Last week, all five divisions were back on track after the off-week, and as we head into the homestretch of the season, things will be starting to heat up. Let’s take a look back at the Week 8 Power Rankings (doesn’t include Legends races ran last night (week 9)):
10. Anthony Celentano – Last Week’s Rank: T-10th (+0)
Anthony probably didn’t quite get the finishes he wanted last week, but he did just enough to stay in these rankings this week. He had been running inside the top ten of the SK Modified race before a late race incident dropped him back. And then in his other two races, in the Street Stocks and Pro Late Models, he picked up a pair of 10th place finishes. While top tens are nice, Anthony will be looking to improve on that this week.
9. Patrick Hahe – Last Week’s Rank: 9th (+0)
Patrick has been holding steady at 9th in these rankings the past few weeks. The Legends car count has been dropping, but Patrick has been finishing near the front each race and picked up a 4th last week. He did find some trouble in the SK Modified race and only got 15th in that race, but he’ll be looking to recover from that in the upcoming races and will be looking to finish off the season on a strong not.
8. James Linkiewicz – Last Week’s Rank: T-10th (+2)
James has been bouncing in and out of these rankings all season long, but it looks like maybe he’s found his stride. In four races last week, he finished in the top ten in all four of them, which included a 4th place finish in the Pro Late Model race, and a runner-up finish in the Street Stock event. He’s been up front every week, and is currently near the top of the standings in a couple of divisions. With the consistency, and strong runs, it could be a good couple of weeks for him to finish off the season.
7. Ty Majeski – Last Week’s Rank: 7th (+0)
Ty returned a couple of weeks ago and picked up three straight wins, and this past week he looked to have the speed to do that once again, but would get caught up in a couple of things that dropped him back. He ran up front in the Street Stock race but wasn’t able to work his way back to the front after a pit stop and finished 20th. Then he ended up in the outside wall in the Super Late Model race which resulted in a 17th place finish there. But he did have a 3rd in the Pro Late Model race. Look for him to rebound strongly this week.
6. Matt Rolfe – Last Week’s Rank: 5th (-1)
Matt’s week last week was a bit up and down. He started with a 5th in Legends, but then got caught in a late race wreck in the SK Modified race to drop back to 13th. He rebounded to finish 7th in the Street Stock race, but again found himself in trouble in the Pro Late Model race with just a 18th place finish. He recovered once again though and ran around the top five all race in the Super Late Model race before finishing in the 6th spot. Look for Matt to rebound from those incidents last week, to pick up some more top five and top ten finishes this week.
5. Parker Traves – Last Week’s Rank: 4th (-1)
Parker was pretty hot for a few weeks leading into the off-week, and then last week he again started off fairly strong. He did drop out early from the Legends race but still got a 7th place finish there, but then in the SK Modified race he kicked it back into gear and ended up finishing in the 3rd spot in that race. He didn’t have as much luck in the Pro Late Model race though when he got caught up in a couple incidents and ended up outside of the top 20. We expect Parker to keep on rolling though and we’ll look to see if he can continue to run up front with consistency.
4. Ty Spearman – Last Week’s Rank: 6th (+2)
Ty had a couple of finishes outside of the top 15 a couple weeks ago, but this past week he went right back to running up front like we’ve gotten used to. He had a strong Pro Late Model race before coming up just a spot short in 2nd place, and the tallied another top five finish with a 4th in the Super Late Model race after running up front all race long. We expect Ty to keep the pressure on high in the Super Late Models for the rest of the season, and he’ll be a contender in every other race he joins as well.
3. Bill Martin – Last Week’s Rank: 2nd (-1)
Usually when a driver picks up a win, they climb in the rankings, but unfortunately for Bill, he ran in to plenty of bad luck last week which knocks him down a spot. He got collected in an early race wreck in the Legends event, but turned that around by leading all 100 laps for the SK Modified win. But in the Pro Late Model race, he again got caught up in one of the early race wrecks dropping him to a 25th place finish, and then he was running inside the top five of the Super Late Model race when some contect ended his race early there as well with a 15th. We know how strong Bill can be, so look for a strong rebound this week from him.
2. Ryan Borges – Last Week’s Rank: 3rd (+1)
This has been the first time all season long that someone other than Bill or Cody Kelley has been one of the top two spots in these rankings, but Ryan used a trio of good finishes top move up a spot this week. He started his week off with a 7th place finish in the SK Modified race, then improved on that with a 3rd in the Street Stocks, and then ended up top five in the Pro Late Models as well. He probably could have had another solid run in the Super Late Model race, but server issues last week kept him out of that race. This week, look for Ryan to continue to run up front, and pick up some more strong finishes as we near the end of the season.
1. Cody Kelley – Last Week’s Rank: 1st (+0)
No surprise once again that Cody sits in the #1 spot in these rankings. And he did so by just racking up some more victories last week. If you remember earlier in the season, Cody had five straight wins at one point, and after winning three races last week, he could match that streak once again if he keeps going like he has been. He picked up wins in the Street Stocks, the Pro Late Models, and finished off the week with a Super Late Model win at Milwaukee. I don’t think Cody has any plans on slowing down anytime soon, and we wouldn’t expect him to either. Look for probably another win (at least) this week as he continues his impressive season.
Dropped Out: David Krikorian