By Dick Jordan
Ford Focus racing occurs on four fronts this week as 2011 championshIps reach their mid-season point. The Midwest Ford Focus and Focus Young Guns compete Wednesday night in the “Elite 8 Series” program at the Bryant Heating & Cooling Indianapolis (Ind.) Speedrome presented by IUPUI. The Midwest Ford Focuses also join the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Cars at Gas City (Indl) Speedway Friday night as the 2011 Indiana Sprint Week activites begin.
Saturday, Stockton (Calif.) 99 Speedway hosts a “quadrupleheader” featuring the Western Ford Focus, Western Focus Young Guns, Western Classic Sprints and Western Midgets. The Utah Ford Focus series also resumes Saturday at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City.
Nick Drake of Mooresville, N.C. grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag in his Haas Automation Beast and never relinquished it Saturday night as he won the 35-lap USAC Eastern Ford Focus feature at Franklin County Speedway. Chris Lamb was second ahead of series point leader Jarett Andretti, Joey Greening and Nic Davidson.
Andretti, of Mooresville, N.C., wheeled Tracy Trotter’s Ford Focus to victory in Friday night’s 40-lap USAC Eastern Ford Focus feature at Ace Speedway, extending his lead in the Eastern point standings. He passed Tyler Corriher on lap five and led the rest of the way to beat Drake, Austin Prock, Scott Hunter and Corriher.
Jim Waters of Salt Lake City, Utah led all 30 laps to take Saturday night’s USAC Western/Utah Ford Focus feature at Rocky Mountain Raceways. Fast qualifier Chuck Groat took second ahead of Austin Luttmer, Michael Daniels and Kipp Posey. Western point leader Jessica Clark finished sixth.
Ross Rankine of Willard, Ohio and Sam McGhee of Camby, Ind. scored feature victories in Saturday night’s USAC Midwest Ford Focus and Focus Young Guns races at the Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Ill. Rankine passed Gage Walker on lap five and led the final 21 laps to win the 25-lap Ford Focus race, while McGhee led Kuhn for all 25 alps to take the Focus Young Guns victory. Rankine piloted the National pride Beast to win over Gage Walker, James Robertson, Tyler Trainor and Kent Kriegbaum. McGhee drove the Stoops Freightliner/CPM Machine Spike
Robertson, of Indianapolis, Ind., and McGhee claimed USAC feature victories in Wednesday night’s :Elite 8” series at the Bryant Heating & Cooling Indianapolis Speedrome. Robertson passed Joey Greening on lap six and led the final 45 laps of the Midwest Ford Focus feature in his Duane & Sonja Alexander Beast to beat Rankine, Nick Hamilton, Prock and Shane MacMillan. In the accompanying Focus Young Guns race, McGhee grabbed the lead on the second lap and led the rest of the way. Kuhn passed Cooper Clouse for second on the 29th lap and Adam Thomason and Emmy Gray rounded out the top-five
USAC NATIONAL FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jarett Andretti-606, 2-Nick Drake-579, 3-Jessica Clark-513, 4-Ross Rankine-492, 5-Jarid Blondel-405, 6-Tyler Dolacki-378, 7-Austin Prock-351, 8-Daniel Williams-348, 9-Wally Pankratz-339, 10-Jim Waters-333.
USAC NATIONAL FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS:
1-Trevor Hunt-462, 2-Cole Custer-411, 3-Sam McGhee-351, 4-Brody Kostecki-351, 5-Parker Colston-342, 6-Christine Breckenridge-303, 7-Stevie Kuhn-267, 8-Cooper Clouse-228, 9-Brandon White-225, 10-Ricky Bowers-207.
USAC MIDWESTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Ross Rankine-420, 2-James Robertson-311, 3-Toby Alfrey-279, 4-Jarett Andretti-277, 5-Jessica Bean-248, 6-Joey Greening-247, 7-Tyler Shullick-205, 8-Nick Drake-203, 9-Austin Prock-185, 10-Nick Hamilton-178.
USAC MIDWESTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Sam McGhee-403, 2-Stevie Kuhn-306, 3-Cooper Clouse-257, 4-Tyler Schullick-137, 5-Adam Thomason-114, 6-Mikell McGee-113, 7-Emmy Gray-106, 8-Justen Garmenn-105, 9-Ty Rose-58, 10-Michael Fanelli-51.
USAC EASTERN FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jarett Andretti-507, 2-Nick Drake-449, 3-Chris Lamb-333, 4-Steven Intravaia-329, 5-Scott Hunter-308, 6-Austin Prock-283, 7-Orry Hunte-274, 8-Nic Davidson-271, 9-Tyler Corriher-190, 10-Joey Greening-130.
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-574, 2-Jarid Blondel-448, 3-Tyler Dolacki-414, 4-Jim Waters-399, 5-Daniel Williams-374, 6-Wally Pankratz-372, 7-Austin Luttmer-361, 8-Alex Jacobsen-351, 9-Chuck Groat-344, 10-Jet Davison-340.
USAC WESTERN FOCUS YOUNG GUNS POINT STANDINGS
1-Trevor Hunt-548; 2-Cole Custer-461; 3-Brodie Kostecki-419; 4-Parker Colston-383; 5-Christine Breckenridge-329; 6-Brandon White-264; 7-Ricky Bowers-245; 8-Katylnn Leer-222; 9-James Eden-122; 10-Zach Bogner-117.
USAC UTAH FORD FOCUS POINT STANDINGS
1-Jim Waters-399, 2-Austin Luttmer-361, 3-Chuck Groat-344, 4-Gregg Fuette-323, 5-Jessica Clark-296, 6-Jeff Kelley-271, 7-Michael Daniels-268, 8-Brandon White-231, 9-Paul Graham-213, 10-Ron Duncombe-205.