Bullring title locked up, teen driver to skip race

Branden Giannini won't lose sleep tonight worrying about winning his first track championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 16-year-old junior honors student at Foothill High School has locked up the Late Models championship in the NASCAR All-American Series at the speedway's Bullring.

Giannini won six of 16 races this year and finished in the top-five 14 times. He leads John Spilotro by 190 points and will skip Saturday night's race to prepare his car for the Bullring's Fall Classic, to be run Oct. 24 and 25.

The closest battle left Saturday will be in NASCAR Modifieds, where Doug Hamm leads Tim Richter by eight points and Dow Woerner by 16. Hamm has won seven of 11 races and the last five.

Scott Gafforini is close to wrapping up the championship in the premier Super Late Models division. He won the title in 2006 after finishing second five times.

In the Chargers division, Phil Goodwin has a 35-point lead over teammate and reigning division champion Mario Opipari. Goodwin has won nine of 12 races, including the last four.

Although Justin Johnson has won 12 of 13 races in Thunder Roadsters, his lead over Josh Gross is only 41 points. In other INEX 600 Racing divisions, Jeremiah Wagner has clinched the Legends Pro title, Frank McCourt is first in Legends Masters, and Dylan Kwasniewski has a 15-point lead over Jack Madrid in Legends Semi-Pro.

• LVMS DRAGS -- Saturday night also is the end of the Jerry's Nugget Championship Drag Racing Series season at the speedway's dragstrip.

Points leaders are John Dowd (Super Pro), Phil Doughty (Pro), Jon Irving (Sportsman) and Jon Irving Jr. (High School).

• DESERT RACING -- The Championship Off Road Racing series competes this weekend at the Chula Vista International Raceway near San Diego.

Only two events remain after the weekend, including the penultimate Oct. 25 and 26 event at Primm.

Las Vegas-based Menzies Motorsports enters Saturday's races with drivers Rob MacCachren leading the standings in Pro 2 and Pro Buggy and Bryan Freeman first in Single Buggy. ...

Supercross and extreme motocross pioneer Carey Hart of Las Vegas will drive a Pro 2 truck full time for Premiere Motorsports in CORR next year.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.