[b Gater Racing News Hard Charger of the Season Standings to be Settled this Weekend]<\/p>\n
[i Rich Vleck, TULSA, Okla. (September 2, 2009)]<\/p>\n
Plenty of championships, point funds and other awards will be decided this weekend for the Lucas Oil ASCS Patriots; included in the discussion will be the quest to be named the 2009 Gater Racing News Hard Charger of the Season.<\/p>\n
The fifth consecutive year of hard charger tabulations has resulted in 71 of the 84 drivers to start a Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot feature finish at least one spot higher than where they finished in at least one of the first 20 races this season. While more than half of those drivers still have a chance to claim the Hard Charger Award, only three have good odds to hold this honor.<\/p>\n
Bryan Howland and Jared Zimbardi, the top two in the overall Patriot standings the last two years, are tied atop the heap with 54 spots advanced so far this season. Howland is the defending Hard Charger of the Season while Zimbardi was the first back in 2005. No driver has ever one the award twice.<\/p>\n
The last two seasons, the Hard Charger was also the overall series champion. Howland is the frontrunner for the 2009 Title but Zimbardi could also keep that streak alive as he is still within striking distance of Howland.<\/p>\n
The third driver in the lead fold is Trevor Lewis, who has advanced 52 spots in just eight races this year. Only once this year has the Upper Black Eddy, PA driver not gone forward in a Patriot A-Main, and that was at Brewerton when he crashed with Bobby Breen while leading.<\/p>\n
This exciting trio have a major gap over youngsters Bubba Broderick and Tommy Wickham, who are within one race of taking over the point lead.<\/p>\n
Points will be tabulated once again this Saturday at Sharon, which starts at 6:00 p.m., not at 7:00 as was previously released. Eriez will be the final race of the point season and when that 25-lap event is over, the new Hard Charger will be determined.<\/p>\n
The point formula has always been for drivers that finish higher than where they started in A-mains only. No negative points are given for drivers that fall back or are unable to finish.<\/p>\n
The top-three at season\u2019s end will get a slice of the point fund, which will be distributed at the 2009 Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot Banquet, held November 14 at Wildwood Country Club in Rush, NY.<\/p>\n
For more information, visit http:\/\/www.ascspatriotsprints.com\/ or http:\/\/www.ascsracing.com\/.<\/p>\n
Past Gater Racing News Hard Charger of the Season Award Winners:
\n2005- Jared Zimbardi
\n2006- Don Adamczyk
\n2007- Chuck Hebing
\n2008- Bryan Howland<\/p>\n
Gater Racing News Hard Charger of the Season Standings (Through 20 of 22 Events):
\nJared Zimbardi\t54
\nBryan Howland\t54
\nTrevor Lewis\t52
\nBubba Broderick\t36
\nTommy Wickham\t33
\nDon Adamczyk\t30
\nBlake Breen\t30
\nMichael Parent\t28
\nJamie Collard\t26
\nChuck Hebing\t23
\nTim Kelly\t22
\nDan Kaszubinski\t21
\nScott Kreutter\t20
\nSteve Poirier\t19
\nGary Troutman\t18
\nT.J. Newton\t18
\nJason Barney\t17
\nJared Fink\t17
\nDave Wickham\t16
\nKevin Loveys\t16
\nDoug Emery\t13
\nRay Preston\t13
\nBrandan Warner\t13
\nDevin Caron\t12
\nAlain Bergeron\t12
\nTravis Cunnigham\t12
\nDerek Jonathan\t11
\nShawn Donath\t11
\nDoug Bowman\t11
\nChris Shuttleworth\t10
\nJim Huppunen\t10
\nGordy Button\t10
\nDave Dykstra\t10
\nGary Kriess\t9
\nKyle Moffit\t9
\nJustin Barger\t9
\nScott Bonnell\t9
\nBobby Breen\t9
\nBrad Knab\t9
\nCory Sparks\t8
\nBubby Kerrick\t8
\nJosh Weller \t8
\nJoel Lehman\t8
\nJoe August Jr\t8
\nKevin Job\t8
\nBobby Howard\t7
\nLee Ladouceur\t7
\nChris Weiss\t5
\nJeff Cook\t5
\nRyan Hunsinger\t5
\nJessica Zemken\t5
\nKyle Drum\t5
\nChris Muhleisen\t4
\nStan Zanchin\t4
\nMikey Kruchka\t4
\nGeorge Suprick\t4
\nLance Yonge\t3
\nBobby Podolak\t3
\nDain Naida\t3
\nJames Evans\t3
\nKyle Wilson\t3
\nKeith Dempster\t3
\nGuy Griffin\t2
\nMike Stelter\t2
\nJeff Frasier\t2
\nJohn Burbridge Jr.\t2
\nWarren Alexson\t1
\nJim Morris\t1
\nPaul Pekkonen\t1
\nJohn Schuyler\t1
\nGlenn Styres\t1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"