Leighton Jr. Wins Latemodel Feature at I-80

By Joey Sparano


(GREENWOOD NEB., 07/15/06) NASCAR Division IV frontrunner Billy Leighton Jr. would drive from the ninth starting position to win the Crate Latemodel "A" feature event. Scotty Hartman, Floyd Richards, Michael Oliver, Cory Hutchinson, and Amanda Leonardo would all visit the I-80 Speedway Winners Circle on Iowa Night presented by the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil.

The 20 lap NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series Crate Latemodel main event would see inside row two starter Shawn Harker jump to an early lead on lap one. Harker would keep his #40 out front for the first half of the race, but it was easy to see that the fastest car on the track belonged to Billy Leighton Jr. Leighton, who started fifth row, worked his way up to the runner up spot by lap six; he then set sail for Harker. "Billy The Kid" would stick to the bottom and pass Harker twelve laps into the event. After that it was all Leighton who took the checkers in the caution free feature. Harker would finish second, followed by Dave Livingston, Ron Tex Jr., and Jody Krug.

Jeremy Longmeyer would jump out front in the 18 lap Certified Transmission Pro Am main event. Longmeyer would lead lap one, but his good luck would run out after that. After getting passed for the lead on lap two by Marty Steinbech, Longmeyer would loose the handle on his #56 in turn one. Last weeks winner Shawn Bulin would make contact with Longmeyer, causing damage to both cars. When racing resumed it was still Steinbech in the lead, with Larry Robinson Jr. on his tail. Robinson would get by Steinbach on lap five and go on to take the double checkered flags. In post race inspection it was found that the #48 was illegal, so Larry Jr. was disqualified. That would give the win to points leader Scotty Hartman. Steinbech would hold on for second. Rick Negrete would come home third. Joe Feyen and Jeff Bonney would round out the top five.

The B-Mods would have outside front row starter Floyd Richards lead 11 out of 12 laps to bring home his third victory of the season. Daryl Weilage, Larry Robinson Sr., Jim Fritz, and Lacey Tuttle would finish second through fifth respectively. Points leader Harry Nixion was not in attendance, so Jim Fritz becomes the new points leader.

Michael Oliver would win the 305 Sprint "A" feature event. Trish Dover, Matthew Stelzer, and Steve Hurst rounded out the top four.

Cory Hutchinson would grab the lead on lap three of the Tobacco Free Nebraska Pro Hornet "A" feature. Hutchinson would lead the rest of the way and take his third feature win of the season.

The Tobacco Free Nebraska Novice Hornets would have Andrew Cuva lead the first six laps. Cuva would give up the point going for the white flag as Amanda Leonardo drove by in her #96. Leonardo would then come around and take the checkers, her first win of the season.

Nebraska Raceway Park is located off I-80 at exit 420 between Omaha and Lincoln and is home to I-80 Speedway, the Little Sunset Speedway go-kart track and Soaring Edge Motocross Park. The Speedway hosts events weekly from April through September. For race day track information call (402) 944-2233 or check out the official I-80 Speedway website at www.neracewaypark.com. The Omaha General Office can be contacted during normal business hours at 402-342-3453.


Results From I-80 Speedway 07/15/06

Crate Latemodels

"A" Feature: 1) 28 Billy Leighton Jr., 2) 40 Shawn Harker, 3) 17 Dave Livingston, 4) 8x Ron Tex Jr., 5) 2k Jody Krug, 6) 97d Dave Doll, 7) 3 Mike Wallace, 8) 1 Jason Hobsheidt, 9) 7 Gary Joens Jr., 10) 50 Brad Soll, 11) 22 Kent Schimenti, 12) 20 Randy Archer, 13) 2x Scott Carlson, 14) 33 Jeff Tilley, 15) 2d Todd Morgan, 16) 56t Ron Tilley, 17) 22m Trevor Millikan, 18) j1 Jay Burdic, 19) 55d Curt Drake, 20) 92k Jacob Brown, 21) 96 Tony Leonardo, 22) 2 Dwane Pospisil, 23) 21x Brent Baker, 24) 18 Laini Schwartz, 25) 25 Brad Perdue, 26) 18j Jon Schwartz.

Heat 1: 1) 3 Mike Wallace, 2) 97d Dave Doll, 3) 17 Dave Livingston, 4) 28 Billy Leighton Jr., 5) 2x Scott Carlson, 6) 2 Dwane Pospisil.

Heat 2: 1) 22m Trevor Millikan, 2) 40 Shawn Harker, 3) 2k Jody Krug, 4) 22 Kent Schimenti, 5) 25 Brad Perdue, 6) 33 Jeff Tilley.

Heat 3: 1) 8x Ron Tex Jr., 2) 1 Jason Hobsheidt, 3) 50 Brad Soll, 4) 7 Gary Joens Jr., 5) 96 Tony Leonardo, 6) 21x Brent Baker.

Certified Transmission Pro Ams

"A" Feature: 1) 88 Scotty Hartman, 2) 5 Marty Steinbech, 3) 72 Rick Negrete, 4) 25x Joe Feyen, 5) 75 Jeff Bonney, 6) 71x Jeff Kupke, 7) 49 Jeff Atkins, 8) 49x Chad Sanders, 9) 64 Nick Hermsen, 10) 55 Ray Dessel, 11) 16j Jason Cieslik, 12) 15 Andy Thompsen, 13) 28 Mike Powell, 14) 83 Mike Houston, 15) 33x Chuck Dillion, 16) 3t Tim Podraza, 17) 36 Shawn Bulin, 18) 2 Steve Peoples, 19) 52 Shane Bales, 20) 4u Randy Preul, 21) 9x John Allensworth, 22) 08 Harpster Racing, 23) 56 Jeremy Longmeyer, 24) 12 Terry Cleveland, 25) 48 Larry Robinson Jr.(DQ).

Heat 1: 1) 36 Shawn Bulin, 2) 33x Chuck Dillion, 3) 08 Harpster Racing, 4) 52 Shane Bales, 5) 28 Mike Powell, 6) 55 Ray Dessel.

Heat 2: 1) 48 Larry Robinson Jr., 2) 88 Scotty Hartman, 3) 71x Jeff Kupke, 4) 49x Chad Sanders, 5) 49 Jeff Atkins, 6) 3t Tim Podraza.

Heat 3: 1) 5 Marty Steinbech, 2) 72 Rick Negrete, 3) 25x Joe Feyen, 4) 75 Jeff Bonney, 5) 56 Jeremy Longmeyer, 6) 64 Nick Hermsen.

B-Mods

"A" Feature: 1) 71 Floyd Richards, 2) 52 Daryl Weilage, 3) 53 Larry Robinson Sr., 4) 21 Jim Fritz, 5) z00 Lacey Tuttle, 6) 33 Jim Hendricks Jr., 7) 84 Anthony Newberg, 8) 52x Mike Christiansen.

Heat 1: 1) 21 Jim Fritz, 2) 33 Jim Hendricks Jr., 3) 52x Mike Christiansen, 4) 53 Larry Robinson Sr., 5) 71 Floyd Richards, 6) 52 Daryl Weilage.

305 Sprint Cars

"A" Feature: 1) 96.1 Michael Oliver, 2) 9t Trish Dover, 3) 99s Matthew Stelzer, 4) 45 Steve Hurst.

Heat 1: 1) 9t Trish Dover, 2) 99s Matthew Stelzer, 3) 45 Steve Hurst, 4) 96.1 Michael Oliver,

Tobacco Free Nebraska Pro Hornets

"A" Feature: 1) 96 Corey Hutchinson, 2) 19 Darin Hoegren, 3) 20 Lindsey Yost, 4) 81 Steve England, 5) 33 Tim Shidler, 6) 22 Mike Boehmer, 7) 61b Brandon Wergin, 8) 4 Travis Meyer, 9) 57 Austin Kurtzer, 10) 23 Ole Olson, 11) 15 Jamie Spanel, 12) 78 Randy Allen, 13) 67x Michael Bockman, 14) 61 Chuck Wergain, 15) 99x Jason Tadlock, 16) b52 Micah Brown, 17) 13 James Hayes, 18) 9x Joe Baker, 19) 36 Joe McConnell, 20) 28x Anthony Abboud, 21) 10 Joe Thomas, 22) 60 Dave Lafleur, 23) 99 Rick Havenridge.

Heat 1: 1) 57 Austin Kurtzer, 2) 20 Lindsey Yost, 3) 78 Randy Allen, 4) 4 Travis Meyer, 5) 67x Michael Bockman, 6) 23 Ole Olson.

Heat 2: 1) 96 Corey Hutchinson, 2) 9x Joe Baker, 3) 19 Darin Hoegren, 4) 36 Joe McConnell, 5) 60 Dave Lafleur, 6) 61b Brandon Wergin.

Heat 3: 1) 81 Steve England, 2) 33 Tim Shidler, 3) 22 Mike Boehmer, 4) 13 James Hayes, 5) 10 Joe Thomas, 6) 28x Anthony Abboud.

Tobacco Free Nebraska Novice Hornets

"A" Feature: 1) 96 Amanda Leonardo, 2) 37 Nate Christensen, 3) 33 Steve Mcconnell, 4) 16j Justin Soule, 5) 06 Andrew Cuva, 6) 38 Will McConnell, 7) 13 Bryan Hull, 8) 5 Tyler Mass, 9) 78 Trish Hultgren, 10) 74 Megan Christensen, 11) 22 Travis Dowling, 12) b52 Nathan Brown, 13) 4 Deanna Wallace, 14) 23 Lynn Carlson, 15) 60 Thomas Liechti.

Heat 1: 1) 60 Thomas Liechti, 2) 96 Amanda Leonardo, 3) 33 Steve Mcconnell, 4) 5 Tyler Mass, 5) b52 Nathan Brown, 6) 13 Bryan Hull.

Heat 2: 1) 06 Andrew Cuva, 2) 16j Justin Soule, 3) 37 Nate Christensen, 4) 23 Lynn Carlson, 5) 74 Megan Christensen, 6) 22 Travis Dowling.