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Alan Miller
WARRENSBURG, Mo. (August 28) - As the season begins to draw down to the final races of the season and with the Labor Day and Championship weekends of special events imminent for modified drivers in Warrensburg, the 'Chase for the Championships' continued to bring out the best from the talented assembly of drivers in each division. The drivers are either hanging on to their close points leads or attempting to climb into the top spots for their respective division crowns. This weekend the results either solidified their positions or caused some concern for drivers in the 'mighty' modified, ULMA late model, street stock and b-modified divisions at Central Missouri Speedway
The weather hung on with its final grip of summer temperatures before starting to cool off the fans and drivers on the 'Fastest High-Banked Clay Oval in the Midwest'. 87 drivers checked their racing machines into the CMS pits to test their skills against some of the best drivers in the area.
In several divisions it was no surprise to the fans to see who visited the Waterloo Storage Products Victory Lane to celebrate their racing victories with crew members and families. Starting off the evening features in the b-modifieds, Brad Smith out of Belton continues his amazing string of triumphs and achieves his 10th feature win of the year with 21 overall wins for the year. In the street stock class it was another strong race for Brian Johnson of Independence making it his fifth feature win of the season.
ULMA late model drivers Jon Binning and Jason Bodenhamer began making it a tight points race over the last few weekends and this weekend with Binning from Warrensburg attaining his fourth feature win, the points race will tighten even more for current leader, Bodenhamer. In a night of three repeat winners, Harrisonville's Luke Feebacks relishes his first feature win with a celebration in Waterloo Storage Products Victory Lane with his crew members. He not only takes home the $1,000 weekly modified purse winnings, but also claims the track promoter's $100 bounty for defeating Dustin Boney who returned to the CMS high banks after a two week hiatus from the track.
The ULMA late model drivers had several new faces at the speedway with another track not racing late models on Saturday. The top six drivers in overall ULMA points race were checked into the pits setting the scene for an exciting late model feature. The three heats were very competitive for the 18 drivers signed into the pits. The heat races turned into some close action on the track with Jon Binning for his sixth, Bob Test with his fourth and Brett Wood for his fifth taking the victories to settle the starting front row of Binning and Test. As the green flag flew it was Binning from the very beginning leading the early laps of the race. Woods and Test were just behind him for the second and third positions. Tommy Cordray making his first visit to CMS this year moved into fourth place on lap five before Lane Ehlert moves into fourth past Cordray a lap later. A caution flag comes out on lap seven when Dave Mosley departed the track in turn four. Then on the restart Brain Pipes stopped his machine on the back stretch finishing his night. The field was bunched up again for the double wide restart. Binning then leads Woods and Test into turn one with Cordray in the hunt on the high side for the top four cars. Test and Binning started to pull away from the rest of the cars at the half way point of the race with Ehlert moving into third. Lapped traffic made it interesting late in the race with Test now pressuring Binning on lap sixteen. A late race caution for Dave Mosely on lap seventeen may have provided a break for Binning as it appeared Test was starting to push Binning for the lead. Binning finally stays out front with Test settling into the second spot. Unfortunately for Ehlert who was in third at the time suffered a late race flat tire after the re-start and had to pull off the track on lap 19.
Finally as the 20-lap feature wound down it was Binning crossing the line for his third consecutive win in front of Test, Wood finishes third, Cordray fourth, Bodenhamer moves up into fifth and Coyne finishes sixth.
The b-modified drivers were utilizing this weekend to try to improve their positions in the championship points race as well as prepare for their 25-lap feature event on Friday night, September 3, $1,500-to-win prize along with $75 to start for their seasonal special at CMS. Another robust field of 25 drivers registered to battle in three heat races with Ben Kates with his first win, Troy Carlyle for his sixth and Paul West for his second win taking the checkers with their heat victories which set the front row starting line-up for the feature after a consolation feature. The last chance B-main feature determined the final transfers with Mark Evinger from Bates City taking the checkers with Lucas Issacs, Dean Wille, and Dalton Kirk qualifying for the feature.
Brad Smith and Paul West led the 20 b-modified drivers to the green flag start with Smith pushing his machine across the line first for the early lead with West and Kates in the top three positions on the first lap. Before the race even started Dalton Kirk who was in second place in the points chase, tried to start the race but could not get underway unassisted experiencing a transmission problem. He had to pull off adm call it a night which will drop him out of second place in the points race. Early on in the race caution flags flew on lap one and two with Ethan Issacs, Mark and Owen Evinger, Steve Neal, and Brian McGill leaving the track with various mechanical problems. On the following re-starts Cody Brill, Ben Kates and Lucas Isaacs either stopped on the track or had problems and drove off into the pits ending their night of racing. Smith pulled away on subsequent restarts with Troy Carlyle, Rusty Trimble, Dean Wille, out of the b-main and Jacob Ebert in the top five.
The laps counted down as Smith hangs on all the way to the finish line taking the checkers once again for his 10th feature win at CMS. Carlyle stayed in second, followed by Trimble for his best finish at CMS. Wille, who started 19th finishes fourth gaining the unofficial hard charger award followed by Nic Bennett and Paul West rounding out the top six.
The street stocks have been increasing their numbers in the later half of the season with 17 signed in for two heat races. The heat winners tonight were Chad Eickleberry for his sixth heat victory with Brian Ziegler gaining his first win at CMS. The heat races using passing points determine the staring spots for the feature with Don Danner and Ziegler starting on the front row of the starting grid for the event.
The battle between Chad Eickleberry and Brain Johnson has continued all season and tonight was another barn burner in the feature with Don Danner leading the early laps of the race. Johnson as he seems to make work each race, dove to the low-side of the track to move into the second spot by lap two. Ziegler, Eickleberry, Clayton Cambell, and Steve Harrick worked patiently in the top five early on. On the re-start Johnson works the low side again to finally take away the lead from Danner on lap five. The ever patient and consistent veteran driver, Herb Danner makes a strong move into the seventh position from a 16th place starting spot at the tail of the field. Eickleberry works his way into second by lap ten sneaking by Don Danner with Ziegler and Joey Hotmer battling for fourth on lap 14. At the end Johnson once again takes the checkers into victory lane with his fifth win, Eickleberry looks strong with a second, Don Danner, Ziegler, Campbell and Herb Danner in sixth from deep in the field rounding out the top six positions.
The modified drivers never seem to disappoint the race fans at CMS and this weekend was no exception with 27 drivers working their final preparations for their $3,000-to-win special along with $250 to start Labor Day weekend racing events . Inside row qualifying and a 20-lap scramble will start on Friday evening, September, 3 then conclude on Saturday evening, September 4 with their 40-lap special feature event.
If this Saturday evenings race was any indication of the action on the track next weekend then look out for the best modified action of the season. The three heats last evening were action packed as Luke Feeback takes his second heat win, Nic Bidinger taking his first and Jason Thompson for his seventh grabbing the heat victories. The two drivers with the highest number of passing points, Feeback and Boney sat on the front row pacing the 26-car starting line-up to the begin the feature. Feeback dives into the low side for the early lead with Boney and Thompson closing in for the lead in the top three spots. Meanwhile Aaron Marrant and Rick Beebe are in a race for fourth and fifth. James Eaton pulled off the track early on the race into the in-field but the race continued on. Boney then got lose in turn four as he chased Feeback and lost several spots on lap 10. The first caution flag flew in the feature on lap 11 with Ralph King and Jason Bodenhamer leaving the track with flat tires and mechanical problems.
At the mid-race restart, Feeback has two strong drivers, Thompson and Marrant stalking behind him for the top spot. Feeback later commented, " I didn't know where Boney was and just wanted to protect my position on the restarts". On this restart, Thompson tries to stick his nose on the low side, but Feeback maintains his position and the lead. Late in the race with the dust flying, Ron Keith and Josh Everhart pull off with just a few laps remaining.
Meanwhile as the laps counted to the end of the 20-lap feature and Feeback does a great job hanging tough in front of some talented drivers and crosses the finish line with the double checkers flying for his first ever CMS feature win. The points leader Thompson takes the second spot, Marrant stays tough with a third place finish, Rick Beebe finishes fourth after claiming the two previous feature wins, with Boney recovering for fifth, and Moody completing the top six.
Join us again next weekend for the two night Labor Day Specials. For more information call the track report line at 660-747-2166 or visit us on the web at www.centralmissourispeedway.net.
Remaining CMS Schedule
*Annual Labor Day Weekend Special*
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: (Saturday) Waterloo Storage Products Night at the Races, Season Championships in All Divisions
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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