By Dick Jordan
California, Utah and Ohio play host to USAC Ford Focus races this weekend, one of the busiest of the year for the Focuses and Focus Young Guns with eight total events on tap.
Jessica Clark and Trevor Hunt continue to lead the respective Ford Focus and Focus Young Guns National points following races held last week.
James Robertson (Midwest) and Nick Drake (Eastern) are atop the Ford Focus points entering this Saturday’s races at the Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway. Tyler Shullick (Midwest) and Jared Irvan (Eastern) are the respective Focus Young Guns leaders going into the Columbus program which offers both Midwestern and Eastern points.
Jim Waters is the Utah leader going into Saturday’s races at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Clark and Hunt are on top of the Western Ford Focus and Focus Young Guns points entering Western races Saturday at Madera (Calif.) Speedway and Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway.
Austin Luttmer of West Jordan, Utah finally found the winners circle Saturday night, scoring his initial USAC Ford Focus feature victory at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City. Luttmer led all 25 laps to beat Michael Daniels, Jim Waters, Gregg Fuette and Jeff Kelley. Chuck Groat was Saturday’s fastest qualifier.
USAC National Ford Focus Champion Nick Drake of Mooresville, N.C. is the new point leader in the Eastern Ford Focus series after his 40-lap feature win at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C. Saturday night. Piloting the Troy Cline Haas Automation Beast, Drake caught Jarett Andretti on lap 11 and led the final 30 laps for the victory. Chris Lamb was second, ahead of Steven Intravaia, Orry Hunte and Nic Davidson. Fast qualifier Andretti was sixth
James Robertson of Indianapolis, Ind. piloted Gregg Steele’s Duane and Sonja Alexander Beast to victory in Wednesday night’s 50-lap USAC Midget Ford Focus feature at the Bryant Heating & Cooling Indianapolis Speedrome. Toby Alfrey led the first seven laps until Robertson made the winning pass. Robertson led the remaining 43 laps to beat Nick Hamilton, Nike Drake, Ross Rankine and Alfrey. Tyler Shullick of Vermillion, Ohio led all 30 laps of the Focus Young Guns feature in his Shullick Racing Beast to beat Cooper Clouse, Sam McGhee, Stevie Kuhn and Mikell McGee to the flag
The 2011 USAC Eastern Ford Focus schedule has increased by five events as a result of one re-schedule and four additional dirt-track races. The re-schedule involves the May 18 race at Hickory (NC) Motor Speedway which has been re-scheduled for Saturday, June 18 at the .363-mile paved oval. East Lincoln Speedway in Stanley, N.C. will host the first dirt-track events in recent history of the Eastern series on Saturday, July 16, Monday, July 25, Saturday, July 30 and Monday, August 15
Due to recent rainouts, Stockton (Calif.) 99 Speedway has switched its June 18 USAC Western Ford Focus/Focus Young Guns “doubleheader” to July 30.
In related news, the “Ventura” add-on muffler is now mandatory for USAC events at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif. to control noise
USAC NATIONAL FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jessica Clark-411; 2-Nick Drake-279; 3-Alex Jacobsen-276; 4-Jarid Blondel-255; 5-Jarett Andretti-252; 6-Brandon White-249; 7-J.R. Williams-246; 8-Paul Graham-237; 9-Chris Lamb-187; 10-Kyle Bailey-186.
USAC NATIONAL FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS:
1-Trevor Hunt-456; 2-Brody Kostecki-291; 3-Brandon White-225; 4-Cole Custer-180; 5-Ricky Bowers-153; 6-Christine Breckenridge-150; 7-Parker Colston-111; 8-James Eden-108; 9-Marina Turner-99; 10-Mikell McGee-99.
USAC MIDWESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-James Robertson-67; 2-Nick Hamilton-63; 3-Nick Drake-62; 4-Ross Rankine-58; 5-Toby Alfrey-54; 6-Jessica Bean-53; 7-Brunson Behning-47; 8-Joey Greening-43; 9-Bill Kriegbaum-40; 10-Jarett Andretti-38.
USAC MIDWESTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Tyler Schullick-67; 2-Cooper Clouse-64; 3-Sam McGhee-62; 4-Stevie Kuhn-59 ; 5-Mikell McGee-54; 6-Justen Garmenn-50; 7-Emmy Gray-48.
USAC EASTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Nick Drake-256; 2-Jarett Andretti-253; 3-Chris Lamb-215; 4-Scott Hunter-185; 5-Orry Hunte-181; 6-Steven Intravaia-170; 7-Austin Prock-156;8-Tyler Corriher-136 ;9-Nic Davidson-132 ;10-Billy Gaule-83.
USAC EASTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jared Irvan-68; 2-Brendon Bock-64; 3-Trey Hutchens-59; 4-Mikell McGee-57.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jessica Clark-460; 2-Alex Jacobsen-293; 3-Brandon White-285; 4-Jarid Blondel-281; 5-Paul Graham-272; 6-J.R. Williams-257; 7-Kyle Bailey-208; 8-Keegan Walmer-188; 9-Jim Waters-188; 10-Wally Pankratz-180.
USAC WESTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Trevor Hunt-533; 2-Brody Kostecki-345; 3-Brandon White-264; 4-Cole Custer-204; 5-Ricky Bowers-181; 6-Christine Breckenridge-166; 7-Parker Colston-123; 8-James Eden-122; 9-Marina Turner-113; 10-Keegan Walmer-79.
USAC UTAH FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jim Waters-257; 2-Jessica Clark-246; 3-Austin Luttmer-235; 4-Brandon White-231; 5-Paul Graham-213; 6-Chuck Groat-210; 7-Michael Daniels-206; 8-Gregg Fuette-205; 9-Jeff Kelley-178; 10-J.R. Williams-170.