There is not a clear answer to who will be the 2011 Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil ASA Member Track National Champion with the upcoming final weekend of competition. The one thing that is known, everyone will be paying close attention to what will be happening at Ace Speedway this Friday night.
Barry Beggarly who has been at the top of the standings at Ace Speedway, and swapping the lead back and forth with Chrissy Wallace throughout the season, heads into the Late Model season finale at the ASA Member Track in Altamahaw, NC with a two-point lead over Jason York in the track standings. A 100-lap feature event will decide their track championship.
Beggarly and York each have an average to contend for the National Championship. But in order for either one to have a chance, they must first win the track championship. The National Championship eligibility includes winning the 2011 track championship along with being an ASA Member in good standing.
The question being asked this week is if either one wins the track championship, are they a lock to be the National Champion. The simple answer is no.
Zack Franks, the 16-year-old driver from Newport Motor Speedway in Newport, TN won the Late Model Sportsman feature and track championship this past Saturday night.
Franks won the last three feature events at Newport Motor Speedway and could be a contender for the national title. ASA has received the results but is holding off from calculating the average until Ace Speedway’s finale this Friday night.
“We want to see an apple-to-apple comparison with our top contenders in the East Region,” Dennis Huth, ASA President said. “Also, we have already started the verification process with our ASA Member Tracks and until that process is completed, we have discontinued our weekly standings updates until the verification process is completed and we can announce the National Champion as soon as we can.”
This season, a total of 322 drivers competed in the premiere divisions within the participating ASA Member Tracks for the Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil ASA Member Track National Championship. The breakdown is 174 drivers from the East Region and 148 drivers from the West Region.
The National Champion will receive a tryout with Joe Gibbs Racing. This includes a full day test session with one of the JGR teams; a one-on-one meeting with JD Gibbs, President of Joe Gibbs Racing and possibly Joe Gibbs himself; an up-close tour of Joe Gibbs Racing and much more.
The Regional Champion who is not the National Champion will receive a one of a kind Regional Champion jacket courtesy of Speednetdirect.com, the official scorekeeper of the Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil ASA Member Track National Championship.
“This is the fourth year for our National Championship and it is coming down to the wire once again,” Huth said. “Last year, we had a tremendous battle with Bryan Wordelman’s margin of victory only being 0.0028, which is basically one or two positions on the track. Barry Beggarly and Jason York will have a great battle this Friday night, but Zack Franks and Chrissy Wallace are waiting to see what will happen. Anything can happen on the final night of racing.”
Fans can look at their favorite driver statistics by visiting SpeedNetDirect.com’s Championship Insider at www.championshipinsider.com. It is a free membership site, sign up today!
Drivers from participating ASA Member Tracks across the United States have chosen one of their divisions as their premiere divisions. Those drivers in the premiere division, who are ASA members in good standing, will compete at their ASA Member Track to first win their track championship. Once they accomplish that goal, they will then be matched up against the other premiere division champions to determine the National Champion.
ASA has once again teamed up with speednetdirect.com to create a proprietary point system that is much like a batting average in baseball. Some of the factors used to create an average are wins, number of cars passed, finishes, car count, and number of events. No one knows what has more of a factor over another.
Race fans and competitors can follow the standings on www.speednetdirect.com. The opening page shows the current track point leaders that would be eligible for the National Championship if it ended today. The East and West Region standings give a complete listing of all of the drivers participating this season.
Past National Champions are Cary Stapp, Thunderhill Raceway (2008), Tommy Cloce, Adirondack Speedway (2009), and Bryan Wordelman, Rocky Mountain Raceways (2010).
ASA Racing PR
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