Scott Owen, Leader Columnist
It all comes down to this — the one final night of racing this year at the Shawano Speedway.
Five track champions will be crowned. Interestingly enough, all five divisions are basically decided.
Marcus Yarie has already wrapped the IMCA Modifieds track championship. Yarie enters the night with an insurmountable 65-point lead over last year’s track champion, Jerry Wilinski. Yarie scored seven feature wins this season en route to his second title at the historic half-mile. Yarie also won the title in 2014.
Travis Van Straten enters the night merely needing to start the IMCA Stock Cars feature in order to wrap up his third consecutive title. He has had an incredible three-year run. Van Straten has scored 33 feature wins in the past three seasons alone at Shawano. Van Straten was also the national champion last season in the IMCA Stock Cars division and currently sits second in national points, only 13 points out of first.
Late Models points leader Brett Swedberg also needs to start the feature to wrap up his first championship. Swedberg fell victim to numerous breakdowns a year ago, keeping him from challenging for the title. This year, Swedberg has been consistently fast all year. Swedberg has scored three feature wins along the way this season.
Jordan Barkholtz in the IMCA Sport Mods is another driver that has used consistent finishes to get to the top of the point standings. Barkholtz has two feature wins and also needs to only start the feature to secure his first track championship.
Additionally, Grant Kastning enters the night with a 22-point edge in the Mighty Fours division. For Kastning, he too basically just needs to start the feature to win the title. Kastning held a rather commanding lead previous to last week’s feature, but mechanical gremlins forced him to pull off the track early. It would also be the first crown for Kastning, who has scored two feature wins this season.
Since its addition to the race program in 2012, the Mighty Fours class has never had a repeat champion.
In my eyes, the 2016 season will be remembered for breakout seasons by Konnor Wilinski, Kyle Raddant and Jason Hopinka, as well as continued feature winning power by the likes of Yarie, Van Straten and Lucas Lamberies, who has scored seven wins entering the final night.
The season will also be remembered for first-ever wins by the likes of Vern Stedjee, Lucas Hacker and Jason Ebert.
With only one night left, it’s time to get out and fill that racing void before the long winter sets in.
See you at the speedway.