyers first and two fourths. However, due to Meyers strong qualifying efforts, Meyers was actually able to gain one point on the three time and defending World of Outlaws Champion. However, to finish in the top two in three World of Outlaws races in a row is just too strong for anyone else to sit at the top this week. Schatz finished in the runner-up spot both nights at the Ohsweken Speedway, and then would continue his dominance at the K-C Raceway, making it four wins in the last seven Outlaw appearances in Chillicothe, OH. And Schatz enters the Week of the Nationals on a hot streak. It seems very likely that Schatz will make it four Nationals in a row, and move in to make four World of Outlaws Championships in a row. As Schatz has never won them separately, next Saturday night could be a good forecast the World of Outlaws season will end.
Honorable Mention: Jimmy Nier, Aaron Higgins, Bryan Sebetto, Brock Mayes, Gregg Bakker
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