Saathoff, Fritzson, Rhiley, Fralin, and Laflin Take Top Honors at Beatrice Speedway

By Scott Wisdom

With it being Beatrice Speedway Hall of Fame Night, The fans were treated to some of the best racing of the 2007 race season.

The track was racy for the second straight week and was evident throughout each and every race of the night with the fans being treated to some very exciting heat and feature racing.

Johnny Saathoff of Beatrice Took the top honors in the IMCA Modifieds for the third straight week. He took his Toobies Lumber, Gibbs Place, Speedway Motors, Pinnacle Bank, I-70 Auto Auction, Hair Graphics, Jr Motorsports, Independent Equipment sponsored Jet Mod to the winners circle after having Shifter problems before the start and having to go to the rear of the field starting 23rd. Saathoff charged through the field and took the lead when leaders Jordan Grabouski and Clint Homan rubbed and he blew by them on the High side to go on to the win by more than a half a straightaway. Grabouski, Homan, Dan Nelson and Spencer Sutton rounded out the front 5.

Justin Fritzson of Blue Rapids, KS in his Blue Valley Motors, Sharp Manufacturing and Lettered by Extreme Race Signs sponsored Jet Mod too the win in the Jet Racing Limited Modifieds by holding off Ron Karpisek, Mike Sherwood, Benji Legg and Gary Saathoff.

Dan Rhiley of Bennington took the win in the IMCA Sport Compacts holding off Jason Miller, Mike Simpson, Cody Walters and Scott Parde.

Matt Fralin of Beatrice took his Redline Race Graffix, Risky's, Lillian Fritch Insurance, Ty's Tobacco Corner, Dempster's, The Rail Rocks, The Buss Stop, Griffeth Transmission, Classic Auto Sales, RMF and Jet Racing sponsored Demon Chassis to the win in the IMCA Hobby Stocks. He led Greg Post, Brian Langdale, Chad Borgman and Bill Parde.

Gary Laflin of Beatrice took his Helmet FX by Rod, Auto Shop INC., Dickinson Realty, Jet Racing, Poo's Palace, Filley Tavern, Phoenix Computer Services, Michael J's, Pork Chop Salvage, Ace Lawn Care, Extreme Race Signs, Casey, Alex, Mike, Monica, Russ, Gary, Duey, Shanna and Corey Baker sponsored Littleman Chassis too his first career win in the Reedy Machine and Fab/Buhr’s Trucking Factory Stocks. He beat Ronda Mewes, Neal Mittan, Roy Armstrong and Adam Armstrong across the finish line.

Next weekend all classes with the exception of the Sport Compacts will be racing and it will also be Kids Bike Races at intermission for ages 6-15. Hot laps at 6:00 pm and Racing at 7:00 pm. Hope to see everyone there.

IMCA Hobby Stocks

1) 7 Matt Fralin 2) d64 Greg Post 3) 1 Brian Langdale 4) 20 Chad Borgman 5) 95 Bill Parde 6) 38 Lee Beethe 7) 34 Max Harder 8) 33 Travis Runcie 9) 19 Kyle Vanover 10) 75 Kyle Olberding 11) 46 Matt Bernhardt 12) 03 Aaron Roth 13) 11 Eric Chab 14) 32 Trevor Kropp 15) 2 Ryan Roschewski 16) 83 Jim Bates 17) 99 Matt Smith 18) 48 Travus Snyder 19) 47x Jake Creek

Factory Stocks 1) 9 Gary Laflin 2) 89 Ronda Mewes 3) 5m Neal Mittan 4) 6r Roy Armstrong 5) 6a Adam Armstrong 6) 4t Lisa Wagner 7) 7 Jeff Shew 8) 6 Tyler Phelps 9) 99 Darcy Dobrovolny 10) 5R Gary Roop 11) 4 Greg Crannell 12) 88 Jayson Tennant 13) 32 Joe Ryan 14) 54m Gary McGinty 15) 3 Bob Latta 16) 66 Jeff Watts 17) 29 John Meyer

Limited Modifieds 1) 66 Justin Fritzson 2) 12k Ron Karpisek 3) 33x Mike Sherwood 4) 25 Benji Legg 5) 96 Gary Saathoff 6) 20 Tyler Snyder 7) 76 Nick Warnke 8) 14 Mike Snyder 9) 8 Dan McKnight 10) 3d Daryl Dorn 11) 2x Craig Evers 12) 23 Steve Swarthout 13) 47 Brian Florian 14) 97 Mark Saathoff 15) 33 Travis Runcie 16) 5 Tom Vanover JR 17) 74 Ricky Rohr 18) 11 Larry Halsey

IMCA Sport Compacts 1) 2 Dan Rhiley 2) 77 Jason Miller 3) 63 Mike Simpson 4) 00 Cody Walters 5) 17 Scott Parde 6) 7 Janie Fralin 7) 6j Jacob Harms 8) 4 Jeff Creek 9) 77s Seth Ambrose 10) 38 Dave Blumer 11) 0 Richard White 12) 81m Nathan Meyer

IMCA Modifieds 1) 96j Johnny Saathoff 2) 30 Jordan Grabouski 3) 27 Clint Homan 4) 94 Dan Nelson 5) 18k Spencer Sutton 6) 4j Jordy Nelson 7) 96 Gary Saathoff 8) 71m Eric McMillan 9) 7d Dusty Leonard 10) 29x Eric Rempel 11) 12 Todd Topil 12) 24 Dan Bohlmeyer 13) 52L Jason Logan 14) 5s Bob Zoubek 15) 93L Jason Brinkman 16) 8 Dan McKnight 17) 76 Lance Borgman 18) 29 Greg Metz 19) 3 Josh Carpenter 20) 47x Kyle Ames 21) z34 Brent Schlake 22) 33x Mike Sherwood 23) 7b Chris Burk