Big Diamond Speedway update 2000-08-22

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Aug.10) - Short track racers across the nation are all charged up in the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. The outstanding competition is reflected in three regional lead changes in the Atlantic Seaboard, Mid-America and Pacific Coast Regions this week. With just five weeks remaining in the regional races, competitors look to advance their position to the top of their home track point standings and to the top of the Competition Performance Index (CPI) in their region. Atlantic Seaboard Region: Jamie Goode of Hampton, Va., raced back into the top spot in the Atlantic Seaboard Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Goode, who competes in the Grand Stock division at Langley (Va.) Speedway, has nine wins, 11 top-five and 12 top-ten finishes in 14 starts at the .400-mile oval. Mike Darne of Warrenton, Va., slipped to second in the regional standings. Darne, who competes in the Grand Stock division at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Va., raced to his fourth win of the season this past Saturday. Michael Greathouse, Southside Speedway in Richmond, Va.; John Jones, Southern National Speedway in Kenly, N.C., and Bubba Hubbard, Southampton Motor Speedway in Capron, Va., round out the top five in the Atlantic Seaboard Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Blue Ridge Region: Chuck Crigger of Surgoinsville, Tenn., continues to lead the Blue Ridge Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Crigger competes in the Super Street division at Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway and has 11 wins, 13 top-five and 14 top-ten finishes in 15 starts. Hugh Harris of Albemarle, N.C., remains second in the regional standings. Harris competes in the Limited Stock division at Concord (N.C.) Motorsport Park and raced to his ninth victory of the 2000 season this past Saturday. Chad Ogle, Atomic Motor Speedway in Knoxville, Tenn.; Kevin Kenley, New River Valley Speedway in Radford, Va., and Rusty Harpe, Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C., round out the top five in the Blue Ridge Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Great West Region: Bob Presley of Olympia, Wash., maintained his lead in the Great West Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Presley competes in the Street Stock division at South Sound Speedway in Tenino, Wash., and has seven wins in 2000. Lex Johnson of Monroe, Wash., is second in the region. Johnson raced to his fourth win in the Street Stock division at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., this past Saturday. Chris Leaf, Colorado National Speedway in Erie, Colo.; Scott Anderson, Eagle Raceway in Lincoln, Neb., and Dennis Thomas, Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City, Utah, round out the top five in the Great West Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Heartland Region: Mike Reynolds of Readyville, Tenn., continues to lead the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR Heartland Region. Reynolds races in the Supertruck division at Nashville (Tenn.) Speedway USA and scored his 11th win of the season this past Saturday. Dennis Vandersmeersch of Springfield, Ill., is second in the region. Vandersmeersch competes in the Sportsman division at Macon (Ill.) Speedway and has six victories in 13 starts. Raymond Johnson, Louisville (Ky.) Motor Speedway; Dave Brundage, Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., and Jerry Drake, Kalamazoo (Mich.) Speedway round out the top five in the Heartland Region. Mid-America Region: Rodney Bowman of Mapleton, Ill., raced to his seventh victory of the season this past Saturday at Peoria (Ill.) Speedway, and moved into the lead in the Mid-America Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Bowman, who competes in the Modified division, has 12 top-five finishes in 16 starts. Dan Gilster of West Salem, Wisc., moved to second in the region. Gilster, who competes in the Sportsman division at LaCrosse (Wisc.) Fairgrounds Speedway, has two wins in 14 starts. Jamie Carter, Capital Speedway in Holts Summit, Mo.; Jason Schueller, Dubuque (Iowa) Fairgrounds Speedway and Rodney Gilley, Rockford (Ill.) Speedway round out the top five in the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR Mid-America Region. Midwest Region: Mark Wyman of Papillion, Neb., remains on top in the Midwest Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Wyman, who competes in the NWRS Modified division at Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa, has five wins in 14 starts. John Anderson of Omaha, Neb., moved to second in the region. Anderson competes at Sunset Speedway in Omaha, Neb., in the Grand National division and raced to his fifth victory of the season this past Sunday. Robbie Verbeck, West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway; Ron Barker, Farley (Iowa) Speedway, and Jon Stepan, Viking Speedway in Alexandria, Minn., round out the top five in the Midwest Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. New England Region: Jay Stuart of Preston, Conn., continues to lead in the New England Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Stuart, who competes in the American Challenge Series at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl, has five wins in 12 starts. Donny Morse of Windham, Maine, is second in the regional standings. Morse competes in the Limited Sportsman division at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine and has one victory in 12 starts. Shawn Stone, Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H.; Daniel Stebbins, Claremont (N.H.) Speedway and Dean Stoudt, Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa., round out the top five in the New England Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Northeast Region: Gary Hager of Stewartsville, N.J., remains on top of the Northeast Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Hager, who competes at Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa., in the Sportsman division, has six wins in 13 starts. Wayne Lent of Towanda, Pa., remains second in the region. Lent, who races in the Sportsman Modified division at Tioga Speedway in Owego, N.Y., raced to his fifth victory of the season this past Saturday. Phil Cox, Flemington (N.J.) Speedway; Aaron Will, Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway and Bill Hebing, Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y., round out the top five in the Northeast Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Pacific Coast Region: James Weston of Goleta, Calif., has moved into the lead in the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR Pacific Coast Region. Weston, who competes in the Late Model division at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway, has seven wins and 13 top-five finishes in 13 starts. Daniel Gay of Lakeside, Calif., has slipped to second in the region. Gay, who competes in the Street Stock division at Cajon (Calif.) Speedway, has 10 wins in 14 starts. Dennis Pelphrey, Watsonville (Calif.) Speedway; Mike White, Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., and Frank Borges, Madera (Calif.) Speedway round out the top five in the Pacific Coast Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Sunbelt Region: James Driggers of Summerville, S.C., has maintained his lead in the Sunbelt Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. Driggers, who competes in the Four Cylinder Modified division at Summerville (S.C.) Speedway, raced to his ninth victory of 2000 this past Saturday. Ellis Huggins of Richmond Hill, Ga., is second in the regional standings. Huggins competes in the Street Stock division at Oglethorpe Speedway Park in Savannah, Ga., and has three wins in 13 starts. Norman Uptain, Sr., Thunder Raceway in Show Low, Ariz.; R.L. Alexander, San Antonio (Tex.) Speedway and Ruben Federico, Tucson (Ariz.) Raceway Park round out the top five in the Sunbelt Region of the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. The Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR was developed in 1998, NASCAR's 50th Anniversary year, to provide regional and national recognition for another NASCAR Weekly Racing Series division. Each of the nearly 100 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series tracks across the country have designated a feature division that competes for local, regional and national recognition and a $1.7 million point fund. These same tracks have designated another division to compete in the Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR. The Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR includes divisions such as Limited Sportsman, Sportsman, Street Stock, Modified and Truck classes. With the support of Exide, who announced their series sponsorship last season, those competitors will be racing for their share of nearly $130,000 in posted local, regional and national awards. Local track champions will receive $500, while regional champions will receive $2,500 with the national champion to earn another $5,000. To be eligible for regional and, therefore national championship recognition, Exide ShorTrack Series by NASCAR drivers must compete in at least 16 events. The same rules and geographic regions are administered as in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series. Regional standings, using the same formula to calculate the Competition Performance Index (CPI) as the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, are posted on Thursdays. Each of the ten regional champions and the national champion will be recognized and receive their awards at the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series banquet in November at the Peabody Hotel and Resort in Orlando, Fla. <pre> NASCAR MID-AMERICA REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 Pos Driver Name Home Track Starts Wins T-5 T-10 CPI 1 BOWMAN RODNEY PEORIA SPEEDWAY 16 7 12 13 0.7242 NASCAR NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 1 STUART JAY WATERFORD SPEEDBOWL 12 5 10 10 0.8108 NASCAR NORTHEAST REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 Pos Driver Name Home Track Starts Wins T-5 T-10 CPI 1 HAGER GARY BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY 13 6 10 12 0.8077 2 LENT WAYNE TIOGA SPEEDWAY 14 5 12 13 0.7958 3 COX PHILIP FLEMINGTON SPEEDWAY 13 5 11 13 0.6877 4 WILL AARON JENNERSTOWN S'WAY 12 6 9 12 0.6807 5 HEBING BILL SPENCER SPEEDWAY 11 3 9 10 0.6645 6 MANKO BOB HOLLAND INT'L 11 2 10 10 0.6636 7 KLINGER BUTCH 5 MILE POINT S'WAY 13 0 12 13 0.6216 8 EGAN SEAN RIVERHEAD RACEWAY 13 1 9 13 0.6211 9 BRUNELL DAVE MOTORDROME S'WAY 15 4 12 15 0.6079 NASCAR BLUE RIDGE REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 1 CRIGGER CHUCK KINGSPORT SPEEDWAY 15 11 13 14 0.8520 NASCAR ATLANTIC SEABOARD REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 1 GOODE JAMMIE LANGLEY SPEEDWAY 14 9 11 12 0.8396 NASCAR SUNBELT REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 1 DRIGGERS JAMES SUMMERVILLE SPEEDWAY 15 9 15 15 0.9000 NASCAR HEARTLAND REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 1 REYNOLDS MIKE NASHVILLE SPEEDWAY U 14 11 12 12 0.9091 NASCAR PACIFIC COAST REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 1 WESTON JAMES IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY 13 7 13 13 0.8749 NASCAR MIDWEST REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 1 WYMAN MARK ADAMS COUNTY SPEEDWA 14 5 11 14 0.7579 NASCAR GREAT WEST REGIONAL LEADERS - LS 08/10/00 1 PRESLEY BOB SOUTH SOUND SPEEDWAY 11 7 11 11 0.7858