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By: Ron Lueck
Plenty of fans in the stands enjoyed some good weather Saturday night while
also enjoying great dirt track racing at 24 Raceway! The five classes of 86 cars
did put on some show, with the only race-stopping red flags coming from blown
engines in the B-modified and Hobby Stock classes. There was one more red in the
initial lap of that 25-lap Sportsman Special too. Read on:
The 4 cylinder Hornets kicked off the evening's features with 21 cars and
a front row of Porter Collins in his car #46, and Josh Langhammer of Columbia in
the #22. These two wound up in front from inverting the first three rows, simply
by luck of the draw. On lap 2, Langhammer and Moberly's David Lorton smacked
hard into each other in turn 1, but no flag was needed as they both continued
on. These smaller cars sometimes make it look like a Talladega race by running
in the pack formation like they do, and even five-wide at times. Lap 4 saw a
yellow, and then lap 7 from a spin by Clarence resident Collins in turn 1. On
lap 8, in completely separate incidents, both Kristi Chase from Clark and Blake
Fishbeck from Moberly made some spectacular moves to save their cars from
spinning out after being involved in some competitive racing. Kristi also had a
save earlier in the evening in her heat race. Lorton moved into the lead with
his 24/7 car on the lap 8 re-start and held on to win for the first time in a
while. Collins took 2nd, followed by Langhammer in 3rd, and then Moberly's
Jeromy Milnes in his season debut with a new #14 Hornet car.
Eighteen of the 20 B-modifieds that came to compete, started the next
race. David Holder was once more on the front row in his #40 car along side the
#3 of pole sitter Bob Woodrow of Madison. These two ran side by side for 3 laps
until Holder took over the lead. On lap 5, the 1st caution came from a spin down
the back stretch by Macon's Tony Garner in his #20. And on the restart, Linneus'
own Jimmy McKenney tapped into Woodrow, causing him to spin and both had to go
to the tail end of the lead lap. Holder still had the lead, closely followed now
by Brad Pfeiffer of Columbia in his #32. Both lap 11 and lap 12 saw a solitary
spin, each in turn 4 coming from the #43 of Matt Stevenson, forcing him to leave
the race under the "2 spins and you're out" rule. Still, Holder maintained his
lead over Pfeiffer and Chris Leathers from Macon, but by lap 13, Woodrow had
made it back into the top 4. These cars ran as a fast front 4, until the engine
in Mike McCarty's #96 let go in turn 1, and caused a red flag for oil clean-up.
In the end, Woodrow came back to take 3rd place from the #17-car of Leathers.
But it was Clarence resident Holder out front for all the laps, leading Pfeiffer
to the checkered flags.
The next feature saw 18 Hobby Stocks with pole winner Clinton Dale and
Alan Hultz on the front row for the 3rd consecutive week. But both a first lap
accident between Bruce Bailey of Moberly and Nathan Stevenson of Huntsville,
together with the 2nd engine disintegration of the night in turn 2, now from
Jason Rindom's #31 car, caused the 2nd red flag with a complete race re-start.
By lap 4, Dale was way out in front in his #7-car with the #28 of Callao's Tim
Dawson running 2nd. A battle for 3rd was taking place between the #51 of Hultz
and the #6 of Larry Krog, until Hultz pitted for a right rear tire change. A
yellow also came out at this time for debris on the track. Racing resumed
without any cautions from then on, as Cairo's Dale got his 2nd win in 2 weeks.
Dawson held onto 2nd for his 1st outing of the 2005 season. Clarence's Krog took
3rd with the #88s of Kirksville's Jerry Shoemaker coming in 4th.
The A-modified class had a good turn out with 23 starters and saw David
Holder once more on the front row, but holding the pole position this time in
his #7-car. Scotty Roberts, in his colorful #25 started on the outside. Roberts
led lap 1 with Holder both close behind and alongside. By lap 7 with Holder in
front, these two had left the pack behind until Jon Melloway of Hallsville made
an unassisted spin in turn 4 in his car #20M, bringing out the 1st caution of
the race. Holder grabbed the lead again on the re-start, over Roberts and with
the #66 driven by Kenny Mudd of Winfield now in 3rd. The 0-car of Mike Chasteen,
coming out of Creve Coeur, Illinois, kept in there fighting for 2nd with Roberts
and finally passing him on lap 15. Holder made the remaining race look like an
easy win, with Chasteen taking 2nd, followed by Roberts in 3rd. A late charge
from New London's Brandon Lennox took 4th for the night.
The last racing event of the evening was the 25-lap Sportsman Special, sponsored
by Pepsi Americas with $400 to win. Jeff Creed from Cairo had his #01 on the
inside, and Pete Agee in his #14 on the outside of the front row with a first
two row invert of the heat race winners. This line-up changed quickly as the
three cars of Huntsville's Agee, Rick Girard of Columbia in the #00 and
Moberly's Tim Eravi in his #3, all got tangled up in turn 4 before a lap was
counted. Clinton Dale, also of Cairo, got clipped in the rear end in his #12
Hobby Stock. Under a red flag stop, Dale needed to pit to remove a dragging rear
bumper and both Girard and Eravi could not continue. A clean re-start saw Creed
back out front with Moberly's Larry Minor alongside in row 1 with his car-#57.
By lap 3, the #8 Camaro of Clarence resident Darin Boling, was the one pushing
Creed for the lead. On lap 5, Dale and Minor had contact in front of the
grandstand, causing Minor to spin out. It was a quick restart with Minor now in
the back of the field, but the flagman did not like the formation coming around
turn 4. With the re-start, Boling was once again challenging for the lead until
one lap later, when another spin in front of the grandstand brought out a 2nd
caution flag. This time, it was the #24 of Centralia's Steve Dieckmann doing a
side-by-side spin with Charlie Rindom of Moberly in his #42 car on the front
stretch. Just two laps later, Dale moved past Boling to ride the rear bumper of
Creed. By half way through this 25-lap feature, the two cars of Creed and Dale
looked as if they were glued together, with Boling following not too far behind
in 3rd. This racing went on until lap 20, when contact between the right front
of Dale's car and the rear of Creed's sent the Dale's #12 to the pit with a tire
going down. By then, Creed was way out in front of Boling's #8 with the battle
for 3rd being left to Agee and Minor. And that's the way it ended, with Creed
winning the $400, Boling coming in 2nd for a $300 night, followed by Agee and
then Minor.
This coming Saturday of May 14 will be another of the exciting weekly series
featuring the five classes of both A- and B-Modifieds, Sportsman, Hobby Stock
and 4 cylinder Hornets. Grandstand admission is $9 for adults and $3 for kids, 6
to 12 years old. Hot laps are at 6pm and racing begins at 7pm. Also, the first
Powder Puff race will be held following the feature races, and will be open to
both Hobby Stocks and Hornet class cars.
Nine year-old Caleb Humprey of Moberly, won the kid's bicycle, sponsored this
week by Ollmann's Automotive and Wrecker Service of Moberly. And a thanks goes
out once again to all the sponsors for their many prizes donated and won by both
adults and kids alike. The race results list, sent out on Sunday morning from 24
Raceway for May 7, 2005, is attached again and also on the website of
www.24racewayinmoberly.com . Please see the website for upcoming info on the
Northeast Missouri Dwarf Car Association for May 21, and on the 360 c.i. W.O.W.
Sprints coming May 28 in conjunction with the Gary Scott Memorial Special. Ron
Lueck
Results from May 7, 2005
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