SCCA Majors at Iowa Speedway and Pueblo Motorsports Park on consecutive weekends begin to paint the points races
The Mid-States Conference of SCCA hosted its third and fourth Majors races of the year on back-to-back weekends at nearly opposite ends of the conference. Iowa Speedway hosted one event on its “roval,” and Pueblo Motorsports Park in Colorado hosted the other. With only a week between events and a big distance between the two, there was little crossover in entries.
Added to events at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit (a combined event with the Southern Conference) and Heartland Motorsports Park, the Mid-States Conference is two-thirds finished and the points races are shaping up. And what those events started, the two remaining events at Colorado’s High Plains Raceway will finish.
Jesse Prather of Topeka, Kan., won both races at Pueblo to solidify his lead at the front of E Production. The RX-7 that he built in tribute to longtime friend and Mazda racer Tom Thrash has proven fast – Prather landed on the podium with it at the 2017 Runoffs at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – and it’s getting better. While Prather has yet to beat Matthew Reynolds and his Miata in a Mid-States Majors race, Reynolds will likely now keep to the Southern Conference, leaving Prather on a clear path to a Conference title with Reynolds sitting in second. Breton Williams is currently third with a double victory at Iowa, but he could overtake Reynolds with the High Plains races.
Similarly, Sam Henry, of Republic, Mo., took both victories at Iowa Speedway in his Miata to assert his dominance of F Production in the Mid-States Conference. Henry adds the double at Iowa to a win at Heartland Park and a trio of seconds to lead three other Miata drivers in the class.
Denver’s Rayce Dykstra finished second in both races at Pueblo to John Harms, but with a pair of wins at Heartland, he’s in first place in the Mid-States Spec Miata points. Harms is third, behind Iowa double winner Justin Lautz.
There have been several winners in Super Touring Lite in the Mid-States Conference in 2018, but consistent finisher Stephen Johnson, who split Iowa victories with Brian Laughlin – both in Miatas – leads the points with two weekends to go. Finally, with a double at Iowa, Joshua Holsworth of Kansas City has four straight wins in Touring 4 to lead the points in that class.
The Mid-States Conference has two weekends left, both at High Plains Raceway in Colorado, one on July 7-8 and the other being one of the last Majors weekends of the season at the end of August.
Mid-States Conference Mazda Points Leaders
E Production: Jesse Prather; Topeka, Kan.; RX-7
F Production: Sam Henry; Republic, Mo.; Miata
Formula Enterprises: Robert Vanman; Allen, Texas
Formula Enterprises 2: Mike Davies; Aurora, Colo.
Formula Mazda: Ryan McLaughlin, Evergreen, Colo.
GT-3: Doug Sherwood, Longmont, Colo.; RX-7
Spec Miata; Rayce Dykstra; Denver, Colo.
Super Touring Lite: Stephen Johnson; Leawood, Kan.; Miata
Touring 4: Joshua Holsworth, Kansas City, Mo.; Miata