Legends Nation ... And Justice For All

Concord Title Fights - Two Events Left To Decide Championships

by Jason Buckley

The 2007 Legends and Bandolero season has already concluded at a few tracks around the Carolinas, but one of the most attended tracks outside of the Lowe’s Motor Speedway Summer Shootout and Winter Heat events will conclude their racing schedule this weekend in a two-night show.

Concord Motorsport Park (NC) will finish up their regular points season Friday and Saturday night by crowning champions in eight divisions after 21 rounds of racing action that started back in March. [Editor’s note: A special Legends and Bandolero event will take place at CMP on Friday, November 16th as part of the “Mason-Dixon Meltdown”. Stay tuned to LegendsNation.com for further announcements.] While some divisional championships are up in the air, others are already wrapped up, waiting for the final checkered flag of the year.

James Stanton (top) currently leads the Masters division while Charles Kiser (bottom) is closing in.

LEGENDS MASTERS DIVISION

James Stanton has raced 18 of the 19 events so far this season and has a 114 point lead over second-place racer Larry Friddle. If Stanton starts just one of the two races, he is almost guaranteed the championship trophy. The best battle might be for second as Charles Kiser has been running strong lately and is only 30 points behind Friddle. The problem for Kiser is the car count. If Friddle shows up to race both nights, Kiser would have to win both races and have Friddle finish seventh or worse to take the championship, and most races recently haven’t produced more than a handful of Masters in a race. The only positive is that Friddle has missed the last few events, so Kiser could move up.

The current top 10:

POS

DRIVER

James Stanton

Larry Friddle

Charles Kiser

Carlos "Mercury" Moore

Todd Spears

Clay Hair

Todd Johnson

Steve Carter

Steven Beck

Ernst Borchert

POINTS

1650

1536

1506

1119

986

500

473

353

261

256

Ken Harris (top) was leading the Pro points all season, but controversy over his license status has helped Jordan Anderson (bottom) take over the top spot.

LEGENDS PRO DIVISION

The most news from the Concord Motorsport Park points chase has just come to light over the last week. Ken Harris was leading the Pro division points and looked to lock up the championship, but some interesting rumors flying around the pits caused a bit of controversy. According to LN sources, Harris wasn’t licensed to race as a Pro under INEX rules. After confirming with INEX Executive Director Darrel Krentz last week, LN learned Harris was a licensed Semi-Pro, not Pro. Harris did race last Sunday in the Pro division race and LN tried to discuss the issue with track officials, but they wouldn’t comment until after the final races of the season concluded.

Mid this week a check of the updated results showed Harris DQed from the last race as well as his name being completely removed from the Pro track point's page. The result places Jordan Anderson in the points lead by 539 points over Steven Daniels, locking him in as the Pro track champion without having to show up and race the final two events.

The current top 10:

POS

DRIVER

Jordan Anderson

Steven Daniels

Thomas Hartensveld

Kyle Beattie

Mitchell Coble

Brandon Temple

Thomas VanWingerden

Scott Knox

Tonya Cordrey

Tyler Green

POINTS

1470

931

839

752

379

364

282

194

185

182

Steven Ross (top) has been the driver to beat in the points, but John Stancill (bottom) has been the driver to beat on the track, when he shows up to race.

LEGENDS SEMI-PRO DIVISION

Steven Ross is currently the driver to beat in the Semi-Pro track title chase. With an 83-point lead over second place Jamie Smith, Ross just needs to enter and start both races to take the championship. The car counts haven’t been the best, so even last-place finishes should be enough to give him the title; however Ross has had a multitude of mechanical issues since the last race in the Summer Shootout. If one of them forces him to miss a race he could lose the title.

John Stancill and Kyle Pierce are locked in a close battle for third and fourth, but neither can gain enough points to win the championship, even if Ross and Smith are no shows.

The current top 10 (excluding SP Chargers):

POS

DRIVER

Steven Ross

Jamie Smith

John Stancill

Kyle Pierce

Daniel Hemric

Jonathan Ross

Chad Hackenbracht

Matt Stover

Gene Kirila

Ty Dillon

POINTS

1471

1388

1267

1214

997

915

770

737

703

682

Devin Layser (top) and Landon Bullock (bottom) have been taking victories over the last few months.

LEGENDS CHARGERS DIVISION

With only a few cars competing in the Chargers division over the past few weeks, it has made the title chase interesting. Kyle Pierce led the Charger division points, but he was moved up to the Semi-Pro division, moving him out of the Chargers lead. That handed the lead over to Robert Marmino, but he hasn’t raced at CMP since the beginning of June. Lately, it has been a two-man show in the races on the track between Devin Layser and Landon Bullock, and it appears the title could go to one of those two drivers as Layser leads Bullock by 48 points and is only 68 points behind Marmino for the lead. If Marmino doesn’t show up to race and Layser races both nights, he will lock his way into the Chargers championship. If Layser has trouble and cannot race but Bullock does, the title is his.

Josh Turner is only 35 points behind Bullock and is on the edge of being able to claim it if he shows up to race and the others don’t.

The current top 10:

POS

DRIVER

Robert Marmino

Devin Layser

Landon Bullock

Josh Turner

Johnny Lovero

Nick Hoffman

Jeffrey Bolen

Travis Payne

Thomas Hatcher

Donnie Loflin

POINTS

726

658

610

575

428

410

361

357

354

346

Kendall Sellers (top) might be practicing his championship acceptance speech while Nathan Rodgers (bottom) tries to catch him in the points.

BANDOLERO OUTLAWS

Only two drivers have raced all 19 races to date at CMP in the Outlaws division, and only those two drivers have a shot to win the title. Kendall Sellers has a 71-point lead over Nathan Rodgers for the top spot and looks assured to win the title as long as he enters both races. Sellers has been pretty bulletproof at the track this season, so the chances of Rodgers catching him are pretty slim. Also, Rodgers slammed the wall hard last week in a grinding crash which could have him watching the races from the stands this weekend. If that is the case, he could lose the second position to Kayla Turner, who can’t get to the points lead, but has third locked up and could steal second from Rodgers.

The current top 10:

POS

DRIVER

Kendall Sellers

Nathan Rodgers

Kayla Turner

T. J. Hicks

Josh Turner

Chris McKinney

Brett White

David Furr

Marcus Limehouse

Chris Beaver

POINTS

1858

1787

1622

1171

476

460

440

348

272

170

The Young Guns division has been a tight battle every week between Ronnie Bassett, Jr. (top) and Dylan Pack (bottom).

BANDOLERO YOUNG GUNS

Four drivers have a shot to take the Young Guns championship, but the problem for second through fourth is who is currently out in front. Ronnie Bassett, Jr. currently leads the points standings by 23 points over Dylan Pack and has been solid as a rock every race. The last time Concord ran two nights in a row, Bassett took both victories, but last week Pack beat Bassett to the checkered flag. With a small margin in the points, Bassett will have to be on top of his game. If he finishes fourth or better both nights, he will win the championship regardless where Pack finishes.

Robert Poole and Brett Pepicelli have outside shots to win the title, but Bassett and Pack would have to both have serious issues during the weekend to give them a shot at the title.

The current top 10:

POS

DRIVER

Ronnie Bassett Jr.

Dylan Pack

Robert Poole

Brett Pepicelli

Brandon Lynn

Daniel Gobeille

Casey LaJoie

Dylan Barbian

Andy Brown

Clint King

POINTS

1799

1776

1727

1695

1476

1108

886

804

698

Dillon Bassett and his brother Ronnie (top) always seem to end up in victory lane. Bodie Bellinger (bottom) has two more chances to get by Dillon for the championship.

BANDOLERO BANDITS

While his older brother is looking to hold off the competition in the Young Guns division, Dillon Bassett has an even tougher job trying to hold onto the Bandits division points lead for the division championship. Bassett holds a 20-point lead over Bodie Bellinger for the top spot, the smallest margin between two top drivers in any division at Concord. Both drivers have had their ups and downs over the past few weeks, including both drivers coming out of Sunday’s race with damaged cars.

Jordan Stillwell and Christian Thomas have outside shots at taking the championship, but pretty well need the top two drivers to not show up and race, and that probably isn’t going to happen.

This title fight will probably be the most watched due to the intensity of the racing action in the Bandits class.

The current top 10 (excluding Beginner Bandits):

POS

DRIVER

Dillon Bassett

Bodie Bellinger

Jordan Stillwell

Christian Thomas

Tyler Lester

Stephen Bergh, Jr.

Sean Shalvoy

Justin Carroll

Matthew Linker

Tristin Adams

POINTS

1760

1740

1687

1585

1457

1249

1068

833

775

502

John Holleman (top) and Chandler LeVan (bottom) have been dominating the top spots lately, but Noah Triplett is too far out in points to catch for the championship.

BANDOLERO BEGINNER BANDITS

Many would think John Holleman would be the driver running away with the Beginner Bandits division points due to his recent winning streak. He has been undefeated in the last six races at the track, but has only run 11 of the 19 races this season. That has brought him up to third in the standings, but too far out to challenge for the championship.

In the points lead is Noah Triplett, by a whopping 222 points over Chandler LeVan. Being the maximum points a driver can earn during the two-race weekend is 200 points, Triplett doesn’t need to show up to be crowned the division champion. LeVan is also over 200 points ahead of Holleman for the second position and has that position locked up. Being that Aaron Beaver in fourth hasn’t been showing up to race lately, it appears the top three positions are all locked up, and all drivers will be going for this weekend are race wins.

The current top 10:

POS

DRIVER

Noah Triplett

Chandler LeVan

John Holleman

Aaron Beaver

Jordan Plummer

Benji Hicks

Brian Kolb

Jesse Kirila

Kayla Marshall

Heather Lynn

POINTS

1386

1164

820

733

678

537

457

450

402

326