By Steven Blakesley
ELK GROVE, CA – Thanks in large part to Stephen Allard failing to make the Calistoga Civil War feature on Saturday night, there has been a shakeup at the top of the California Sprint & Midget Power Poll. Combine Mike Spencer’s win at Perris Auto Speedway in USAC/CRA with Allard’s stumble, and Spencer managed to take back the lead in the poll.
Kyle Hirst’s recent success in King of the West for Dennis Roth, along with sweeping last weekend’s USAC Western Sprint races at Chico and Placerville, allowed him to jump to third in the poll. Hirst was the highest ranked driver in the media poll but slipped to third in the final tally with his eighth place ranking in the stats department.
Andy Forsberg has jumped four spots up to fourth with great drives across Civil War, Chico, Placerville, and USAC. Tommy Tarlton added his third straight Johnny Key Qualifier win at Ocean Speedway to jump to fifth in the standings.
Mason Moore is the newest member of the poll debuting at seventh. Moore has three straight wins including the ASCS National Tour at Placerville, 410 winged sprints at Chico, and Civil War Sprints at Calistoga.
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.
To see the full top-ten rankings, visit: http://www.stevenblakesley.com/news/8.7-sprintcarpoll.html