By Dick Jordan
Tracks in Concord and Stanley, N.C., Gas City and Montpelier, Ind. and Stockton, Calif. all host USAC Ford Focus activity in the next seven nights as point races continue to heat up.
The Midwest Ford Focuses compete at Gas City I-69 Speedway Friday and the Midwest Ford Focuses and Focus Young Guns join the Mopar D1 Midgets for Saturday’s “tripleheader” at Montpelier Motor Speedway.
Concord Motor Speedway hosts Wednesday’s Eastern Ford Focus/Focus Young Guns “doubleheader,” then a unique “double” unfolds Monday, August 15, at East Lincoln Speedway in Stanley, where each series faces two feature events.
The Western Ford Focus and Focus Young Guns compete at Stockton 99 Speedway Saturday.
Tyler Dolacki of Madera, Calif. and Trevor Hunt of Liberty, Mo. were the feature winners at Santa Maria Speedway Saturday night, but Wally Pankratz of Orange, Calif. (Ford Focus) and Hunt (Focus Young Guns) emerged as champions of this year’s “California Focus Week.” Dolacki caught Pankratz on lap 19 and led the last two laps to beat Pankratz to the checkered flag in the 20-lap Western Ford Focus main. Jarid Blondel, Brodie Kostecki and Daniel Williams completed the top-five. Hunt paced all 20 laps of the Focus Young Guns feature to beat Parker Colston, Kostecki, Christine Breckenridge and Austin Blair.
Jarid Blondel of Orange, Calif. and Trevor Hunt of Liberty, Mo. captured USAC Western Ford Focus and Focus Young Guns features at Ocean Speedway Friday night. Blondel caught Wally Pankratz on the final lap to claim the 20-lap Ford Focus victory over Pankratz. Daniel Williams, Tyler Dolacki and Jet Davison. Hunt passed Kostecki on the fifth lap of the 20-lap Focus Young Guns race and led the last 16 laps to beat Kostecki, Katlynn Leer, Parker Colston and Austin Blair.
James Robertson of Indianapolis, Ind. and Sam McGhee of Camby, Ind. were the victors Friday night in USAC Midwest/Eastern Ford Focus and Midwest Focus Young Guns races respectively at Plymouth Speedway. Robertson led all 100 laps in his Duane and Sonja Alexander Beast after starting on the front row. Ross Rankine ran a close second ahead of Davey Hamilton Jr., Nick Hamilton and Jarett Andretti. In the accompanying 20-lap Midwest Focus Young Guns feature, point leader McGhee came from last starting position to win the race in his Stoops Freightliner/CPM Machine Spike, passing early leader Cooper Clouse on lap eight. Clouse finished second ahead of Michael Fanelli, Kyle Tilley and Stevie Kuhn
Nick Carlson of Norwalk, Calif. led the final eight laps of the abbreviated USAC Western Ford Focus feature Wednesday night during “California Ford Focus Week” at Ventura Raceway. Carlson passed Casey Martinez on lap 10 and was leading when the race was halted after 17 laps due to an accident. Bradley Morris of Perris, Calif. flipped, bringing out the red flag, but he had earlier won the 20-lap USAC Focus Young Guns feature, leading all but the first two laps after passing Zach Bogner on lap three. In the Ford Focus feature, Carlson was trailed by Martinez, Brodie Kostecki, Collin Henry and Tyler Dolacki. Kostecki took second in the Focus Young Guns race ahead of Trevor Hunt, Bogner and Parker Colston.
USAC NATIONAL FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Nick Drake-708, 2-Ross Rankine-693, 3-Jarett Andretti-651, 4-Jessica Clark-618, 5-Tyler Dolacki-594, 6-James Robertson-577, 7-Jarid Blondel-564, 8-Wally Pankratz-558, 9-Jim Waters-543, 10-Daniel Williams-543.
USAC NATIONAL FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS:
1-Cole Custer-480, 2-Sam McGhee-474, 3-Trevor Hunt-474, 4-Brody Kostecki-468, 5-Parker Colston-456, 6-Stevie Kuhn-453, 7-Cooper Clouse-453, 8-Christine Breckenridge-405, 9-Mikell McGee-384, 10-Michael Fanelli-378.
USAC MIDWESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Ross Rankine-742; 2-James Robertson-635; 3-Jarett Andretti-585; 4-Toby Alfrey-553; 5-Jessica Bean-524; 6-Nick Hamilton-506; 7-Nick Drake-488; 8-Joey Greening-427; 9-Tyler Shullick-392; 10-Kent Kriegbaum-290.
USAC MIDWESTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Sam McGhee-540; 2-Stevie Kuhn-501; 3-Cooper Clouse-439; 4-Michael Fanelli-308; 5-Mikell McGee-305; 6-Emmy Gray-285; 7-Cole Custer-163; 8-Tyler Shullick-137; 9-Adam Thomason-114; 10-Justen Garmenn-105.
USAC EASTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Nick Drake-647; 2-Jarett Andretti-605; 3-Scott Hunter-497; 4-Chris Lamb-448; 5-Nic Davidson-406; 6-Austin Prock-387; 7-Steven Intravaia-329; 8-Tyler Corriher-298; 9-Orry Hunte-274; 10-Ross Rankine-211.
USAC EASTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jared Irvan-262; 2-Max McGhee-259; 3-Cole Custer-193; 4-Trey Hutchens-158; 5-Cooper Clouse-117; 6-Mikell McGee-111; 7-Michael Fanelli-104; 8-Tyler Shullick-70; 9-Brendon Bock-64; 10-Stevie Kuhn-64.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jessica Clark-684; 2-Jarid Blondel-674; 3-Tyler Dolacki-655; 4-Jim Waters-653; 5-Wally Pankratz-630; 6-Chuck Groat-618; 7-Daniel Williams-594; 8-Austin Luttmer-577; 9-Brodie Kostecki-568; 10-Jet Davison-504.
USAC WESTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Trevor Hunt-569; 2-Brodie Kostecki-561; 3-Parker Colston-516; 4-Cole Custer-461; 5-Christine Breckenridge-445; 6-Katlynn Leer-380; 7-Brandon White-254; 8-Austin Blair-190; 9-Ricky Bowers-180; 10-James Eden-171.
USAC UTAH FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jim Waters-653; 2-Chuck Groat-618; 3-Austin Luttmer-577; 4-Jeff Kelley-464; 5-Gregg Fuette-441; 6-Ron Duncombe-424; 7-J.R. Williams-366; 8-Michael Daniels-341; 9-Jessica Clark-296; 10-Guy Sainsbury-259.