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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spokane County Raceway hosts ICAR

Doug Pace

The ICAR Late Model Series makes its only appearance of the season at Spokane County Raceway this weekend and brings with it a tight points race for the 2011 championship.

Inland Empire standout Blake Williams will certainly welcome a return to the series after taking a few weeks off to run his super late model. While those results have not panned out to Williams’ advantage, the ICAR season has been one of consistency that has led to a slim seven-point advantage over equally impressive Eric Hector.

Colton Garber, a contender at any given ICAR race, sits in the third position in the chase for the championship. Jason O’Neil and rookie of the year points leader Kahlen Koch round out the top five.

The King of the Hill race for ICAR’s appearance at the Airway Heights facility brings with it the highest payout of the season. A strong turnout is expected for the series’ return to the high-banked half-mile track.

For more information log on to spokanecountyraceway.com.

Stateline Speedway

Stateline Speedway, fresh off a solid 12th annual Idaho 200 weekend, brings the Northwest Pro 4 Alliance to town for its lone Inland Empire visit of the season.

Featuring racecars powered by four-cylinder engines shrouded in late model-looking bodies, the series is popular with fans and tracks across the region. Keeping to a tight schedule over the years has built a solid car-count of 20-30.

Fans looking for a driver to keep the checkered flag at home need go no further then Bonners Ferry native Thomas Husk and Ephrata’s Jeff Hector. Each has had solid runs at Stateline and on the Alliance and stand to be factors in this weekend’s 75-lap shootout.

Hector leads the Alliance’s rookie of the year chase, while Husk is a top-20 driver in the championship standings. The series has had more than 40 drivers take part in at least one event this season, making it one of the strongest touring groups in the Pacific Northwest.

Drivers from as far as California and Utah can be expected to come to Post Falls.

For more information on the Northwest Pro 4 Alliance race visit its website at nwpro4alliance.com.

Sunset Speedway

Sunset Speedway holds night racing action for go-karts on Saturday with five divisions in action.

With three races left in the season, a tight race for the Jr. II Animal championship may see a clear favorite emerge after the weekend’s action wraps up.

Corey McGuire trails Jared Storer by four points with two single-points races left before the double-points event set for September. McGuire had the stronger runs in the early portion of the season as he built a strong lead on Storer. In three of the last four events Storer has outscored McGuire to take a slight advantage into Saturday’s race.

In the Jr. II Clone division, one point separates points leader Blake Pugh over Janelle Lang, with Tanner Pugh only three points out of the championship lead. Jimmy Laswell (fourth place) and Abbygail Storer have the leaders in sight as each is less than 16 points behind.

Daniel Watkins continues to have a strong season in the Jr. I Clone division as he has eight high-point victories in eight starts this season. The closest battle in the division belongs to second-place Riley Ayala and third-place Haedon Plybon, who are separated by 24 points heading into the weekend.

Also holding down points leads at Sunset are Dan Watkins (Adult Clone) and Larry Christen.

Watkins has hard-charging Ed Marks to contend with this weekend. They have been side-by-side all season, with just eight points separating them. Sunset Speedway offers free grandstand admission to race fans with gates opening at 3 p.m., qualifying at 6 and racing at 7.

For more information log on to the track’s website at sunsetspeedway.org.

For story suggestions or comments contact The Spokesman-Review’s motorsports correspondent, Doug Pace, at racingnewssource@ gmail.com.