User blog:Ajaxcupseries/2022 9th Annual Ajax 200 Preview

The Fallon Corner - February 2022

The dawn of another ASCA season means another round of Speedweeks at Ajax Superspeedway to kick off the start of a fresh, new campaign.

24 drivers will be entered in this season’s running of the 9th Annual Ajax 200, hoping to start their season off with a bang by scoring the first points paying checkered flag of the 2022 season. For reference, here’s a look at the eight previous Ajax 200 winners dating back to when the ASCA started racing at Ajax Superspeedway in 2014:

2014: #24 James Walton

2015: #11 Dan Rodgers

2016: #43 Grant Von Duvedel

2017: #88 Jimmy Hood

2018: #20 Michael White

2019: #11 Dan Rodgers

2020: #48 Brynn Rennerd

2021: #22 Diego Orkedi

Looking at those prior results, the youngest winner since this race’s inception has been 24 year old Grant Von Duvedel in 2016, but every other winner besides him has been age 28 or older at their time of victory so don’t be too surprised if a veteran once again takes the checkered flag in this edition. Nonetheless, let’s get to some of the biggest storylines to follow come February 29th at noon EST.

A Legend’s Final 200
This season will feature a lot of “last” times for 36 year old Jimmy Hood, but one of his most bittersweet moments will likely be taking the checkered flag for the last time in the Ajax 200.

The two time champion has many fond memories of this race, most notably his dominant performance at the speedway in 2017 where he led 53 of the 100 laps that afternoon and held off Dan Rodgers + the field to finally check winning this race off of his bucket list. He very nearly swept at Ajax Superspeedway that year as well had Caleb Henderson Jr edged him out in the Fastenal 200 by inches.

While Hood hasn’t quite been able to put together a performance like that since then, there’s no doubt he’s always been one of the best plate racers in the sport. He very nearly swept at Ajax Superspeedway in 2017 as well had Caleb Henderson Jr not edged him out in the Fastenal 200 by inches.

As long as that Nationwide No. 88 is still around coming to the white flag lap, the Belltown native most certainly has a chance to go out like fellow ASCA team owner Michael White did, winning the Ajax 200 in his final try.

What a fitting way that would be to end his 52 race winless drought.

Can Randle Woods FINALLY capture a big race?
Reigning Ajax Cup champion Randle Woods has accomplished more than 99% of drivers could DREAM of in the ASCA, let’s just get that out of the way.

Third on the all time Ajax Cup wins list and one of only five drivers in ASCA history to score 20 or more career wins, one of only six drivers in the sport’s history to win multiple championships, tied for the most ASCA victories of all time and one of only two drivers to ever reach 50 Cup/Craftsman wins, you name it Woods has probably done it.

However, there are two trophies that loom large currently missing from his ASCA legacy to date: Windows 300 and Ajax 200 checkered flags.

While Woods has pretty much won any other notable race you could think of, from the 2017 Northern 200 to being the inaugural winner at the $1 billion dollar facility West Virginia Motor Speedway, the one knock against him has always been that he can never get the job done in big money races.

For years, Woods was ridiculed for not being able to capture an Ajax Cup title despite all of his race wins, and now that he has put that to bed with two championships in the last three seasons the narrative shifts to his lack of crown jewel race victories.

Woods has come incredibly close in the Ajax 200 multiple times - 2018 and 2019 especially come to mind - but still has yet to seal the deal. And at age 34, his attempts left to capture that elusive trophy may be limited once Father Time starts to catch up with him.

Even last season, Woods was able to bring home a third place finish to kick off his championship run, showing that despite plate racing not being one of his strengths he is more than capable of winning at Ajax Superspeedway any given week.

The question is, will this season’s Ajax 200 finally be his time to shine?

Youth Movement Statement Opportunity?
As stated earlier, the youngest driver to win this race since its inception in 2014 has been Brynn Rennerd at age 28 a couple years back. Despite drivers under the age of 26 such as Todd Kidd, Greg Healey, and Ryan Dixon leading the most laps in the 200 the past three seasons, it seems they haven’t quite had that veteran experience necessary to close the deal.

Will this change in 2022?

Last season’s Fastenal 200 marked the first time since 2018 that a driver under the age of 25 won a points paying event at Ajax Superspeedway, courtesy of 24 year old Doug Bowden’s extremely controversial move on Norm Lester to score his first career victory.

It seems that it takes young drivers quite a few years to finally figure Ajax Superspeedway out, with the best example being Diego Orkedi who it took until he was 28 to capture a points paying victory at the track.

To the surprise of nobody, the closest drivers to capturing an Ajax 200 from the “youth movement” have been Todd Kidd and Greg Healey, with both drivers having won Duel races, leading the most laps in the 200 in 2019 and 2020 respectively, and Healey having won the Intel Shootout.

If either of them can start the season off with a bang like winning a crown jewel event, it may provide them with just enough momentum to capture their first championship.

The New Package
To the pleasure of many fans and drivers alike, for the first time since the 2020 Ajax 200 a new plate racing package will be debuting this Speedweeks, adding in yet another variable these drivers and teams will have to deal with.

A new 5’ inch spoiler has been added to the rear of the cars, as well as a much larger front valence designed to increase the downforce tremendously from the old package, which should make the cars much easier to drive and in turn promote more passing via drivers getting more aggressive.

While it took them quite a bit longer than expected to make a change, props to the ASCA taking their time to do their research and due diligence to ENSURE this package provides exciting racing for the fans. It makes sense the ASCA consulted heavily with the NDRL to get this right, as that league has been known to put on incredible plate races at Sevierville Motor Speedway in its short history.

At this point however, all we can do is hope and pray this package does its job so we’re not sitting in the same position we are now in a few months when the Fastenal 200 rolls around.

Final Prediction
Anytime you try to predict anything that happens at Ajax Superspeedway, there’s a 99.5% chance you will probably end up being wrong, so take my prediction with a grain of salt.

After doing hours upon hours of research, crunching the numbers and searching for any and all data that may point to a clear cut favorite to win on February 29th, I threw up my arms and decided to go with my gut.

While you can make a serious case that Diego Orkedi is currently the odds on best plate racer in the sport and I will not dispute that, something tells me that it’ll instead be his older brother Nick Orkedi who finally captures his first crown jewel victory since 2015 on Saturday afternoon.

Orkedi has seen it all in his Ajax 200 starts - well, all things bad that could possibly happen to him that is.

In his eight Ajax 200 appearances, he has DNF’ed in SEVEN of those starts, including when he infamously broke his leg in a vicious crash while leading the 2018 edition.

He’s not a bad plate racer at all either, as its well known the incredible teamwork he and his younger brother Diego Orkedi consistently exhibit at Ajax Superspeedway. Sadly, the elder Orkedi just doesn’t quite seem to have the luck his brother does to get the results to show for it.

I think this all changes in 2022, and results in Nick Orkedi adding to his silently extremely impressive ASCA resumé with an Ajax 200 trophy.