|
John Rittenoure
PARK CITY, Kans. (August 16) - Kelly Boen rewrote the record book at Sunday's O'Reilly NCRA Late Model Series event at 81 Speedway. The four-time series defending champion has been red hot of late winning eight of the last nine main events. Sunday Boen extended the streak to nine out of ten winning for the tenth time this season.
It was also Boen's fifth straight victory breaking a 30-year old NCRA mark of four straight set by Tom Laster of Muskogee in 1979. Prior to the 2009 season the record for most victories in a season was seven which Boen set in 2005 and tied in 2007. Sunday Boen reset that mark for the third time this season with his tenth win. The victory also gave Boen a series leading 43 career victories.
Boen has been playing catch-up since a disqualification for using a backup car earlier in the season plus missing one show dropped him to eleventh in points at one point. But since then Boen has been on an unprecedented run and now trails points leader Kyle Berck by just 195 points entering the final two events of the season.
The 30-lap feature got underway with Boen starting third row outside and rookie Scott Koskovich on the pole. Koskovich gunned into the lead with Mike Collins and past champion Al Purkey giving chase. Koskovich was setting a strong pace, but Boen was already on the move passing Purkey for second on lap three. Boen roared up beside Koskovich on lap four and powered underneath entering turn one of lap five for the lead. Boen would not be challenged after that moving out to a straightaway lead by lap 19. Boen refused to relax his pace as he threaded his way through lapped traffic and cruised to victory.
Purkey continued to hold down second place but Berck was closing in. Berck, desperate to keep his points lead intact, got within a car length of Purkey but could make a move and settled for third. However the finish was enough to keep his points lead safe. Berck only lost 10 points on the night to Boen. Bryant Goldsmith battled with Koskovich for fourth taking over the position for good on lap 13. Koskovich finished fifth.
81 Speedway
Park City, Kansas
August 16, 2009
HEAT 1 - 1, Scott Koskovich. 2, Bryant Goldsmith. 3, Kelly Boen. 4, David Brack. 5, Wylan Petrie. 6, David Blocher. 7, Jimmy Segraves.
HEAT 2 - 1, Jason Obrien. 2, Mike Collins. 3, Shane Badder. 4, Tyler Gottschalk. 5, Brad Fortney. 6, Dave Conkwright. 7, Ted Martin.
HEAT 3 - 1, Bill Koons. 2, Al Purkey. 3, Kyle Berck. 4, Rick Leatherman. 5, Ronnie Warman. 6, Cale Gottchalk.
HARD ROCK HOTEL-CASINO A FEATURE - 1, Kelly Boen. 2, Al Purkey. 3, Kyle Berck. 4, Bryant Goldsmith. 5, Scott Koskovich. 6, Jason Obrien. 7, Ronnie Warman. 8, Jimmy Segraves. 9, Dave Conkwright. 10, Bill Koons. 11, Rick Leatherman. 12, Brad Fortney. 13, Ted Martin. 14, Wylan Petrie. 15, David Blocher. 16, Tyler Gottschalk. 17, Cale Gottchalk. 18, Shane Badder. 19, David Brack. 20, Mike Collins.
|
