What am I doing here?
I should be back home in the Midwest … forget the obligatory road course run for the Sprint Cupsters in Sonoma, and the “Liberty Grand Prix” in France, most of the action this weekend takes place within a few hours of my ol’ homestead.
We’re talking corn and soybean country — Iowa and Wisconsin — perhaps a bit waterlogged these days along the rivers and creeks.
Speaking of weather, Saturday is the official start to summer and the weather has appeared to be improving locally — where we also have a great deal of racing going on.
Dirt Cup wraps up Saturday at Skagit Speedway, and all three divisions of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series are slated to run at Evergreen Speedway, as well as the Pawn X-Change Super Figure Eights.
I’ll be at Evergreen — sorry Dirt Cuppers, but my schedule just couldn’t be juggled to make that happen — and looking forward to some good short-track Saturday-night racing, with fenders.
On to the picks.
There is some kind of vicious rumor going around the Monroe track that the drivers I pick always lose. Even thought I’ve picked a winner in each division already, two weeks ago a couple of my picks were distinctly unhappy to have caught my attention.
For the super stocks, it is tempting to just say “Naima Lang” for the rest of the season, but where is the fun in that? I’m looking for someone to have a breakthrough night … someone like Jeff Knight.
Two weeks ago I don’t know if I was watching a demo derby or the bomber main, there was so much bumping and banging going on. Let’s say things go a bit smoother on Saturday and points leader Jim Foti comes home the winner.
Ahh, the mini-stocks. Always a lot of fun to watch and talk to these folks. Mark Weedin has been pretty strong this season, and defending champion Chuck Richard has displayed some great driving ability. But for this week, my pick is Bob Edwards.
Super figure eight time, and I’m going to say Nick Gunderson takes home the trophy. Why? Well, there are quite a few Gundersons to pick from, but with Nick Gunderson No. 2 on the points list, a win on Saturday would really help him going into next week’s Midseason Championships.
For Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, I’m going to assume NASCAR does a better job checking the size of fuel tanks this year, so I’ll go with the guy who should have won last year: Robby Gordon.
The Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series will both be at the Milwaukee Mile in West, Allis, Wis. Ahhh! Cheese.
Anyway, I’m liking the trend of series regulars winning — as opposed to drop-in Cupsters — so I’ll go with David Stremme to find Victory Lane in the Nationwide Camping World RV Rental 250 on Saturday.
For the Milwaukee 200 on Friday, I’m going back to Johnny Benson, fourth-grade teacher look-a-like that he is. Benson is now the points leader after Kyle Busch took Ron Hornaday out of last week’s race, so let’s see how he rides that momentum.
I said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m sticking with Tony Kanaan to win in the IndyCar series until he does. Sunday’s Iowa Corn 250 (ahhh! corn) goes to TK, who vaguely resembles Vin Diesel to me.
For the Liberty, er., French Grand Prix, I’m going to say defending F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen recovers with a victory after being wrecked on pit row by Lewis Hamilton in the Canadian GP.
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