As Week #8 of the season is already under way, we take a look back at Week #7 of the season in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. In a week where all five divisions returned to the track, we saw five different feature winners. Let’s take a look through the top 10 in this week’s rankings. (Does not include the Legends races already run in week 8)
10. Derek Robinson – Last Week: NR
Derek hasn’t had some of the performances that we got used to from a couple seasons ago, but he returned to form last week with some solid finishes all week. He started off with an 11th in the Legends race, but improved that with a strong top 5 in the SK Mod race. But then he kicked it up a notch by finishing out the week with a trio of 3rd place finishes in the SS, PLM, and SLM races. With some momentum on his side, we’ll see if Derek can continue to run up front.
9. Casey Kelley – Last Week: NR
Casey has had a decent start to his SARA career, normally starting within the top 5 or 10, and finishing up there as long as he stays out of trouble. Last week though he stepped it up by starting up front and on the pole for the SLM race and dominating the event, leading all but 6 laps and picking up his first victory. We’ll look to see if Casey can continue to run up front and battle for more wins this season.
8. Parker Traves – Last Week: 9th (+1)
Parker moves up a spot this week in the rankings with some decent finishes to start the week. He would start it off with a solid 2nd place finish at Thompson in the Legends, and had a strong run going in the SK Mod race until slipping back to 10th place. Then in the SS race he finished just outside the top 5, in 6th. Just as we said last week, Parker continues to show speed so we’ll look to see if he can keep it up throughout the remainder of the season.
7. Matt Rolfe – Last Week: 8th (+1)
Matt also moves up a spot in the rankings with a couple of decent finishes himself. On Monday he picked up a 6th place finish in the Legends race, and backed it up with an 8th in the SK Mod race. Then in the SLM race, he qualified up front but would get caught up in “the big one” and ended up with just a 20th place finish. Matt continues to run well in the top 5 or top 10, so he should continue to do so for the rest of the season.
6. Ty Majeski – Last Week: 7th (+1)
Ty is another driver that moves up a spot in the rankings this week. He did have two sub-par finishes in the SS race and the SLM race, but he looked to have the car to beat in that SS race before a restart would shuffle things up and end his night. But his best run of the week was his SK Mod win after taking the lead early and dominating the 2nd half of that race. Ty continues to pick up wins, so we expect the trend to continue and for him to keep climbing these rankings.
5. Dale Owen – Last Week: 5th (+0)
Dale picked up a few top 10 finishes last week to stay up in the 5th spot in the rankings this week. He started off his week with a 5th place finish in the Legends race, and followed it up with a 9th place finish in the SK race. The later in the week he would run in the top 10 all race and ended up with an 8th place finish in the SLM race. Dale will drop down the rankings next week due to a penalty, but if he continues to run in the top 5 and top 10, he should be able to stay in the rankings and work his way back up.
4. Cody Kelley – Last Week: 4th (+0)
Cody stays in the 4th spot this week with a strong group of finishes in last week’s races. In the 4 races he ran in, he wouldn’t finish any lower than 7th, which came in the PLM race. He started with a 4th in the Legends race, then backed it up with a 6th in the SK race, and another 4th in the SS race. Cody has been running near the front of the field each week in any of the divisions he’s raced in, so he should stay near the front of these rankings as well with those kinds of finishes.
3. Ryan Borges – Last Week: 3rd (+0)
Ryan once again put together an impressive week of finishes to stay in the 3rd spot in the rankings. He picked up a pair of 7th place finishes in the Legends and SS races, and also picked up a pair of 4th place finishes in the SK Mods and the SLM races. That’s 9 top 10 finishes in a row, with the lowest finish of those being the 7th place finishes. Ryan continues to stay out of trouble and finish near the front of the field at the end of the races, and we look for his impressive season to continue.
2. Travis Warling – Last Week: 2nd (+0)
Travis entered last week’s Legends race as the points leader, and he ran well once again at Thompson when he picked up a 3rd place finish, extending that points lead. Then later in the week, he made a surprise start in the PLM race, but his finish wasn’t surprising as he picked up a 2nd place finish in the only road course event of the season outside of the Legends division. Travis currently has things in control in the Legends division and will look to see if he can keep it up for the rest of the season as he looks to hold off the others in the battle for the Legends title.
1. Bill Martin – Last Week: 1st (+0)
Bill remains at the top of the power rankings this week, as he picked up another victory in the Legends division. He also ran well in the other divisions, picking up some top 5 and top 10 finishes. He ended up 3rd in the SK Mod race, 5th in the SS race, and 8th in the PLM race. He did have a subpar finish in the SLM race as he also got caught up in “the big one”, but his other finishes were strong enough to keep Bill solidly on the top of these rankings. He also holds a strong points lead in the PLM division heading into the final stretch of the season. We all know Bill is fast enough to be at the front each and every race, so we’ll see if he can keep it at the front of the field and the rankings throughout the rest of the season.
Dropped Out: Justin Brooks, Stan Bragg
New This Week: Casey Kelley, Derek Robinson