With only four dates left on the schedule at Champion Speedway, races for season titles in the Late Model Sportsman and Legends divisions are heated up and headed right down to the wire.
And the competition became even more meaningful earlier this week with the announcement that the track's closing date after 42 years of operation has been moved up to Sept. 17 - the night of the Silver State Classic. The regularly scheduled Sept. 24 show has been cancelled due to reasons connected with the sale of the property, according to track promoter Les Kynett.
"There's a lot of moving to be done after we close down. The lights, grandstands, scoreboard, sound system, fencing and billboards are all coming down and it takes a huge effort to do that," Kynett said, noting that escrow on the sale of the land closes on Sept. 27. "It'll take 10 working days to remove everything and if we have the Sept. 24 show, there would be no opportunity for the stuff to get out of here."
That leaves four more shows, starting tonight when the Sportsman, Legends and Hornets race. Qualifying gets under way at 6 p.m., with racing scheduled to start at 7:15.
Al Goss, who is bidding for his third straight Sportsman championship and fourth in five years, holds a narrow lead over Vince Malone and Joel Worley in the points. Goss leads with 402 points, ahead of Malone with 394 and Worley with 389.
"I know Vince would love to win a championship and Joel has never won one. It's real close between the three of them and I think these last races are going to be real exciting," Kynett said.
The championship may well be decided the next two weeks. The Sportsmen will run double main events tonight - billed as the "Twin 25s" - and next Saturday will be a double points night for drivers in all divisions.
The Legends division has come down to a duel between Terry Madjeski and Mackena Bell. Madjeski, coming off his first-ever main event victory at Champion last Saturday, currently holds a 459-444 edge over Bell in the standings. Jack Randall is third with 381 points.
Kim Robbins is in the driver's seat for the Hornet division with 577 points, including nine main event victories in 13 races. Sandy Clark is second with 488 points, followed by Tiffany Mans (391), Bill Bernard (354) and Chris Walton (349). Walton won his first Hornet main event last Saturday.
Notes: The WESTCAR Late Model Series continued last Saturday night at All-American Speedway in Roseville, Calif., with Sacramento's Bobby Butler celebrating his 18th birthday with a main event victory. Butler, who turned 18 five days before the race, became the eighth winner in eight races on the touring series, which split its scheduled between Champion and All-American. Chuck Glick finished second and Melissa Davis third. Kenny Crome of Reno finished sixth and Chet Danburg of Carson City eighth. The final series race will be Sept. 24 in Roseville.
n Contact Dave Price at dprice@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1220.