Boston, Alcorn, Wulf and Rhiley take Eagle Titles

By Jason Orth

EAGLE, NE (Sept. 16, 2006) – With lightning as a backdrop all night, the four point leaders wouldn’t be denied their titles Saturday at Eagle Raceway. Two champions, Mike Boston in the sprints, and Chris Alcorn in the modfieds put their stamp on the season by winning their A feature. For Boston, it was the seventh regular season win and Alcorn picked up victory number five in his return to weekly competition at the 1/3-mile track. Justin Wulf had not won an a feature all season, but consistent finishes coupled with second place Brian Cudly’s spin that ended the Hobby Stock A feature gave him his first championship. Dan Rhiley’s fourth place finish in the tuner A allowed him to take the first championship in the new class.

In the Stereo West Auto Toys Tuner A feature, Doug Lyons took the early lead in the 10-lap contest, with Kevin Kuker and Amanda Rhiley battling for second. With six laps to go, Kuker took second place, but posed no threat to Lyons who took his second win of the season.

The Stereo West Auto Toys Hobby Stock A saw Derick Noonan looking for his third A feature win in the last four races. Shane Hiatt gave chase with Rex Schreiner following. Schreiner suffered a flat tire and pulled out on lap three, but he would affect the race much later in the contest.

Deep in the pack, point leader Justin Wulf and runner up Brian Cudly fought for position, where only three points separated them. The yellow flew when Jim Musel hit the wall and stopped with five laps to go. Schreiner returned to the track, telling an official he was going to retaliate on a driver he tangled with earlier. Track officials brought out the black flag on the grounds that rules stated no driver may return to the track if they are more laps down than there are left, in addition to the remarks made.

Despite being stopped on the track several times, Schreiner refused to go to the pits. Meanwhile Rex’s brother, Brad in the #10 car, gave the backstretch official an obscene gesture and also was disqualified. Like his brother, he refused to leave the track after being stopped. Meanwhile, raindrops came and went at the track, and officials were concerned about completing the other two A features in the program.

Noonan led the field at the green flag, but with three laps left Cudly’s chances of taking the title ended when he spun in turn one. Track officials, citing the weather called the race with Noonan as the victor over Shane Hiatt, Ron Novak, and Rob Brown.

The SoBe No Fear IMCA Modified Championship had been decided when points runner-up Mike Meyer failed to qualify for the A feature. With the title in hand, many expected Chris Alcorn to take it easy. But Alcorn instead had nothing to lose and he roared through the field to challenge Stacey Wilhelm and leader Dave Jewett, Jr. with 12 laps down in the 20-lap race. Alcorn passed Jewett on the following lap to pull alongside Wilhelm with seven laps to go. Wilhelm bobbled going into turn one to allow Alcorn an opportunity to pass. Making the most of what was given, Alcorn took the lead coming out of turn four and despite heavy traffic in the closing laps, held on for the win. Wilhelm, Jewett, and Doug Deterding followed across the line.

Lightning grew more frequent, and started the countdown of the Budweiser Sprint A feature. Boston, held a 17 point lead going into the race and while the championship was in easy reach, he couldn’t afford a major mistake. The 2000 champ quickly got himself out of dangerous early race traffic and quickly made it to the lead pack. With six laps down Tige Jensen spun in turn two, with Josh Riggins collecting the stalled car and rolling over to bring out the red flag.

Racing got back underway quickly as Boston challenged Jay Jordan and leader Rodney Droud. With six laps down, Boston made the move past Jordan going into turn one and took the lead from Droud coming out of turn four.

Mike Chadd spun in turn three with 11 laps down, two short of the needed 13 to call the race official. Time was running out as the tell-tale rain-cooled cold air gust displaced the warm breeze that prevailed all night. The green flew again with Boston leading. On lap fourteen the rain began to come down, and officials called the race with Boston the winner, followed by Droud and Jack Dover.

The next race for Eagle Raceway is the two-day Nebraska Cup featuring IMCA Modifieds, Hobby Stocks and Tuners on Sept. 29 and 30.

Results for 9-16-06

Modified
B feature 1 – 1. Jesse Robinson; 2. Phil Penney, 3. Cliff Turner, 4. 21r, 5. Brian Murphy, 6. Pat Donovan, 7. Mike Meyer, 8. Steve Devitt, 9. Jeff Mazza

B feature 2 – 1. Chevy Hadan, 2. Lucas Robinson, 3. Clint Homan, 4. Terry Hurt, 5. Rik Gropp, 6. Daniel Neeman, 7. Norm Zigenbein, 8. Mark Kaspar, 9. Nic Bonney 10. Jerry Trejo

A feature 1. Chris Alcorn, 2. Stacey Wilhelm, 3. Dave Jewett, Jr, 4. Doug Deterding, 5. Scott Bivens, 6. George Haney, 7. Sean Burklund, 8. Aaron Pella, 9. Luke Robinson, 10. Don McCown, 11. Clint Homan, 12. Phil Penney, 13. Tim Pickens, 14. Larry Goertz, 15. Jan Korth, 16. Darren Hosick, 17. Dan Wayman, 18. Jordan Grabouski, 19. Bob Ruisinger, 20. Jesse Robinson

Sprint B feature
1. Ryan Roberts, 2. Jason Danley, 3. Kellen Love, 4. Toby Chapman, 5. Jay Russell, 6. Chris Roseland, 7. 32a, 8. Roger Sluka, 9. Bill Garrow, 10. Ryan Kitchen, 11. 20, 12. Nick Bryan, 13. 44

Sprint A feature
1. Mike Boston, 2. Rodney Droud, 3. Jack Dover, 4. Jay Jordan, 5. Larry Pinegar, II, 6. Brad Krutz, 7. Jon Klabunde, 8. Adam Gullion, 9. Jeff Griffis, 10. Tadd Holliman, 11. Jason Danley, 12. Ryan Roberts, 13. Kellen Love, 14. Dean Chadd, 15. Gage Dorr, 16. Toby Chapman, 17. Mark Pace, 18. Mark Schmidt, 19. Tige Jensen, 20. Josh Riggins

Tuner A feature
1. Doug Lyons, 2. Kevin Kuker, 3. Barry Kinnersley, 4. Dan Rhiley, 5. Rich White, 6. Jack Prall, III, 7. Amanda Rhiley, 8. Jason Tadlock, 9. Justin Busboom, 10. Neil Pella, 11. 10., 12. Brian Haller, 13. Jeremy Conkle, 14. Adrian Dover, 15. Jake Brinson, 16. Maynard Kinnersley

Hobby A feature
1. Derrick Noonan, 2. Shane Hiatt, 3. Ron Novak, 4. Rob Brown, 5. Casey Meyer, 6. Jerry Keaton, 7. Justin Wulf, 8. Don Hall, Jr. 9. RJ Macku, 10. Mike Hansen, 11. Murray Haugen, 12. Jeff Kros, 13. Colby Johnson, 14. Troy Mencke, 15. Rich Munson, 16. Brian Cudly, 17. Rick Bradley, 18. Jim Musel, DQ Brad Schreiner, DQ Rex Schreiner