It has been at least five years since my last visit to Lakeside Speedway so it was about time that I returned to one of my "top five" favorite race tracks, located on the northwest edge of the Kansas City metro area Friday night. The cold, wet and nasty weather that had washed out the Friday program at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, where I had originally planned to be, moved just far enough east to leave Lakeside with a pretty darn comfortable night as the wind faded and the temperatures remained steady. Plus, with one of the most diverse field of 98 race cars that you will find in two divisions, the fantastic racing action kept the crowd warm throughout the evening for the Clyde Ellis Late Model Showdown and Modified Shootout.
The 25-lap Modified feature was the first to be run with a pair of talented young drivers, Chase Junghans and Ryan Gustin sitting on the front row and it was Gustin who shot to the lead at the drop of the green. It was pretty obvious from there that this would be a race for second as Gustin steadily put more distance on the field and actually it became a race for third as Junghans also pulled away from his closest competition.
That race for third was a good one featuring some of the best that the division has to offer as John Allen, Rick Beebe, Kelly Shryock and Jason Hughes went at it with Hughes working his way up from his fourth row starting spot to the third position. By the time that he got there though both Gustin and Junghans were working traffic and too far ahead to catch as the race went green to checkers. Gustin would take the win by a full straightaway over Junghans, Hughes was a set of turns back in third with Allen and Shryock completing the top five. "The Reaper" is no stranger to victory lane, but this celebration was short, sweet and unique for him as he had to hop on a four-wheeler and hustle back to the pits to get strapped into the Late Model that the Gressel Racing Team recently acquired for another thirty laps of racing action.
With their strong showings in the heat races Kyle Berck and Chris Simpson earned the front row for the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Model main event with Simpson racing to the point at the start. Mark "Fluffy" Dotson charged up to the second spot and moved in to challenge Simpson for the lead as Berck faded in third during the early laps. A long-time top contender in the Modified ranks, Dotson has been getting stronger with each appearance during his rookie season in a Late Model and he was able to put a nose under Simpson on a couple of occasions. As the lead duo closed in on the first set of traffic Berck found his speed and closed quickly to make it a three-car race for the lead. The crowd came to the edge of their seats on lap twelve when Simpson, Dotson and Berck raced three-wide just behind Bill Koons and Charlie McKenna who were wheel-to-wheel themselves and while Simpson was able to maintain the lead, Berck moved up to second.
There was no doubt that Berck now had the fastest car though and on lap sixteen he drove past Chris Simpson for the lead. As Berck pulled away the battle for second continued to entertain as Jesse Stovall and Chad Simpson joined the fun. Stovall had started third and was not a factor early, but he was definitely on the charge late as he moved to second and was closing the gap on the leader. He ran out of laps though as Berck collected the $3,000 top prize in another flag-to-flag feature run. Chad Simpson edged out his brother Chris for third-place money and Dotson rounded out the top five. John Anderson has clinched the 2012 MLRA championship, but a mechanical issue in his heat race forced him to qualify out of one of the B-Mains and he then charged up from the eleventh row to finish in sixth.
Lakeside Notes.....The event drew 44 Late Models and 54 Modifieds.......The racing surface was perfectly prepared offering up multiple grooves for the drivers to choose from throughout the night. Want proof? On the opening lap of the fifth Modified heat drivers went five-wide, literally wheel-to-wheel-to-wheel-to-wheel-to-wheel without making contact. And then, to back that up, the Late Models also went five-wide through turn two on the opening lap of their fifth heat race.....Modified track champion Tim Karrick had a rough night as he started from the pole in the sixth heat and faded to fourth landing him in the B-Main. In that one he suffered a flat tire on the opening lap ending his evening......Ryan Gustin's first race in this Late Model was impressive as he came from eighth to finish third behind Mark Dotson and Dave Eckrich in the second heat. Gustin started ninth in the main event and finished 16th, one lap down to the winner.....The fourth Late Model heat had a northern flair to it as Canadian Mike Balcaen and Minnesota drivers Don Shaw and Trent Follmer were in the field......Chris Simpson started eighth in the fifth heat and was part of that five-wide thriller moving to second going down the back stretch. He would finish second to his brother Chad, but the big passing points would land him on the front row for the main event......I absolutely love how promoter Marc Olson qualifies the Modifieds when he has a big field of cars choosing to use a C-Main and a B-Main format rather than going with two or more B-Mains where the fields could be unbalanced from a quality standpoint, or from a car count basis due to scratches. We always did the same thing at Shiverfest, even stealing Olson's method of using two C-Mains when the car count got up over sixty one year, and I wish that more events and series would do the same as it definitely is a better way of getting "the best possible" staring field for the main event.....The Modified field was stout tonight as evidenced by Zack Vanderbeek having to win the C-Main in order to continue his evening along with second-place finisher Luke Driskell. The 2007 and 2011 All Missouri Points champion Danny Crane finished third and was done for the evening while Derrick Hicks made a valiant run up from 18th to 4th only to be a spectator from then on......The top six cars advanced out of the B-Main with Austin Seibert running away from Minnesota veteran Ron Jones to take the win. Terry Schultz and Cody Agler finished third and fourth and it was a three-car battle for the last two transfer spots with Darron Fuqua, Scott Crystal and Al Purkey going three-wide down the back stretch on the final lap as Purkey went from 7th to 5th and Fuqua was shuffled from 5th to 7th at the finish.......NCRA champion Tommy Weder Jr. won the second Late Model B-Main followed by MLRA champ John Anderson and SLMR champ Travis Dickes appeared to be headed for the feature in third until 16-year-old Spencer Diercks of Davenport, Iowa, drove under Dickes in turn three on the final lap and muscled him out of the final transfer position.
Honestly, I don't know how this show could have been presented any better as it started right on time at 7:30, I had a nice, but brief visit with Gary Lee and RacinDirt.com's Trenton Berry and "Stick" during the short intermission, and the final checkered flag waved at 10:06 p.m. My Positively Racing colleague Kevin Trittien joined me for the trip and we enjoyed sitting with fellow Iowans Kevin Babcock and Jack Miles in the comfortable grandstands. A big thanks to Marc Olson and his staff for the hospitality as I did nine hours of driving for just over two and a half hours of racing......and it was worth every minute of the trip!
For those of you in the vicinity, this event continues tonight with another full program for both divisions. Perhaps you should check it out!
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