Cornhusker Classic opening night results

Jim Brennan & Tom Lathen

(Greenwood, Ne., 9/22/06) Opening night of the 2006 Cornhusker Classic brought 209 cars and a bulging pit area with 63 WDRL Polydome Super Late Models; 36 Grand National Late Models; 30 CNCTA/IMCA Late Models; 27 Home Pride Pro-Modifieds; 20 Pro-am/Stock Cars; and 23 Hobby Stocks.

The night started with the Grand National Heats that were won by Al Humphrey,
Jay Burdic, Kyle Berck and Jason Hobscheidt. The Stereo West Auto Toys Hobby Stock Heats were won by Jeremy Swanson, Jesse Sobbing and Kyle Vanover. The first Pro-am Heat saw Shawn Bulin pick up the win over Dr. Nick Steier. But the 2nd heat got downright exciting as Marty Steinbach and Jason Cieslik dueled for the lead. But the 2 drivers tangled on the back stretch spinning out on the last lap and it opened the door for Joe Feyen to take the win.

The CNCTA/IMCA Late Models saw Fast Freddie Miller, Al Humphrey and Eddie Moore take heat race victories. The Modified class saw heat race wins go to J.C. Wyman, Johnny "The Jet" Saathoff and Glenn Hibbard, who made the trip from Texas for the 2nd
straight Year.

The WDRL Super Late Model heats were won by Brady Smith, Steve Kempt, Justin Fegers, point leader Denny Eckrich, Chad Simpson and Dave Eckrich. The top 8 in passing points were Matt Furman, Fegers, Chad Simpson, Kelly Boen, Brian Harris, Steve Kosiski, Dave Eckrich and Kevin Kile. The Pole Dash was won by Boen over Simpson, Furman, Fegers, Harris, Kosiski, Dave Eckrich and Kile.

Chad Simpson survived 25-laps of wild, caution flag marred racing Friday night to grab the opening-night victory at the annual Cornhusker Classic, a WORLD Dirt Racing League PolyDome Late Model Series event here at I-80 Speedway.

Simpson led from flag-to-flag to secure his first ever WDRL feature race victory and collect the $2,500 top prize in the event, which attracted 64 Late Models from nine different states.

"It's great to get that first WDRL win," commented Simpson in AMSOIL Victory Lane. "We've struggled a lot this year, but hopefully we're finally starting to getting things figured out."

"We were hoping to get a couple of these things this year," he added. "But the guys who you travel with on this series are just outstanding. On any given night there are 10 or 12 different guys who can win so you have to come with your 'A-game' and you've got to be on top of things."

Simpson, who started on the outside front row, bolted into the lead on the opening circuit, powering off the banking out of turn two to outrun pole setter Kelly Boen.

"I knew it was going to be a key getting to the front right away," noted Simpson. "There was a lot of momentum and speed right up against that cushion and I knew I had to get there.Added Simpson, "I knew I had to beat him into that first corner, because I knew he was going to get in there pretty hard. We just ran her in there hard on that first lap."

The 27-year old Mount Vernon, Iowa driver roared to a ten car length advantage over the second-place Boen by lap five, before the first of four caution flags appeared when Ed Kosiski slowed in turn three with a flat tire.

A second caution flag was waved a pair of laps later when Shelton, Nebraska's Steve Kempt coasted to a halt in turn four, following a brief tangle with Davey Nall as the duo raced wheel-to-wheel through turns one and two.

The ensuing restart spelled disaster for a number of top contenders, when Boen and Brian Harris collided in turn four as the pair wrestled for the same spot on the race track, collecting series points leader Denny Eckrich, Papillion, Nebraska's Steve Kosiski, and Cosgrove, Iowa's Dave Eckrich in the multi-car melee. Both Harris's and Denny Eckrich's car were badly damaged in the mishap, with Eckrich suffering an apparent broken wrist as his race car slammed hard into the turn four guard rail.

When racing resumed, Simpson returned to the point, with Brady Smith wheeling into the runner-up position, followed closely by Mound, Minnesota hot-shoe Justin Fegers, maha's John Anderson and southwest Iowa pilot Chris Spieker.

Caution flags again appeared on laps 11 and 13, but on each restart, Simpson was able to outmuscle the second-place running Smith to retain the advantage. Smith's car number-2 pulled to the inside of the front-runner heading into turn one on lap 17, but as the two drivers roared out of turn four, Simpson again clung to a razor-thin advantage.

Over the final half dozen circuits, Simpson's Five-Star Shop Service/MasterSbilt/Pro Power Chevrolet Monte Carlo was able to pull away from the Smith's second-place entry, allowing the eastern Iowa driver to win the race to the flag by a handful of car lengths.

"The last ten laps, I was just pushing the car for all it had because I knew I had to," said the winner. "I saw Brady (Smith) get underneath me that one time down in turn one, so I knew there was no messing around any more."

"I just pushed it for all it had and this MasterSbilt race car just worked fantastic."

Two-time WDRL champion Kyle Berck raced to a strong third place finish, with Boen, who came from the rear of the field following his lap-seven tangle, finishing fourth. Chris Simpson, who started 25th in the field finished fifth, followed by Chris Spieker, Dave Eckrich, and Trent Follmer.


NRP/I-80 Speedway is located between Omaha and Lincoln just north of I-80 exit 420 and runs the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series on Saturday and Sunday nights during their regular season; one of only two tracks in the USA to hold two NASCAR Dodge Weekly Sanctions. For more information, contact the NRP General Offices at 402-342-3453 during normal business hours or visit the web site at www.neracewaypark.com . On race days after 4pm, the track info line is 402-944-2233.

Nebraska Raceway Park I-80 Speedway Cornhusker Classic

Grand National Class

1st Heat: 1) 99 Humphrey, 2) 4k Josh Krug, 3) 28 Billy Leighton Jr., 4) 55d Curt Drake, 5) T3 Gary Leapley, 6) 7 Gary Joens Jr., 7) 91 Steve Farnsworth, 8) 2xAndrew Kosiski

2nd Heat: 1) j1 Jay Burdic, 2) 2 Dwane Pospisil, 3) 40 Shawn Harker, 4) 22mTrevor Millikan, 5) 29 Lennie Pospisil, 6) 35 Kortney Kosiski, 7) 15 Jase Kaser, 8) 3 Mike Wallace(DNF)

3rd Heat: 1) 33z Kyle Berck, 2) 97d Dave Doll, 3) 25x Brad Perdue, 4) 56 Jason
Longmeyer, 5) 41 Scott Green, 6) 92k Rob Kosiski, 7) 18 Laini Schwartz

4th Heat: 1) 1 Jason Hobscheidt, 2) 56T Ron Tilley, 3) 2d Todd Morgan, 4) 50 Brad
Soll, 5) 25 Kenny Edwards, 6) 18j Jon Schwartz, 7) 93 Kevin Gigax, 8) 10Rick Stolley

Stereo West Auto Toys Hobby Stocks

1st Heat: 1) 68 Jeremy Swanson, 2) 7 Tom Myers, 3) 15 Chris Vannausdale,4) S53 Scott Robinson, 5) M70 Rick Munson, 6) 1 Justin Leach, 7) 73Travis Alley, 8) 76 David Orr

2nd Heat: 1) 99 Jesse Sobbing, 2) Z34 Max Harder, 3) 86j Jerod Weston,4) 13 Jesse McNeal, 5) 2T Josh True, 6) 42 Mike Barton, 7) 67 Jason Halagarda,8) 11X Kenny Humpal

3rd Heat: 1) 19 Kyle Vanover, 2) 6A Jeremy Auten, 3) 1R Terry Shearer, 4) 66Bob Kracher, 5) 3k Jerry Keaton, 6) 121 Robert Tippery, 7) 72 Jesse VanLanningham, 8) 71 Brit Pellman


Certified Transmission Pro-ams


1st Heat: 1) 36 Shawn Bulin, 2) 8 Nick Steier, 3) 72 Rick Negrete, 4) 30jKevin Jobe, 5) T72 Thad Thomson, 6) 64 Nick Hermsen, 7) 20 MikeGillespie, 8) 49x Chad Sanders

2nd Heat: 1) 25x Joe Feyen, 2) 56 Jeremy Longmeyer, 3) 52 Shane Bales,4) 35 Rich Steier, 5) 15 Andy Thompsen, 6) 55 Ray Dessell, 7) 49 Jeff Atkins,8) 84 Doug Stevenson

3rd Heat: 1) 127 Glen Hibbard, 2) 2 x Grant Junghans, 3) 74 Justin Clark,4) S56 Scott Bivens, 5) 19j Jeff Jones, 6) 8 Larry Goertz, 7) 1R Matt Richards.


IMCA CNCTA Late Models


1st Heat: 1) 9F Fred Miller, 2) 76 Al Zeitner, 3) 28 Billy Leighton Sr., 4) 105
Denton Buller, 5) 19 Jason Hobscheidt, 6) 1M Todd Bell, 7) 10 Jay Stewart, 8) 29 Tim Cooney

2nd Heat: 1) 99 Al Humphrey, 2) 45 Barry Sorensen, 3) 97d Dave Doll, 4) 17 Phil Miller, 5) 50j Jay Cooper, 6) 25 Kenny Edwards, 7) 40 Shawn Harker, 8) 8x Ron Tex Jr.

3rd Heat: 1) 17m Eddie Moore, 2) T3 Gary Leapley, 3) 15 Jason O'Brien, 4) 60 Travis Roth, 5) 80 Scott Koskovich, 6) 25x Brad Perdue, 7) 18j Jon Schwartz, 8) 55d Curt Drake

WDRL Late Models

1st Heat: 1) 2 Brady Smith, 2) 1k John Anderson, 3) 21h Brian Harris, 4) 77x Kurt
Kile, 5) 89 Jerry Warner

2nd Heat: 1) 90 Steve Kempt, 2) 56 Chris Spieker, 3) 07 Kelly Boen, 4) 14 Kyle
Berck, 5) 8x Todd McKee

3rd Heat: 1) F15 Justin Fegers, 2) 1 Davey Nall, 3) 52 Steve Kosiski, 4) 90x Eric
Pember, 5) 33 Jeff Tilley

4th Heat: 1) 50 Denny Eckrich, 2) 88 Kevin Kile, 3) 05 Gary Dechant, 4) 32 Chris Simpson, 5) 77j John Nicholson

5th Heat: 1) 25 Chad Simpson, 2) 9 Ed Kosiski, 3) 6h Al Humphrey, 4) 31T Trent
Follmer, 5) 53 Joe Kosiski

6th Heat: 1) 58 Dave Eckrich, 2) 51 Matt Furman, 3) 17m Eddie Moore, 4) L88 Larry Clausen, 5) 31 Jason Utter

1st Consey: 1) 14 Kyle Berck, 2) L88 Larry Clausen, 3) 77x Kurt Kile, 4) 77 Jeff
Aikey, 5) 1L Mike Wallace

2nd Consey: 1) 17m Eddie Moore, 2) 90x Eric Pember, 3) 31 Jason Utter, 4) 22 Craig Preble, 5) 1M Rob Moss

Passing Points: 1) Furman, 2) Fegers, 3) Chad Simpson, 4) Boen, 5) Harris, 6) S. Kosiski, 7) Dave Eckrich, 8) Kevin Kile

Pole Dash: 1) Boen, 2) Chad Simpson, 3) Furman, 4) Fegers, 5) Harris, 6) S. Kosiski,
7) Dave Eckrich, 8) Kevin Kile

Cornhusker Classic 25: 1. Chad Simpson, 2. Brady Smith, 3. Berck, 4. Boen, 5. Chris Simpson, 6. Spieker, 7. Dave Eckrich, 8. Follmer, 9. Anderson, 10. Utter, 11. Nall, 12. Pember, 13. Moore, 14. Fegers, 15. Kurt Kile, 16. Moss, 17. Kevin Kile, 18. Denny Eckrich, 19. Joe Kosiski, 20. Steve Kosiski, 21. Nicholson, 22. Furman, 23. Kempt, 24. Harris, 25. Clausen, 26. Ed Kosiski.

Additional Information of Interest:

Number of Entrants: 64
Lap Leaders: Chad Simpson (1-25)
Time of Race: 46:25
Margin of Victory: .849
Caution Flags: 4 (Laps 5, 7, 11, 13)
Red Flags: 1 (Lap 7)
Fastest Lap: Chad Simpson (17.704)
Series Provisionals: Chris Simpson, Moss
Rookie-of-the-Race: Spieker
Hard Luck Driver: Denny Eckrich

Contingency Award Winners:

Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation: Boen, Chad Simpson, Furman
QA1 Motorsports: Fegers
The Brake Man: Chad Simpson
Champ Pans: Smith
Joie of Seating: Berck
Performance Bodies: Boen
Design 500 Racewear: Chris Simpson
V-Performance Batteries: Spieker
Fast Shafts: Dave Eckrich
Hooker Harness: Follmer
Weld Wheels: Pember
Scott Performance Wire: Fegers
Design 500 Racewear (non-qualifier): Humphrey
KSE Racing Products: Berck, Pember
Chase Race Decals: Denny Eckrich