Dirty August impacts point battles
By Ken de la Bastide
The “Dirty August” races at two different dirt ovals has tightened up the point battles at the top and in the rookie of the year chase. Kyle Ford scored two wins to go along with two other podium finishes to score 215 more points than his closest rival at the start of the month, Dameron Taylor. Ford holds a 253-point margin over Taylor with three races remaining.
Tanner Tecco over the four races in August gained 136 points on Taylor and now trails for the second spot in the standings by just three points. Tanner Tecco scored his first career win at Circle City Raceway to go along with two podium finishes and a fifth during Dirty August.
The battle for the Redline Ace Rookie of the Year honors is one between three drivers with Evan Hammond leading Cash Wyke by 36 points with Kyle Sheard another 63 points back. Sheard gained 65 points on Hammond and 106 on Wyke. During the four races in August, Sheard has become a player in the rookie of the year honors despite missing the first race of the year at Anderson Speedway. In August, Sheard scored three top ten finishes and just missed making the podium in the second Paragon race. Evan Hammond scored two top tens in August with Wyke recording one top-ten.
Ryan Huggler used a strong month of August scoring 961 points, winning four heat races and picked up a K&K Marketing Fast Qualifier award at the second Paragon race. During the month Huggler climbed two spots in the overall point standings and is now seventh.
Rookie competitor Buddy Hollmeyer gained three positions in the standings and is now eighth. He scored his first podium finish in the second Paragon race and added a fifth, sixth and eighth to round out a successful month.
Ford captured the $450 bonus for scoring the most points in the month of August which included $100 from Jeff Hill Trailer Sales and another $50 from the Victory Fuel promotion.
Hollmeyer claimed the $100 K&K Marketing Fast Forward award for gaining nine positions over the four race, barely beating out Tanner Tecco who gained eight positions.
The season ends with three pavement races including the first-ever visit to Lorain Raceway Park in Ohio, the Indianapolis Speedrome and the season championship race at Anderson.
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Next race: Lorain Raceway Park on September 9, 2023