(Emily Schwanke Photo)
Arkansas is set to host the newest premier 360 Sprint Car event this weekend for the American Sprint Car Series National Tour – the World Short Track Challenge.
The first National Tour race at Riverside International Speedway in three years will be a co-sanctioned event alongside the ASCS Hurricane Area Super Sprints and the United Sprint Car Series, with the three tours combining to bring more than 60 cars to “The Ditch” this weekend.
The event wraps up with a 40-lap Feature on Saturday night paying $10,000-to-win and $1,000 to start. Friday’s preliminary action will conclude with a $2,000-to-win/$200-to-start main event.
Tickets will be available at the track on race day. Can’t make it? Catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
Here are the top storylines entering the weekend:
HANK HEATING UP: Whenever Hank Davis has been asked to reflect on his first season in the TwoC Racing machine, his answer has remained constant all year.
“I didn’t know we would be this good.”
Regardless of what his goals were entering the year, Davis has been a nightly win contender ever since he got in the car – but especially over the past six weeks.
His win on Saturday night at Paducah International Raceway was the latest chapter in a seven-race stretch that includes three wins, five podiums and no finishes worse than fourth. Davis’ 2.2 average finish dating back to his weekend sweep at Electric City Speedway is the best of anyone over that span, including championship leaders Seth Bergman and Sam Hafertepe Jr.
The Sand Springs, OK native will be making his first trek to West Memphis this weekend, although the challenge of taking on a track for the first time didn’t seem to faze him at Electric City or Paducah. Riverside’s tight confines and high banking should suit Davis nicely given his Midget background as he goes for the first five-digit payday of his Sprint Car career.
PILING ON THE PODIUMS: Good luck finding anyone happier about an eight-race winless streak than Seth Bergman.
Although he hasn’t won since Aug. 23 at Big Sky Speedway, his six podiums since then have given him a 136-point lead over Hafertepe in the standings. While he would have loved to convert a few of those seconds and thirds into wins, the ultimate goal all along has been earning his first National Tour championship, and the 20-year Sprint Car veteran is closer than ever to doing exactly that.
The gap will go unchanged this weekend with the World Short Track Challenge paying show-up points only, meaning Bergman can put the title fight aside and focus solely on gunning for the $10,000 prize on Saturday night.
His Riverside resume includes two National Tour wins in 2012 and 2015, making him one of six drivers to win more than one Series event at the track and the only current full-timer on that list.
TIME FOR A RESET: After a dream summer that included nine wins over the span of 13 races, Hafertepe hasn’t quite been the same in the cooler weather.
His last nine races on tour have included no trips to Victory Lane and three finishes outside the top 10, including a late-race flat tire at Clay County Fair Speedway and a crash at Benton Speedway, causing his gap to Bergman to be nearly 100 points larger than it was when he left Montana 40 points back.
Hope is not lost though, as the final stretch of the season might as well have been tailor-made for Hafertepe. The next full points race takes place at his home track of RPM Speedway before the season concludes at Tulsa Speedway and Creek County Speedway in November. Hafertepe was victorious at Tulsa in June in his first time competing at the track, while he has won three times at Creek County in 2024 alone, including with the National Tour during Speedweek.
While a win this weekend wouldn’t help their points situation, it could be critical to building momentum in the No. 15H camp entering their final bid for a sixth Series championship.
STAR-STUDDED FIELD: With the season winding down, 360 Sprint Car teams from across the nation are planning to travel to West Memphis for one more big event before putting their cars away for the winter. The list of expected entries includes all the regulars from the National Tour, Hurricane Area Super Sprints and the USCS along with dozens of invaders looking to steal the spotlight.
Of course, there’s no bigger name on the list that three-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car champion Sammy Swindell, who hails from nearby Germantown, TN. The 68-year-old is still a contender in the limited Sprint Car starts he makes each year, as his 2024 season has included a local win at Riverside on Aug. 24 as well as a USCS triumph one week later at Buckshot Speedway.
A familiar face in a new place to keep an eye on is Jordon Mallett, who will become the first driver to compete for three different teams with the National Tour this season. Mallett spent eight races driving the Brandon Anderson Motorsports No. 55B in a stint highlighted by a win at Batesville Motor Speedway before fielding his own No. 14 car at Arrowhead Speedway in September, and he has since jumped into the No. 3 for Rains Motorsports.
His debut with the team came last weekend in USCS action at Riverside with finishes of second and ninth in the twin-Feature program. The night was swept by Derek Hagar, who has now won five times at “The Ditch” in 2024 and enters the weekend hungry for more.
WHEN AND WHERE:
Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19, at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, AR
AROUND THE TURN:
The American Sprint Car Series National Tour will head to Texas for the only time in 2024 for a doubleheader at RPM Speedway outside Dallas on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25-26, marking the final stop before November’s
Spence Smithback | American Sprint Car Series | Photo: Emily Schwanke
