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Sam Stoecklin
WARRENSBURG, Mo. (June 5) - There's a classic tune that starts out, "Hot Time, Summer in the City," and it was a high probability that this particular line crossed the minds of the dedicated race fans and drivers at Warrensburg's own Central Missouri Speedway on Saturday night, June 5th for Comfort Inn Race Night. Several of the West-Central Missouri standout drivers made their way to the Fastest High Banked Clay Oval in the Midwest with 28 'Mighty' Modifieds, 15 ULMA Late Models, 15 Street Stocks, and 17 B-Modifieds for a total of 75 cars signed in for the night's racing program on a hot summer night with temperatures pushing the Century mark. By the time the last checkered flag fell, there were three new winners and one driver who continued his domination of the Waterloo Storage Products Victory Lane celebrations.
ULMA Late Models thrilled the hardy crowd on hand with a pair of heat races as the drivers took to the track. O'Fallon, MO driver Shawn Rayfield took his 604 CRATE engine number 18r to the first position in the opening heat race over Jason Bodee Bodenhamer, Steve Clancy, and Brett Wood. Bob Test of Jefferson City raced his way to the win in heat two over Dave Meyer, Jon Binning, and Bob King. Test earned the pole position for the 20-lap main event and quickly jumped out to an early race lead ahead of Jason Bodenhamer and Dave Meyer. Lap three had a caution period as the drivers once again re-started the main event. Test led through the middle and early stages of the race only to be slowed by a second caution flag incident. Bodenhamer hounded the leader for several laps but just could not quite get the pass made to take the lead. Dave Meyer had a solid run inside the top three for most of the race distance. From the half-way point to the finish line there were furious battles throughout the field but after all was said and done, Test picked up a huge feature win over Bodenhamer in second, Meyer third, Clancy fourth, Jon Binning fifth, and Lane Ehlert sixth.
Heat Race # 1
1st- 18R- Shawn Rayfield, O'Fallon
2nd- 88- Jason Bodenhamer, Centerview
3rd- 12c- Steve Clancy, Odessa
Heat Race # 2
1st- 1- Bob Test, Jefferson City
2nd- 9- Dave Meyer, Concordia
3rd- 65- Jon Binning, Warrensburg
Feature
1- 1- Bob Test, Jefferson City
2- 88- Jason Bodenhamer, Centerview
3- 9- Dave Meyer, Concordia
4- 12c- Steve Clancy, Odessa
5- 65- Jon Binning, Warrensburg
6- 42- Lane Ehlert, Foristell
7- 18R- Shawn Rayfield, O'Fallon
8- 45- Bob King, Independence
9- 72- Ben Solberg, Battlefield
10- 7- Brett Wood, Warrensburg
11- 28- Brian Pipes, Lone Jack
12- 00- Zach Green, Higginsville
13- 68- John Pipes, Oak Grove
14- 33- Bryan Montgomery, Oak Grove
15- 54- Jimmy Jobe, Odessa
The B-Modifieds started off the night with three qualifying heat races as the sun disappeared lower into the evening sky. Troy Carlyle, Ethan Isaacs, Lucas Isaacs, and Nic Bennett crossed the line in the first four positions in the opening heat. Jacob Ebert claimed a victory in heat number two over Brad Smith of Belton, Vic Tranckino with his first CMS appearance this year was third, and Cody Brill fourth. Former feature winner Dalton Kirk picked up a win in heat three over a hard-charging Rusty Trimble. Gary Fain had a strong run in third while Warrensburg driver Chris Brockway finished fourth. For the b-mod main event, the drivers had a blistering race to the end. Pole-sitter Jacob Ebert led the field to the green flag with defending track champion Ethan Isaacs glued to his back bumper the entire race distance. Early on, the race was slowed when Chris Stout's car left the speedway to bring out the caution flag. This was to be the final slow period for the drivers as the entire field battled door-panel-to-door panel for every valued position. Brad Smith and Dalton Kirk, both former feature winners held strong behind the top two in the third and fourth positions with Rusty Trimble also battling inside the top five. With every passing lap, Ebert held his line and protected it for all it was worth as Isaacs tried about every line unsuccessfully to find a way around the leader. Ebert was hungry for the win and it was his sheer determination that led him to victory lane on this night in a convincing win over the tough field. Ethan Isaacs came across the line second, followed by Brad Smith, Dalton Kirk, Rusty Trimble, and Lucas Isaacs in the top six.
Street Stocks took to the field second for their two heat races with Adam Portzen out of Adrian, MO with a big win in the opening heat over Anthony Ward, Jerimiah Stephens, and Bryce McMillin. Heat two went to Back in Black Brian Johnson ahead of Brian Ziegler, Michael Mullins, and Chad the Bandit Eickleberry of Warrensburg. Adrian, Missouri's Adam Portzen took the green flag from the pole position of the street stock feature event alongside of Anthony Ward. The first ten laps of the street stock was one for the ages as the drivers aggressively battled for each and every position in the field. The fans applauded the early race driving efforts as Portzen firmly had things under control at the helm. A caution flew on lap five, allowing the field to bunch up on the re-start and it was the re-start of the race that made this race an exciting one among the front -running cars, which included Michael Mullins, Chad Eickleberry and Bryce McMillin behind leader Portzen and Brian Johnson. Another caution flew on lap eleven as Portzen continued leading the event. In the end, Portzen took the rest of the drivers to school and came away with his first-ever feature in at CMS. Michael Mullins of Kingsville, MO recorded his best finish of the year in the runner-up position followed by Chad Eickleberry who was in a back-up motor, Bryce McMillin with his best-ever feature finish was fourth. Double-duty driver Josh Stephens came away in fifth with Anthony Ward, an early contender in the race, rebounding for sixth.
A scary incident took place at the start of the Modified heat races as Donnie Fellers and Shad Badder got together at the start of the race with Badder's car digging into the track and nearly getting airborne, thankfully the car stayed on all four wheels but received extensive damage. Both Badder and Fellers were unable to continue in the race. Aaron Marrant picked up the win on Friday at Lakeside Speedway and continued to be on a mission at CMS as he powered his way around the high side of the speedway to take the win in heat one. Tyler Schmidt brought his car home second followed by Jake Richards, and David McVey of Greenwood in fourth. The deuces wild of Dustin Boney ran away with heat number two for his third heat win of the year over Ed Griggs, David Ralph, and Richard Layne. The third heat race of the night went to Smokin Joe Walker of Harrisonville who beat Rick Beebe, Josh Stephens, and Terry Schultz to the line. The final heat race went to Jason Thompson of Concordia who crossed the line ahead of Walnut Grove's Jeremy Kelly in second. Steve Martin had a strong debut at CMS with a run to third spot just ahead of Austin Siebert in fourth.
Up next, the modified b-main took to the speedway with eight more cars making the field for the feature event. It was a hard-fought battle to the finish as drivers tried to secure a spot in the big race. James McMillin and Joey Lile had a great race up front to the checkers with McMillin taking the win over Lile, Tim Karrick, and Donnie Fellers. At last the field was set for the 20 lap, 24-car main event. Aaron Marrant tried to keep his hot streak going by racing near the front of the field until his hopes of winning were dashed when he clipped one of the turn four Uke tires with the left front of his car. Fortunately Marrant was able to finish the event and ultimately rebounded for a top five finish. On lap eight, the caution flag flew again as Travis Johnson experienced trouble in corner number four. After the second re-start, Marrant clipped the tire and faded to ninth in the field. Jason Thompson and Steve Martin raced side-by-side for position inside the top five with Terry Shultz passing several cars to run within the top six. Other forward-moving drivers included James McMillin, Joey Lile, and Tim Karrick. Another yellow flew over the field when David Ralph looped his car off of turn four bringing his night to an end. A lap sixteen caution again slowed the field with the front runners once again realigned for the re-start. In the end, the deuces were wild once again as Dustin Boney drove to his third feature win of the year at CMS ahead of Marrant, who recovered to finish second. Steve Martin, James McMillin, Joe Walker and Terry Schultz rounded out the top six.
Next weekend be sure to take in all the exciting race action on Saturday night June 12th for L.J.S. Graphics Race Night featuring the Army National Guard and all four weekly racing divisions. Pit gates will open at 4:30, spectator gates at 5; hot laps start at 7, and racing gets underway at 7:30. For more information call the Track Report line at (660) 747-2166 or visit the track's official Web site at www.centralmissourispeedway.net. Results, standings, schedule of events, and High Fly-N Photos are all available on the Web site.
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