Lightning Leon Zeitner Takes Opening Night Checkers at I-80 Speedway

Foote, Bauer, and Swanson Also Visit Victory Lane.

By Joey Sparano

(GREENWOOD, NEB., 04/23/06)- On a night that would see a total of 33 caution flags, Leon Zeitner would survive nine of them to take the NASCAR Dodge Super Late Model "A" feature win. Zeitner, who would start on the outside front row, jumped to an early lead over Scott Koskovich and Ron Tex Jr. Tex's night would end on lap four when contact from the #33 of Jeff Tilley sent his #8x into the turn three and four wall. The race would see three more cautions, but Zeitner would hold on to take the victory. Scott Koskovich would finish second, Joe Kosiski third, Jason Hobsheidt would come from the 12 hole to finish fourth, and Ed Kosiski came home fifth.

The Home Pride Modifieds saw Brian Foote come home with the victory after starting on the pole position. Foote would hold on to the lead after five early race cautions. He would then set sail to a big lead until the final caution flew with two to go for the #72 of Mike Lineberry. Foote would pull away on the green, white, checkered finish to take the win. Mike Meyer, J.C. Wyman, Justin Clark, and Jonnie Wyman would round out the top five.

The Grand National division would see outside front row starter Dave Cook take the early lead over Joey Bauer Jr. and Mike Merrill. On lap nine Merrill would try to pass Bauer for second, in doing so he would make contact with the lap car of Laini Schwartz causing himself and Schwartz to spin. Cook would keep the lead until lap 15 when he would get trapped behind Schwartz's car in turn two. Both Bauer and the #17 of Dave Livingston would sneek by. Livingston would make one last charge, but the 2005 I-80 Speedway Champion Joey Bauer Jr. would take the win. Livingston would finish second. Jody Krug, Dave Doll, and Brian Scott rounded out the top five.

The NRP Hobby Stocks would see pole sitter Justin Leach loose control of his car going into turn one on the opening lap causing half the field to get sideways and wreck. There would be only eight cars remaining after the second lap, but the action was hot and heavy in the front. The #M70 of Rick Munson and the 16th place starter Jeremy Swanson would trade the lead every other lap. Swanson made the last pass with less than two to go to take the victory. Tom Myers would make it pass Munson for second, Munson would take third, Bob Kracher would get fourth, and Greg Houdesheldt finished fifth.

I-80 Speedway Results From 04/23/06

Dodge Super Late Models

"A" Feature: 1) 62 Leon Zeitner, 2) 80 Scott Koskovich, 3) 53 Joe Kosiski, 4) 19d Jason Hobsheidt, 5) 9 Ed Kosiski, 6) 24 Bryant Goldsmith, 7) 77 John Nicholson, 8) 26jr Corey Zeitner, 9) 00 Clint Benson, 10) 4 Russ Haden, 11) 1L Mike Wallace, 12) 28 Billy Leighton Jr., 13) 21 Mike Nanfito, 14) 33 Jeff Tilley, 15) 4d5 Rob Wagner, 16) z62 Justin Zeitner, 17) 92 Josh Most, 18) 58 Keith Mander Jr., 19) 35j Jeff Smyser, 20) 1m Todd Bell, 21) 8x Ron Tex Jr., 22) 82 Robbie Andersen, 23) 71 Joe Julian, 24) 44z Alonzo Grosse, 25) 44 Troy Daly, 26) 69j Jay Norton, 27) 89 Jerry Warner.

Home Pride Modifieds

"A" Feature: 1) 43 Brian Foote, 2) 2m Mike Meyer, 3) 4 J.C. Wyman, 4) 74 Justin Clark, 5) 44 Jonnie Wyman, 6) 52s Jerimiah Sillman, 7) 3x Mike Johnson, 8) 20m Mark Leiting, 9) 69x Bill Bader Jr., 10) 53 Staci Stava, 11) 75j Jesse Robinson, 12) 3r Rodney Stopak, 13) 72 Mike Lineberry, 14) h1 Lowell Holland, 15) 87 Steve Robertson, 16) 95 Lucas Robinson, 17) 1r Matt Richards, 18) 27 Clint Homan, 19) 33r Larry Robinson Jr., 20) 3L Bub Lerette, 21) 21J Jeremy Leiting, 22) 1s Scott Carlson, 23) 82 Chris Anderson, 24) 1c Nick Carlson, 25) 3 Roger Ruwe, 26) 21t Tracy Harr, 27) 10c Justin Cooper.

Grand Nationals

"A" Feature: 1) 83 Joey Bauer Jr., 2) 17 Dave Livingston, 3) 2k Jody Krug, 4) 97d Dave Doll, 5) 88 Brian Scott, 6) 9 Dave Cook, 7) t3 Gary Leapley, 8) j1 Harley Moen, 9) 23 Dave Hanke, 10) 2 Dwane Pospisil, 11) 12 Todd Hipnar, 12) 96 Tony Leonardo, 13) 55 Mike Merrill, 14) 2x Andrew Kosiski, 15) 9x Kathy Cook, 16) 92k Rob Kosiski, 17) 25 Kenny Edwards, 18) 5 Mike Svagera, 19) 35 Kortney Kosiski, 20) 85a Joe Feyen, 21) 18 Laini Schwartz, 22) 56t Ron Tilley, 23) 92 Tony Barnes, 24) 6 Jacob Hoffman, 25) 8bal Glenn Robey.

NRP Hobby Stocks

"A" Feature: 1) 68 Jeremy Swanson, 2) 7 Tom Myers, 3) m70 Rick Munson, 4) 66 Bob Kracher, 5) 14 Greg Houdesheldt, 6) 99 Jesse Sobbing, 7) 13 Jesse Mcneal, 8) 4x Chad Bassinger, 9) 40 Mike Mass, 10) 70 Todd Schmitt, 11) 10z Joe Zdan, 12) 1 Justin Leach, 13) 28b Rick Bradley, 14) 51s Jeremy Smith, 15) 4 George Whitmore, 16) 55 Bryan Smith, 17) 6a Jeremy Auten, 18) 2t Josh True.