Saturday night, August 6, we returned to the Boone Speedway for another night of regular racing in all five divisions. We noticed that there were a few puddles here and there, and we were told that they had had a considerable amount of rain on Thursday, nearly 1.5 inches, and that it had also rained steadily on Friday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. That extra rain on the track and not being able to work it properly as they do for those days leading up to Saturday night racing, proved to bring some uncommon holes in the corners.
We had been checking the radar during the heat racing, as off to the west, the clouds had been building. Nice to have the sun go behind the nearing bank of clouds, but we were not liking the looks of what that might bring to the racetrack. The officials had also been taking into account the approaching "stuff", and just as soon as the final B main was run, the first A main, the Dwarf/Mod Lites, were brought to the track.
The old saying, "The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry", held true as the first couple of laps brought TWO red flags for the Dwarf/Mod Lite feature. The first was when the 41Z of Ed Zehm tumbled over coming out of turn four. He was able to fire it up and drive off into the pits. One lap after the restart, the second red flew! This time it was for the 09 of Joel Keenan who put his ride on it's lid at the top of turn one. Thankfully, he too was okay.
Last week's winner, Joel Huggins, was leading on the restart after the second red flag. He would continue that lead to the checkered flag, taking his second win in as many weeks. Andy Hennigar chased and tried to catch the leader, but had to settle for the runner up spot. Point leader Josh May finished in third, fourth went to Randy Bryan and Mike Kennedy was fifth.
The 18-lap IMCA Northern SportMod feature started nearly as the Dwarf's had started, though this would just be a yellow flag, when numerous cars piled it up in the bottom between turns one and two. The results left crumpled sheet metal, some dangling from cars, but most able to continue. This wouldn't be the only contact made through the duration of the feature, and by the end of the race, there was a lot of body work to be done.
By lap three, Eric Elliott had weathered the incidents, and was leading the race. Clint Luellen was attempting to reel Elliott in and third place runner, Racer Hulin, who had started back in row nine, was closing fast as well. Time ran out for any of those two challengers to get any closer and the finish remained as stated--Elliott won, Luellen took second, and Hulin third. Fourth went to Austin Lucas and point leader Scott Davis came home in fifth.
Next up, the IMCA Modified 20-lap SCHEDULED feature. This too would have several cautions as well as another red flag. The red occurred when the #27 of Kelly Lyons tumbled over in turn four. Thankfully, he too was okay, but again, more costly repairs for numerous drivers, Lyons included, were mounting up! A nasty rut/hole in between turns three and four was the culprit in many instances. Former track champion, Cale Sponsler had made his way to the lead as the laps wound down. A time limit was accessed around lap sixteen, and, as went the night, another yellow flew, and the race was called complete. Sponsler won, Jake Durbin finished second, Fred Schimmels was third, fourth went to last week's winner Randy Havlik and point leader Russ Dickerson rounded out the top five.
A nice field of 28 stock cars came to compete, resulting in a b main to whittle the starting A main to 24 cars. Randy Killen sealed his spot in the feature line up by winning the consolation race. Terry Cornelison led the field through the first seven laps, but that ended when he found himself riding the frontstretch wall on two wheels at the flagstand--causing flagman Nick Brueklander to alertly step out of the flagstand. By lap eight, it was "The Chelsea Charger", Damon Murty taking the helm and he would take it home to the checkers. This was Murty's first win at the Boone Speedway this year. Alan VanGorp came from row five, to follow Murty across the finish line in second. Third went to Trent Murphy, fourth was Eric Brown, and longtime racer, Robert Stofer finished in fifth.
The final race, the IMCA Hobby Stocks ran their 12-lap A main next to complete the night's racing. So far, nothing more than a few random sprinkles had dared to fall at the track, though the lightning had been flashing all around for a while. The first lap brought a bit of excitement when Robert Smith had trouble controlling his car after a mishap, but the green flag stayed out. Cory Tasler led the race from the start, which was beginning to look like finally a flag to flag feature. It wasn't to be when a car blew on the frontstretch, resulting in a green-white-checkered finish. Talser took the win, his first of 2011, with Boone's Tony Cox following him to finish in second. Third was multi-time winner John Watson, fourth was point leader Michael Murphy and Aaron Rudolph finished in fifth.
So ended another night at the Boone Speedway, thumbing it's nose at the approaching rain. We can only hope that this continues to hold true, especially during the fast approaching Super Nationals coming up September 5 through the 10th. Information on the Super Nationals can be found at www.raceboone.com as well as full results and point standings and other information. Happy racing!
No comments:
Post a Comment