A night of our regular weekly racing series, followed by the annual mechanic's race was the attraction in store for the fans at 24 Raceway this week. Some notables: three of the regular drivers at this track, Jim McKenney of Linneus, Chris Leathers from Macon and Shane Stone of Moberly all tried their hands at racing in another of the five standard classes that run here weekly in Moberly, Missouri. McKenney is now driving an A-modified as well as his B car. Leathers tried out a fendered Hobby Stock in advance of next weekend's 20 lap Hobby Stock Special. Stone has moved up to the Sportsman class from the Hobby Stock class. And the sleek, shiny and black A-modified of Roger Moser's got really christened in only it's second week of competition from Auxvasse. In the qualifying race, his new car was the lead one in a four-car accident in the south end of the track. After the new 27m got tee-boned in the wreck, Moser was ok but the car was unable to continue into the feature race.

  A qualifying front row of Winfield's Kenny Mudd, and Scotty Roberts of Columbia led the A-modifieds to the green flag for this feature race, followed in row 2 by the season points leader David Holder with his 7-car and Cecil Graves of Fulton. Holder took that strong car of his straight to the lead, followed by the 66-car of Mudd's, and the two ran like this for the first 7 laps, until the only caution flag came out on lap 8. With the restart, Clarence native Holder resumed his command of the class, just as he had for the early part of the season. But the battle was taking place behind him, between Mudd and Roberts. Roberts got his #25 around Mudd and into 2nd by taking the high lane on the restart. By lap 11, Mudd came back on the high side to regain 2nd, but lap 13 saw Roberts get by once again on the high side to reclaim the 2nd position. On lap 16, Mudd got that black #66 A-modified into the runner-up spot and moved out on Roberts. Holder came away with his 9th win of the year by leading all the laps and the top 3 of the finishing order resembles the rankings in the points standings: Holder - Mudd - Roberts. David Melloway of Hallsville came up to take 4th in the feature getting past Graves late in the race.

  The B-modifieds put on quite the show themselves. Chris Leathers got his #17 on the pole position, alongside the 82-car of Kelly Smith, winner of 5 of the last 7 races for June and July. Leathers had the lead on the green flag, but a spin from Brad Pfeiffer's #32 collected the 43 car of Matt Stevenson and called for a complete restart. Smith didn't let Leathers get the jump on him this time, as the Kirksville resident led Leathers of Macon to the line on the 1st lap. Another caution on lap 2 brought Smith and Leathers back for a nose-to-tail start after pushing off a stalled car. Leathers followed Smith for several laps, holding off challenges from both the 3-car of season points leader Bob Woodrow, as well as the 40-car of David Holder. Then on lap 11, Tony Garner's car #20 got loose in into the turn 4 wall, losing a spring and radiator in the wreck. After the lengthy clean-up, the restart saw Holder go wide and high in turn 2, allowing Mike McCarty from Moberly get his #96 into 4th position, behind Smith, Leathers and Woodrow. The battle was for 4th between McCarty and last week's winner Chuck Melloway of Hallsville, until the #69s of Excello's Brad Smith got into the turn 1 wall for the 4th caution of the race. On the restart, Smith simply moved on out to the lead, with Woodrow charging up to the 2nd position. This left a wild race for 3rd between the rest: Leathers, Melloway, Jim McKenney and McCarty. And that's the way it played out for those four, following Smith's 6th win and Woodrow in the runner-up position.

  Hobby Stocks had a great tune-up race for their 20-lap Special coming up next weekend. A front row of Callao's Tim Dawson in the orange 28-car and the #7 of Moberly's Clinton Dale, both pretty strong contenders, led off the feature start. But the #27x of Columbia's Casey Creason came out of the 2nd row to lead lap 1. In an almost caution-free race, Dale took over the lead on the 2nd lap with Creason following for most of the race. Coming into the white lap, a spin by the 53-car brought the field back together under the only caution of the race. The restart set up a green-white-checkered flag situation and Dale led once again. But Dawson put a move on Creason coming out of turn 4 to take 2nd place away in a photo finish. All of these guys looked race-ready for their 20-lap Hobby Stock feature event coming up next week, August 6th.

  David Lorton of Moberly and Kenny Edwards of Columbia, each with two wins apiece, were the front row starters for the 4 cylinder Hornets this Saturday evening. Last week's winner Josh Langhammer, also of Columbia and also with two wins, and Clark area resident, Rob Chase made up row 2. These guys make up the top 4 in season points, with Lorton leading in points while Chase leads in victories with three. Lorton led from the race start and restart, through both yellow flags on lap 8 and on that restart. On lap 11, Edwards pulled his #25 alongside the 24/7-car of Lorton's to challenge for 2 laps for the lead, but to no avail. Lorton had this race from the start, in spite of the strong efforts from Edwards, and from Langhammer who finished in 3rd.

  In the Sportsman class, Alan Bergfield of Columbia gave up his seat in the 73-car to Clinton Dale from Moberly. The #00 of Columbia's Rick Girard and previous winner, Darin Boling of Clarence, made up the front row. After a restart from a lose shock falling off a car in turn 4, the #8 of Boling's took the lead, but laps 2 and 3 had a virtual tie for that lead between Boling and the 01-car of Jeff Creed's. These two put on a battle for 1st, with Creed leading laps 6 through 10. By lap 11, Boling was back to the front, leading over the cars with similar paint schemes on Creed's and the 73-car being driven by Dale. Boling went on to his 2nd win of the season, followed by Cairo resident Creed. Dale fell off the pace and back as far as 6th, but re-grouped to come in at 3rd in the borrowed car.

  For something a little different this week, D& L Trenching and Fuemmeler Tax & Accounting of Moberly co-sponsored a $100 savings bond for the Jr. Race Fan Club give-away. And the lucky winner was Bradley Collins, 2 years old and from Clarence. A great prize for this young child. This week the 50/50 pot of $244 was won by Elizabeth Bradley of Mexico, and a great prize for this lady. And, the #9 Hornet driver, Darren Morgan of Paris has donated six bicycle safety helmets to be given out from now throughout the month of August. The 1st went to Austin Falheni of Macon. Congrats to all the winners of the prizes donated by track sponsors and drivers alike, and thanks for your support.