(September 27th, 2017)……….Early in the season, Kyle Woodcock looked like he would run away with the 2017 Open Intermediate Championship. About the midway part of the year though, Josh Wooten
came to life and put together a great season that saw him close the points gap and then go back and forth with Woodcock week after week. After some misfortune for Woodcock during the second to last race of the season, Wooten came into the season finale with a 4 point advantage in the standings. He was able to put together one last great performance to pick up the first Championship of his career by just five points ahead of Kyle Woodcock who ended up second.
The Main Event on Saturday night saw Dawson Hammes lead from the time the Green Flag flew to the time the Checkered Flag flew. It was another one of those performances where you sit back and say wow. Many eyes were focused on the battle for the Championship but up front Dawson Hammes dominated en route to his fifth win of the season. All five of his wins came in the last seven races of 2017. Second place went to Keagan Medieros, his ninth top five finish of the 2017 season. Colton Raudman closed out a great season with a third place effort. Kyle Woodcock would cross the line fourth in the finishing order. While Jayden Bartlett rounded out the top five.
In total we saw 17 Open Intermediate drivers sign into the pit area for the points finale. In Time Trials it was Colby Horn setting fast time in his first start this season with a lap time of 11.070 seconds. That was the highlight of the night for the Longview, TX driver as his night went downhill in the Main Events. Heat race competition saw Dawson Hammes and Colton Raudman each score their sixth heat race win of the season, leading all drivers in the OI Class. Trophy Dash competition saw Josh Wooten pick up his first Trophy Dash win of 2017 at Cycleland Speedway giving him 10 bonus points that helped him to win the Championship.
Final Points Standings Top Ten 1) 95-Josh Wooten - 2451 2) 9-Kyle Woodcock - 2446 3) 55D-Dawson Hammes - 2353 4) 2C-Colton Raudman - 2325 5) 81-Keagan Medieros - 2308 6) 22K-Kaiden Butler - 2249 7) 3Z-Yousuf Zigan - 2119 8) 60-Dan Coleman - 1955 9) 85-Nate Jones - 1796 10) 20X/00D-Dominic Tadiello - 1780