Ok folks, well on the heels of a great Sprint Car/NCATS weekend, its time for our own APC Late Models to take the center stage for their "big show", and what I'm wondering is who's going to take the prize. I have seven of my top picks up for the poll, and one spot for a darkhorse. Please feel free to add comments!

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We actually haven't seen as much Late Model racing as we normally have by this point in the season, as the thunder clouds seem to follow these guys through the back gate every time they race. So that makes it hard to pick out much in the way of a pattern of who's hot and who's not. But I've narrowed it down to 7 top picks with room for a darkhorse too.

Could it be Ron Sheridan, AKA the Rocket, from Mount Brydges? He won the first JBM Triple Crown race, but it was only by a narrow margin, as Dorchester's Steve Robblee was right on his tail when the checkers flew. Add a pair of 3rd place finishes in the twin 30's two weeks ago, and it looks like Sheridan's your best man, on paper.

But 28-Steve Robblee has been perpetually dogging Sheridan's back bumper this season. 2nd in the JBM Triple Crown, and 4th to Sheridan's 3rd in the first 30 lapper. We're not used to seeing the 28 car second in line to anyone, and you can imagine Mr. Robblee is  getting tired of it too. He's coming off some bad luck last race when it looked like he'd broken an axle or something and didn't finish the second 30. I'm looking for Robblee to get some of his mojo back for this race, as he always seems to show up large for these things.

And I'm guessing that Robblee vs Sheridan is going to be the hot rivalry this year.

So then we look at last week's twin 30 winners, 20-Scott Lindsay of St Marys and London's 22-Jamie Ramsay. Both looked stout in their individual races, but in both cases they led from the pole. Both drove flawless races but never really had to do any passing. Both are good competitors, Lindsay being the more experienced of the two. Look for both of them to be a factor.

One pattern that emerged in the last two 30 lappers was 02-Mark Watson out of St Thomas. He came in second both times, and looked poised to wrest the last one away from Ramsay. Watson's been the cream of the "new crop" and has been running very well in both time trials and actual races. Watson had some rough luck in the JBM Tripe Crown race, getting involved in a backstretch wreck with number 77 Dion Verhoeven from Kerwood, but proved he can run with the big dogs in the twin 30's.

Southwold's Jesse Kennedy, number 10, could definitely be a factor here. He's had a bit of a rough go this year thus far. He's always fast, and definitely a top 5 car, (maybe even top 3) but seems to keep running into problems. He managed to score checkers in the first leg of the JBM 50, but was shortly sent to the pits with a bad tire that left him at the back of the field. He scored a 4th in the second 30 lapper, and was on his way to a good finish in the first one when Robblee spun him around. One thing we know is that he's fast, and we know he can win. It'll be interesting to see if he can stay out of trouble.

Last but not least, we have Mr Excitement himself, Kirk Hooker out of Chatham. Kirk has had some good luck here, but has never taken feature race checkers. Some would say he's due. He certainly put on a show last time out when, dueling with Robblee, Kennedy and Sheridan at different times over the last race night. he seemed to be the best when working up high. He's been looking good and fast, and maybe its time for Kirk to throw away the bridesmaid dress and slip into something a little whiter. It could be the night.

Or, could it be a darkhorse? These 7 guys aren't the only show in town. 37-Elliott has proven good on a long run. 4-Urlin's always in the thick of it. 14-Emery's been showing some sturdy stuff.

Its going to be an interesting race for sure.

And that's my take on it.

My pick? I'm gonna look to the new blood and predict that we'll see the "Blue 02" carrying the checkers around the speedway at the end of the night.

Anyone else?

(in other news, Al Sleet, the Hippy Dippy weatherman, has been sacked. So a good forecast is certain ;))