Three drivers are separated by 14 points entering Friday night’s Bobby Allen Memorial for the Budweiser Super Late Models at Potomac Speedway. Points leader Dale Hollidge, Kenny Moreland and four-time defending track champion David Williams enter Friday’s race set to stage a classic duel.
Moreland, who sits second in points with a four point deficit to Hollidge, has two wins on the season, winning the Vernon Harris Memorial on Memorial Day Weekend and the Firecracker 35 on July 3rd, two of Potomac Speedway’s biggest races. Moreland is the only repeat super late model winner in the 2012 season at Potomac Speedway.
Hollidge scored his first win of the season on July 27th. He enters the race with the championship lead, but knows anything can happen on Friday night. Williams, third in points with a 14 point deficit to Hollidge, has been shut out of victory lane so far in the 2012 season, but a win Friday night could allow him to extend his streak to five straight championships.
Winning five straight championships in any sport is rare. In racing’s major leagues, only John Force (NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Nitro Funny Car, ten straight championships) Tony Schumacher (NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Top Fuel, six straight championships) and Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, five straight championships) have accomplished this feat.
In a close championship race, it’s not just the feature itself that could be big. Winning a heat race is worth five points, second is worth three points and third is worth one point. In the feature, winning the race results in 175 points, second is 170 and third is 165. The top five positions are separated by five points and then it is four points separating positions six through 10. After that, each position is separated by three points.
Moreland erupted on to the scene with his two victories this season. His win in the Vernon Harris Memorial catapulted his confidence and Moreland became red-hot, not just at Potomac, but at other racetracks as well. The very next race at Potomac Speedway, after a series of rainouts in June, was the Firecracker 35 on July 3, 2012. Moreland won that race. Four days later, he went out to Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Virginia, and he won there. He also picked up a win at Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, Maryland on July 14, 2012.
Hollidge has been a Potomac Speedway regular. His win in late July snapped a two year winless streak. But his performances all season long had been leading up to that win. Hollidge was getting better and better each race.
Championship battles in the U-CAR divisi
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