RACE DAY in the Big Town - I44 Riverside Speedway presents the Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget South Side Showdown and Red River Rumble Part Two! Cody Morris I-44 Riverside Speedway Official Release We are just hours away from an event that several promoting teams have worked extremely hard to put together in an effort that began nearly a month ago. Just a few days ago, the odds of racing tonight looked very minimal due to the remnants of the Pacific Hurricane that destroyed Cabo San Lucas. But weather forecasting is a tricky business, and what was a 90% likelihood of 4-8 inches of rain - fans will observe a beautiful fall night along with a fall classic. Before jumping into racing coverage and details, tonight I-44 Riverside champions a cause for a young family very near and dear to all of us. Tonight we hold the fundraiser for Valerie Foley, wife of our speedway announcer David Foley. Valerie was diagnosed with Renal Failure in late 2007 and has been on a donor list since that time. Her operation is on the horizon and so the fundraising effort has begun in earnest. We will have a Silent Auction tonight with items open for bid in front of the concession stand area. We will also be doing 50/50 ticket sales, as well as encouraging donations as we aim to aid this wonderful family in a time filled with great need and great hope. Also, Jon Jones will have his huge BA Racing Gear trailer at the speedway. Hes bringing his BadAss Racing Gear all the way down from Kansas City - chalk full and loaded with Diecasts, Shirts of all sizes and tons of other apparel and accessories! Tonight the Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget Series champions the 1st South Side Showdown. This marquee event features $1,000 to the winning driver with an equally impressive $125 just to start the 25 lap A Feature. The added start pay is courtesy The Dirty Knuckle Tavern, as this Tulsa, Oklahoma brew house is quickly making their active participation felt in the first full year of POWRi West Midget racing. The South Side Showdown currently has 23 entries, headlined by POWRi West point leader and three time feature winner this season - BROKEN ARROWs Alex Sewell, who has broken out in a sensational 2014 campaign. He will have some sturdy challenger, however, as Fort Worth, Texas sprint car veteran and former ASCS Regional champion Kevin Ramey is set to make his POWRi West debut. Another favorite hails from the Show Me State as Carl Junction, Missouris 2012 POWRi NATIONAL Midget champ Andrew Felker has switched plans to point his rig to the southwest. The full unofficial entry list for tonights POWRi West South Side Showdown: Eric Fenton - Jenks, Oklahoma Jonathon Halford - Tulsa, Oklahoma Kevin Bayer - Bixby, Oklahoma Hannah Adair - Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Alex Sewell - Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Ty Hulsey - Owasso, Oklahoma Austin Shores - Atoka, Oklahoma Grady Chandler - Piedmont, Oklahoma Jason McDougal - Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Coby Hughes - Tulsa, Oklahoma Travis Scott - Washington, Oklahoma Cody Brewer - Choctaw, Oklahoma Evan Sewell - Tulsa, Oklahoma Steven Shebester - Pauls Valley, Oklahoma AJ Burns - Running Springs, California Doug McCune - Fort Worth, Texas Jordan McPherson - Haslet, Texas Zane Lawrence - Lillian, Texas Kevin Ramey - Fort Worth, Texas Nick Bailey - Cabot, Arkansas Tucker Klaasmeyer - Paola, Kansas Pat Schudy - Springfield, Missouri Andrew Felker - Carl Junction, Missouri Also in headlining fashion tonight will be the final act of the two-part 2014 Red River Rumble featuring the finest mini sprint talents in the Lone Star state road tripping north under the Texas Open Wheel Racing series banner to take on the top mini sprints in Oklahoma. The A Class, Non Wing, and Restricted divisions will compete tonight for points in both the TOWR series, as well as I-44 Riversides 2014 Champions Cup. The A Class and Non Wing divisions will compete for a guaranteed $400 to win and $50 to start program, while the Restricted division is eligible for purse increases if more than 15 teams enter that division. The growing and hard charging Junior Sprint and Turf Tire divisions will battle it out to complete the 6 class show. While they arent under TOWRs umbrella, both classes will be eligible for the new purse increase system Riverside has employed for the past 4 shows. The Restricted, Junior Sprint, and Turf Tire divisions see a 40% purse increase when their respective class boasts 15-19 entries, and an 80% purse increase if that blossoms to 20 or more. This is why the highest purse increase is locked in for the A Class and Non Wing divisions, as both classes featured well over 40 entries in the first Red River Rumble back on April 12th. OKC native, but coast to coast racer Trey Marcham (Dirt midget racer by West Coast, asphalt Late Model racer on the East coast) took Non Wing honors that night, while Broken Arrows Factor One Racing standout Jason McDougal scored his first A Class win at Riverside. McDougal rolled on to credited success in winning the A Class portion of the 15th Annual Mini Sprint Nationals just over a month ago (in fact, he scored his third A Class triumph the following week as well). McDougal has been advancing in his rookie season in POWRi West Midget action and enters tonight a favorite in the Red River Rumble, and a strong contender in the POWRi West Midget South Side Showdown. Truly local, just a couple miles from the speedway, Newcastles Layden Pearson bested a 25+ car field in the Restricted class back in April. Pearson joins Marcham and McDougal with hopes of sweeping the 2014 Red River Rumble. That program back in April was the inaugural Blue River Classic, a first year event held to raise Autism Awareness - and I-44 Riverside is proud to announce we will make that an annual event! The huge swing in the forecast has made it much harder to build entry lists in the micro sprint classes, but by all accounts, if the local support is above average (or even just average) this is going to be a monster of a show as we have several traveling teams coming from the Tulsa and West Texas areas - and of course a bevy of teams coming from the TOWR base of North Texas. Among the invaders,Tulsas Chris Andrews leads that group. Andrews would lead just about any group of any listing. Truly one of the top five micro sprint racers in the country for the past several years, Andrews has proved this time and time again with a list of accolades that, to be quite honest, is nearly impossible to list off. Several Tulsa Shootout Golden Drillers are to his credit, along with a 66 Memorial win in Illinois that was worth a whopping $10,000. Joining Andrews from the Tulsa area, Steven Curbow has made several visits to Riversides 1/5th mile red clay in the past couple months, and has a string of podium finishes as he looks to claim his first score at Riverside. Another invader from the 918, Front Row Joey Baker claimed Outlaw wins in early July as well as in the 15th Annual Mini Sprint Nationals, and is rumored to be heading West tonight. Out of the state of Texas, well lets first give a nod to TOWR series promoter Scott Key, who has done Lone Star micro racing a huge service in presenting a quality series in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Key and his TOWR series has been a great partner to I-44 Riverside ever since the tornado in May of last year. TOWR tailored many of their BYE weeks to I-44 Riverside specials, and the OKC promoting team extends a huge thank you to TOWR official and racers for their impactful support throughout the season. Were thrilled to have all of you up here tonight for a sensational show and look forward to the possibilities of 2015 and actively encouraging our teams to support TOWR racing in our off weeks next season.Not just great rivalries, but star studded events and many new, great friends in this sport often begin with wise promoters working together. Its the roots that has led to such huge success in the inaugural campaigns for the Lucas Oil POWRi West Midgets, as well the Texas Open Wheel Racing micro series. Leading the Lone Star effort tonight will be Summit, Texas Keith Martin. Martin leads West, Texas Dustin Davidson and North Richland Hills racer Aaron Dromgoole in the 600cc division for the TOWR series. Pretty neat point to the TOWR side of tonights show, since they traiditionall just are one class - but Riverside runs BOTH winged and non-winged programs for the 600cc division (the winged being the A Class division) - they let their racers choose which to race or, if racing both, take their best finish and give points for that. Thats an excellent solution for Key and his TOWR series and grows support for these Red River Rumble shows! Dallas, Texas Colby Stubblefield leads the Restricted division of the Texas Open Wheel Racing Series over Justin, Texas Noah Key with Sarah Walls maintaining third in TOWR restricted points. Of this trio, Noah Key scored his first career win at Riverside (and thus, the Sooner State) when he topped the 16th round of the Champions Cup back on August 9th! We still have his plaque - until the first intermission where we will present it to Noah and a very proud dad, who will also be series promoter and crew chief tonight! Not a TOWR regular, as he hails from Amarillo, Texas - but still a promoter of a Friday night micro track in Amarillo, Danny Davidson leads the West Texas charge - as he has two A Class wins this year at I-44 including topping a 31 car field just last week! Davidson has gained Riverside fame and many fansa couple months back when his front wing mount broke, causing the wing to tilt back and slow his forward progress. As fast as I-44 races, that sort of wing pitch was blunting his forward progress big time and threatening to come off, a potential hazard to the rest of the field and also would have put Davidson to the tail (if not earned a black flag) - as speedway announcer David Foley pointed out to race fans, in a yellow flag late in the race, Davidson unhooked his arm restraints and with his right arm fully extended out of the car, held his wing in place while still wheeling his purple #16x with just his left hand. Davidson threatened the leader for the final few laps before settling for a runner up finish, along with a standing ovation. Also making their first trips to Riverside this season, Mackenzie Ramey and younger brother Dylan Ramey. Three Rameys in three classes with Kevin taking on the Midget action, McKenzie chasing the win in stock action (not sure which class - or possibly both considering the great urse in both), and Dylan in the Restricted division. To have this excellent racing family joining the Texans trekking north to I-44 is a real treat for OKC race fans! Leading the local charge in A Class was to be Lawtons Brandon Boggs, but the team received sickening news just yesterday that their motor was terminally ill. This has a huge impact on both A Class and Non Wing point standings with tonights mini sprints racing for points in the 20th of 22 rounds in the 2014 Champions Cup. Boggs led A Class action by just 35 markers over Derrick McBride and Mike Matherly, the latter two tied after Matherlys 2nd place run last week. While in Non Wing points, Boggs trailed McBride by 80 points with 3 races remaining. Unless Boggs finds a ride for rent, the young OU Sooner freshman will be hoping for a tough road into the A Feature for Matherly and McBride. Bethanys Matt Moore leads the Sooner State contingency in the Restricted portion of the Red River Rumble. Moore is a TEN time winner at Riverside this season. Lawtons Dylan Pendergrass earned his first career win in the very first night this season - the prelim night of the Inaugural Red Dirt Nationals. Pendergrass won the following night to sweep that event, before also acing two more titled shows in the 14th annual Ryan Craighead Memorial on April 5th, as well as the Blue River Classic on April 12th (the first TOWR series visit). Pendergrass has scored three more since then, the most recent being last week as he movescloser to having a magic number to clinch the Junior Sprint title. But Caleras Ryder Laplante has two wins to his credit this year (the first of his young career) and no plans to make it easy for Pendergrass. El Renos Jeremy Penick leads the Turf Tire into Champions Cup Round 20. Jeremy won the 2012 Turf Tire title before his cousin and fellow PFR racing standout Tony Penick scored Turf Tire honors last season (before moving up to Non Wing, where he currently sits third in his rookie season). Jeremy has three wins on the season, none bigger than finally breaking through to win his first Mini Sprint Nationals title in early August - Jeremy also holds the record for the most 2nd place finishes - a staggering 394. Not really. But his frustration with runner up finishes is widely known since suffering a string of like 7 in a row last season. Jeremy has a commanding lead over fellow PFR teammat Joshua Bigger, who has made the nearly 4 hour round trip tow each race this season. Impressive. So this awesome night of open wheel racing is set! The POWRi West South Side Showown, the Red River Rumble featuring TOWR vs. Oklahoma, and our Junior and Turt Tire classes offering their own special. Now for some final race details - extremely important race details! Its how were controlling this best of a show and all the cool things alongside it! General admission is $12. Pit admission $20. Kids 6-11 and Senior Citizen admission is $8. Kids 5 and under get in free. ALL CLASSES will draw for their starting spot in heat races, and all feature lineups will be formed based on passing points. Turfs and Juniors - you guys draw too! No inverted point average tonight, we figure why do 4 out 6, lets just do the same special format for everyone. All five micro classes are still being awarded Champions Cup points - this is Round 20 for the 2014 Champions Cup. TIMING: Drivers meeting is at 530pm,and we will start hot laps within 5 minutes of its conclusion so that we maintain a 7pm program start range. RUNNING ORDER: extremely important everyone sees this and understands it, as this is locked in place. Save complaints for Sunday and beyond - there are several intricate reasons why we are running this order. Hot Laps: Non Wing Restricted Turf Tire A Class Midgets Junior Sprints Heat Races: Non Wing Junior Sprints POWRi West Midgets Restricted Turf Tire A Class Intermission 1 (not to exceed 15 minutes) - past winners presentations Non Wing B Feature Junior Sprint A Feature A Class B Feature Intermission 2 (not to exceeed 10 minutes) this break is for the conclusion of the Silent Auction and Fundraiser for Valerie. It is also for any cars from B Features to get ready for the Non Wing A. Non Wing A Feature Restricted A Feature POWRi West Midget A Feature South Side Showdown (25 laps) Turf Tire A Feature A Class A Feature All A Features go 20 laps with exception of Midgets - they go 25 laps. Special thanks to The Oklahoman for running a terrificshort piece about tonights race on the inside of the 2nd page of their sports section! For EVERYONE -if you dont have plans - MAKE EM - already got em - BREAK EM! The OU Game?? DVR that sucker!! (and ask foley not to do updates! LOL This is an absolute screamer of a show, a thrilling adventure you wont want to miss! Share this with all you can, anywhere you can! Let;s make this the best show in the region tonight! And also more terrific news! fellow speedway operator Gloria Froman will be back with us tonight! Gloria has spent the past 6 weeks in Washington with her father, Frank, who was very ill. Frank is doing better and Gloria is back home, please stop by and telll her how much she was missed and how happy we are to that her father is better and that shes back here with us at the speedway!
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 15:26:49 +0000