Lake County Speedway News

To view the results or points accumulated as of a certain race date, please click on the appropriate link. Results and points are updated weekly during race season.
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ARCA Trucks and USAC added to 2012 Schedule
December 22nd, 2011
As the 2012 schedule at Lake County Speedway beings to take shape, two traveling series have put LCS on their schedules.  The ARCA trucks made their first appearance to the one-fifth mile track last season.  It was undoubtedly one of the best races all season, so much that in 2012 the trucks will make two trips to LCS.  June 2nd will be their first visit and they will return Cavalcade weekend, where they will settle their championship and crown a champion.

It will be the first time in decades that USAC has traveled to Northeast Ohio for a race.  It has been a very long time since an open wheel car has raced at Lake County Speedway/ Painesville Speedway.  That all changes next season, as USAC makes their inaugural visit to LCS.  July 21st is the date that has been chosen for the series to race a 40 lap feature with the Ford Focus Midget series.

Much more is planned to be added to the schedule for 2012.  Stay tuned for more updates and a full season schedule to follow!  For more information on the ARCA Trucks or the USAC Ford Focus Midget series, click their names below.

ARCA Trucks
USAC Ford Focus Midgets


Champions of 2011 Honored; Racetrack Receives Award for Involvement
November 14th, 2011
It was a packed house at Dino's Banquet center in Willoughby as hundreds of drivers, crew members, fans, and officials shared the same room to celebrate the end of a great 2011 season.  Every driver that competed this season was honored and rewarded for their involvement and efforts.  Though for five drivers it was a night to celebrate a year of sweat, tears, and so much more that they endured on their way to the tracks top prize, a championship.

There were some familiar faces that took championships this season, most notably Joe Coursen who was last year’s Figure Eight champion.  Coursen joins Randy Holbrooks Jr. as the only driver in track history to win a championship in three divisions.  He was not the only driver making another trip to receive a championship trophy. Chad Tekavic took his second Figure Eight division championship, winning for the second time in his career, his last being in 2000.  Something else worth noting about the Figure Eight division is the performance of Chuck Sadar. Sadar, who did not win a race in 2011, took runner-up for the second year in a row.

Keith Platz took the Sportsman championship.  Platz won the title in his first full season of competition in the division.  Platz spent the 2010 season racing in the street stock class at Lorain County Speedway.  He was honored to win the title, saying it meant a lot to drive against the drivers he grew up watching race as a kid. 

Johnny Canter III took the Factory Four division title, his first title at Lake County Speedway.  He finished in the runner-up position in 2010, but was a contender for the title the entire season.  Canter had a season to remember, winning more races than any driver during the 2011 season. 
 
For Scott Harris it was an accomplishment that had eluded him.  Harris, a former Figure Eight division driver, had won features in the past, but until this season had not won a championship.  It was a dominating effort for him this season, in taking the title for the newly created Renegade Eight class.  In ten feature races for 2010 Harris won eight. 

Lake County Speedway would like to thank all of those who attended the 2011 Banquet this past weekend and also thank all of those who competed this season.  More information about the 2012 season will be available in early December.
After giving out awards of their own on Saturday, Lake County Speedway was the recipient on Sunday, as the track was honored for their involvement with the community from 2011.

Victory Lane Assembly of God in Mentor-On-The-Lake awarded Lake County Speedway with an award to express their gratitude in a special service at the church.  The event was free for all those who chose to attend and all those in attendance were treated to an amazing Thanksgiving feast. 

To read more on the event click here to read the story written by Bill DeBus from the News Herald.  Lake County Speedway thanks the Victory Lane Assembly of God for their hospitality and also being recognized for our contributions to the surrounding community.


Off-Season Begins With Road Trip
November 4th, 2011
It is that time of year.  The regular race season is over and preparation has begun for next season.  The general assumption is that since the season is over so is the work.  Not quite the case.  After the last checkered flag drops the focus shifts to evaluation of the past season and then onto preparation for the upcoming season.  There is not much time to rest.

This weekend Lake County Speedway will be traveling to Canton, Ohio, where we will have a booth at the annual Dave & Ed's Pro-Formance swap meet.  It is Ohio's largest performance swap meet and is held at the Canton Stark County Fairgrounds.  While the regular race season is over there is still one race left on the schedule for 2011, the Turkey Leg 150 enduro.  LCS will be promoting the Turkey Leg 150 and the speedway at the swap meet in hopes of attracting drivers to make a great first event for the Turkey Leg enduro.

For more information about the Dave & Ed's Pro-Formance swap meet this weekend click here.  Be sure to follow Lake County Speedway on Facebook and Twitter for updates and photos from the show.  If you find yourself at the swap meet come by and see us!

September 27th, 2011
With the season winding down and only one weekend of points left after this Saturday, drivers are motivated to push themselves for one last good night of racing. While a handful of point’s leaders have mathematically clinched their division, there are still battles for the runner-up titles.

Keith Platz Jr. has had a season to remember. The 22 year old driver has visited victory lane eight times this season and going into the final weekend of the season holds a 589 point lead of Duane Bates. Saturday night saw one of the highest car counts of the season for the Sportsman division, with nine cars qualifying. Although nine cars came to race, only five survived the heat races. The first heat race claimed Davey Lawson, when he lost his steering entering turn one. On his way to the outside wall he collected point’s leader Platz. The accident took both cars out for the evening. In the second heat race Charles Durst encountered mechanical problems with his engine, retiring him for the evening.
While others lacked any luck on the evening, one driver had good fortune the entire evening. That driver was Earl Goldy. Goldy was the winner in his heat race, took the pursuit victory, and went on to lead the entire 20 laps in the feature en route to his second win of the season. The only race Goldy did not win was the dash race, in which he did not start, and was won by Jon Perkins. Duane Bates took advantage of Platz’s misfortune on the evening. Bates took runner-up in all the preliminary events and took third in the feature. At the end of the evening Bates gained some ground on Platz’s point lead, but will be unable to make up enough to change the outcome at season’s end.

In the Figure Eight division it played out similar to last week. Point’s leader Chad Tekavic did exactly what he needed to do and that was finish in front of Chuck Sadar as much as possible. Sadar took the win in the heat race, with Tekavic finishing third. However, Sadar finished behind Tekavic in both the pursuit and the feature races. In the feature Tekavic worked his way from the middle of the pack quickly to take the lead on lap three of the twenty lap affair. Not too far behind were Ken Bender and Mike Reed. An accident on lap ten took Reed out of contention for the evening, while Bender was slowly gaining ground on Tekavic. Tekavic never let up and maneuvered through traffic the entire race without error and eventually took his fifth win of the season. Sadar took fifth in the feature and at the end of the night lost 34 points to Tekavic.

It is almost common knowledge that Joe Coursen took over the 07 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the Trophy Stock division to win one more championship for Frank Lett. That dream became a reality as Coursen raced a ‘Gem’ of an evening. By this it means that he was the division’s fastest qualifier and won all three races that gain points; heat, pursuit, and feature. Rich Naumann was the only other winner on the evening, winning his first dash of the season. While Coursen took the win in almost all the races, it was youngster Jake Shipman making him earn them. He took runner-up to Coursen in both the pursuit and feature. Shipman started outside of the pole for the feature. He quickly jumped into the lead and led the first four laps before a caution put Coursen to the outside of him on the ensuing restart. After the green flag waved again, it was Shipman and Coursen battling side-by-side. The caution would come out for the third time for Shipman, sending him to the tail. It was not long after and Shipman was back in second contesting Coursen for the lead. The victories and pole gave Coursen 169 points on the evening, a perfect score for a night of racing at Lake County Speedway. His lead over the new second place in points, Shipman, is 410 points.

Also having a ‘perfect’ night was Scott Harris. Coursen had a ‘gem’ or perfect night in the aspect of points. Harris on the other hand had a ‘sweep’ you could say. The Renegade class does not qualify, yet they pull pills to form their line-ups for the evening. This leaves a driver to gain points from only the preliminary races and the feature. What pill did Harris pull you may be asking. He pulled the number three pill, meaning only two other pills were left for other drivers to pull to start in front of him. This gave Harris the advantage of starting from the pole and he led every lap, all twenty-eight to be exact, and would win every race of the evening. With the great night of points Harris added only thirty points over Brenner, but also mathematically clinched the Championship. Also, making his return from a scary accident a little over a month ago, was Bill Rabbitts.

Johnny Canter III entered the evening with ten feature victories and a point’s lead of 565 points. In other words he has the title captured, but the battle is still waging on behind him. Matt Weigand took the weekend off, allowing TJ Schinke to gain a lead over third place. Coming into the final weekend of points, four drivers are within 147 points of each other for the second place. Schinke, Ben Call, Weigand, and Ray Farmer are in contention to advance their position if one would have a rough evening.

It was almost a duplication of last weekend’s racing, with no driver winning any two races. Dylan Atwell took the first checkered flag of the evening in winning his first dash race. Jim Harris, Austin Wretschko, and TJ Schinke were all winners in the heat races. Point’s leader Johnny Canter III took the win in the pursuit. Rocky Nails took his fourth B main feature victory of the season. In the A main feature Aaron Van Dalen found his way to the lead, taking it over from TJ Schinke. Problems for Schinke on lap 14 opened the door for Van Dalen to take his third win of the season. Canter added a little to his lead as Ben Call found his way back to third in the standings. One week left to decide who is taking second place.

Full results for this past weekend Click Here

Our final regular night of racing falls on the first of October. It has been a great season thus far and it is going to be capped off with a demolition this Saturday. Everyone’s favorite demolition race, Trailer Races, returns for the final time in 2011. While this will be our last regular season event, do not forget that October 15th-16th Lake County Speedway is holding their first annual Cavalcade race weekend. There are still more good times and great races to come!

Last week Rocky Nails, one of our Factory Four drivers at the speedway, lost his mother. On behalf of the management here at Lake County Speedway we send our condolences to the Nails family.

Cavalacde Race Weekend Coming to Lake County Speedway
September 16th, 2011

It has become a season ending tradition at tracks around the country.  Now intentions are to make a Cavalcade Weekend at Lake County Speedway a lasting tradition for seasons to come.  October 14th-16th will be the inaugural date.

The weekend will be full of racing and fun events.  Eight classes, some new to the track for the weekend, will participate.  Classes that will be running are Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Figure Eight, Legends, Factory Four/Compacts, and Chargers.

Friday will be open practice for visiting drivers to acquaint themselves to the racetrack, as well as any driver needing to work on their setup.  Pit gates will open Saturday morning at 11:00am.  Qualifying, preliminaries, and the Legends feature will run on Saturday. Feature events will race on Sunday.

Besides the racing there are numerous fun events planned for everyone.  Kids bike races, a live band on Saturday, trick or treat on the racetrack for kids, pumpkin painting, and parking lot drags are to just name a few.  There will also be free camping for those wanting to camp at the speedway.  To get all the details on the event click on the link below to view the event flyer.

Any drivers searching for rules and information to participate in the races, that information can also be found on the flyer linked below.  Contact information is located on the bottom of the final page. If there are any questions, feel free to contact us.

This should be a racing weekend to start a great tradition at Lake County Speedway. Be sure to not miss this weekend!

Cavalcade Flyer – Click Here
 

Hawkins and Goldy Are Big Winners In Labor Day Action
September 7th, 2011

It was a busy weekend of racing at Lake County Speedway over Labor Day weekend. Saturday night the speedway played host to the ARCA Truck Series for their 100 lap feature race. The series was founded in 1999 and races at tracks across the Mid-West. It was the first visit to Lake County Speedway for the ARCA Truck Series. In the past the series has traveled to the high banks of Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana and this season will visit the historic road course of Mid-Ohio in Lexington, Ohio. As far as racetracks go for the truck series, it was their first visit to a track smaller than one-quarter mile.

While it might have been the first time most of these drivers have seen a track this small, the yellow flag was only displayed twice during the entire event. The lead was shared between three drivers, two of which lead laps, but among the entire field there were battles for position. During the remaining five laps of the race the battle for the lead reached its peak. Ash Hawkins, Steve Christman, and point’s leader Paul Hahn all fought hard for the lead position. After contact on the final laps between Christman and Hahn, Hawkins slipped away and drove on for his first ARCA Truck win. To see the entire race results and read more on the trucks visit to Lake County Speedway, visit the ARCA Trucks website.

After the end of the thrilling ARCA Truck race was NASCAR Weekly series action. Micky Caranci was the hot topic on the evening. The two-time Late Model champion made his return to the division for the first time in years. In the Late Model feature it was Duane Bates who came through the field to capture his fifth victory of the season. Earlier in the evening Bates took the win in the heat race. Keith Platz Jr. took second in both races on the evening.

Figure Eight Division had a short evening, running only a feature. Not long into the start of the feature race it was Chad Tekavic and Mike Reed coming from the middle of the pack to the lead. Reed lead Tekavic for the beginning laps of the race, but contact on lap three cut a tire on the Reed machine. Tekavic took over the lead, but not too much after it was Ken Bender hot on Tekavic’s tail. Bender, who started near the rear of the field, passed eight cars in ten laps to catch the leader. Once Bender took the lead he led to the end, taking his second win on the season. Finishing second would be Tekavic with Roger Tooley in third.

In the Trophy Stock division, Joe Coursen nabbed his eighth win of the season. Doug Habat led the first ten laps of the race, as Coursen and Josh Way started their way through the field. Rich Naumann brought the caution out on lap fifteen. On the restart Habat would lose the lead to Coursen and also second to Way. After another restart on lap 16, Coursen opened up a small lead on Way and later took the victory. Habat took the win in the heat race, with Way finishing second. At the end of the night Way gained one point on Coursen’s point lead, making it 134 points with weekends left.

The Factory Four division saw the Canter brothers carry the checkered flag in the feature races. Rocky Nails, Matt Pierce, and Johnny Canter III won heat races. In the B main feature Brandon Canter came back from a lap 18 accident with Joe Combs to win. Brandon Canter led every lap of the race, after starting second. In the A main feature Matt McCord started on the pole and lead until halfway. Just past the halfway point Dylan Atwell took the lead briefly. A caution on lap 12 put Johnny Canter up front and on the restart to took the lead from Atwell and cruised to his eleventh victory on the season.

One thing has been consistent in the last six weeks for the Renegade Eight Division. In six weeks of racing Scott Harris has won every feature. Since the division was introduced eight weeks ago Harris has won seven features, Bill Rabbitts being the only other winner. Saturday night was no different. Harris took the win in the heat and later in the evening the feature. Josh Bee made his return from a two week absence, taking second in both races.

The Frank Lett Memorial was welcomed with cool damp weather on Monday. However, it did not stop sixteen cars from tracks across Northeast-Ohio and Western Pennsylvania in coming to Lake County Speedway for the 150 lap memorial race.

Setting fast time was Joe Coursen, qualifying a 14.291. Painesville native Adam Pierce set second fastest time, just three-thousands off Coursen. After a full inversion of the field, Joe Quinn and Robert Palmentera Jr. started on the front row. Quinn jumped to an early lead at the green. He led the race early on before Davey Lawson took over on lap five. Not long after taking the lead Davey Lawson broke out of his qualifying time, giving the lead to Earl Goldy. Goldy held the lead and fought off advances from Bill Sprague and Coursen. It was not until lap 58 when he broke the ruling on the white line, sending him to the tail. This allowed Josh Way to inherit the lead. Way led from that point until halfway.

After reaching lap 75 the drivers were given the opportunity to adjust their cars, change tires, and get a quick break. Not long after the race resumed Way had mechanical issues that forced him to leave the track on lap 80. Way’s exit from the race gave Goldy the lead and he picked up where he left off. Goldy would never relinquish the lead. Over the final 70 laps Goldy held off Pierce and Joe Tillery to take the checkers. The caution came out on lap 148, giving Pierce a green-white-checkered opportunity to win, but could not get around Goldy. During the race Goldy led on two different occasions for over 120 laps.

To see all the results from this past weekend of racing check out the results page by scrolling up or clicking here. This Saturday will feature a full night of racing along with our last segment of parking lot drags for the season. Grandstands open at 4:00pm and racing starts at 6:00pm.


In Memory, The Frank Lett Memorial 150 on September 5th
September 1st, 2011

This summer Lake County Speedway lost a member of their racing community. After a long battle with lung cancer Frank Lett passed away on June 7th.  As long as anyone can remember Frank has been involved with racing in Northeastern Ohio. He raced in the early 1970’s, racing at Cloverleaf Speedway and Painesville Speedway, present day Lake County Speedway. After spending almost 20 years behind the wheel, he became an owner.

His career as an owner was as successful as his time spent driving. In 1989 Frank celebrated winning the sportsman division championship at Painesville Speedway with his nephew Bill Lett Jr. behind the wheel. Mayo Spence gave Frank his second championship by winning the Trophy Stock title in 2010.  Wanting to win one more championship Joe Coursen would take over driving duties for the 2011 season. Over the course of the season Joe and Frank celebrated many victories. After his passing in June Coursen has continued to work towards the goal of winning one more championship.

Frank came from a racing family as a child. His passion in life was racing. Only one thing ranked higher as a priority for him, which was his family and his wife Mary. Today Mary continues to own the 07 Monte Carlo driven by Coursen. Frank’s daughters Cathy and Shelley work Saturdays as the pit crew and together they continue to pursue the goal… one more championship.

In honor of the man who raced for years at Lake County Speedway, the speedway is holding a race in his memory. On Monday, September 5th, Lake County Speedway will be host to the Frank Lett Memorial 150. The race will be for Trophy Stock/Street Stocks and will be 150 laps in length. The winner will take home $1800.

Grandstands open at 4:00pm and the green flag drops at 6:00pm on Monday. Tickets can be purchased on Saturday or at the box office on Monday. Pit Gates open at 1:00pm, with hot laps starting at 1:30pm.


Rules for the Frank Lett Memorial 150
August 31st, 2011

Lake County Speedway will be hosting a Street Stock Invitational race on Monday September 5th.  The rules for the event can be found by clicking on the link below. 

The race will be 150 laps.  Pit gates open at 1:00pm and racing begins at 6:00pm.  Grandstands open at 4:00pm.

Rules for the Frank Lett Memorial 150 Click Here.