Week 8 of the season saw two familiar names pick up wins, while two new drivers picked up their first career victories. With just four weeks left of the season (five weeks including some make up races), we’re heading into the final stretch of the season as we look to crown some champions for the Fall Season. Here’s how drivers have been doing the past three weeks in the Week 8 Power Rankings:
10. Davey Riendeau – Last Week:NR (+1)
Davey has only run four races during the past three weeks, but he’s turned them into good finishes, picking up top tens in all of them. Last week he added two of those top tens to the list in the Super Late Model double features at Milwaukee, when he finished 4th in the first event, and then drove back through the field to take 7th in the second event. Although Davey has been part time the past few weeks, he should continue to have strong runs each time out.
9. Ryan Borges – Last Week: 10th (+1)
Ryan added a few more strong runs last week, with three top ten finishes. He’s moved up into 2nd in the SK Modified standings with a 3rd place finish, and then picked up 9th and 5th place finishes in the Super Late Model double features. Although Ryan’s focus has turned towards his Pro season, he certainly hasn’t slowed down in the league as he is still in the points hunt in a couple divisions.
8. Hunter Combs – Last Week: NR (+3)
Hunter moves back into the Power Rankings with the help of a 3rd place finish in the Week 8 SK Modified race at Five Flags. Hunter has raced nine times over the past three weeks, picking up seven top ten finishes, and five of those finishes were on the podium. Hunter continues to improve and has showed he has the speed to compete up front, but is still searching for that first win of the season.
7. Jason Williams – Last Week: 6th (-1)
Jason is another driver that has continuously improved over the past few weeks of the season. During the past three weeks he has raced eight times, and has six top tens in that span which includes his finishes from last week, a 2nd place finish in the Pro Late Model race, and then finished 8th in both races in the Super Late Model double features. Jason has stepped it up since the Fall Brawl, and we should continue to see more of these performances.
6. Cody Kelley – Last Week: NR (+5)
Cody has only raced in two of the last three weeks, but he was the fastest car in all three of the races he ran in Week 8. He picked up a win in the Pro Late Model race at Five Flags, and then backed it up with another win in the first race of the Super Late Model double features. The invert put him deep in the field for the second race, and drove back up to finish a spot short in 2nd. We know how good Cody can be, and that hasn’t changed as he’s still racking up wins.
5. Windell Stratton – Last Week: 3rd (-2)
Windell raced just once in Week 8 in the Pro Late Model race at Five Flags, and had a very strong run going in the late laps, running in the top three before a spin in the closing laps dropped him back to a 13th place finish. But in his other seven starts over the past three weeks, he has an average finish of 7.25 and has 5 top fives in that span. Windell has shown speed all season and should contend for at least one more win before the season ends.
4. Matt Rolfe – Last Week: 5th (+1)
Matt continues to rack up top ten and top five finishes each week. In 14 total races over the past three weeks, Matt has twelve top tens, and nine top fives. He added to those numbers with a 4th in the SK Modifieds, 2nd in the Street Stocks, crashed in the Pro Late Model race for an 18th, but rebounded with a pair of 3rd’s in the Super Late Models. Matt now leads the Super Late Model points, and should continue to have solid runs throughout the season.
3. Tom Wetmore – Last Week: 8th (+5)
Tom is the third driver on this list this week that is new this season, and has shown a lot of progression with the more experience he gets. That was proven when he broke through for his fist career SARA win in the Street Stock race at Iowa. He also added an 8th place finish in the Pro Late Models, making it five top ten finishes in his last six starts. Tom should continue to run well from here on out, and should be in contention for more strong finishes.
2. David Krikorian – Last Week: 2nd (+0)
David has been doing pretty well on his limited schedule this season, and stayed on that path in the first half of the Super Late Model double features, when he finished in the runner-up spot while leading a couple laps fighting for the win at the end. After the invert for the second race at Milwaukee, David was coming up through the field before connection issues dropped him from the race and dropped him to a 23rd place finish. But he’s been running well enough to stay up at number two on this list, and should continue to run up front each time out as well.
1. Bill Martin – Last Week: 1st (+0)
Bill continues to be the car to beat each week in the SK Modified division, adding his second win in a row last week at Stafford after dominating the race. His other race ended up being a 30th in the Super Late Models last week, but in his seven other starts in the two weeks prior, he had five top five finishes, and three of those were victories. With four wins over the past three weeks (and technically another at the time of this post that will be included in next week’s rankings), Bill has been on fire in the league and he should be well on his way to picking up another SARA championship, or two at the end of the season.
New This Week: Cody Kelley, Hunter Combs, Davey Riendeau
Dropped Out: Clay Snider, Marc Gammack, Parker Traves
Just Outside, Looking In: Ty Spearman, Mike Belanger, Parker Traves, Joe Schaffer
*Power Rankings are based off a driver’s performance over the past three weeks of the season. Wins, poles, laps led, top fives, and top tens all effect a drivers position in the power rankings in a positive way, while finishes outside of the top fifteen or worse, and failing to qualify for races will effect it in a negative way.