A first time champion and the first successfully defended championship have been all but engraved on the trophies, but what about the third one. Seven points are all that separate the top three drivers in the Sportsman division. Candor, NY's Jimmy Zacharias is trying to become the first repeat open wheel champion in the three year history of the concrete half mile, but he has to have a perfect night to accomplish that feat. He is being closely challenged by John Wilber and his younger brother, T-J Zacharias. Jimmy Zacharias had a motor give out with three laps to go last Saturday night. Wilber, sold his equipment to Zacharias Racing three weeks ago, and has driven J.R. Kent's number 16 the past two weeks. Wilber trails Jimmy by six points. T-J Zacharias has driven, the past two weeks, the car that Wilber drove all season long, until the sale. Ironically, the car is the same car in which Jimmy Zacharias drove to the 2010 Sportsman championship. T-J has two wins this season, winning the season opener and last week, closing to within one point of Wilber and seven points of his older brother for his first championship. By the way, the only last name on the Sportsman trophy at Shangri-La II has been Zacharias. Rick Zacharias claimed the title in the 2009 inaugural season. Positions four through six are hotly contested as well. Bryan Sherwood is fourth in points with 420. Tony Hanbury trails his teammate by fifteen points in fifth and veteran Tom Shiner trails Hanbury by four points and is only nineteen points out of fourth.

Read more: Championships to be Claimed on Saturday Night

In just fifteen days, Spalding Foundation Director, Betty Sherwood and her dedicated group of supporters transformed a fleeting idea into a successful fund raiser.  Last Friday night, The Spalding Foundation for Injured Drivers hosted their first in what is hoped to be an annual event at the Seneca Grand Prix. Over 40 local and professional drivers raced with race fans in a “Challenge the Champions” family fun evening raising over $ 2,200.00 for the Spalding Foundation.  Shangri-La II Motorspeedway in Tioga Center, NY along with Grafix by Billy and Wyalusing Valley Motorsports Park in Wyalusing, PA came on board to sponsor “Challenge the Champions”.  Former NHL Centerman, Jason Bonsignore, owner of Seneca Grand Prix donated the track and cars for the event. Ozzies Brisket from Binghamton, NY set up their BBQ Grills to feed the attendees.  NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, Mike Wallace was entertaining as he raced with his son Matt and many of the fans. Wallace’s Johnny Davis Motorsports crew all came to support the Foundation, including team owner, Johnny Davis. ARCA driver, Brent Cross was glad to be involved and had his car on display. The car was the one he raced at Pocono the week before. Local drivers represented all forms and levels of racing from dirt tracks, pavement tracks, microd and go-cart tracks were on hand. Canandaigua Speedway announcer and radio personality, Paul Szmal  was joined by Shangri-La II Motorspeedway and Dover International Speedway announcer Tom Cummings for the play by play.  Shangri-La II Motorspeedway’s Director of Public Relations, Watkins Glen International and New Hampshire Motorspeedway announcer Al Robinson served as Grand Marshall for the event and got things going with “Gentlemen Start Your Engines”.   “I can not thank everyone involved enough” said Betty Sherwood. “ From Jason Bonsignore and Ron Hills and The Race Report donating their resources; to all of the drivers, crewmen, fans  and event sponsors coming together on short notice gives me encouragement that we could make the event even bigger next year if the opportunity presents itself”.

Read more: "Challenge the Champions" Successful for the Spalding Foundation

All day intermittent showers forced officials at Tioga Center, NY's Shangri-La II Motorspeedway to cancel their weekly program for the fifth time this season. The latest cancellation leaves only two more regular programs on the schedule before season championship night on August 27th. "We are looking at several options to make up this past Saturday night's rainout" stated track manager, Amy Stilson. " The ASA Late Model and Sportsman points are tight, no doubt about that, and we want to make sure that any decisions we make toward making up for lost events is fair to everybody". Following last week's racing action; Joe Brown holds a slim ten point advantage over Joe Burns in the ASA Late Models. Jim Lamoreaux is third in points, just 30 points separating him from second place. Josh Lloyd is fourth in points, only 4 points behind Lamoreaux. Jimmy Zacharias took over the points lead in Sportsman competition following his fifth win of the season last week. John Wilber fell to second in points, eight behind Zacharias. Bryan Sherwood is third in the points battle 7 points behind Wilber and 15 points out of the lead. T-J Zacharias is in fourth place, 8 points behind Sherwood and 23 points out of the top spot. Lee Sharpsteen is having things going his way in Street Stock action, holding a commanding 84 point advantage over second place competitor, Charlie Sharpsteen. Gil Sharpsteen is third, 10 points out of second; Cricket Clonch is in fourth place, 12 points out of third and Billy Coyle rounds out the top five, just 1 point out of fourth.

This week, racing will resume at Shangri-La II Motorspeedway on Spalding Foundation Night. The annual Spalding Foundation Auction will raise more funds for the charity whose mission is to provide monetary support for drivers, crewmen and racing officials who have sustained injuries in a race related accident at a NASCAR, dirt or local licensed track in New York State and around the United States. The Spalding Foundation was founded in 1989.

The Kids Club will return with more exciting activities for the youngsters.

The schedule for the 3rd Annual Fall Brawl has been updated. Click here for more information.

MAKE SURE TO BRING BACK YOUR WRISTBANDS FROM JULY 30TH FOR $ 2.00 OFF GRANDSTAND ADMISSION.

The show will see the ASA Latemodels running a 30 lap feature, the Sportsman and Street Stocks running 25 lap events.

Pit Gates open at 4:30 pm, Grandstand Gates open at 5:30 pm. Practice begins at 6:00 pm. Racing gets the green flag at 7:00 pm.

Grandstand Admission is just $ 10.00 ($ 8.00 with the last race's wristband discount) with youths under the age of 16 admitted free.

Lets go ASA Racing !!!!!!!