Saturday's double play

Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment, or maybe the local racing season is closing faster than a mudder at the Kentucky Derby. Maybe it's just because the Sox have an off-day. Either way, I'm going to put myself to the test today.

Two championship battles. Two different series. Two very different places. With proper apologies to Cubs' great Ernie Banks -- "Let's play two."

This afternoon, I'm going over to Oxford Plains Speedway for the American-Canadian Tour season-ending New England Dodge Dealers 150. It's a long shot for Scott Payea to overtake Jean Paul Cyr, who is about to become the 1st 7-time ACT champion in history, but it will also put a capper on the track's much-, much-publicized move to Late Models in '07.

There are always a gazillion good storylines out of championship days, and there's also the subplot of the track's Late Model Challenge Series, which will also be settled today. I'm not sure that I care who wins that overall title, to be completely honest, but at least in the ACT story is a bust there's always that.

The Challenge Series is a good chance for Ricky Rolfe to take a title for himself this year, after he narrowly lost out to Travis Adams for the track's LMS crown.

As soon as that race is over -- and a story is filed for the paper and the Web stuff is uploaded -- it's less than 2 hours over to All-Star Speedway in Epping for the PASS North Series 150-lapper. Ben Rowe has such a narrow lead over his father, Mike Rowe, for the championship there with 2 races to go, it's still up in the air.

Ben's probably not that thrilled with the fact that it's only a 12-point margin, after he was questionably penalized late in the running of the D.J. Equipment 300 at Beech Ridge a couple of weeks ago.

Hard not to get energized over championship battles. In any division.