Landon Brooks has been Mr. Consistency to kick off the 2017 race season. With a worst finish of 4th in the first six races, he is the clear early season favorite for the Championship. He has now won back to back Main Events and is the only driver with multiple Main Event Wins in the Open Class so far this season. The Main Event began with Kolby Juarez and Josiah Ribeiro on the front row. Ribeiro would get out front early on and had a rocket ship of a car. He was doing an excellent job up front but Landon Brooks was methodically working his way to the front of the field. When Brooks got to Ribeiro the two would battle for position for multiple laps before Brooks would edge ahead and take the lead for good. The Red Flag would fly on Lap 15 as Casey Schmitz went for a wild ride in turn three in a violent series of flips. Schmitz had charged from the back of the field and was trying to get to the outside of Amanda Moore when the two got together sending Schmitz into the wall and upside down ending his charge to the front and ultimately his race night as well. When the action got back underway it was all Landon Brooks as he held off Ribeiro to pick up his second straight Main Event Victory in the Open Class. Josiah Ribeiro scored a pair of second place finishes on the night as he also was the runner up in the Open Intermediate Class Saturday night. Kyle Woodcock also had a pair of podium finishes, as he crossed the line third in the Open Main Event before going on to win the Open Intermediate Main later in the night. Amanda Moore’s first appearance of the season at Cycleland was a good one as she put together a solid top five finish as she came home in the fourth position. Garrett Gramps in just his third race back behind the wheel came home in the fifth position to round out the top five. Gramps has been a staple at the Cycleland Speedway over the years, most recently helping out on the officiating side of things, before getting back into a kart this season. The Hard Charger of the night in the Open Class was the #95 of Josh Wooten who was making his first start of the season in the Open Main Event. Wooten started last (18th) on the field and charged forward 10 positions to finish in the 8th spot at the drop of the Checkered Flag.
In Qualifying we saw the Oroville Cycle #9W of Kyle Woodcock turn the fastest lap of the 18 kart field. The lap turned by Woodcock was actually the fastest lap we have seen yet this season at Cycleland Speedway. Woodcock turned a lap of 10.461 seconds around the speedway for his second fast time of the season in the Open Class and sixth overall at the speedway.
Heat race competition saw a pair of drivers pick up their first heat race wins of the season. Kolby Juarez won the first heat race for the Open Class. Juarez has two fast time awards this season and now can add a heat race win to his resume as well. Josiah Ribeiro had a stellar night at Cycleland as he won the second and final Open heat race of the night en route to picking up a pair of second place finishes in main event competition.
Tyler Brown picked up his first career Open trophy dash victory behind the wheel of the Red Baron Pizza #9 kart. Brown has had an up and down start to the season at Cycleland. He has had a lot of speed but couldn’t seem to find the luck he needed. He was able to keep it all together Saturday night though as he had a solid night all around, he went on to finish 7th later in the Main Event.
The championship points lead after six points races belongs to the #60L of Landon Brooks. Brooks has all the momentum right now as he holds a 95 point lead over second place in the standings. Brooks will miss next week’s Points Race #7 as he will be in Indiana with Tanner Carrick for Indiana Midget Week. He will have a substitute driver in place that has yet to be named. The second place driver in the points standings is also the points leader in the Open Intermediate class and that is Kyle Woodcock. Woodcock has been great all year long, look for him to continue to find his stride and give Brooks a run for the title. The Ed Brown Trucking #2 of Garrett Brown sits third in the points standings, 149 points out of the lead. Tyler Brown jumped up to the fourth spot in the standings after Saturday night’s event. He sits 163 markers out of the top spot in the standings. Angelo Cornet rounds out the top five in the points standings as he sits fifth, 189 points out.
We will be back in action this Saturday night with Points Race #7 on tap. Action is set to kick off at 5:30pm with Open karts hitting the track for Hot Laps. With Qualifying and Heat Races to follow for all classes. For ticket information and/or directions to the racetrack please visit www.cyclelandspeedway.com or call the track phone at 530-342-0063.