By Dick Jordan
The USAC Western, Utah and Eastern Ford Focus Series compete this weekend. Saturday’s race at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City affords points toward the Western and Utah series, while Saturday’s race at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway is next up for the Eastern series.
Defending USAC National Ford Focus Champion Nick Drake of Mooresville, N.C. scored a dramatic last-lap victory in Saturday night’s 40-lap Eastern Ford Focus race at Dillon (S.C.) Motor Speedway. Jarett Andretti and Scott Hunter, who had battled for lead in the closing laps, slipped to second and third at the checkered flag, with Eric Coomes taking fourth ahead of Steven Intravaia. Tyler Corriher led the first two laps, Andretti then led the next 30 and Hunter led for seven before Drake emerged the victor.
Jarid Blondel sits atop the 2011 National and Western Ford Focus standings, while Drake’s victory at Dillon put him on top of the Eastern rankings.
USAC NATIONAL FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jarid Blondel-210; 2-Jessica Clark-201; 3-Brandon White-198; 4-Paul Graham-183; 5-Ricky Bowers-150; 6-Alex Jacobsen-144; 7-Ross Rankine-120; 8-Wally Pankratz-108; 9-Jake Swanson-105; 10-Cody Gerhardt-102.
USAC EASTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Nick Drake-75; 2-Jarett Andretti-72; 3-Scott Hunter-66; 4-Eric Coomes-60; 5-Austin Prock-58; 6-Chris Lamb-58; 7-Steven Intravaia-57; 8-Tyler Corriher Jr.-52; 9-Orry Hunte-43; 10-Billy Gaule-43.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jarid Blondel-232; 2-Jessica Clark-227; 3-Brandon White-227; 4-Paul Graham-207; 5-Ricky Bowers-169; 6-Alex Jacobsen-160; 7-Ross Rankine-137; 8-Wally Pankratz-112; 9-Jake Swanson-111; 10-Daniel Williams-109.
USAC UTAH FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jessica Clark-189; 2-Brandon White-173; 3-Paul Graham-148; 4-Jake Swanson-111; 5-Cody Gerhardt-107; 6-Ricky Bowers-104; 7-Alex Jacobsen-96; 8-Jimmy Moon-95; 9-Ross Rankine-66; 10-Tim Skoglund-62.