Droud Jr, Alcorn, Wulf and Noonan Heat up the 1/3 Mile at Eagle Raceway

By Greg Soukup

A hot and windy summer day at Eagle Raceway, America’s Home Track turned to a cool and breezy summer evening as the second night of Bud Light 360 Wingless Sprints arrived. Lots of fans took advantage of the $5 admission price by bringing a toy during Christmas in July night, presented by Colby Ridge.

The heats ran nearly without incident, and after intermission with the sun setting, the cooler temperatures took over just in time for the feature races.

In the Stereo West Auto Toys IMCA Sport Compact B main Ron Frank grabbed the lead in the 18R, followed by the #14 of Joey Danley, the #9 of Mark McKinney and Steve Shepard in the 20T. The running order didn’t change until 4 laps to go when McKinney moved under Danley to take over the 2nd spot. On the very next lap the #24 of Mike Rice also passed Danley to move into third. On the white flag lap Danley got back around Rice. At the finish line it was Ron Frank, Mark McKinney and Joey Danley.

Next up was the B feature for the Monster Energy Drink IMCA Modifieds. At the start Dan Wayman got out front in his 5ST with Tim Pickens in the 00 in 2nd and the 12X of George Haney in 3rd. That was the order when the checkered flag flew.

The first A Feature saw the Stereo West Auto Toys take to the track. Jeremy Noonan took advantage of his front row starting position to grab the lead. The 51 of Amanda Riley and the 00 of Barry Kinnersley followed him. With only 2 laps down Mike Rice had moved his #24 all the way up to 3rd place, after transferring from the B. He followed that by taking over 2nd place on the very next lap, followed by the #2 of Dan Riley. Riley took over 2nd from Rice with 8 laps left, after a back-and-forth battle around the track. Riley held his position for only 2 laps however, retiring with a flat tire. With 6 laps to go it was Noonan, Rice and Kinnersley. Noonan held off his competitors to take home the victory.

Jeremy is still in his first year of competition in a race car, and this was his very first A Feature win. “I was lucky enough to start on the front row, and just held on to win it,” he said. “Last week, we got disqualified for having the wrong tire in the wrong place on the car. We fixed that this week and managed to win,” he continued. “The track was really fast tonight, it was great to get the win. I want to thank everyone who has helped out, but especially all my fans in Section C” he finished.

Jeremy’s sponsors include Low Budget Customs, Arturo’s Restaurant & Cantina, Target Collision Center, Longoria’s MMA Acadamies, Advanced Auto Glass and Suds n’ Scissors.

Next on the track was the Valentino’s Pizza IMCA Hobby Stocks. Brad Schreiner pulled into the lead in his #10 followed by the #93 of Thorn Marsh, the #21 of Derrick Noonan and Nick Beckman in the #22. With 12 laps to go Beckman got around Noonan for third place. On the very next lap Noonan dropped rapidly back through the field on the backstretch and came to a halt at the very top of turn #3. Nearly all the cars managed to bypass him, but the #94 of Mike Hansen slammed hard into Noonan’s rear bumper, bringing out the red flag. Both cars were forced to return to the pits. On the restart it was Schreiner, Marsh, Beckman and the #86 of Justin Wulf in fourth. On the very first lap after racing resumed Beckman moved into 2nd position followed by Wulf who took over the 3rd spot. Shortly thereafter, Shane Hiatt in the #21H moved into 4th. Wulf then Moved around Beckman for 2nd place with just 3 laps to go. On the white flag lap Schreiner slowed, allowing Wulf to take over the lead. At the checkers it was Wulf, followed by Beckman, Hiatt and the #14 of Ron Novak. This was Wulf’s third feature win of the year, after having won the Hobby Stock Championship last year.

“This was definitely my kind of track tonight, I liked it a lot. I started outside of the 6th row, and am thrilled with the win,” Wulf stated. “We broke an axle at Rising City earlier this week, and maybe that was lucky. Because, if it had been here it would have been a lot worse,” he continued. He finished by saying “I want to thank everyone on my crew, and all the others who help me get out on the track. Also, I want to thank all of the fans for coming out every week. I especially want to thank all of my sponsors; Sid Dillon Chevrolet, Renegade Seeding, Volnek Welding & Repair, Ken’s Smoke House, Sidewinder Chassis out of Elkhorn Iowa, Traeger Handcrafted Pellet Grills and of course Wulf & Sons Farms”.

The Monster Energy Drink IMCA Modifieds then moved onto the 1/3-mile high banks. The 22J of Justin Jurgens grabbed the lead with the 28N of Daniel Neeman in 2nd, followed by the #51 of Cliff Turner and the 10K of Dan McCown. On the 2nd lap Neeman got around Jurgens, relegating him to the 2nd spot with McCown grabbing 3rd and Norm Ziegenbein taking over 4th spot in the 1Z. Doug Deterding in the #13 and Ed “Doc” Raines in the 11AA got together going down the back stretch, resulting in a very hard crash by Deterding into the retaining wall at the back stretch pit entrance. Deterding’s car was too badly damaged to continue. On the restart Raines moved into the 4th position, but Cliff Turner spun in turns 3 & 4 also collecting the #12X of George Haney. Again, both cars were taken to the pits. The running order on the restart was Jurgens, Neeman, McCown and Raines. By the time there were 16 laps to go, defending track champion Chris Alcorn had advanced all the way up to 5th place in his #3. On the next lap he moved into 4th and 5 laps later he momentarily got all the way up to the #2 spot before a yellow flag moved him back to 3rd. On the restart Alcorn got around Neeman for the runner-up position and Raines moved back up to 4th. With 7 laps remaining McCown came into contact with another racer and rolled numerous times past the flag stand as his left side tires dug in after he spun sideways. He ended up coming to a rest on his roof, but crawled from the car relatively uninjured. After the decision was made to cut the race to a Green, White, Checkered finish due to time constraints the running order for the restart was Jurgens, Alcorn Neeman and Raines. As the cars came around to take the white flag Alcorn moved under Jurgens at the flag stand and held on for the win. The finishing order was Alcorn, Jurgens and Neeman.

“We started outside the 5th row because of some penalties in the heat races. The car felt pretty good in our heat, but we made a few changes for the feature and I guess they worked” Alcorn stated. “We had to go out with a flat on the very first lap of the feature, but managed to work our way back to the front after starting again at the very end of the field. It was a pretty good track tonight; with racing lines at the top, in the middle and on the bottom. We just went where ever the car in front of us wasn’t running and got around them,” he added.

The Bud Light Wingless 360 Sprints were the last A Feature of the night. Ryan Kitchen moved his #21into the lead after several false starts. He held it until he spun coming out of turn #4 while leading. Luckily, only 1 car was collected and they were able to restart. Kitchen’s evening was over however, as he was towed to the pits with a broken front axle. The race restarted single file with the #4 of Eric Shulz on the pole with the 96KX of Adam Gullion in second and the #51 of Doug Martens in third. On the very first lap Gullion and Martens moved around Shulz for the #1 and #2 positions. Don Droud Jr., winner of the first night of wingless sprints had advanced all the way to the #3 spot in his #2 with only 3 laps down, and took over 2nd from Martens just 3 laps later. He then set his sights on Gullion. Using all the skills he’s learned from many years in winged and wingless sprints as well as midgets he moved under Gullion after Gullion was held up by a lapped car with 6 laps remaining. As the came across the finish line for the checkered flag it was Droud Jr., Gullion and the #77 of John Klabunde.

“It was just a matter of a fast car on a good track tonight” Droud Jr. said. “I want to thank all my sponsors, including Rasmussen Auto Supply, Schmeiding Concrete, Harris Decals, Lincoln Drywall and Erickson Chiropractic. Also, a big thanks to my father, brother, brother-in-law, nephew and especially Dawn. Without them, I couldn’t be out here. They make it possible for me to win” he added.

The finale of the night’s racing was a 3 lap Challenge Race between Chris Alcorn and Justin Jurgens. Jurgens won the right to take on Alcorn by finishing 2nd in the A Main. Jurgens took advantage of his inside starting position to hold Alcorn off until Alcorn passed him at the flag stand at the completion of the first lap.

“I want to thank Roger for doing these special promos like the Challenge Race. I think the fans love things like this, plus it gave me the chance to donate my $300 winnings to Mike Cacak” he said.

Be sure to come out to America’s Home Track, Eagle Raceway next weekend as Z-92 presents Crash Bash; featuring the Stereo West Auto Toys IMCA Sport Compacts, the Valentino’s Pizza IMCA Hobby Stocks, the Monster Energy Drink IMCA Modifieds and the Budweiser Championship 360 Winged Sprints.

Eagle Raceway Results for July 7th, 2007:

Bud Light Wingless Sprints-
A Feature
1) 2 Don Droud Jr
2) 96kx Adam Gullion
3) 1r Andy Anderson
4) 2x Gerod Oliver
5) 45 Jeff Lowery
6) 4 Eric Shulz
7) 1d Don Dawson
8) 77 John Klabunde
9) 80 Dylan Peterson
10) 21x John Kaiser
11) 11 Tricia Underberg
12) 7x Kevin Danley
13) 54 Bob Pingeon
14) 7 Bob Ruisinger
15) 51 Doug Martens
16) 19j Jay Jordan
17) 21 Ryan Kitchen
18) 71 Tige Jensen (DNS A)
19) 15k Dave Titus (DNS A)

Monster IMCA Modifieds-
A Feature
1) 3 Chris Alcorn
2) 22j Justin Jergens
3) 28n Dan Neeman
4) 11aa Ed Raines
5) 00 Tim Pickens
6) 57 Brian Cudly
7) 7 Bob Ruisinger
8) 42k Jan Korth
9) 44 Tom Lenz
10) 10k Don McCown
11) v45 Rik Gropp
12) 5st Dan Wayman
13) 95 Dylan Smith
14) 1z Norm Ziegenbein
15) 51 Cliff Turner
16) 13 Doug Deterding
17) b9 Sean Burklund
18) 18 Terry Richards
19) 12x George Haney
20) 8c Chad Andersen

B Feature
1) 5st Dan Wayman
2) 00 Tim Pickens
3) 12x George Haney
4) 7 Bob Ruisinger
5) 52 Sean Manning
6) 10j Josh Hessheimer
7) 4d Pat Donovan
8) 4t Jerry Trejo
9) 3a Aaron Pella
10) 21t Tracy Harr
11) 29 Jeff Mazza
12) 73 James Oaks (DNS B)
13) 95b Nic Bonney (DNS B)
14) 33z Ron Dake (DNS B)
15) 75j Jesse Robinson (DNS B)
16) 4jr David Jewett Jr (DNS B)
17) 95r Lucas Robinson (DQ’d for rough driving)

Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stocks-
A Feature
1) 86 Justin Wulf
2) 22 Nick Beckman
3) 21h Shane Hiatt
4) 14 Ron Novak
5) 42 Rob Brown
6) 12 Dan Noonan
7) 28b Rick Bradley
8) 4a Aaron Pearson
9) 38c Casey Moyer
10) m70 Rick Munson
11) 9 Rex Schreiner
12) 1r RJ Macku
13) 11x Rich Small
14) 10 Brad Schreiner
15) 93 Thom Marsh
16) 98 Dan Jackson
17) 10k Lee Kracht
18) 4j Jamie Bruce
19) 21 Derick Noonan
20) 3k Jerry Keaton
21) 94 Mike Hansen
22) 92 Don Hall Jr

Stereo West Auto Toy’s IMCA Sport Compacts-
A Feature
1) 33 Jeremy Noonan
2) 24 Mike Rice
3) 44 Jack Prall III
4) 00 Barry Kinnersley
5) 2k Kyle Schamp
6) 62 Justin Busboom
7) 45 Jack Prall IV
8) 14 Joey Danley
9) 0 Rich White
10) 19 Mitchell Tibbitts
11) 31 Chris LaChapelle
12) 22 Elliot Halverson
13) b32 Brian Haller
14) 21 Jake Sells
15) 3n Neil Pella
16) 18r Ron Frank
17) 20t Steve Shepard
18) 2 Dan Rhiley
19) 51 Amanda Rhiley
20) 99 Jason Tadlock

B Feature
1) 18r Ron Frank
2) 19 Mitchell Tibbitts
3) 14 Joey Danley
4) 20t Steve Shepard
5) 31 Chris LaChapelle
6) 13j Jared Deterding
7) 12 Danni Rhiley
8) 59 Jessica Tadlock
9) 18 Maynard Kinnersley
10) 28 Richard Meyers III