From Eagle Raceway
Another great crowd filed through the gates at Eagle Raceway, America's
home track tonight for "Dads Rock Night" sponsored by Legend's Bar and
Grill. Over 110 cars battled on a night almost perfect for racing. A
slight southerly breeze cooled the fans before the sun set, bringing a
typical spring evening.
The "Quad Squad" was on hand to entertain the fans with their feats of
jumping from ramp to ramp and acrobatics. Also, the "Dirt Track Hotties"
made their first appearance at Eagle this year, signing autographs,
taking pictures with the dads in attendance and getting some folks
involved in a water balloon relay on the front stretch during intermission.
Radio station KRKR topped off the night's special events when, after the
races finished, they gave away a $29,000 combination of a brand new
Seadoo and a Yamaha Roadstar motorcycle.
Even with all the extras for the dads, the racing took center stage as
usual, with a total of 21 heats, B Features and A Features.
Only 2 incidents marred the evening. The first occurred in the Budweiser
Championship 360 Sprint B Feature. Don Droud Jr. came into contact with
the 21 of Ryan Kitchen entering turn 1. Kitchen then flipped, coming to
a rest on the tires between turns 1 and 2. Kitchen was towed to the
pits, and Droud Jr. also retired. Droud Jr. was filling in for Doug
Lovegrove in the #44. Doug hasn't quite recovered from injuries suffered
at I-80 Speedway, and Droud graciously accepted an offer to pilot the
sprinter until Lovegrove is well enough to take back his seat.
The other significant mishap happened as the Stereo West Auto Toys IMCA
Sport Compacts came around for the green flag. Back in the pack, Maynard
Kinnersley made contact with another car. This resulted in his #18
nearly rolling over the wall in turn three. After several moments,
Kinnersley crawled from his racer, shaken but relatively unharmed.
When the race began again, the 00 of Barry Kinnersley took the lead,
with the #24 of Mike Rice in second, the 33 of Jeremy Noonan in third
and Justin Busboom's #62 in fourth. Kinnersley and Rice battled
fiercely, sometimes side-by-side, back and forth for quite some time.
With only 7 laps down, the 18R of Ron Frank had moved into third and
just 2 laps later, he claimed the lead; followed by Kinnersley and Rice.
The front four went unchanged until with 3 laps left, Dan Rhiley moved
all the way up to the third spot. On the very last circuit, Rhiley moved
into second position as Kinnersley spun past the flag stand. At the
checkered flag, it was Frank, Rhiley, Rice and Busboom.
Tonight was Ron Frank's third race ever in a car. Also, he runs the
entire operation on his own and out of his own pocket. In addition, he
is the driver, crew chief, mud scraper and hauls the car to the track
each racing night. When asked to tell about his sponsors, Frank said,
"Me, but I sure would welcome anyone who would like to help out." "The
track was really awesome tonight," he added. "I hope we can manage to
put this Honda into the winner's circle again really soon. I want to
thank my wife Cinda, for allowing me to race here at Eagle. It's been a
great time so far" he finished.
Next on the agenda was the Valentino's Pizza IMCA Hobby Stocks. At the
outset, the #10 of Brad Schreiner was in front with Shane Hiatt's 21H
and the #121 of Robert Tippery close behind. By lap #4 Justin Wulf had
brought his #86 up to third spot, having passed Tippery. It took only 3
more laps for Hiatt to take over the point. The drivers raced furiously
around the track, trying to find an opening to better their position;
but the running order up front remained unchanged until with just 4 laps
left, Wulf got around Schreiner for 2nd. In the end, Hiatt took home the
victory, followed by Wulf and Schreiner.
Shane Hiatt is in only his second year of racing, having spent the
majority of last year at US-30 Speedway and Butler County Motorplex;
however, he also ran at Eagle whenever his schedule allowed. This year
Shane has missed only 1 night on the high-banks of Eagle, and that was
the very first night of racing on the year.
"It was a great win tonight. After having gotten black-flagged near the
beginning of last week's A, I'm glad that we could come back tonight and
prove ourselves. We won last night at Butler County, then turned around
and won both our heat and the A Feature here" Hiatt stated. Shane's
sponsors include Benes Service, Hildy Construction, Seward Electronics,
Scrib's House Moving, Spark Electric, Kneaded Pampering, Klub Lisa,
Sonora Carriage Company, DC Auto Center, Slick Graphix, Just One More
Bar & Grill, Hlavac Farms and Bill's Machine. "I want to thank everyone
who helps me every week. Shawn, Nathan, Kevin, TJ, H-Rod, Ryan, Harms,
Jamie, Paula, Jerry and Jono. And a special thanks to my mother and
father" he added.
The Monster Energy Drink IMCA Modified A Feature began with the #1Z of
Norm Ziegenbein Jr. in front, followed by the 52 of Sean Manning in
second and the 5ST of Dan Wayman in third place. Doug Deterding was on
the move though, coming quickly up to second. Also advancing rapidly was
reigning track champion Chris Alcorn, who had come all the way from his
6th row inside starting position to 3rd. With 12 laps remaining,
Deterding moved into first position with Alcorn following him into
second place. Deterding managed to hold Alcorn off until after 3
straight restarts Chris put his #3 under Doug and took over first.
Despite numerous attempts by Deterding to overtake Alcorn using the high
line, Alcorn held on for the win. Deterding was a close second with the
#95 of Dylan Smith in third.
"I honestly didn't think we had the car to win tonight. I moved up and
down the track until I found a line that the car wanted to run good in.
I sure didn't think we could ever get past Doug. I just missed that hole
one time, got inside of him and passed. I sure figured Doug would get
back around me on the outside, but he couldn't quite do it," Alcorn stated.
The final A Main of the night featured the Budweiser Championship 360
Sprints. Young Trevor Grossenbacher took advantage of his pole position
to grab the early lead, with the #2X of past champion Rod Droud and the
8B of Bobby Becker in pursuit. On the third lap of the race, defending
sprint champion Mike Boston bounced through turns 1 & 2, finally coming
to a rest with a broken front axle. 2 laps later, Becker moved up to
second when the 2X was forced to the pits with a flat right front tire;
This put Ken Klabunde's #28 into the third spot. 9 laps later Becker got
around Grossenbacher for the lead. On the next lap Brad Krutz moved into
third in his #91. Another 5 laps were in the books when Krutz bumped
Grossenbacher from behind, spinning him in turn 2. Krutz was then sent
to the rear of the field, behind Grossenbacher. It was Becker, Klabunde
and Tadd Holliman's #23R in that order. On the restart, Chad Meinholtz
got around Holliman to take over the third spot between turns 1 & 2.
Meinholtz moved into 2nd position briefly on the following lap, before a
yellow light forced another restart. When the green flag flew again,
Meinholtz again moved up into second place behind Becker. They held
those places until with just 3 laps left Mark Pace hit the wall between
turns 1 and 2, bringing another stoppage. Ken Klabunde also went to the
pits with a flat right front tire. The running order then was Becker,
Meinholtz, Adam Gullion in the 96KX car and Holliman's 23R. Becker
managed to hold Meinholtz off during numerous restarts, but on the last
restart Meinholtz set Becker up perfectly and moved into the lead. He
held Becker off for the win.
"We haven't been here for 2 years, but this is the Eagle Raceway that I
remember. There were 2 good grooves; a really fast groove around the
bottom, and IF you have the guts, it was even faster on the top"
Meinholtz stated. "This is only the second race for me this year. We ran
fourth last week at US36, and decided to come up here this week. I
really had planned on taking the whole year off, but my crew chief Dave
kept pushing me to get out again; and I admit that the itch was getting
pretty strong. This was a really great win tonight, especially starting
on the outside of the 6th row" he added. "I want to thank my sponsors;
Reser's Fine Foods, Mike Mead Family Dentistry and Carstar North of
Topeka. And I need to give a special thanks to Eckley Racing Engines for
helping us figure out the fuel system on this 11 year-old ASCS motor" he
finished. Chad promised that he would return to Eagle Raceway again this
year, but wasn't sure of when it would be.
Don't forget that next week at Eagle Raceway is "Fan with a Can" night,
where 2 cans of food donated will be rewarded with $2 off of adult
admissions. All proceeds will be given to the Lincoln and Omaha area
Food Banks.
Eagle Raceway Race Results for June 16th, 2007:
Budweiser 360 Championship Sprints:
A Feature-
1) 69m Chad Meinholdt
2) 8b Bobby Becker
3) 96kx Adam Gullion
4) 45 Jeff Lowery
5) 23r Tadd Holliman
6) 71 Tige Jensen
7) 2x Rodney Droud
8) 77 John Klabunde
9) 91 Brad Krutz
10) 76 Jay Russell
11) 14g Gene Ackland
12) 24b Frank Galusha
13) 17 Gage Dorr
14) 35 Trevor Grossenbacher
15) 23 Terry Holliman
16) 3 Jeff Griffis
17) 28 Ken Klabunde
18) 31 Mark Pace
19) 6 Nick Bryan
20) 51 Mike Boston
B Feature-
1) 45 Jeff Lowery
2) 76 Jay Russell
3) 96kx Adam Gullion\
4) 31 Mark Pace
5) 24b Frank Galusha
6) 3g Bill Garrow
7) 21 Ryan Kitchen
8) 44 Don Droud
9) 33 Terry Cadwallader
10) 19j Jay Jordan (DNS B)
Monster IMCA Modifieds:
A Feature-
1) 3 Chris Alcorn
2) 13 Doug Deterding
3) 95 Dylan Smith
4) 1z Norm Ziegenbein
5) 52 Sean Manning
6) 19j Jeff Jones
7) 22 Brian Schmidt
8) 42k Jan Korth
9) 5st Dan Wayman
10) 8a Dusty Andersen
11) 28n Dan Neeman
12) 7 Bob Ruisinger
13) 82 Chris Anderson
14) 14 Matthew Kiner
15) 21j Jamie Holdorf
16) 4d Pat Donovan
17) 3a Aaron Pella
18) 11x Steve Devitt
19) 21 Terry Richards
20) 24t Terry Hurt
B Feature #1-
1) 19j Jeff Jones
2) 82 Chris Anderson
3) 29 Jeff Mazza
4) 21t Tracy Harr
5) 51 Cliff Turner
6) 57 Brian Cudly
7) 7x Tom Rowan
8) 95b Nic Bonney
9) v45 Rik Gropp (DNS B)
10) 19 Scott Anderson (DNS B)
B Feature #2-
1) 7 Bob Ruisinger
2) 8a Dusty Andersen
3) 3t Tom Spanel
4) 00 Tim Pickens
5) 12x George Haney
6) 75j Jesse Robinson
7) 95r Lucas Robinson
8) 44 Tom Lenz
9) 11aa Ed Raines
10) 8c Chad Andersen
11) 48b Don Chilen
12) 73 James Oaks (DNS B)
Valentino's IMCA Hobby Stocks:
A Feature-
1) 21h Shane Hiatt
2) 86 Justin Wulf
3) 10 Brad Schreiner
4) 121 Robert Tippery
5) 12 Dan Noonan
6) 9 Rex Schreiner
7) 92 Don Hall Jr
8) s53 Scott Robinson
9) 42 Rob Brown
10) m70 Rick Munson
11) 3k Jerry Keaton
12) 1r RJ Macku
13) 14 Ron Novak
14) 38c Casey Moyer
15) 21 Derick Noonan
16) 93 Thom Marsh
17) 4 Troy Mencke
18) 4j Jamie Bruce'
19) 94 Mike Hansene
20) 11x Rich Small
21) 22 Nick Beckman
22) 4a Aaron Pearson
Stereo West Auto Toy's IMCA Sport Compacts:
A Feature-
1) 18r Ron Frank
2) 2 Dan Rhiley
3) 24 Mike Rice
4) 62 Justin Busboom
5) 2k Kyle Schamp
6) 00 Barry Kinnersley
7) 33 Jeremy Noonan
8) 44 Jack Prall III
9) 26 Derick Dreamer
10) 51 Amanda Rhiley
11) 21 Jake Sells
12) 63 Mike Simpson
13) 99 Jason Tadlock
14) 20t Steve Shepard
15) b32 Brian Haller
16) 0 Rich White
17) 2m David White
18) 77 Jason Miller
19) 3n Neil Pella
20) 18 Maynard Kinnersley
B Feature-
1) 20t Steve Shepard
2) b32 Brian Haller
3) 77 Jason Miller
4) 2m David White
5) 0 Rich White
6) 7v Adam Vrbka
7) 28 Richard Meyers III
8) 35t Travis Schneider
9) 19 Mitchell Tibbitts
10) 22 Elliot Halverson
11) 12 Danni Rhiley
12) 10 Kenny Danley
13) 13j Jared Deterding
14) 59 Jessica Tadlock (DNS B)
