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By: Ron Lueck
Four of the seven features races were completed before rain wiped out
the track surface for the night of May 21 right at 10 PM. Only the A-modifieds,
Sportsman and Thunder Trucks missed out on running their respective features, so
both the A-mod and Sportsman classes will be running a "double feature" show
next Saturday evening. The Thunder Trucks will have their own "double feature"
race in two weeks to go with their regular scheduled night of June 4. But four
of the classes completed the show before rain sent fans scurrying for their cars
and trucks.
The popular 4 cylinder Hornets started 20 cars with Hallsville's Adam
Melloway riding the pole position and Kyle Chinn from Clarence alongside in his
#77. Debris on the track caused a caution on the initial lap and the restart saw
cars #1m of Tom Dodson and the 24/7 car of Moberly's David Lorton get together
into the turn 3 outside wall. Once they got started for real, Melloway's #11 had
the first lap lead by inches over last week's winner Rob Chase in the #3. The
laps ticked off for Melloway, as he led from then on, with several challenges
from Chase and from Kenny Edward's #25 car. This threesome ran out front under
green flag conditions and as a group, with Columbia's Edwards getting around
Chase on lap 5 to move into 2nd place. On the final turn, Edwards made a try for
the pass on Melloway but could not get the position to pull ahead, finishing
third, behind Chase and the winner, Melloway.
In their once-a-month show, the Dwarf cars brought in 11 drivers from
various north Missouri towns. Craig Spegal in the #7s and step-son Richie
Berghager in the #27s, both from New London, started on the first row for this
race. The strong running #64 of Independence's David Rafferty shot into the lead
on lap 1, a position he held throughout the event. These guys ran a great race
with the only caution coming from a bumping between Berghager and the 40-car of
Benny Burnett in turn 3 late in the race. By the time they stopped in turn 4,
the two cars were hung up and one had to be lifted off the other by the wrecker.
Racing resumed with a green-white-checker situation, and saw Rafferty keep the
momentum up for the win, followed by Spegal with KC's Kelly Bergstrom taking
3rd.
With the rain threatening, the Hobby Stocks had a front row consisting of
Alan Hultz once again in his now-familiar pole position with his red & yellow
#51, and Chad Walter on the outside in his #23C. Hultz led lap 1, with a
three-wide battle shaping up on the back stretch between Madison's Hultz,
Callao's Tim Dawson and Larry Krog from Clarence in his red 6-car. Hultz led lap
2 when Jerry Shoemaker came on to challenge those three drivers for 2nd.
Shoemaker, in his #88s from Kirksville, persevered and finally took over 2nd on
lap 10, only to see the 1st caution flag of the race. The 66t-car of Tyler
Petersheim had an engine blow up, while at the same time, Aaron Prather's orange
#19 Dodge was rubbing the turn 4 outside wall with some handling problems. Upon
the restart, Krog was out in front with both Dawson's #28 and Hultz coming
through past Shoemaker only to see the yellow once more. The second consecutive
green-white-checker set-up
for the end saw Krog leading over Hultz and now Clinton Dale with a hard charge
into 3rd, when Shoemaker spun out in turn 4. On the final restart of this race,
Krog held onto the win, with Hultz in 2nd, followed by Dale.
And now Mother Nature had quite a light show to go with the Moberly
Motors B-modified event. Under a sky full of lightning, Jimmy McKenney had the
pole with his #7 and the best shot a winning an extra $100 bounty placed on
three-peat winner David Holder from Clarence. But Holder was also starting on
the first row and charged right on into the lead for lap 1, leaving the battle
for 2nd between McKenney, Bob Woodrow in the green #3, Brad Pfieffer in the #32,
Gary Wilson in his #11, and Chris Leathers in the #17. All five drivers were
trying hard to catch Holder's #40, but to no avail. On lap 5, the 002-car of
Ashland's Steve Roberts and the 10-car driven by Steve Robinson of Huntsville
got together in front of the grandstands for the 1st caution. In turn 1 on the
restart, Matt Stevenson spins his #43, and both Dwain Peterson's #69A and Andy
Acton's #2B spin while avoiding Stevenson. After this, Holder was still out in
front of Woodrow, from Perry, and McKenney from Linneus. And this is the way it
ran until lap 11, when Woodrow passed a slowing Holder, then McKenney passed and
then Wilson too. With one lap to go, Holder took his slowing car to the pits to
surrender on the bounty set on his car. And that's the way they finished, with
Woodrow winning, McKenney 2nd, Wilson coming in 3rd and Pfeiffer 4th. Besides
the bounty, Woodrow also got to collect on another increased purse size of $100
to the winner of the B-mods, courtesy of Triple K Tractors and Equipment of
Hallsville.
With the Thunder Trucks lined up, but being held back, the rains came on
a little harder and ended any chance of continuing with the night's racing. As
stated earlier, the Trucks will run this feature before their full race feature
set for June 4. The same line-up from the night's A-mod and Sportsman qualifying
will be set to run next Saturday night, May 28, before the regularly scheduled
feature races for each class. And there will be another $100 bounty on David
Holder driving his 7-car, this time in the first of the two A-modified feature
race. Triple K has also anted up $100 extra for the night's A-mod show winner.
All this is to be in addition to the 6th annual Gary Scott Memorial, the
first of a two night racing series for the Winged Outlaw Warriors here at 24
Raceway. (Sunday night is to be in the Grain Valley area). All five classes of A
& B modifieds, Sportsman, Hobby Stocks and Hornets will be
running in addition to these very fast 360 cubic inch Sprint Cars. Folks,
it's going to be a full racing agenda with grandstand admission set at $12 for
adults and $5 for kids, 6 to 12 years old. Hot laps are at 6:15pm and racing
begins at 7pm. Grandstands and the pit gate will open at 4pm. Pit passes are
$20. A flyer for the evening's activities can be found on our website of
www.24racewayinmoberly.com .
The kids had double the chance for taking home a new bicycle with two 11
year-olds, Jairicia Boulware of Macon, and Jordon Thompson from Clarence winning
the bikes, sponsored this week by C B R Chassis of Cairo (see their website
www.cbrchassis.com ) and the Northeast Missouri Dwarf Car
Association. J.R. Ramsey took the winner's portion of $177 from the 50-50
ticket sales back to Columbia with his lucky purchase for the night. Next week
could be your turn, but you'll have to be there to collect.
Ron Lueck
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