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Points Races Heating Up During Hot Summer Months At Carteret County

by Press Release July 22, 2019 0 comments

PELETIER, N.C. – Championship battles are heating up during the mid-summer months at Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway as the season heads into its continuation in Saturday night’s Harley Davidson of New Bern Summer Jam.

The battle for the championship lead is separated by three points or less in four of the track’s eight regular season divisions – and in the track’s premier class, the Limited Late Model division, a new contender has surged into contention.

2016 Limited Late Model track champion Chris Burns has led the points in the Limited Late Model division since the start of the season and has visited victory lane twice.  However, he only leads T.J. Barron, another two-time winner in 2019, by three points.

Reigning track champion Brandon Clements was as far back as sixth place after the Memorial Classic in May.  Since then, a two-race win streak, coupled with subpar finishes from Burns and Barron, have propelled Clements to third in points – just 13 markers behind Burns.

“It is all going to depend on strong runs and keeping the momentum we have going,” Clements said.  “We’ll let the points figure themselves out from there.  We’re just going to try for strong finishes and wins, and however the chips fall, they fall.  We’re going for the wins.”

The always intense Mini-Stock points battle remains tight after five races.

Kris Hetu and Stephen Sanders both have one win on the season and have mirrored each other’s results in the last two races.  Hetu continues to lead by just one point over Sanders while Travis Provost runs a distant third.

Like Hetu and Sanders in Mini-Stocks, U-CAR leaders Andrew Jackson and Steve Sullivan have duplicate each other’s finishes.  Sullivan picked up his second win of the year on June 22^nd while Jackson scored his third on July 6^th.  By virtue of having more wins and the bonus points that come along with a victory, Jackson leads Sullivan by three markers.

Carteret County Speedway’s healthiest class, the INEX Legends division, also has a three-point separation between its leaders, two-time division champion Brenton Irving and Carteret County newcomer Jordan Lamothe as they head into their final bye week.  Emily Day and Brian Sullivan are tied third in points, just 24 points behind Lamothe and both remain mathematically in contention for the championship.

In the Jr. Mini Cup division, two-time winner Caleb Braswell leads by five markers over Scotty Benford.  Benford also has a win in 2019.  Mike Cooper leads in Street Stock standings, while Sean Wales is out front in Champ Kart points and Charles Pudenz remains on top in the Mini Cup championship battle.

LINK: 2019 Carteret County Speedway points standings »

The Limited Late Model, Street Stock, Mini-Stock, U-CAR and Champ Kart divisions will also continue their points battles on Saturday night.  Three separate Mini Cup races will also in action – the Coastal Carolina Mini Cup and Jr. Mini Cups as well as the Virginia Mini Cups.  Neither Mini Cup race will be consequential in Carteret County’s championship standings.  The Legends division will be off for the final time in 2019.

Saturday’s Harley Davidson of New Bern Summer Jam presented by Moore’s BBQ will get underway at 7pm, after a meet-and-greet on the front stretch which takes place shortly after 6pm.  Tickets are $15 for adults while kids 10 and under are admitted free.

For more information about Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway, visit the track’s official website at www.carteretspeedway.com, “like” Carteret County Speedway on Facebook or follow @carteretcoswy on Twitter.

Source: Carteret County Speedway

Photo Credit: Eric Creel