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Sam Stroecklin
WARRENSBURG, Mo. (August 21) - Summer sun and racing fun go hand-in-hand and that is exactly what the dedicated race fans witnessed at the 'Fastest High-Banked Clay Oval in the Midwest' Saturday night on L.J.S. Graphics and Midwest Coating race night at Warrensburg's own Central Missouri Speedway. Once again, four super fast drivers found themselves in Waterloo Storage Products Victory Lane in the 'Mighty' Modified, ULMA Late Model, Street Stock, and B-Modified divisions. Although promoter Earl Walls could not even get on the track until 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon after three inches of rain fell overnight to work the clay surface into shape, the track allowed for some competitive action for the 83 drivers on hand as they raced in a total of 16 events during the program. The Boy Scouts were also on hand in appreciation of their 100th year anniversary and were honored by the fans in pre-race ceremonies.
Although it's been a bit of a curious struggle to get a full field of late models to the track recently, even though the payout was increased, contingencies are in place, and five additional laps were added to the late model feature this year, even still, the racing has not suffered. Overall ULMA point leader and current track point leader Jason Bodenhamer was looking to get back to victory lane among the 12 cars on hand. Bodee had recorded seven victories heading into Saturday night's racing. Last weekend, Jon Binning took home the win, which was his second of the year. Saturday night, there were two heat races contested with Bodenhamer (4th win while substitute driving in John Farmer's #3a car) and Binning (5th win) driving to victory lane. Official heat finishes at the conclusion of the heat races were:
Heat One: 3a Jason Bodenhamer, 1 Bob Test, 18r Shawn Rayfield, 12c Steve Clancy, 1m Tom Makings
Heat Two: 65 Jon Binning, 7 Brett Wood, 22 Kevin Coyne, 28 Brian Pipes, 42 Lane Ehlert
With the top earner in passing points on the pole, it was Binning that paced the field for the 20-lap ULMA main event with only eleven cars starting the race. Bodenhamer led lap number one as the race started but Binning was able to power his way to the front for lap two. Behind Binning and Bodee, exciting action with Coyne, Rayfield, Wood, and Clancy gunning for top-five finishes took place. The race ran smoothly for the first ten laps until the caution flew for Dave Mosley, whose car stalled off of corner number four. It was a quick yellow incident as the race resumed with Binning, Bodenhamer, and Wood in the top three. Shawn Rayfield had his CRATE engine late model hooked up on this night as he kept picking off cars advancing into the top three by lap fifteen. The final ten laps were caution-free just like the first ten as Bodenhamer continued to try to find his way back to the front behind leader Binning. Blistering green-flag laps continued as Binning held on to the lead all the way to the checkers for his second win in a row and third of the year with Bodenhamer coming away second, Rayfield held strong for third with Brett Wood, Clancy, and Foristell, Missouri's Ehlert, also in a CRATE late model, rounding out the top six.
ULMA Late Models
1- 65- Jon Binning, Warrensburg
2- 3A- Jason Bodenhamer, Centerview
3- 18R- Shawn Rayfield, O'Fallon
4- 7- Brett Wood, Warrensburg
5- 12c- Steve Clancy, Odessa
6- 42- Lane Ehlert, Foristell
7- 22- Kevin Coyne, Kingsville
8- 28- Brian Pipes, Lone Jack
9- 1m- Tom Makings Jr., Odessa
10- 68- John Pipes, Oak Grove
11- 10- Dave Mosby, Sedalia
DNS- 1- Bob Test, Jefferson City
B-modified drivers kicked off the action at 7:35 with three qualifying heat races. Checkered flags waved for Brad Smith (9th win), Jeremy Lyle (4th win), and Mark Evinger (2nd win) in the heats, which set the stage for the feature race lineup. Results looked like this at the end of heat races:
Heat One: 99 Brad Smith, 30k Dalton Kirk, 6 Lucas Isaacs, 44 Troy Carlyle, 23b Mark Botts
Heat Two: 5L Jeremy Lile, 94 Jacob Ebert, 55 Bronson Combs, 00 Chris Whalen, 11 Chad Staus
Heat Three: 15 Mark Evinger, 66 Ethan Isaacs, 38 Nic Bennett, 03 Chris Brockway, 96 Cody Brill
B-mod mission, date line, Saturday, August 21, 2010, to beat the B-mod dominator Brad Smith, who has visited victory lane eight times already this year at the track, which has set him out front in the hunt for the track championship. Would another driver be able to mount the charge and dethrone Smith for the win or could he go on to take win number nine? Smith was on the pole position at the front of the field as the 20-car field took the green for the 15-lap feature race; it was in familiar territory as Smith led the way from the pole position. Lile tried to keep Smith close but Smith quickly pulled out to an eight-car length lead with Kirk, Evinger, and Ethan Isaacs battling inside the top five. The first seven laps were quick and caution free until Botts had trouble in corner one as the yellow flag flew. With the green out once again at lap seven, Smith brought the field back to the green flag off of corner four but another yellow flag flew for several cars involved in a turn three and four melee that knocked several drivers out of the race. Three more laps were run under green until another caution flew as debris off of Evinger's car brought out the latest yellow flag. After that, It was all Brad Smith to the checkers for his ninth win as exciting action inside the top five ensued as Jeremy Lile held on for second with Ethan Isaacs, Dalton Kirk, and thirteenth-starting Chad Staus rounding out the top five as the race concluded.
For the second half of the year, the Street Stock action has really picked up with some solid racing, great rivalries, and consistent car counts. Saturday night was another example of this as the 20 drivers on hand put it all on the line during their three heat races. Heat victories went to Clayton Campbell (2nd win), Nate Barnes (1st win), and Bryan Johnson (7th win). The heats finished as follows:
Heat One: 03 Clayton Campbell, 01 Michael Mullins, 55 John Miller, 67 Devin Irvan, 37 Justin Siefert
Heat Two: 29 Nate Barnes, 09 C. Eickleberry, 49 John Brooks, 9d Bryant Moyer, 14f Larry Farris
Heat Three: 97k Bryan Johnson, 65 Brian Ziegler, 42 Bryce McMillin, 15 T. Faulkenberry, 19 Jay Barnes
By virtue of earning the most heat race passing points, Campbell led the field to turn one at the start of the 15-lap main event. Campbell had problems from the start and it was Eickleberry who led lap number one, that is until Johnson made a high-side pass for the lead over Eickleberry to find himself in the lead for lap two. A quick caution flew on lap three for Moyer and McMillin as they spun in turn one with another caution for Jay Barnes and McMillin on lap five, which ended McMillin's night. Another three laps of green-flag racing took place with great battles between Eickleberry and Mullins for second and Campbell, Ziegler, and Nate Barnes for the rest of the top five. The green flew again with seven laps remaining as Johnson led the field with Campbell now moving into second. Just as the field reached lap ten, fifth running Nate Barnes spun down the front stretch and had to restart at the back with the caution flag waving again. The running order was Johnson, Campbell, Eickleberry, Mullins, Ziegler, and Irvin when the race resumed until an action-packed night continued with Faulkenberry slamming into the turn two tire and light pole and ultimately bringing out the caution once again. At the same time, third and fourth-running Campbell and Mullins spun in turn two and were also sent to the tail on the restart. With eleven laps down, the race resumed with Johnson, Eickleberry, and Ziegler holding down the top three positions. The sixth yellow flag flew on lap thirteen to set up a three-lap dash to the finish as the drivers were looking for the end of the caution-plagued race. The race finally concluded with Johnson claiming his fourth feature win of the year over his rival Eickleberry in second. Ziegler held on to third with eleventh starting Bryant Moyer finishing fourth, Herb Dannar and Devin Irvin completed the top six.
Rick Beebe found himself in victory lane last weekend for the modifieds and on a night with 30 talented drivers on hand he once again had his sights set on victory lane for his second win of the year. Drivers tried to race their way towards the front of the field in the three qualifying heat races, won by Beebe (6th win), Jason Thompson (5th win), and James McMillin (1st win). A glance of the heat race and b-main results were:
Heat One: 22b Rick Beebe, 70 Aaron Marrant, 90 Terry Schultz, 88b David Barker, 8h Jason Hughes
Heat Two: 20 Jason Thompson, 66t Tyler Schmidt, 4j Jake Richards, 15r Jamie Ragland, 34a J. Bodenhamer. Heat Three: 68 James McMillin, 32p Nick Pence, 58 Terry Van Trump, 17 Lucas Conley, 10 Johnny McGinnis
B-Main: 22x Luke Feeback, 9L Joey Lile, 7h Greg Hughes, 22y Ron Keith, 35 Tylere Dowell
Prior to the main event line-up being completed, eight more drivers found themselves in the main event lineup courtesy of transferring to the big race from the b-main, it was Feeback that out drove the rest of the field for the win to join the 24-car feature lineup as he took the b-main. McMillin earned the highly sought after pole position for the feature event and led the rest of the field at the drop of the green flag. Beebe quickly grabbed the lead, leaving McMillin to battle with Thompson for the second spot at the start of the race. Schmidt, Ragland, Marrant, and Pence were just outside of the top three when the lone caution flag of the race flew for a three-car incident off corner four. Unfortunately Schultz's night came to an early end as his car received too much damage to continue, Joey Lile and Jason Hughes were also unable to continue. One lap was officially scored at this point in the race as Beebe led the charge to the restart off corner number four with cars moving high and low to gain ground on the leader. A mad dash inside the top five for several laps took place with McMillin, Thompson, Marrant, and Ragland all looking to head to the front. Luke Feeback was the man on the move during the race after taking a transfer from the b-main. By lap eight, Feeback was inside the top ten and heading to the front from his seventeenth starting position. The race stayed green after the lone caution with a torrid pace and Beebe maintained a comfortable lead over McMillin and now Ragland in third with a low-side pass on Thompson. By lap eleven, Beebe began lapping cars and kept as much distance as possible between himself and McMillin as the laps wore down. By lap fifteen, the running order was Beebe, McMillin, Ragland, Thompson, Marrant and Feeback inside the top six. With several battles going on for every position throughout the field, Beebe made it two in a row by race end and claimed the $1,000 weekly payday over McMillin, Ragland, Marrant, Thompson, and Feeback in the top six. On back it was Tyler Schmidt, Jason Bodenhamer, Jake Richards, and Lucas Conley rounding out the top ten as the checkered flag fell at 10:20.
Next weekend, the championship season continues on with RSC Equipment Rental Fan Appreciation Night at the Speedway. There will be additional giveaways for the fans and as always, the best dirt track drivers around will converge on the grounds to thrill the crowds in attendance. Pit gates will open at 4:30 with grandstands opening at 5, hot laps begin at 7 and racing starts at 7:30. Adult general admission is just $12, with senior citizens 65+ and military and college students with I.D. just $8. Kids 13 to 17 years are also just $8 to get in, children 6-12 years are $6, and young ones 5 and under are absolutely free! Individuals permanently bound to wheelchairs also get in the grandstands absolutely free of charge thanks to CMS promoters Earl and Susan Walls. We are just a couple of weeks away from the annual Labor Day Special event weekend in which the B-Modifieds will race for $1,500 to win and the modifieds race for $3,000 to win. Be sure to visit the official website for event details, flyer, race entries, and ticket savings. The cutoff for fans and drivers to save money is Saturday, August 28.
Remaining CMS Schedule
Aug 28: RSC Equipment Rental Fan Appreciation Night, Weekly Racing, All Divisions
*Annual Labor Day Weekend Special* EVENT FORMS AND FLYERS ON THE WEBSITE!
Sept 3 (Friday) - $1,500-to-win B-Modifieds plus Night 1 Modified Qualifying and Street Stocks!
Sept 4 (Saturday) - $3,000-to-Win Modifieds plus ULMA Late Models and Street Stocks
Sept 10: (Friday) ASCS and WoW Sprint Cars with 600cc Micro Midgets- Jesse Hockett tribute and B-Mods!
Sept 11: Waterloo Storage Products Night at the Races, Season Championships in All Divisions
At CMS, the action is always close and the show moves along, there are no unnecessary delays in the program and generally you will witness over fifteen events in a three-hour time span. There are two sides of the speedway to choose from for seating and both include full concessions and restrooms. The front side features the CMS Hammer Down Bar right off of Hwy 13. Our pit-side stands (non-alcoholic) are located adjacent to the pit areas for our drivers. For more information call the track report line at 660-747-2166 or visit us on the web at www.centralmissourispeedway.net.
Business partners at Central Missouri Speedway for the 2010 season include, Waterloo Storage Products, KOKO AM 1450 Radio, Comfort Inn Warrensburg Station, KMMO Radio, LJS Graphics, the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, 98.5 FM The Bar, RSC Equipment Rental, Heartland Waste, KDKD FM 95.3, Bad Boy Mowers, and Midwest Coating.
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