By Steven Blakesley
Full standings online at: http://www.stevenblakesley.com/news/7.24-sprintcarpoll.html
Stephen Allard has been the hottest driver in the state of California, at least according to our media panel on the California Sprint & Midget Power Poll. After just recently cracking the top-ten, Allard used a string of success at Placerville to leap-frog to #1 on our charts for the first time. Allard won the feature at Placerville Speedway last Saturday night, which included Tommy Tarlton and Andy Forsberg.
Mike Spencer’s inactivity with a lack of USAC/CRA races in July dropped him from the top spot. Ryan Bernal maintained fourth despite a light schedule recently as well. Tommy Tarlton has finally made his way into the top-ten thanks to back-to-back Johnny Key Classic qualifier wins at Ocean Speedway.
Also new to the list is Billy Wallace, who has quietly won five of his 11 starts this year to now rank 9th overall. Wallace topped a strong 18 car field at Marysville on Saturday night over 10th place in the poll Colby Wiesz.
About the CA Sprint Car & Midget Power Poll:
Eligible drivers come from any injected winged or non-wing Sprint Car division in the state along with full Midgets as well.
The poll includes top-ten lists from various media members including site editor Steven Blakesley, photographer Chris Cleveland, announcers Troy Henning, Ron Lingron, and Bill Sullivan, King of the West PR guru Gary Thomas, and driver PR specialist PJ Petersen. A statistical analysis of California racing stats by Jeff Bye, Jr. is combined with the media poll to create a current picture of the top-10 drivers in the state.
Power polls will be released every first and third Tuesday throughout the racing season until the first week of December, when StevenBlakesley.com will crown a California Sprint & Midget Power Poll” champion for the season.