Fall Season – Week Ten Power Rankings

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Ten weeks of the season are in the books, and all that’s left is a short holiday break, and then three more weeks to determine some champions. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all of our drivers, but before we officially head into break, take a look back at the last three weeks in the Week 10 Power Rankings:

10. Bill Martin – Week 8 Rank: 1st (-9)
While Bill didn’t race in Week 10 last week, and he missed both of the SK Modified double features, he still holds the points lead in the division thanks to his back-to-back wins that count towards these rankings from Week 8 and 9. Technically he has three straight wins in the division, and could be on his way to another title as long as he doesn’t miss any more races this season.

9. Joshua Hart – Week 8 Rank: NR (+2)
Josh returned to the league a few weeks ago, and has already put in a couple of solid finishes. His first race a few weeks ago was a podium finish in the Pro Late Models at Five Flags, and repeated that finish with another 3rd this past week in the PLM division at Lanier after starting from the back. With more finishes like those, we should continue to see Josh in these rankings, and potentially as a threat in 2016.

8. Matt Rolfe – Week 8 Rank: 5th (-3)
Matt continued his consistent season by picking up four more top ten finishes in Week 10, one of those being a top five finish in the second SK Modified feature with a 5th. He started off his Super Late Model race at Oxford by taking over the lead early and leading laps but would drop out early from some engine damage. With the help of drop weeks, Matt hangs onto the SLM points lead though, and with some more strong runs, he could be on his way to a SLM title.

7. Clay Snider – Week 8 Rank: NR (+4)
Clay had a decent start to his season, with some good runs but a couple subpar finishes as well, but it looks like he’s hit his stride at this point during the season. Over the past three weeks, he’s run eight races and picked up top tens in six of those including four straight top five finishes as well. In Week 10, he picked up a pair of podium finishes in the SK Modified double features with a 3rd and 2nd, and then had another good run in the Street Stocks in 4th. Look for the consistency to continue through the rest of the season.

6. Dale Owen Week 8 Rank: NR (+5)
Dale has also hit his stride and has put in some solid runs as of late. Over the past three weeks, he has eleven starts, and has only finished outside the top ten in two of those races. Six of those finishes were top fives, but none were bigger than his SK Modified victory last week at Lanier. The win was the 3rd of his career, but first in well over a year and first in any of the upper divisions at SARA. Look for Dale to ride the momentum from that win into the remainder of the season.

5. Jason Williams Week 8 Rank: 7th (+2)
Jason came into the Fall Season as an unknown driver to SARA, and at this stage of the season, he’s showing he has what it takes to compete against some of the best. Going into last week, Jason had posted five straight top ten finishes, and added to that last week with an 8th place finish in the Pro Late Model race at Lanier, and then added an 11th in the Super Late Model race at one of the toughest tracks in Oxford. Jason’s strong performances should continue for the rest of the season as he looks to close out an impressive rookie campaign.

4. David Krikorian Week 8 Rank: 2nd (-2)
David has run just four times over the past three weeks, all coming in the Super Late Model division. Last week at Oxford, he ran up front all night long and ended up finishing with a solid 4th place finish. The only reason David drops in the rankings, is that a win from Week 7 was taken out of these rankings, but it doesn’t mean David has shown any signs of slowing down. Look for him to potentially close out the season on a high note, as he picked up a win and a 5th at the two remaining tracks on the SLM schedule from last season.

3. Joe Schaffer Week 8 Rank: NR (+8)
Joe has climbed his way back into the rankings this week, with a string of top ten finishes. In his six races over the past few weeks, he’s picked up top tens in all of them, and four of them are top five finishes. Last week he added his 5th Street Stock win of the season, and then followed the next two nights in the Pro Late Models and Super Late Models with finishes of 9th and 6th respectively. Joe holds a commanding lead in the Street Stock points, and should continue to be in contention for more wins each time out on track.

2. Hunter Combs Week 8 Rank: 8th (+6)
Hunter is another driver that is new to SARA this season, and has also shown he has what it takes to run up front. That was the case last week when he was in the right spot at the right time, to take advantage to go on an pick up his first career victory in the Pro Late Model race at Lanier. He added a 3rd place run the next night in the Super Late Models, to go along with three other podium finishes and another top ten finish over the past three weeks. We may see Hunter in victory lane again this season, but if not he should have more strong runs.

1. Cody Kelley Week 8 Rank: 6th (+5)
It’s hard to argue against Cody being the hottest driver in the league as of late. He’s started just five races over the past three weeks, but in that time, he’s been hard to beat. He picked up two wins in Week 8, and just missed out on a third after having to come from deep in the field after the invert in the Super Late Model double features. Then in Week 9 he added another win at New Smyrna in the SLM division, and once again backed it up and dominated this past week’s SLM race at Oxford. That’s four wins in five races, and he just missed out on the fifth. We’ll see if anyone has what it takes to stop him…

New This Week: Joshua Hart, Clay Snider, Dale Owen, Joe Schaffer
Dropped Out: 
Tom Wetmore, Windell Stratton, Ryan Borges, Davey Riendeau
Just Outside, Looking In:
 Ian Layne, Jeremy Davis, John-Michael Shenette, Tim Bills, Tom Wetmore

*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.