Story By: KENNY SHUPP / OUTLAWS SPEEDWAY – DUNDEE, NY – Outlaw Speedway regular 602 Crate Sportsman competitor and three time feature winner at the facility in 2019, Tommy Collins Jr. will lead the charge of top drivers within the region when the track hosts the final Sunrise Insulation Outlaw Speedway American Racer Tire Point Series event as part of Dutch Hoag Weekend on Saturday, October 19.
Collins Jr., who won the most recently run series event at Outlaw Speedway during the 4th Annual Fall Nationals on September 21 is in a great position to claim his first title in the series now in its second year.
Dave Marcuccelli claimed the inaugural championship last year as he won all but one of the series feature events in route to the title and the $2,000 champions check.
However, what a difference a year makes as Marcuccelli has only competed sparingly at Outlaw Speedway during the 2019 campaign due to other racing commitments and has virtually not been a factor in this year’s championship run and with that it has virtually opened up the flood gates for a who’s who list of Crate Sportsman Drivers to step in and claim the “19” title.
Entering the season finale Collins Jr. has a 20 point advantage over fellow sportsman competitor, Kenny Hammond who races a very limited schedule at Outlaw Speedway primarily focusing on the American Racer Series. Just a couple points behind Hammond is weekly track regular and 2017 Outlaw Speedway Sportsman Track Champion, Karl Comfort.
2019 DIRTcar Hoosier Tire Track Champion, Will Shields will enter the final point race in fourth spot while last year’s regular season point champion, Chris Fisher rounds the top five point getters.
Although Shields and Fisher are 23 and 26 points respectfully behind Collins they both have a mathematical chance of claiming the title should Comfort, Hammond or Collins run into problems on championship night.
Thus far in the four events that have been staged for the 2019 title, four different drivers have picked up a series feature win including Hammond (7/27), Comfort (7/26), Collins (9/21) and newly crowned Sunrise Insulation Crate Sportsman Division 2019 Track Champion, Brian Fish (6/7).
Like last year the 2019 overall series champion will pick up a check for $2 Grand at the Annual Awards Banquet set for January 2020.
As part of the Saturday, October 19 portion of the 4th Annual Dutch Hoag Triple 7’s Weekend at Outlaw Speedway, the Sunrise Insulation American Racer Tire Sportsman Division is expected to have a huge car count. With virtually no other tracks close by racing on that particular night, coupled with a huge purse paying the winner of the 30 lap feature a nifty $2,000 qualifying heats and consolation events for the feature will provide great racing. It should be noted that during the last series event staged as part of the Fall Nationals at Outlaw Speedway some three dozen Crate Sportsman Drivers were in competition.