Test and tune

For many, trek to Vegas begins Saturday night at Cocopah Speedway

It’s test and tune night at Cocopah Speedway.

That will likely be the theme Saturday when a plethora of cars is expected to be on hand, with drivers and crews making adjustments and preparations for next week’s 20th annual Duel in the Desert at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Cocopah Speedway, you see, is about the same size and configuration as the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Thus, teams have been known to flock to the

Somerton oval on the weekend before the Vegas event to get ready, so to speak.

Saturday night’s program is officially Round 15 in the 2017 Cocopah Speedway Racing Series, and will feature all four its IMCA racing divisions – Modified, Sport Modified, Stock Car and Hobby Stock.

Saturday night’s show begins at 7 p.m. with the first green flag.

The Modified and Sport Modified Divisions are featured at the Duel in the Desert.

But it won’t be just the visiting teams that will be preparing for Vegas, however. A handful of local drivers have also been known to make the trek to Sin City to try their hand at winning the $7,777 first place Modified paycheck, or the $1,777 that goes to the Sport Modified winner.

Recent local competitors have included Imperial’s Lance Mari, Holtville’s Chris Toth and Yuma’s Bill

Miller.

Back home in the Cocopah Series, Imperial’s Steven McCollough, who took over the top spot in the race to the Modified championship, will be looking to pad his lead with another strong showing Saturday night. McCollough has won six feature events so far in 2017, and is currently in the midst of a three-race winning streak.

The driver he overtook in the standings, Yuma’s Brett Simala, now finds himself six points out of the lead. It’s still possible for Simala to regroup and get back on top, but with only two point races remaining, including Saturday night, he will have to get busy in a hurry.

The final race in the series is Dec. 2.

In the other three racing divisions, the top drivers are all pretty much assured of winning their respective championships. It would take major meltdowns – like not showing up for a race or failing to make it into the two remaining feature events – for those drivers to

lose their title bids.

In the Sport Modified Division, Yuma’s Adolfo Noriega is the series leader with a 36-point advantage over Yuma’s Kyle Smith.

Noriega is the defending division champion, but so far he has not won a feature event in 2017.

On the Stock Car level, Yuma’s Manny Baldiviez holds a 30-point lead over Yuma’s Joe Haines.

Baldiviez, the two-time defending division champion, has won a series best seven feature events in 2017.

And in the Hobby Stock championship chase, Yuma’s Jim Robinson, the defending the champion, is 53 points ahead of his nearest challenger, Yuma’s Jason Beshears.

The interesting fact here is, Beshears is done for the season after losing a motor during the Oct. 14 show, but the next driver in line in the points is Yuma’s Mike Erwin, who is 32 points behind Beshears. And it is unlikely that Erwin will be able to make up enough ground in two weeks to take over the second place position.

SPARE PARTS

Cocopah Speedway is located at U.S. 95 and County 15th Street; the general admission gate opens Saturday at 5 p.m.; first race is at 7 p.m. Tickets are: adults (13 and older) – $12; adult military with ID – $10; senior (55 and over) – $10; children 12 years old and under – free (main grandstand); family pass (two adults, four children) – $35; Skybox – $25; pit pass – $35 (per person). Tickets can also be purchased on-line at www.cocopahspeedway.com or at Cocopah Wild River or at the main gate on race day. Fans can get live racing lineups during the races and results afterward by going to www. cocopahlive.com. Fans can also access live in-race scoring and lap times by going to mylaps.com. For more information call 344-1563 or go to www.cocopahspeedway. com.