SPEARS Southwest Tour Series ‘Season Opener’ at Madera Speedway – Notes of Interest:
THIRTEENTH SEASON: The SPEARS Southwest Tour Series will open its thirteenth anniversary season this Saturday with the “Melo’s Gas & Gear 151 presented by 51 Fifty Energy Drink” at the 1/3 mile oval Madera Speedway.
BIG FIELD: Thirty teams have entered Saturday’s SPEARS Southwest Tour Series “Season Opening” Melo’s Gas & Gear 151 presented by 51 Fifty Energy Drink.
ROOKIES ENTERED: Eleven 2013 SPEARS Southwest Tour Series Rookie-of-the-Year contenders have entered the Madera Speedway event.
FIRST TIMERS: Six drivers will be making their first career SPEARS Southwest Tour Series start this weekend at the “Melo’s Gas & Gear 151 presented by 51 Fifty Energy Drink”, first time drivers include; Jeff BIschofberger (Tracy, CA), Tom Haffer (Crane, OR), Jeremy Doss (Upper Lake, CA), Brandon White (Eureka, CA), Stanislav Osterland (Los Gatos, CA) and Bobby Smith (Tucson, AZ).
STRONG at MADERA: Since 2009, the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series has competed at Madera Speedway on nine occasions; M.K. Kanke has four wins (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) during that period, Jim Pettit has two wins (2010 & 2012), Derek Thorn, Mike Mendenhall and Auggie Vidovich each have one win apiece.
LATE RACE PASS: At both of the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series races at Madera Speedway in 2012, the winning pass was made with less than five laps remaining.
CHAMP STAT: 2012 SPEARS Southwest Tour Series champion, Derek Thorn lead a series high of 1109 laps in 2012, and had six wins on the year, winning at each race track on the 2012 SPEARS Southwest Tour Series schedule except at Madera Speedway.
LONGEST RACE: At 151 laps, the Melo’s Gas & Gear 151 presented by 51 Fifty Energy Drink will be the longest SPEARS Southwest Tour Series race ever hosted by Madera Speedway.
MORE CHAMPIONS: Two 2012 championship winning drivers Jeremy Doss and Austin Barnes will compete full-time in the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series in 2013; Doss won the 2012 ‘Airport Auto Brokers Late Model Series’ championship, while Barnes won the 2012 ‘Lucas Oil Modified Series’ championship.
NEW SERIES DEBUT: The “SRL S2 Tour Series”, a new series now sanctioned under the SRL will make its debut this weekend. Introduced at Irwindale Speedway, the S2 is a full size late model with spec components designed to reduce cost, but offers the drivers full size late model stock car experience.
LEGENDS OPENER: Saturday at Madera Speedway will be the 2013 season opener for the “SRL Legends Tour”. The SRL Legends Tour will compete this weekend with the ‘Legends of the Pacific’ series.
