Thursday, October 12, 2017

Winter Showdown Increasing to 300 Laps in 2018


Via SRL Media

Bakersfield, CA – The Fourth Annual Winter Showdown at Kern County Raceway will move from its traditional 250-lap race length, to 300 laps in 2018. The race pays $30,000 to win, $3,000 to start and takes place on Saturday afternoon February 3rd in 2018.

The format of the race weekend will also change for the teams in 2018, as the top thirty drivers from Friday night’s single car qualifying will go straight to Saturday’s 300 lap Winter Showdown. Four drivers will transfer from Friday night’s Last Chance Qualifier and the final two positions will be provisionals to make up the 36 car-starting field.

“Our approach to the Winter Showdown is to make it better each year,” stated the SRL’s Larry Collins. “We paid $25,000 to win in 2015, then increased the winner’s share up to $30,000. Last year we increased the start money from $2,000 to $3,000 with the support of Coors Light and Speed51.com, and now we’ll increase the laps to 300 in 2018.”

The race weekend has also been shortened by one day for the race teams, as the event will officially open on Thursday for tech inspection and a four-hour afternoon practice session. Friday will feature two more practice sessions with single car qualifying at 7pm, followed by the Last Chance Qualifier. The Winter Showdown 300 will remain a twelve tire race, and start at 2pm on Saturday afternoon.

In its first three years, the “Winter Showdown” at Kern County Raceway, in Bakersfield, California has awarded over $400,000 in prize money to the top Super Late Models drivers in the nation. The 2018 edition of the Winter Showdown 300 will take place on Saturday afternoon, February 3rd, with a cash payout of $147,000 with $30,000 going to the winner, and a minimum $3,000 to start, making it the richest short track event of the year.

Senoia, Georgia’s Bubba Pollard has two Winter Showdown victories and Bakersfield’s Derek Thorn is the 2017 defending race winner.

For additional information on the Fourth Annual Winter Showdown, go to www.srlsouthwesttour.com, contact the SRL office at 661-679-4681, lcollins@mesamarin.com or rickybrooks5@aol.com.