O’FALLON, MO (July 22, 2009) – Glidden, Gray and Gahm. It sounds like a personal-injury law firm that’s hawking its services on late-night TV, but actually they’re the current National Guard ADRL points leaders in Flowmaster Extreme 10.5 (XTF), Pro Extreme Motorcycle (PXM), and Extreme Pro Stock (XPS), respectively.
With six of 10 points-paying opportunities in the record books, each are presently leading the way in Speedtech Battle for the Belts standings to determine the top eight finishers in each class who will race against each other in winner-take-all championship showdowns this October at the series’ final race of the year in Ennis, Texas.
Everyone who makes at least one qualifying attempt at a National Guard ADRL event receives 25 points and qualifying on top of a 16-car field earns another 16 points (15 for 2nd, 14 for 3rd, and so on). With each elimination-round win paying 100 points (500 going to the event winner) and 50-point bonuses for setting official elapsed time and speed records, each event offers the potential for 641 points. Plus, a 50-point bonus goes to every driver who attends all events in a single season.
Reigning Flowmaster XTF World Champion Billy Glidden finally showed a chink in his armor when class newcomer Jeff Paulk recently took him out in the rain-delayed quarter-finals from the Martin, Michigan event at Topeka, Kansas. Prior to that, Glidden had won an impressive five straight National Guard ADRL events (six if last fall’s Battle for the Belts is included) and 21 national-event elimination rounds dating back to last August.
It didn’t take long for Glidden to resume his winning ways, however, as he repaid Paulk with a holeshot win in the final round of the Topeka race the next night, padding his points lead over second-place man Jeff Naiser to a whopping 1,339 in the process.
Naiser, the only driver matching Glidden with an XTF win in ’09, lies just 77 ahead of fellow Texan Todd Moyer, who in turn holds a mere four-point edge over Gary White, followed by Paulk another 217 markers back in fifth place. The rest of the current list of XTF Belts contenders includes series rookies Spiro Pappas and Jake Carlton, along with 2007 class champ Steve Gorman, any of whom could mount a late-season charge, though no one is likely to challenge Glidden for the lead.
Still with very realistic chances to move up and oust one or two of the current XTF Belts crowd, though, are Michael Neal, Michelle Wilson and Randy Matlock, who are all less than two rounds out of contention, while you have to look all the way down to Kenny Hubbard in 20th place before finding the first driver more than four rounds away from cracking the championship-deciding field.
The Pro Extreme Motorcycle points chase is every bit as tight, with Scott Gray overtaking Matt Prophit for the lead by 474 points after scoring his second win of the season in the most recent event at Topeka and after Prophit missed the two previous races due to work commitments. Following Prophit by 88 points is Ashley Owens, courtesy of back-to-back wins and record-setting performances in the recent Memphis and Martin events, and Charlie Prophit (older brother and teammate to Matt), yet another event winner who at 96 points back is less than one round behind Owens.
A gap of 382 points exists to T.T. Jones in fifth, followed by Jack Young, Ronald Procopio and Eric McKinney, with the last two tied at 1,016 points, or 1,302 behind the leader, Gray. Only 69 points currently separates ninth-place Travis Davis from the PXM Battle field and Casey Stemper is just another 44 points back of Davis, followed by Robert Hunnicutt, Brunson Grothus and Mantez Thompson, all of whom are less than two rounds worth of points beyond the Belts qualifying list and certainly capable of playing a spoiler role to someone currently in good shape.
The inaugural season of Extreme Pro Stock, which has only nine races in this calendar year to draw points from (each official National Guard ADRL season actually begins with the race in Ennis), currently seeds two-time event winner Brian Gahm on top with a commanding 750-point lead over fellow race winner John Montecalvo and Doug Kirk, also with one win, but another 74 behind “Monte.”
Jason Collins is only three points short of Kirk to round out the first four of the elite eight in XPS, but he holds a 101-point advantage over Topeka winner Elijah Morton, who in turn leads Matt Hartford by 142. Another 195 back is Robert Patrick, with just one, single digit separating him from current eighth-place holder Jeff Dobbins.
Cary Goforth and Pete Berner appear the most likely to step up as each is less than one round beyond Belts contention at this point, but Dean Goforth (Cary’s father) still has a shot at getting in, as does Bob Bertsch and Ron Miller, though they all would have to start going deep in eliminations at each remaining race to have a serious chance.
Though each race on the National Guard ADRL schedule carries the same weight as far as points awarded goes, the remainder in ’09 carry added significance for contenders and challengers alike. As each Speedtech Battle for the Belts field begins to take shape, each official pass bears added scrutiny and offers additional clues toward who eventually will earn the titles as world champions in Texas.
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