Week number four of the season last week saw some really good racing in a couple of the races, but also saw some rough races in other divisions, which shakes things up some in the rankings this week. The total car count for the week was was 123 cars, and 59 different drivers made an appearance. Before heading into Week #5 of the season, let’s take a look at last week’s Power Rankings:
10. James Linkiewicz – Last Week’s Rank: 8th (-2)
James certainly didn’t pick up the finishes he was hoping for last week, when he posted his best finish of the week with a 7th in the Pro Late Model race, while his other finishes were back in 15th and 16th. James nearly drops out of these rankings, but the fact that he still sits 4th in points in both PLM and Super Late Models is enough to keep him in. Look for James to rebound this week.
9. Parker Traves – Last Week’s Rank: NR
Parker has been on the edge of making it into the rankings each week this season. He’s definitely shown more consistency as far as running near the front nearly every night, but he hasn’t always had the finishes to back it up. Last week, he did have a couple of subpar finishes again, but he also picked up a pair of 3rd place finishes, as well as a 2nd place finish in a tight Legends battle at Charlotte. Parker should be able to stay in these rankings as long as he stays out of trouble and gets some more consistent finishes up front.
8. Justin Brooks – Last Week’s Rank: 10th (+2)
Justin isn’t quite having the dominating season like he did during last fall, but he’s been right there near the front each race. Two weeks ago in Super Late Models he finished 4th, and last week he improved it a spot to finish 3rd, but he’s currently on his longest winless drought in the league at 5 races without a win. This could very well mean that he’s about due for another win, so look for him to be a contender this week.
7. Casey Kelley – Last Week’s Rank: NR
Casey missed the first Super Late Model race of the season due to having another race before it, but the past three weeks, he’s been out front each time out. He’s only ran 4 total races, but in those races, he hasn’t finished worse than 4th place. Last week he finished in the runner up spot in the SLM race, which also launched him up into 3rd in the standings despite having one less start than most drivers. Look for Casey to continue to run up front, and maybe pick up a win in the near future.
6. Ty Majeski – Last Week’s Rank: 3rd (-3)
Ty didn’t race at all last week, but his performances in the two weeks prior were enough to keep him in the rankings. He won’t be in this week’s races either, which means he’ll more than likely drop out of these rankings next week, but it’s nice to know that he’s still able to pick up wins when he’s not racing with us like he did at New Smyrna on Saturday night in his real SLM.
5. Ty Spearman – Last Week’s Rank: 7th (+2)
Ty is off to a hot start this season, picking up a trio of good finishes last week. He started off by picking up a top five in a rare Street Stock appearance, then put up a strong 2nd place finish in the Pro Late Model race. And in the Super Late Models, he would finish in the 6th position, which keeps him within striking distance of the points lead as he sits 2nd in the standings. Look for Ty to keep up the hot streak, and for him to be a contender in the SLM all season long.
4. Matt Rolfe – Last Week’s Rank: 4th (+0)
Matt had a good start to his week last week when he put up 4th place and 2nd place finishes in the Legends double header. In the next two races, he would end up 11th, and 16th, before rebounding for another top ten finish with an 8th in the Super Late Model race. Matt has been consistently among the top ten to start the season each time out, but he’ll have to kick it up a notch if he wants to hold off some of the heavy hitters behind him in these rankings.
3. Ryan Borges – Last Week’s Rank: 5th (+2)
Ryan started his week off on a high note last week when he charged to the front of an intense battle in the Legends oval race, and picked up his 2nd career victory. Then he backed it up with some more solid runs by finishing 4th, 2nd, and 6th in the next 3 events. He didn’t have a very good Super Late Model race after getting caught up in some things, but his other finishes were enough to move him up to 3rd in the rankings this week. Ryan has shown the speed to be up front in each division, now we’ll just look to see when he can pick up a win outside of the Legends division, and we think it will be soon.
2. Bill Martin – Last Week’s Rank: 2nd (+0)
Bill took a little break from visiting victory lane for a few races recently, but then decided it was finally time to get back to the winners circle when he picked up the Super Late Model victory on Thursday night. With the win, Bill became just the 2nd driver to pick up a win in each of the league’s five current divisions. He also picked up a top five finish in the Pro Late Model race, but just a 22nd place finish in Street Stocks. But now that he’s found victory lane again, look for Bill to heat back up and rack up some more wins.
1. Cody Kelley – Last Week’s Rank: 1st (+0)
Two weeks ago, Cody finished off Week #3 of the season with three victories, then last week he picked right back up where he left off, and took home another two wins in the Street Stocks and the Pro Late Models to make it five in a row for him. The streak got broken in the Super Late Model race but he still ended up finishing 9th. But it’s safe to say this early in the season, that the league is in trouble each time out when Cody shows up at the track. He just became the 11th different driver in league history to pick up 10 career SARA wins, but we don’t expect him to slow down there. Oh, and he still leads the points in three different divisions.
New This Week: Parker Traves, Casey Kelley
Dropped Out: Kevin J Myers, Jarrett Lawrence