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By: Ron Lueck
After last week's rain out/wet grounds
condition at 24 Raceway, the race season was extended for one more week to
October 1 to give the
SSAutoSport.com All-Star race their
time on the track. Some 95 race teams came out Saturday night to Moberly,
Missouri to give it one last shot at getting to the winners circle in the final
regular season race and trying for the win that would carry them through the
winter months with pleasant memories. The teams included the Limited Late Models
that showed up to compete in their class for the 1st time at the dry/slick track
in some two plus years.
The Sportsman class had a low of six competitors in their race with Jeff
Creed starting outside and pole sitter, Darin Boling inside on row 1. Boling led
lap 1, but that #01 of Creed's was out in front of Boling's #8 for the remainder
of the race. In a caution-free race, the line-up did not change after the first
lap, with Creed winning over Boling, followed by Charlie Rindom driving in the
14-car of Pete Agee's, and then Harold Fox doing the driving in Randy Rindom's
84-car for a 4th place finish.
In the Hobby class, two of the participants were damaged beyond use on
lap 1 of the first heat race. Two leaders got together in front of the
grandstands, and the trickle down effect took out others behind them with
Centralia's Phil Crump getting the worst of it in a double roll-over. Also taken
out was Adam Prather's #19 and Jeremy Jaspering's #38, although Jaspering did
get his car back into the feature. Even though his car was destroyed, Crump was
uninjured - but it did peak the interest of the crowd. Alan Hultz had his #51 on
the pole and led the 1st lap. And then the cautions started and seemingly would
not stop. With Hultz going high and Tim Dawson going low in the 28-car for the
next 3 laps, Dawson finally got around Hultz to the lead the race from lap 4 on.
By lap 10, the 11-car of Tom Elsen moving strongly into 2nd when the 5th yellow
flag set up a tight race for 2nd. Elsen got 2nd over the 36-car of Dustin Boling
and Hultz settled for 4th.
With Tony Garner now in the 82-car, the Moberly Motors B-modifieds
started a front row of Jonathon Petersheim in his first pole position and
Garner. Petersheim and David Holder put on a pretty good fight for the lap 1
lead, but by lap 2 the battle was between the 61-car of Kevin Embree and Holder,
with Petersheim back to 3rd. By lap 3, the 3-car of season champ Bob Woodrow was
coming on strong to 3rd. After a pair of cautions, the 82-car collected three
more cars in turn 2 on a restart. It was then a 3-wide race most of the time
between Embree down low, Holder running up top and Woodrow taking the middle
lane. By lap 9, Woodrow grabbed the lead, and after another caution and quick
restart, came out with the win in a green-white-checkers finish. He picked up an
extra $150 in an added purse from Bob Crabtree Trucking, sponsor of the 61-car
of Embree's. Holder got 2nd and Embree took 3rd. A DQ of the 07x-car of Kenny
Mudd's brought the KT7-car, driven by Kelly Smith into 4th.
Rob Chase in his #3, and John Brown shared the row 1 start of the
4-cylinder Hornet class, that had some trouble getting past lap 1. Both the
22-car of Josh Langhammer and the #01A of John Brown got their race shortened
for some attitude towards each other involving a 4th caution, early on. Once the
yellow flag was put to rest, Chase ran out front and season champ, David Lorton
took over 2nd place from lap 2 on, with no more cautions. After the 11x-car of
3rd running Doug Byers' retired to the pit area on lap 8, the real race that was
for 4th became the race for 3rd. And the 9-car of Darren Morgan finished with
that 3rd place over the 3R-car of Tanner Richards.
Six Limited Late Models ran the fastest times of the night, with the
4-car of Virgil Jeffery's coming out of the 2nd row to lead over the front row
starters of James Rutledge in the #1 and Jason Estes in the 58-car. With Estes
into the turn 2 wall and bringing out caution #1, Jeffery held the lead from the
start and finished ahead of Rutledge. On lap 9, Rutledge went to the rear after
a spin, but quickly made up the difference to get back to 2nd and finished there
over the #43 of Marion Hooten.
In the A-modified class after the hot laps, Roger Moser loaded his
damaged black #27m onto the hauler for the trip back to Auxvasse. But not too
many on hand thought he could make it back to 24 Raceway for the feature with
his backup car, the yellow #27m, like he did. Moser started the feature from the
back, which had a front row of David Holder in the #14 on the pole and the
always strong #22c of Vance Wilson outside. Wilson took the lead over Holder
from the get-go, with the 35-car of Hank Delonjay coming up to 2nd by lap 4.
Holder was off the pace and the track by lap 6 in the only caution, leaving this
one to Wilson. Wilson was weaving through the back of the pack by lap 15 without
any incidents, and went on to an easy win. Delonjay took 2nd and the 44-car of
Curt Potter came up to a strong 3rd place finish over Michael Long's #18.
Then came the All-Star race of the season, sponsored by the webmaster of
www.24racewayinmoberly.com, Sam Smith.
All of the five regular season classes had their chances at these races with the
winners getting the car's picture on the banner for the website for 2006. The
Sportsman winner was the orange #14 Chevy, driven by Charlie Rindom, after the
01-car of Jeff Creed's left from mechanical problems. The Hobby winner was the
red 6-car of Larry Krog's. Season champ Bob Woodrow's green #3 will be the one
on the banner for the B-mods. Another green car, coming from the Hornet class
will be the #22 of Josh Langhammer's, winning a close one over season champ
David Lorton. And these four races were run caution-free. The last All-Star one
was the A-modified race, and David Holder qualified, but had to use his B-mod
car for the race. This time, a wreck with Holder's car brought the only caution
of the entire All-Star event. Vance Wilson got the #22c out to lead it from the
start and will be the featured car on the banner.
There were once again two winners of 24 Raceway's Jr. Fan Club with
bicycles given away this week, courtesy of both the Kenny Edwards Race Team, and
the Brittingham Cattle Co. Winning the first was 11-year old Megan Heckes of
Moberly, and the second went to 6-year old Kiersten Pratt of New London. Thanks
to these Jr. Fan Club sponsors and to all the various sponsors for the prizes
for the entire season at 24 Raceway. The next bit of info should be the Awards
Banquet on the January weekend of the 14th and in Moberly. Watch for info on the
2006 Season and the Banquet, too on the website of www.24racewayinmoberly.com .
Thanks for all of your patronage and thanks to the staff who helps make these
races so enjoyable, too. See ya next year for another exciting season at the
high banks of the dirt track at Moberly, Missouri.
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