Cale Kanke Rides Career High into Spears Southwest Tour Series Season Finale
Bakersfield, CA – With his best career finish of second, in the 34th Annual October Classic 134” at Kern County Raceway Park, Cale Kanke vaulted to third in the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series championship standings. He will now look to close out the season at Irwindale Speedway, in the “2022 Spears Southwest Tour Season Finale – Prelude to the Showdown 100” on November 12th with another similar effort, or even his first career victory.
Kanke has had a great close to the 2022 season in his Sport Modified on the dirt, winning on the preliminary night of the Jim Pettit Memorial weekend at Ocean Speedway/ Watsonville Fair Grounds, and the feature event at the Budweiser Nationals at Bakersfield Speedway. He had a tough start the last time out at Irwindale, finishing 20th, which was not representative of his earlier season efforts of fourth and ninth. Kanke had been riding a streak of six consecutive top-10 finishes at Irwindale, which included three top-five’s in-a-row. Overall, it will be Kanke’s 17th career SRL start at Irwindale, by far the most of any track with his 38 career starts.
The RPM Motorsports driver enters the finale with a 31-point advantage over John Moore, 34 over Dustin Ash, and 38 over Buddy Shepherd. With a sixth-place effort he will be guaranteed the third position in the championship. It would improve upon his previous best of fourth in 2021.
The ”2022 Spears Southwest Tour Series Finale – Prelude to the Showdown 100” will pay $6,500 to the winner, thanks to the “Winner’s Bonus” from Senneker Performance. $2,500, $1,500, $1,250, and $1,000 will be paid out to the balance of the top-five. $1,000 will be paid to start the event, for those on the Spears Manufacturing Frequent Flyer Program. Spectator Gates open at 4:00 pm with Qualifying for the Spears Manufacturing Modifieds, Spears Pro Late Models presented by Sigma Performance Services and the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series Super Late Models beginning at 4:15 pm. Opening Ceremonies are scheduled for 5:30 pm with the National Anthem at 5:50 pm. The command to “Start Your Engines” is scheduled for 6:00 pm, with the Main Events to follow.
The event will be televised LIVE on MAVTV. It will be a first for the series in its 22 years of operation.
Celebrating its twenty-second season in 2022, the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series is a regional stock car series competing on paved ovals in the southwestern portion of the U.S. “The SPEARS Southwest Tour Series…Where the Champions Race”.
