Seymour- August 17- I t was a cool, clear night for racing at the Seymour Speedway Sunday night, but the racing action was excellent with a full program that included the return of the 410 Outlaw IRA Sprint Car series to the banked 1/3 mile clay oval.
The only glitch on the night was the late start due to track prep issues but that turned to a plus with a non-stop show on a smooth fast racing surface.
IRA Qualifying started the program having 5 drivers break the 2007 Travis Whitney track record of 12.672. The first 5 cars on the clock broke the old mark with Mike Reinke’s time of 12.265 now in the records book. A field of 26 cars check in and it was a familiar name, defending and current point leader, Billy Balog, that bested the field running to his first ever Seymour feature win. The race went non-stop, 30 fast laps that were run in 8 minutes. Scotty Thiel followed with track record holder, Reinke taking third. See the full IRA report on www.Ractext.net.
Jerry Winkler grabbed the lead at the start of the Turbo Blue Street Stock main with Jeff Dorschner, Alan Schlueter, Lexii Ashcraft and George Tabalske behind. A lap 4 caution slowed the pace and the point chase appeared to be changed when second place driver, by only 3 points, Ryan Blank, was forced out of the contest with mechanical problems. Back under green, current point leader, Jeff Jungwirth, seemed to take control and moved from mid pack into the lead on lap 7. Winkler re-claimed the lead on lap 9 and suddenly, Lady Luck dealt Jungwirth a bad card forcing him to pit with a right front problem.
A final caution on lap 11 bunched the field again and on the restart, Winkle had Schlueter take to the outside and for the remaining laps ran side by side for the lead. Lexii Ashcraft, Dorschner and Patty Winkler were right behind as the leaders swapped back and forth. Schlueter was scored in the lead when the white flag appeared, but out of the final turn, Winkler was able to hold off the charge and took his 4th feature win of the season by a fender at the line. Ashcraft and Patty Winkler followed with Dorschner and Tony Everard rounding out the top six.
With the point leaders both dropping out, the chase tightened up with Jungwirth now 4 point ahead of Blank 484-480. Schlueter and Patty Winkler closed within 12 and 17 points respectively with 2 point nights remaining.
After 2 cautions on the opening lap of the IMCA Sport Mod feature, the race went non-stop to the finish. J.J. Andersen took the lead over Kevin Bethke , Beau Handschke, point leader, Jeremy Cota, Lucas Lamberies and Rod Solem. Cota moved into the runner up spot by lap 3 and set out to battle Andersen for the lead. It took until lap 10 before Cota could work by Andersen into the top spot, and once in the lead, was able to pull away from the field and run to his third straight feature win, his 4th overall this season. Andersen followed to take the runner up finish, but third was not decided so easily. Lamberies, Handschke, Bethke and Solem ran together the rest of the way Lamberies getting the 3rd spot with Handschke 4th. Solem and Bethke round out the top 6.
Brad Lautenbach scooted off with the lead at the start of the Budweiser IMCA Modified feature leaving the race for second with jay Matthias, Tyler Wilson, Eric Mahlik, and Mike Wedelstadt. By the mid point of the race, Lautenbach was cruising out front with Wilson, Wedelstadt, Benji LaCrosse and Matthias behind. LaCrosse moved into the runner up spot on lap 12 and faced a full straightaway gap to catch the leader. That all changed on the following lap when a tire was kicked out onto the track forcing the lone caution of the race, which erased Lautenbachs lead and bunched the field.
Under green again, LaCrosse tried getting to the inside for the elad several times before moving to the outside and took over the top spot on lap 16. Once in front, LaCrosse opened a lead of his own and captured his first feature win of the season at Seymour. Lautenbach ran to second with Mahlik holding off point leader, Jason Czarapatra, for third. Wedelstadt and Wilson wrapped up the top six.
Never to be outdone at the Seymour Speedway, The Coors Light IMCA Stock Cars put 21 cars on the track for their feature, which again, went flag to flag. Jason Bork took charge from the front row and set the pace for the first 5 laps. Kyle Frederick was able to move to the front and snuck to the inside of Bork out of turn 4 on lap 6. Travis Van Straten moved up three spots to second on lap 7 and two laps ;later was in the lead.. Once in front, Van Straten was able to pull away from the rest of the tightly bunched field.
Fredrick, had Chas Van Ooyen, Bork, Josh, Bill Kelsey, Mroczkowski, Barry Van Straten and Justin Jacobsen to deal with as the group stayed bunched for the rest of the race. Running 2 and 3 wide allowed Van Straten to run alone and work through lapped traffic to collect his 3rd feature win of the season. He battle for the runner up spot was decided at the finish line with Van Ooyen able to inch by with Frederick taking third. Barry Van Straten took fourth with point leader, Rod Snellenberger, able to break through the pack to take fifth with Jacobsen 6th.
Jeremy Czarapata took command of the 4 Cylinder main at the start with Dean DeKeyser, Taylor Becher, Harley Diedrick and Tyler Hungerford behind.
A Lone caution flew on lap 4 for a double spin in turn 3. Czarapata again set the pace on the restart with DeKeyser still in persuit. Hungerford moved into the runner up spot on lap 8 and the pair ran right behind the leader to the finish with Czarapata able to secure his second feature win of the season. Hungerford took second with DeKeyser third. Rachel Czarapata was fourth with point leader, Cody Hungerford in 5th and brad Prahl sixth.
The Spectator Eliminator finale saw Joel Schmidt take the victory.
N.E.W. DIRT would like to THANK everyone for attending the racing program and hope you enjoyed the quality racing by all of the divisions, despite the late start.
Next week all five regular divisions return with 1st Choice Auto Sales and Kelsey Coatings sponsoring the Kids Club Coin Toss at intermission. The Summer Holiday Classic will close out the regular season on Labor Day weekend August 31 which will be the final point night for all divisions. There will also be a Corn Roast and free beer after the races. The final race of the season will be a regular program on SATURDAY night, September 6.
The Seymour Speedway is proud to be a featured member track of www.Racetext.net, a website dedicated to bringing fans the best possible coverage of local short track racing.
SUMMARY
BUDWEISER IMCA MODIFIEDS
20 Lap Feature l. Benji LaCrosse 2. Brad Lautenbach 3. Eric Mahlik 4. Jason Czarapta 5. Ike Wedelstadt 6. Tyler Wilson
10 lap qualifier 1. LaCrosse 2. Roger Van Roy 3. Tony Wedelstadt 4. John Berna
` COORS LIGHT IMCA STOCK CARS
20 Lap Feature l Travis Van Straten 2. Chas Van Ooyen 3, Kyle Frederick 4. Barry van Straten 5. Rod Snellenberger 6. Justin Jacobsen
12 Lap Qualified 1. Steven Hiles 2. Jamie Van Ooyen 3. Shawn Wagner 4. Joe Schwister
TURBO BLUE STREET STOCKS
20 Lap Feature l. Jerry Winkler 2, Alan Schlueter 3, Lexii Ashcraft 4, Patty Winkler 5. Jeff Dorschner 6. Tony Everard
8 Lap Qulaified 1. Bailey Kolaske 2, Everard 3. Joey Scoon 4. Joe Johnson
IMCA SPORT MODS
20 Lap Feature l. Jeremy Cota 2, J.J. Andersen 3. Lucas Lamberies 4. Beau Handschke 5. Rod Solem 6. Kevin Bethke
10 Lap Qualifier 1. Bill Edler 2. Joey Taycher 3. Solem 4. Wyatt Block
4 CYLINDER
15 Lap Feature l. Jeremy Czarapata 2. Tyler Hungerford 3. Dean DeKeyser 4. Rachel Czarapata 5. Cody Hungerford 6. Brad Prahl
6 Lap Qulaifier 1. Rachel Czarapata 2.Alyx Peterseon 3. Autumn Calebrese
SPECTATOR ELIMINATOR Joel Schmidt
Comments
comments