Bolstered by second and fourth place finishes in the Fall Nationals at Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway over the weekend, Tim Kaeding has taken back the top spot in the California Sprint & Midget Power Poll.  Kaeding raked in the hardware as #1 in the media poll and #2 in the statistical analysis with seven wins and 19 top-fives in his 25 starts in the 2012 season.

Sean Becker used a sweep of the Fall Nationals to win out a three-way tie in points for the second position on the poll.  The Roseville resident who won the Silver Dollar Speedway track championship has been red hot in the last two months, including his strong performances in the Gold Cup and a fifth place finish with the Civil War at Placerville.

Becker leads KWS points leader Jon Allard and USAC/CRA points leader Mike Spencer in the battle for the second position.  Spencer had a rough go when the USAC West Coast 360s traveled to Yuma, AZ where he finished in 22nd.  He redeemed himself with a second place effort at Santa Maria to maintain #1 in the statistical department however.

Rounding out the top-five in the Power Poll is Andy Forsberg who over the last two weeks won the Civil War title, finished third at Ocean Speedway, and ran in the top-ten in both nights at the Fall Nationals.  Elk Grove's Kyle Larson spent the last two weeks largely away from California but ranks sixth followed by Kyle Hirst, Tommy Tarlton, Bud Kaeding, and Stephen Allard.

Just missing the top-ten this week is Fremont's Shane Golobic despite finishing in the top-four in three of his last four starts in Winged 360 competition.  Golobic will continue his push for the Ocean Sprints championship over the next two Friday nights in Watsonville.

About the CA Sprint Car & Midget Power Poll:

Eligible drivers come from any injected winged or non-wing Sprint Car division in the state along with full Midgets as well.

The poll includes top-ten lists from various media members including site editor Steven Blakesley, photographer Chris Cleveland, announcers Troy Henning, Ron Lingron, and Bill Sullivan, King of the West PR guru Gary Thomas, and driver PR specialist PJ Petersen.  A statistical analysis of California racing stats by Jeff Bye, Jr. is combined with the media poll to create a current picture of the top-10 drivers in the state.

Power polls will be released every other week hroughout the racing season until the first week of December, when StevenBlakesley.com will crown a California Sprint & Midget Power Poll" champion for the season.

October 3, 2012 Standings:

Also nominated: Billy Wallace, Rico Abreu, Ryan Bernal, Greg Decaires, Nic Faas, Colby Wiesz, Brody Roa, Cory Kruseman, Steven Tiner, Richard Vanderweerd

Note: The statistical analysis takes into account car counts and finishes, but also the ratio of wins, top-fives, top-tens, fast-times, and heat wins as compared to number of starts.  October 3, 2012 Statistical Standings