By Dick Jordan
Venues in North Carolina, Indiana and California will host a total of four USAC Ford Focus programs this week as the 2011 championship point battles continue to rage.
The Bryant Heating & Cooling Indianapolis Speedrome hosts Wednesday night’s Focus and Focus Young Guns events, while Friday’s races are at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif. and Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, N.C. Saturday events are planned at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Santa Maria (Calif.) Speedway.
James Robertson of Indianapolis, Ind. and Sam McGhee of Camby, Ind. earned USAC feature wins Saturday night at Columbus Motor Speedway. Robertson passed Jarett Andretti on lap 18 of the 30-lap Midwest/Eastern Ford Focus race and led the rest of the way to beat Austin Prock, Scott Hunter, Andretti and Tyler Cottongim. McGhee was the last of three leaders in the 15-lap Focus Young Guns main event, leading the last three laps to beat Tyler Shullick, Stevie Kuhn, Ty Rose and Justen Garmenn. Rose and Shullick also led the race. Robertson, Andretti, Shullick and McGhee all emerged with respective series point leads
Tyler Dolacki of Madera, Calif. and Parker Colston of Lake Elsinore, Calif. scored USAC feature wins at Bakersfield Speedway Saturday night. Dolacki won the 25-lap Western Ford Focus feature, leading the final four laps after passing Jet Davison on lap 22. Davison took second after leading three laps of the race, followed by Daniel Williams, Robert Dolacki and Jarid Blondel. Kyle Edwards, who was sixth, led the first 18 laps. In the accompanying 25-lap Focus Young Guns race, Colston fought off the repeated challenges of runner-up Cole Custer. Custer led the first 11 laps, Colston led the next six and Custer led one before Colston took over for good on lap 19
Brodie Kostecki of Roseville, Calif. swept both ends of Saturday night’s “Al Pombo Classic” USAC Ford Focus and Focus Young Guns events at Madera Speedway. Kostecki passed Alex Jacobsen on lap 23 and led the final eight laps of the 30-lap Ford Focus race, then passed Trevor Hunt on lap 11 and led the final five laps of the 15-lap Young Guns main event. In the Ford Focus feature, Jessica Clark took second ahead of Ricky Bowers, Paul Graham and Alex Jacobsen. Hunt was second ahead of Bowers in the Young Guns main
Gregg Fuette of West Valley City, Utah led all 25 laps to win Saturday night’s USAC Western/Utah Ford Focus feature at Rocky Mountain Raceways. Jim Waters took second at the checkered flag, ahead of fast qualifier Chuck Groat, Ron Duncombe and Austin Luttmer. Waters sits atop the series standings.
USAC NATIONAL FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jessica Clark-468; 2-Alex Jacobsen-324; 3-Jarid Blondel-303; 4-Jarett Andretti-303; 5-Brandon White-294; 6-Paul Graham-288; 7-Nick Drake-279; 8-J.R. Williams-279; 9-Jim Waters-273; 10-Austin Luttmer-249.
USAC NATIONAL FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS:
1-Trevor Hunt-459; 2-Brody Kostecki-351; 3-Cole Custer-237; 4-Brandon White-225; 5-Ricky Bowers-207; 6-Parker Colston-171; 7- Christine Breckenridge-150; 8- Tyler Shullick-117; 8-Sam McGhee-114; 10-James Eden-108.0
USAC MIDWESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-James Robertson-137; 2-Ross Rankine-105; 3-Toby Alfrey-97; 4-Jarett Andretti-96; 5-Jessica Bean-82; 6-Joey Greening-75; 7-Bill Kriegbaum-67; 8-Austin Prock-66; 9-Scott Hunter-65; 10-Nick Hamilton-63.
USAC MIDWESTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Tyler Schullick-137; 2-Sam McGhee-135; 3-Stevie Kuhn-123; 4-Justen Garmenn-105; 5-Cooper Clouse-64; 6-Ty Rose-58; 7-Mikell McGee-54; 8-Emmy Gray-48.
USAC EASTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jarett Andretti-311; 2-Nick Drake-256; 3-Scott Hunter-250; 4-Orry Hunte-224; 5-Austin Prock-222; 6-Steven Intravaia-221; 7-Chris Lamb-215; 8-Tyler Corriher-136; 9-Nic Davidson-132; 10-Billy Gaule-83.
USAC EASTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Sam McGhee-73; 2-Tyler Shullick-70; 3-Jared Irvan-68; 4-Brendon Bock-64; 5-Stevie Kuhn-64; 6-Trey Hutchens-59; 7-Ty Rose-58; 8-Mikell McGee-57; 9-Justen Garmenn-55.
USAC WESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jessica Clark-517; 2-Alex Jacobsen-341; 3-Jarid Blondel-332; 4-Brandon White-330; 5-Paul Graham-323; 6-Jim Waters-258; 7-J.R. Williams-257; 8-Kyle Bailey-250; 9-Tyler Dolacki-238; 10-Austin Luttmer-231.
USAC WESTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Trevor Hunt-544; 2-Brody Kostecki-419; 3-Cole Custer-269; 4-Brandon White-264; 5-Ricky Bowers-245; 6-Parker Colston-190; 7-Christine Breckenridge-166; 8- James Eden-122; 9-Marina Turner-113; 10-Keegan Walmer-79.
USAC UTAH FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jim Waters-327; 2-Austin Luttmer-295; 3-Gregg Fuette-275; 4-Chuck Groat-275; 5-Jessica Clark-246; 6-Jeff Kelley-232; 7-Brandon White-231; 8-Paul Graham-213; 9-Michael Daniels-206; 10-Cheyenne Torgerson-186.