Claremont: Sail-lyn to T-bird Mini Mart Wildcats Title
Just like last season, the Wildcat division title was locked up before the last race of the season, and in 4-cylinder form, this year’s champion, Zachary Lyn, dominated on the way to his first championship ever. Lyn’s worst finish on the season was his Race 1 effort where he finished fourth. Since April 28th, Lyn has visited the podium each week thereafter with 5 wins, 2 runner-ups, and 4 thirds. His 5 wins are a speedway best and his 123 laps led in 12 point events (37.8%) are tops as well. After Lyn, the rest of the division point races are exciting.
Even though the title has already been claimed, the race for the runner-up spot is still alive. Comeback driver of the year candidate, Dale “Slingshot” Squires Jr., currently sits 2nd in points with his first career feature win coming in Week 2 of the racing season. Squires has 7 podium finishes, and 11 top 5’s. “Mr. Consistent” Kyle Currier is 3rd and is within 20 points of Squires Jr. doing so quietly. With only 1 podium finish ( a 3rd in Race 10), Currier has 8 top 5’s and is one of only 3 drivers to have finished all 12 races in the top 10. New father Nick Little is 4th in points and mathematically still within distance of the 2nd spot. Little trails Squires by 54 and is only 34 points behind Currier for 3rd.
To round out the Top 6, last year’s Rookie of the Year, Samantha Stoddard, is 5th in points only 16 points behind Little for 4th as Jim Carley, the other driver to have top 10’s in all 12 races, is 6th in points only 10 behind Stoddard.
From 7th to 10th, Kodi Sabins, the 2016 track champion, is 7th while only running a part-time schedule. Sabins has run 7 races, won both segment races in the Cody Lafont Memorial Twin 25’s, added a couple more feature wins and has not finished outside the top 3. He leads Dr. Sam Giveen by only 1 point (368-367) while Giveen leads his rookie of the year contender, Zachary Morse, by 47 points. Chris Carver rounds out the top 10 with 288 points.
So the final night of racing will be wild with a number of positions still to be set. Will Squires Jr. hold off Currier for the runner-up spot? Who will win the rookie title? With an average starting field of 14 cars, heat races and each spot is important. It could make all the difference.
Sources: ClaremontMotorsportsPark.com