ANDERSON, California -- With week one finally in the books, the Shasta Raceway Park season finally appears to be taking shape. This weekend, the fast 3/8 mile paved oval at the fairgrounds in Anderson is proud to welcome the SRL Wild West Shootout series Late Models along with the NASCAR Coors Light Late Models, the Schmitt Equipment Sales Bombers, and the Legends.
After many rain postponements at Madera Speedway, this will be the first race of the season for the SRL Wild West Shootout Late Models, and the driver lineup looks as strong as ever. Over 30 cars will take to the track for the 100 lap feature, which will include many returning drivers who should be familiar to fans of Shasta Raceway Park, including Anderson’s own Ryan Foster. Other drivers scheduled to appear include 2004 Win River 100 champion Eric Schmidt of Roseville, Ken Boyd of Ceres, Troy Ermish of Fremont, and Jeff and Steve Belletto of Modesto. There will even be a group of drivers of the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division Southwest Series who will be participating in this event in order to get some track time. Those drivers include Keith Spangler of Pleasanton, Kevin Vernon, and Cody Pruitt of Bakersfield, who will be a Rookie of the Year contender in the SW tour, and will be driving the car vacated last year by current NASCAR Busch Series driver Burney Lamar. For fans and drivers alike, the SRL Wild West Shootout Late Models will provide 100 laps of outstanding racing that will be a spectacle to see.
Racing in the NASCAR Coors Light Late Model division got off to an exciting start last weekend, with Alan Pyszora taking the victory coming down the front straightaway on the final lap. As such, he is the points leader, followed by Eric Gannon, Bobby Hirschbock, Jerry Nichols, and Jason Browne. Essentially, this mirrors the finishing order from last weekend. Of course, as is always the case, there was some drama last weekend on track, with some drivers leaving with quite a few repairs to tend to, including early season favorite Steven Gannon. It will definitely be interesting to see those drivers back on track trying to rebound from their early troubles, and competing against those who just want to keep winning. Things should definitely be exciting here.
The Schmitt Equipment Sales Bombers also got off to an amazing start last weekend, with storylines already popping up left and right. Last year’s champion, David Braund, finished last in the main event last weekend and finds himself quite a few spots below where he ended up last year. By contrast, last year’s runner up Kyle Borden won the main, and is now atop the point standings followed by Cody Braund, Dave Lewallen, Randy File, and Brian King. Many Bomber drivers will be hungry for victory this weekend, which will make the racing very exciting.
The young guns once again shined in the Legend division last weekend, as Zachery Kavert, Micah Parmer, and Derek Copeland all put on impressive performances. However, many other drivers also had good showings, and may have something to say about the dominance of the young trio. Jason Schuppert and Howard Hammers are high in the standings as well, and will be working hard to take the top spot.
This Saturday night, gates open at 4:30P.M., with qualifying at 5:15P.M., and racing to begin at 6:30P.M.
