XENIA — The points chases have tightened up a bit — and one racing division even has a new points leader — after a full slate of Gem City Auto Racing series stock car racing was completed June 4 at Kil-Kare Raceway.
After battling each other in the Robbie Dean Memorial late model race, points leader Drew Charleson of New Bremen won the 94-lap event over points runner-up Ryan Fleming, of Xenia. With the win, Charleson extended his lead to 10 points (175 to 165) over Fleming. A ninth-place finish by Cody Evans dropped him 55 points behind Charleson, but the Camden driver remains third in the points with 120 points.
E-Modified points leader Jack Jones, of Beavercreek earned a half point for his 15th-place finish on Sunday. That, combined with points runner-up Kyle Purvis of Marion not racing and Troy’s Jerry Stapleton placing fourth in the E-Mod feature, has tightened up that points race as well.
Jones holds a slim 15.5-point lead over Stapleton (145.5 to 130), with Purvis now 20.5 points back in third. Kettering’s Jamie Sites won the Modified feature to jump into points contention, too. Sites now finds himself in fourth overall with 119 points.
While Columbus’ Phil Gussler Jr. still sits atop the Street Stock points chase with 165 points, fellow Columbusite Jacob Muncy claimed his third win of the season to cut the points deficit in half. Prior to Sunday’s Street Stock event, Gussler Jr. led by 30 points over Muncy. That lead is now whittled down to 15 (165 to 150). Xenia driver David Stump claimed a third-place finish on Sunday to inch closer to the points leaders, too. Stump now sits third with 120 points, just 45 out of the top spot.
Riverside’s Bo Hoelscher claimed Sunday’s Compact division win, in his first race at Kil-Kare this season. That moved him into a tie for eighth in the overall Compact points standings. But Trey Gregory’s runner-up finish bumped the Columbus driver past fellow Columbus driver Dusty Harding for the Compacts points lead. Gregory leads Harding by 10 points (145 to 135), with another Columbus driver, Corey Kyer, just 11 points back.
According to the gemcityracing.com website, seven GCAR series events remain for the 2017 season. The next Gem City Auto Racing event is scheduled for June 18 at Kil-Kare. A full afternoon of Late Model, E-Modified, Street Stock and Compact division racing is on the schedule.