Antioch, CA — The season at Antioch Speedway hits August with five-consecutive Saturday night races and some exciting shows lined up. The busiest of the divisions will be the Pacific Coast Hobby Stocks and the IMCA sanctioned Sport Modifieds and Stock Cars, who will be competing at all five events.
Notable dates on the August schedule include the Fifth Annual Dean Cline Classic, which takes place on August 8th. The big Hobby Stock event will pay $1,000 to win, following a Friday night show at Watsonville that will also pay $1,000 to win. It’ll be part of a weekend Hobby Stock series between the two tracks that will also have a $1,000 point fund.
On August 22nd, the speedway will host its Eighth Annual Hall of Fame night, which will feature eight legends of the speedway being inducted and a full slate of IMCA sanctioned divisions along with Hobby Stocks and Xtreme Late Models. This will be followed on August 29th by the Fourth Annual Panfili Cup event for the Wingless Spec Sprints, paying tribute to division original and Hall of Famer Rick Panfili.
This Saturday night, the IMCA Modifieds have the added incentive of a $1,000 to win Main Event. It is hoped that this will help give the fans more of a show from the division.
The Hobby Stocks enter their 11th race of the season, joined by the IMCA sanctioned Sport Modifieds and Stock Cars as well as the 600 Micro Sprints. The August stretch will be crucial on the road to the championship, especially with the IMCA divisions, which only have one more point race remaining after August on September 26th.
It’s no secret that the IMCA Modified car count has struggled this year. The most recent event didn’t attract any cars, and there was a night in which only three drivers showed up. Tracks in places like Bakersfield, Merced, Susanville and Petaluma have also struggled to even reach 10 cars in the field. The numbers have been down a little at several places this year.
This has promoters talking about what can be done to make things better. Antioch Promoter Chad Chadwick is looking at the payouts and contemplating what can be done next year. However, there is still the matter of the rest of the 2026 season to consider.
In June, Chadwick and Watsonville Promoter Rob Gallaher teamed up with both tracks paying $1,000 to win that weekend and also offered a $1,000 payout for the weekend points. In that case, Jim Pettit II of Prunedale won the $500 weekend championship with Andrew Pearce of Oakley receiving $300 for second and Cody Burke of Salinas picking up $200 for third.
The promotion for that weekend helped increase Antioch Speedway’s Modified car count to nine for the night, which happened to be the Soares Memorial race as well. Olivehurst driver Ryan McDaniel outran Pearce to score the victory on that occasion. It was the best show of the season for the class, and Chadwick wants to see if he can repeat that success.
Just as this article was going out to the media, Chadwick announced that the race on Saturday night will now pay $1,000 to win. The division will be have an increased payout event on September 26th when the track hosts the annual Bill Bowers Memorial race, but it was decided that something needed to be done in the meantime.
With three feature victories to his credit, reigning champion Troy Foulger of Oakley currently leads the standings in the Bowers Motorsports entry. Pearce trails him by just two points in the standings, while McDaniel holds third in a tie with Matt Kampfraat of Granite Bay, 34 points out of the lead.
Reigning IMCA Modified State champion Kate Robertson of Reno, Nevada is five points out of third and four points ahead of sixth place Eric Berendsen of Antioch. It’s hoped that the increased prize money will attract a few drivers looking to make a run for the money.
The Hobby Stock championship race took an interesting turn following the final July race. James Thomson of Pittsburg had been the leader in the standings going into the night, but his race ended in a DNF. Meanwhile, Hunter Hammett and Aidan Ponciano, both of Oakley, enjoyed their eighth Top 5 finishes of the season. For Ponciano, it was his second win of the season, while Hammett charged to a third place finish.
When the points were tabulated, Hammett found himself leading by 14 points over Thomson and Antioch’s Jewell Crandall, who finished fourth in the July finale. Ponciano remains within 20 points of Thomson and Crandall and trails Hammett by 34 points. All four drivers are very much in the battle, but the August stretch of races could shake things up. All of these drivers know that getting to the finish line at this point is crucial, even if it can’t be a win on this occasion.
Having missed a pair of races, reigning champion Grayson Baca of Brentwood isn’t part of that battle, but he is closing in on Oakley’s Charlie Bryant for fifth in the standings. Following his second place finish last time, Baca is trailing Bryant by 18 points. Maddie Motts of San Pablo, Brentwood’s Jesse Paladino, Nicky Skidmore of Benicia and rookie Nicholas Garner of Antioch round out the Top 10 in the standings going into Saturday night.
For the IMCA divisions, the schedule was a little light during the first half of the season due to the track’s effort to work with other venues. The IMCA Sport Modifieds have only had five races so far, and by the time August is done, they will have completed 10 races. As has been the case in recent years, this division has one of the closest battles at the track.
In the most recent race, Trevor Clymens of Brentwood and Bay Point’s Danny Wagner were battling to score their second win of the season. Clymens appeared headed for that victory when Wagner managed to overtake him on the final circuit. With Fred Ryland of Brentwood having a bad night, the points got closer between the Top 4 competitors. The pressure will be on going into Saturday night.
Three-time champion Ryland has picked up a pair of victories this year to lead Wagner by just four points. Clymens is only seven points out of the lead, while the surprising Al Johnson of Antioch is fourth in the standings, 10 points behind Ryland. Johnson is the only driver in the field with five Top 5 finishes this year. Reigning Marysville champion Mark Garner of Antioch trails Johnson by 18 points in the battle for fourth.
A look at the remaining Top 10 drivers finds Antioch’s James Graessle running sixth, followed by Jason Ryan Jr of Oakley, Brentwood’s Jeff Bentancourt, rookie Michael Drew of Penngrove and Antioch’s Alfred Johnson. Bentancourt made the choice to miss the most recent race in order to run a two-day event at Barona. That effort paid off as he now leads Santa Maria’s Matthew Frazier by about 40 points in the IMCA State championship battle.
The IMCA Stock Car race has become a two-car battle for the championship between reigning champion Fred Ryland of Brentwood and Rio Vista’s Jason Robles. Robles is still in search of his first feature win of the season, but his four second place finishes has kept him firmly in the battle to try to collect his very first division championship.
In recent weeks, the car count in the IMCA Stock Car division has trended upward thanks to the addition of such notable racers as Galt’s Les Friend, Clarence Holbrook III and Nick Friend, rookie Blaze Hill of Livermore and Jake Archibald of Oakley. Last time out, Archibald scored the victory to become the fourth different winner in the division this season.
In the point standings, one-time winner Kenneth Robles of Rio Vista has moved two points ahead of two-time winner Troy Foulger of Oakley in the race for third. Foulger was noticeably absent last time out, and the Bowers Motorsports team appears to be gearing up for the Boone, Iowa Nationals in early September.
Past IMCA Stock Car State champion Scott Foster of Oakley recently got his first win at Susanville and finds himself fifth in the Antioch standings, 17 points behind Foulger and one point ahead of Dave Hill of San Francisco. The balance of the Top 10 is made up by Todd Gomez of Antioch, Archibald, Blaze Hill and Holbrook.
Rounding out the lineup will be the 600 Micro Sprint division. They’ve had four races so far this year, and four different drivers have claimed the victories. The winner’s list includes Oakley’s Devon Zuffa, Buddy Chappell of San Jose, Kyle Mentch of Alameda and most recently Ty Carlson of Stockton, who grabbed the victory ahead of Brentwood’s Aniyah Scott.
Scott is hoping that this is the week she gets her first win, and it would plant her firmly in the championship battle. Zuffa managed to put together another motor after problems at Petaluma a month ago, and he finished third last time out. This kept him 14 points ahead of Chappell with Scott 22 points back in third. Currently, Antioch’s Charlie Kight and Ryan Dotson of Fremont round out the Top 5 in the standings.
The championship battles are heating up in the Hobby Stocks and IMCA Sport Modifieds, and the IMCA Stock Cars have certainly been interesting to watch in recent races. The added incentive of $1,000 to win the IMCA Modified Main Event should attract some good competition. Saturday’s show will be a good one to see as Antioch Speedway begins the busy month of August.
The gates will open at 5:00 with the first race starting at 6:00.
Adult tickets are $20, Senior/Military $15, Kids (5-12) $15 and kids four and under free.
For further information, go to http://www.raceantiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway by PROmotions Facebook page.
Previous
- July 28, 2026 – Tuttle Scores Hunt Series Victory at Antioch Speedway
- July 21, 2026 – Baca, Archibald, Wagner, Carlson Share Antioch Speedway Winner’s Circle
- June 30, 2026 – McDaniel, Baca, Ryland, Wagner, Freethy Win Soares Memorial Races at Antioch Speedway
- June 16, 2026 – Kenneth Robles Dedicates Win To Tom Fraser, Hammett, Clymens, Mentch, Foulger Other Winners At Antioch Speedway
- June 9 –Speir Wins Graunstadt Memorial at Antioch Speedway
- June 2, 2026 – Crandall Takes $1300 Bounty, Hogge Wins 25 Lap Larry Damitz Memorial at Antioch Speedway
- May 5, 2026 – Jerry Stewart Wins Tri State Pro Stock Main Event, Five New Winners at Antioch Speedway
- April 28 – Blake Bower Wins Randy Larson Memorial Race at Antioch Speedway
- April 7, 2026 – Foulger, Ponciano, Ryland, Gray, Wagner Score Season Opening Wins at Antioch Speedway
