A handful of area dirt-track points championships have already been decided and the rest will play out over the next two weekends. Here's a look at the points championships that will be finalized over the next 10 days:
CHATEAU RACEWAY
USRA MODIFIEDS
The Leader: Jason Cummins (New Richland), with 1,211 points, holds a 69-point lead. He has five feature wins, including each of the past three weeks. He has finished in the top four in 11 of his 12 starts this season.
Next in line: Josh Mattick (Austin) is 69 points behind Cummins and is the only driver remaining, aside from Cummins, with a chance to win the track title.
ADVERTISEMENT
The storyline: Track points are finalized after tonight's races and Cummins simply needs to take the green flag in tonight's feature to wrap up the championship. He has either won or finished second in eight of his 12 feature starts. Mattick has hung in the race despite no feature wins. He has one runner-up finish and seven top-five finishes in 12 features.
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODIFIEDS
The Leader: Brandon Davis (Medford), with 823 points, has clinched the track title. The final points race is tonight.
Next in line: Greg Pfeifer Jr. of Austin has a lock on second place, with 749 points, while Stewartville's Cody Gardner has a solid grasp on third place with 668.
The storyline: Davis, the Wissota national points leader, has the track championship wrapped up. He won an astounding 10 features in 15 starts this season. His ninth-place finish this past Friday was the only feature at Chateau all season in which he didn't finish in the top three. Pfeifer, though he hasn't won a feature, has been nearly as consistent as Davis. He has 13 top-four finishes in 15 starts, with five runner-up finishes.
WISSOTA STREET STOCKS
The Leader: AJ Zvorak (Blooming Prairie) has 796 points, and a 59-point lead in the standings, entering the final two weeks of points races for Street Stocks.
Next in line: Brownsdale's Dan Holland is Zvorak's closest competitor, though he has a lot of ground to make up. He's 59 points back with two points races to go.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mathematically alive:Ryan Goergen (Stacyville, Iowa) is 75 points back, Jesse Stahl of Austin is 86 points back and Mike Blowers of Waseca is 107 points back.
The storyline: The only realistic way Zvorak does not win the points title is if he doesn't race each of the next two weeks. He's back on a winning streak after a red-hot start to the season, winning three features and all five of his heat races in the first five nights of racing. He has five total feature wins at Chateau this summer.
PURE STOCKS
The Leader: Jason Newkirk (Austin) leads the tightest points race at the track, with 782 points. He has a 20-point edge with two points races remaining.
Next in line: Stacy Krohnberg (Walters, Minn.) is on Newkirk's heels. Krohnberg is attempting to track down Newkirk while holding off third-place points sitter Dylan Nelson of Freeborn. Nelson is just 14 points out of second place and 34 out of first.
The storyline: Newkirk has three feature wins this season and has placed in the top 10 in all 15 feature races. He has finished outside of the top five in three of the past six features, but he had a clean sweep a week ago, winning his heat and the feature. Krohnberg has been steady, as well, finishing in the top seven in 14 of 15 features. Krohnberg has one feature win and two heat wins.
OTHER CLASSES
Champions crowned: Points champions were decided in three classes last week. Terry Blowers of Waseca breezed to the Sr. Hornets championships, topping Kasson's Gary Stahl by 50 points. Casey Trom of Zumbrota beat Cole Lonergan of Dexter by 21 points for the Junior Hornets title, and Chris Adams of Stacyville, Iowa, became the first IMCA Stock Cars season champion at Chateau. He edged Dan Mackenthun of Hamburg by six points. Merlyn Hegland of Rudd, Iowa, finished third, just 17 points back.
ADVERTISEMENT
• • • • • • • • • •
DEER CREEK SPEEDWAY
USRA MODIFIEDS
The Leader: Just as he will tonight at Chateau, Jason Cummins of New Richland will wrap up the track championship just by taking the green flag for Saturday's feature.
Next in line: Winona's Josh Angst is the only driver with a chance to catch Cummins. He sits 87 points back of the leader with one race to go.
The storyline: Cummins hasn't been dominant in terms of feature wins (three in 15 starts), but he's consistently had one of the fastest two or three cars. He has 12 top-five finishes this season and only once has finished outside the top 10. Angst has had an up-and-down season, finishing outside the top-10 four times, but he has finished all 16 features, with five top-five finishes. Mike Sorensen, who has the most feature wins in the class this year (five) could finish anywhere from second to fourth.
WISSOTA LATE MODELS
The Leaders: In the closest points race at the track, Mike Prochnow of Menomonie, Wis., holds just a four-point lead over Kelly Anderson of Hager City, Wis.
ADVERTISEMENT
Next in line: Anderson trails Prochnow, 702-698, after last week's feature, in which Anderson placed second and Prochnow fourth.
Mathematically alive: Nick Herrick of Dodge Center, who won track titles in 2007 and 2008, is 39 points behind Prochnow. Kyle Jumbeck of Houston, a rookie in the Late Model class this year, is fourth in points, 51 back of Prochnow.
The storyline: Prochnow — who is third in points at his hometown track, Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie — hasn't won this season, but he also has only failed to crack the top-10 in a feature once since the middle of May. Anderson has two wins, and nearly picked up a third last week, finishing second to Brad Waits. In order for Anderson to win the points title, he'll need to match Prochnow's finish in the heat races, then finish more than four spots ahead of him in the feature.
WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS
The Leader: Defending track co-champion Cole Queensland of Grand Meadow is in position to repeat, with 901 points entering Saturday's races.
Next in line: Rochester's Jeff Brauer, who tied Queensland for the track title a year ago, is second with 880 points. He is the only driver who can catch Queensland for the championship.
The storyline: Queensland has won an astounding half of his feature race starts (eight of 16) and has finished second or third in five other features. Brauer has been equally impressive and consistent. He has won three times and finished outside of the top five just once in 16 features.
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODIFIEDS
ADVERTISEMENT
The Leader: It's the same story at Deer Creek as it is at Chateau: Brandon Davis of Medford has the track championship wrapped up, entering the final points race with 909 points.
Next in line: Jerry Young of Blooming Prairie has second place clinched; he's 71 points behind Davis.
The storyline: In 17 features at Deer Creek, Davis has won five times and placed second seven times. He has 15 top-four finishes. Young is coming on strong at the end of the season. He has three wins this year total and has finished first or second in all three features at Deer Creek in August. Bryan Hernandez is third, 143 points back of Davis, and Stewartville's Cody Gardner — who is second in Wissota Rookie of the Year points — is fourth.
WISSOTA STREET STOCKS
The Leader: Wissota national points leader Danny Hanson of Alma, Wis., needs only to take a green flag once on Saturday to clinch the track title.
Next in line: AJ Zvorak of Blooming Prairie, the 2008 Deer Creek champion, sits 54 points behind Hanson.
The storyline: Hanson has been the driver to beat locally and nationally this summer. At Deer Creek, he has eight wins and five runner-up finishes in 16 feature races. In all, Hanson has 26 feature wins in 2010, including seven at Dodge County Speedway in Kasson and nine at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis.
USRA B MODIFIEDS
ADVERTISEMENT
The Leader: Brandon Hare of Elma, Iowa, has wrapped up the first-ever Deer Creek track championship awarded in this class. He has 1,497 points.
Next in line: Kylie Kath, a 14-year-old from Owatonna, is second to Hare, 193 points back. Colter Deutsch of Ellsworth, Iowa, is third, 262 points behind Hare.
The storyline: Hare has been the class of the USRA B Mods division this season, winning eight of 16 features. He also leads the USRA national points standings and has 18 total feature victories. No other driver has more than one victory in this class at Deer Creek this season.
• • • • • • • • • •
DODGE COUNTY SPEEDWAY
(Note: All track titles at Dodge County, other than USRA Mods, will be finalized on Sept. 5)
WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS
The Leader: Jeff Brauer of Rochester leads the closest race at any area track, holding a one-point edge (483-482) over Brett Dulas of Waseca with just one night of points racing remaining, Sept. 5.
Next in line: Tony Bloom of Rochester is third, 26 points behind Brauer.
Mathematically alive: Kasson's Josh Bartel sits fourth in the points standings, 43 points behind Brauer.
The storyline: Brauer has been the most consistent driver in the class, with two wins, three runner-up finishes and eight top-fives in 10 starts. He's attempting to hold off Dulas, who hasn't won a feature this season, but he has seven top-five finishes and a pair of heat victories.
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODIFIEDS
The Leader: Medford's Brandon Davis has his third track title wrapped up, with a 130-point lead with one race remaining. Davis also has titles clinched at Chateau and Deer Creek.
Next in line: Josh Crary is second, 130 points behind Davis, while Billy Steinberg is third, 161 back.
The storyline: Davis has clearly been the best driver at Dodge County this summer, winning eight of 10 features and nine of 10 heat races he has been in. He has an eye-popping 33 feature wins this season, including at least one win at six different tracks.
WISSOTA STREET STOCKS
The Leader: Wissota national points leader Danny Hanson of Alma, Wis., has the championship clinched, with 599 points.
Next in line: Rick Lisowski of West Concord is Hanson's closest pursuer, 75 points back. Jesse Baer of Minnesota Lake still has a chance to take second place; he's just 12 points behind Lisowski.
The storyline: Hanson has controlled the points race in this class from the start. He has won seven of 11 features at the track this season. His other four finishes: three runner-up finishes and a third-place effort. He also has seven heat race wins.
USRA B MODIFIEDS
The Leader: Brandon Hare of Elma, Iowa, has the title clinched with 1,159 points.
Next in line: Ben Moudry of Protivin, Iowa, is second with 1,001 points, while Kylie Kath of Owatonna is just seven points behind Moudry.
The storyline: Hare makes it a clean sweep of track titles in southeastern Minnesota in the first summer that Dodge County and Deer Creek have allowed B Mods to run for points. Hare won seven of 12 features at Dodge County this summer.
HORNETS
The Leader: Jason McShane of Waseca holds leads a pack of four drivers who could still win the track title. He has 503 points.
Next in line: Pete Muenkel of Byron is just 12 points behind McShane, with 491.
Mathematically alive: Terry Blowers of Waseca (22 points behind McShane) and Gary Stahl of Kasson (34 points back) still have an outside shot to catch the leader.
JR. HORNETS
The Leader: Casey Trom of Zumbrota has the track title clinched.
The storyline: Trom holds a 58-point lead over Ryan Stucky of Kenyon with one race left. Michaela Stucky is just three points out of second place.
USRA MODIFIEDS
Champion crowned: Josh Angst of Winona edged Steve Wetzstein of West Concord for the track title by two points, 910-908. The regular season wrapped up for the USRA Mods on July 25. The final races of the season, set for Sept. 5, will feature the United States Modified Touring Series.
