Fans of sprint cars on the Central Coast will have their fill at Santa Maria Speedway tonight, with the second round of the four-round Bandit/VRA Grand Slam hitting the 1/3-mile clay oval.

The mini-series, racing at Bakersfield, Ventura and twice at Santa Maria, pits the Bandit Sprint series based at SMS against the Ventura-based VRA Sprints, along with some of the top 360 sprint cars from around the state, in what is basically the California state 360 championship series.

The opening salvo of the series was fired by Ventura driver Greg Taylor in the first of the four races, held April 7th in Bakersfield. Taylor got around Visalia's Jesse Mack - the current point leader in the SMS Bandit Series - with three laps to go in the main event, giving him the win and the early leader in Grand Slam points. Following the front duo to the line were Davey Pombo of Kerman and Josh Ford of Camarillo, two drivers who recently competed in the famed Indiana Speedweeks, pitted against the nation's best open-wheel drivers.

Australian native Peter Murphy, himself a multiple-time winner at SMS, took fifth in his Tommy Tarlton Racing entry, but San Jose's Michael Trimble edged ahead of Murphy for fifth in the Grand Slam points following a sixth-place finish.

The local Bandit drivers will also be racing for the local points championship, in which Mack has a commanding 97-point lead (392-295) over four-time former champ Jimmy Thompson of Grover Beach. That point lead is based on Mack's five wins in eight Bandit starts at SMS this season, making him one of the favorites.

Also scheduled to be on hand will be Santa Maria native Danny Sheridan, currently fourth in the USAC/CRA Sprint series in his No. 18 Kittle Motorsports entry.

After Saturday, the Grand Slam will take much of the summer and fall off, before returning to SMS on October 13th for the season finale at Santa Maria. The series finale will come two weeks later (Oct. 27th) at Ventura.

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Also on hand to fill out the night's action will be the local IMCA Modified brigade, currently in a three-way fight for the lead between Santa Maria drivers Tim Breshears and Danny Lauer, along with Arroyo Grande's Chad Weber.

Breshears holds the top spot with 321 points, marked largely due to consistency stemming from five top-five finishes in nine races, including a pair of runner-up results. Weber sits in second with 310, racking up a win and a third among his top finishes, while Lauer is in third with 302, also nabbing a win but losing another due to a mechanical issue.

Rounding out the field is the Mini Stock class, which is quickly rounding into a two-car race for the title between fellow Arroyo Grande drivers Ken Kehs and Justin Crockett.

Kehs, last year's Rookie of the Year in the category, has chalked up five wins in eight races this season for a 29-point lead (388-359) over Crockett, who has a win and four seconds. Neither driver has finished lower than third in any of the eight main events this season.

Van Nuys driver Matt Sweeney sits 72 points back of Kehs (316) in third, making his way up the points ladder in recent weeks. Another recent hard charger, Nipomo's Justin Marsh, moved up to fourth (313) following his hair-raising victory on July 2nd.

July 29, 2007