All systems are go for the kickoff the local auto racing this weekend.

 As of Wednesday night, Lincoln, Hagerstown and Williams Grove Speedway’s were all planning on racing this weekend.

 The best bet will be for Lincoln to drop the first green flag on Saturday with the 30 lap Icebreaker for Sprints joined by the Thundercars in the Spring Thaw 20. Race time is 2 p.m.

 “If the weather man is right, we’ll be there racing,” said Don Leiby, one of the three owners at Lincoln Speedway. “We are worrying a little bit about this rain coming in so we’ll have to see how much we really get. Depending on the rain, the parking lots, at worst, will be a little muddy. But Fred and the guys have been busy clearing snow and we are planning on racing.”

 As of Wednesday afternoon, Williams Grove’s track surface and pit area remained under a layer of ice and snow. They are scheduled to race Sunday afternoon with a Sprints only program.

 Hagerstown Speedway ‘s website shows green lights for their Saturday double-header of late models and modifieds.


MICRO RACERS HIT THE ROAD
 Several area 600 micro sprint racers will be hitting the road for some early season racing this weekend.

 Carlisle’s Greg Kone, Hanover’s Tim Dietz and Enola’s Ben Murphy will be competing at County Line Speedway near Rocky Mount, NC.  The three drivers will be in competition Friday and Saturday. The event was originally scheduled for Hammerdown Speedway but has been moved to the other track due to permitting issues.

 Kone drives his father Trip Kone’s No. 92 while Dietz pilots the Dan Little owned No. 9 and Murphy will be in the Murphy Family owned No. 36 machine.

 For the first time ever in 600 Micro racing,  a Speedweek is taking shape that will be held over the July 4 holiday similar to the Cindy Rowe Auto Glass 410 Speedweek. Tracks included in the Speedweek are Hill Valley, Path Valley, Susquehanna, Linda’s and Lanco. Each race will pay at least $1,000 to win with the bookmarks of the series being higher paying events.


ON THE ROAD
 Joey Saldana and Tim Kaeding added their names to the 2007 winners list with the World of Outlaws after picking up wins last weekend at Thunderbowl Speedway in California.

 Saldana raced his Kasey Kahne Racing owned No. 9 JEI Chassis to the win on Friday night over Jac Haudenschild, Tim Shaffer, Jason Myers and Terry McCarl.

 Saturday night, Kaeding raced Steve Kinser’s  No. 11K to victory over McCarl, Donny Schatz, Justin Henderson and Meyers.

 Schatz currently sits on top of the points heading into this weekend’s races at Arizona’s USA Race Park and Manzanita Speedway. He had 712 points compared to McCarl’s 687. Saldana, Craig Dollansky and Daryn Pittman are the current top five.

 On Tuesday, DIRT Motorsports handed out penalties to TMAC Racing (McCarl) and the Kasey Kahne Racing team stemming from an incident Saturday night.

 The Kahne team was fined and put on probation for the remainder of the 2007 season after intiating a physical altercation on the track.
 McCarl was fined and placed on probation for the remainder of the season for language used in a post race interview deemed inappropriate and detrimental to the sport of sprint car racing.


PIT STOPS
 For those interested in making a prediction when Fred Rahmer will break Steve Smith’s win record at Lincoln, Saturday will be the final day to make that prediction. Fans can go to the speedway office on Saturday to place your vote. Following the racing on Saturday, no more ballots will be accepted by the speedway. Rahmer needs three wins to become the all time win leader at the track…

 Two weeks ago, we made our track title predictions and we’d like to pass along that Roy Deese, Jr. will be back to Hagerstown Speedway to defend his title run from last season. It was mentioned that Deese would not be defending the title which apparently is incorrect. We apologize for any problems this may have caused…

 Denny Bonebrake’s No. 5 late model won Best of Show at last week’s Race-A-Rama Car show at the Valley Mall in Hagerstown. Late model honors went to Marvin Winters, Moe Harden and Devin Friese while late model sportsman awards went to Richard Walls, Terry Lescalleet and Shippensburg’s Jerry Bard. Ten-year-old Shiann Fries won the Little Miss Hagerstown contest…

 Adoption Night at Williams Grove Speedway will be held on July 6 during the Mitch Smith memorial event. More information on the race will be in next week’s column…