Let’s take a look back at Week 5 of the season where all 4 divisions headed up to New England to visit Thompson Speedway and Oxford Plains Speedway for their events. Both races at Oxford, in the Legends and the Pro Late Models, went very smoothly with a combined 3 cautions. But the Street Stocks and Super Late Models had a tougher time at Thompson.
Here’s the Week 5 Power Rankings:
10. Jeff Ramsdell (Prev Rank: 10th (+0))
Jeff remains at number 10 in the rankings this week. Once again he put together another strong Pro Late Model finish as he worked his way up to 6th from his 16th place starting spot. Another solid finish now moves Jeff up into a tie for the second spot in the points standings (despite missing a race), and if he keeps it up, he could be right in contention for the championship as the season rolls along. We’ll look to see how he does at Stafford next week.
9. Ty Majeski (Prev Rank: NR (+))
Ty hasn’t raced too many races with us this season, up until last week when he picked up a win and a 2nd place finish in the Twin 75 Pro Late Model races at Lanier. Then he brought his Legends car to Oxford and held off a tight battle to pick up that win. He ended up in 3rd in the street stocks, but came right back out at Oxford with his Pro Late Model and worked his way to the front after starting deep in the field. 3 wins and 5 top 3’s in his last 5 races is definitely a good reason for Ty to jump right into the Power Rankings. We’ll look to see if he can keep up the strong pace.
8. James Linkiewicz (Prev Rank: 7th (-1))
James drops down a spot, as he didn’t quite have the week he was looking for this past week. Oxford and Thompson weren’t very nice to him as he was unable to pick up any top 10 finishes across all 4 divisions, with finishes of 11th, 18th, 12th, and 13th. Despite the mediocre finishes, James still sits 4th in Pro Late Model points, and 3rd in Super Late Model points as we head into week 6. But for James to stay up that high in the points, he’ll need to turn those finishes into top 10’s and top 5’s as the season winds down.
7. Clay Snider (Prev Rank: 6th (-1))
Clay is another driver that didn’t fare well at Oxford and Thompson. He started off the week with a decent 8th place finish in the Legends to hang onto that division’s points lead, but his other finishes of 11th, 11th, and 16th weren’t quite what he was hoping for. Clay will look to rebound next week, especially at Stafford where he was able to pick up the Pro Late Model victory last season, and he’ll look to see if he can get back up into the top 10 across the board.
6. Brian Tedeschi (Prev Rank: 5th (-1))
Brian started off this week with a strong 4th place finish in the Legends at Oxford, but would also have a couple of tough races to finish out the week. He ended up 15th in the Street Stocks and a 22nd in the Super Late Models. He did have a decent run going in the Pro Late Models, but ended up facing the wrong way with just a few laps remaining which dropped him back to 9th. The top 10 was enough to keep him atop the PLM standings as he leads by 24 points heading into week 6. He’ll look to hang onto that points lead next week at Stafford.
5. Jacob Linkiewicz (Prev Rank: 4th (-1))
Jacob is another driver that had a couple good finishes, but also had a couple mediocre finishes to go along with them. He ended up with a 7th in the Legends and a top 5 in the Pro Late Models at Oxford. But had tougher luck at Thompson where he finished 20th and 17th in the SS and SLM respectively. Jacob does still sit 2nd in the SLM points though despite the tough finish, so we’ll look to see if he can rebound from that one to keep himself near the top of the standings.
4. Justin Brooks (Prev Rank: 9th (+5))
Justin fell down the rankings last week after not making any starts, but picked it right back up this week as he came out and took the win in the Street Stock race at Thompson. Then he followed it up by finishing 3rd in the Pro Late Models after coming from the back due to his handicap. As long as Justin makes the races, we should see him running up front like he did this past week.
3. Kenny Lindsley (Prev Rank: 3rd (-1))
Kenny started his week off with a solid top 5 finish in the Street Stock race at Thompson, but he wouldn’t have as much luck in the Pro Late Model race. He began working his way up into the top 5, but blew up before lap 40 ending his race early and dropping him to a 24th place finish. The bad finish would also drop him back 3 spots in the PLM standings. When Kenny finishes the race he’s in, he usually ends up in the top 5. So we’ll see if he can recover and improve his finishes in Stafford next week.
2. Matt Rolfe (Prev Rank: 2nd (+1))
Matt moved up to #3 in the rankings last week after a couple other drivers missed some races, but this week he had the finishes to back it up. He finished in 2nd just behind Majeski in the Legends race, and then backed it in the Street Stocks with a 4th place finish, which was enough to increase his points lead to 36 points. He had worked his way up into the top 10 of the Pro Late Model race but fell to 13th after a spin, but recovered nicely in the Super Late Model race as he survived for a 6th place finish. He now sits in 3rd, 1st, and tied for 2nd, in the Legends, Street Stocks, and Pro Late Model points, respectively. We look for him to keep his car near the top of those standings as the season carries on.
1. Trey Jarrell (Prev Rank: 1st (+0))
No new news here. Once again Trey picked up the Super Late Model win, which is now his 4th out of the 5 SLM races this season. This one didn’t come the way he wanted it to though, as he made contact with the leader late in the race, tried to give the driver room to save it, but when the caution came out, he was scored as the leader and went on to win the race. Out of his last 3 SLM wins, he’s had to come from at least 12th or worse to get those wins, so even when he’s starting further back in the field, he’s had no problem getting to the front. Trey continues his hot streak picking up at least 1 win every week this season so far, and we don’t expect the streak to end soon at the rate he’s going at.
New This Week: Name – Finishes
Ty Majeski – 1st Legends, 3rd SS, 1st PLM
Dropped Out: Name – Finishes
Jeff Bye Jr – No starts
Adam Jordan – No starts