Championship Night Presented By 98.7 The Bull Next For SSP
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of John Tarr)
Banks, Oregon- Saturday September 19th will be the final occasion you will see racing at Sunset Speedway Park in 2015. It has been a year to remember with some exciting action every single week and very few rain outs too. It will all come to a close on Championship Night presented by 98.7 The Bull. Classes in action include the Budweiser IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Dwarf Cars, and 4-Bees.
There are some close races for the championship in some of the divisions. For non-IMCA classes one-hundred-fourteen points are the maximum a driver can earn and twenty points are given to drivers that do not start the main event. For the IMCA sanctioned classes the winner gets forty points in the main event only and it drops down by one position.
If there are less then ten cars then it changes up a little bit. Thirty-seven points are given to the winner if there is seven cars, thirty-six if there is six, thirty-five if there is five, so and so forth.
Craig Cassell and Doug Lockwood enter the final race tied for the Budweiser IMCA Modified championship. Lockwood won the title last year and Cassell was second last season at Willamette Speedway. With the IMCA point format it comes down to who finishes higher then the other in the main event.
It's an equally close race in the IMCA Sport Mods between Pamela Graham and Michael Melton. Graham has a seven point advantage over Melton. Graham has won four wins while Melton has two.
Although he has just won once John Ireland still has retained the point lead for much of the season. He has a nineteen point lead over Brian Roden. Roden has managed to visit victory lane on six occasions.
John Henry is in the safe zone with a one-hundred-twenty point lead in the Pure Stocks. But i'm sure he would like to finish out the year strong and get a win, which would tie for most victories in 2015.
Ryan Martinez has a narrow eleven point lead in the Dwarf Cars. The defending champion has five wins this year. Trailing him closely is Shane Youngren who has won once.
Finally Chris Batalgia will look to secure the 4-Bee championship. He has a healthy lead of eighty-seven markers over William Wolfe. Batalgia has dominated in main event competition with five wins. Wolfe has visited the winner's circle twice this year.
Pit Gates will open at 2:00 PM, Front Gates open at 4:00, and racing starts at 6:30 each night. Tickets are Adults $13.00, Seniors/Military/Juniors (13-18) $10.00, Youths (Ages 12-6) $5.00, and Children under the age of 5 are FREE and a family pass will be offered for two Adults and up to four Youths for just $35.00. Log on to www.sunsetspeedwaypark.com for the latest news and information about SSP.