Sooner Region South Coffeyville preview

ASCS Sooner Region Ready for Mid-America on Saturday

TULSA, Okla. (April 28, 2008) -- Bidding to become the first undisputed back-to-back champion in American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region history, Brian McClelland was off to a strong start until an April 12 tumble at Lawton Speedway.

Now, McClelland has some ground to make up as the series fires back to life with Saturday night's card atop the semi-banked, 3/10-mile Mid-America Speedway dirt oval in South Coffeyville, OK.

Saturday's event at Mid-America marks the first of four May events for the ASCS Sooner Region, with ensuing events including a first-time stop at Boyd (TX) Raceway on May 16 followed by the series second round at Cowtown Speedway the next night. The series wraps up the month at Little Rock's I-30 Speedway on May 31.

After winning three features, including an October score at Mid-America, en route to the 2007 ASCS Sooner Region title, Tulsa-area racer McClelland opened up the season in strong form with top-five runs in the season-opener at Cowtown Speedway in Kennedale, TX, on April 5 and then Oklahoma City's State Fair Speedway on April 11.

But after a wild heat race tumble that forced him to miss the April 12 feature at Lawton Speedway, McClelland is now playing a game of catch-up as he is 37 points behind Kolt Walker, who has established himself as the leading Sooner Region title contender through the opening three events of the season.

With the ASCS Sooner Region averaging 35 cars per event over the opening three nights of the season, Walker and Travis Rilat rank as the only two drivers that have made the cut for all three feature events.

With Rilat in National action this weekend, Walker leads the Sooner forces to Mid-America. The 25-year-old hailing from Graham, TX, has posted a pair of top-ten feature finishes in his first full Sooner campaign, including a run from deep in the field to capture fourth in the Cowtown opener.

Walker and McClelland lead a strong contingent of Sooner forces into Saturday's card that includes the likes of Kerry McAlister (Mustang, OK), Matt Covington (Glenpool, OK), Sherman Davis (Sand Springs, OK), Michael Brown (Lawton, OK) and Justin Melton (Flower Mound, TX) among others.

Saturday's card at Mid-America Speedway goes green at 7:00 p.m.

Mid-America Speedway is located one mile south of the Oklahoma-Kansas state line on US 169, then 0.7 miles west. For more information, contact the track at 918-255-6698.

The American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Region is slated for 20 nights of racing action at ten different tracks throughout Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas in 2008.

-credit: ascs