SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Two drivers will celebrate championships and two others will position themselves for coronations Saturday night at Orange Show Speedway.
Highland’s Jim Edmiston and Bonita’s Michael Jackson will be the celebrants after the season-ending races for the ASA Sport Trucks and ASA Modifieds, respectively. Eric Ferguson of El Cajon and Jim Mardis of Riverside will be the champions in waiting when they take the checkered flags in the next-to-last races for the ASA Late Model and ASA Pony Stock divisions, respectively.
The West Coast Pro Trucks will round out the program that gets under way at 6:30 p.m. Spectator gates will open at 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $2 for children 6 through 12. Parking is $4, with the entrance off Mill Street at Gate 3.
Edmiston, last year’s Pony Stock champion, used back-to-back wins to take the Sport Truck lead three races into the 11-race season and goes into the finale with an 18-point lead over Moreno Valley resident Ed Reid. Those two have traded wins the past five races and if the pattern continues it will be Reid’s turn this week. Even if Reid wins, though, Edmiston claims the title by finishing 10th or better.
Jackson is an even more comfortable position. The Modifieds have been one of the more competitive classes, with five different winners in the nine races on the quarter-mile paved oval. Jackson has one of those wins, and thanks to consistent finishes and perfect attendance has an insurmountable 42-point advantage over Jason Patison of Corona.
Patison posted his second victory of the season in the most recent event, Sept. 16, but missed one race early in the year. A miss July 1 also hurt three-time winner Doug Carpenter of La Mesa, who is third in the standings.
Mardis won six of 11 races and finished 14 points behind Edmiston in last year’s Pony Stock battle. This year, he has won eight of 11 so far and has built a 26-point lead over Adrianne Murlin of Corona with Saturday’s race and the Oct. 28 finale remaining. Murlin, who made up 14 points when she won the most recent outing, on Sept. 23, is 2 points ahead of Wildomar’s Matt Goodwin. Mardis can claim the title by finishing seventh in each of the last two races.
Seventh place finishes in the final two races will guarantee a championship for Ferguson as well. A winner of three of the 11 races to date, Ferguson is 28 points up on Palmdale’s Anthony Mainella, also a three-time winner. There have been six different winners, just as there were last year.
The West Coast Pro Trucks will be making their second visit of the year to the speedway at the National Orange Show Events Center. Irvine’s Rick Wall won the initial race Aug. 19 and leads the series with four wins. He has run only eight of the 10 events, however, and is not a factor in the point standings.
Racing at Orange Show Speedway is sponsored by Leno’s Rico Taco, Blackhawk Protection, CEC Embroidery, Golden West Tire, Lucas Oil, Soboba Casino, Budweiser, Sunoco Racing Fuel, Hoosier Racing Tires, Center Chevrolet, Pick A Part, Neff Rental, Pepsi, Loma Linda University Medical Center, J&M Trophy, Matich Corp., Lazer Radio (101.7 and 105.7 FM), La Salle Medical Associates, California Highway Patrol, KCAL radio (96.7 FM) and the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper.
For further information, call 909-888-6788, X438, or visit the web site at www.nosevents.com/speedway.htm.
