Hall started directly behind pole-sitter Daniel Bergquist in the 25-lap main event and after following Bergquist on the opening lap Hall swept into the lead on lap number two. The winner of last Saturday's opener at 34 Raceway, Paul Nienheiser worked his way past Bergquist into second two laps later, but by then Hall had already opened up a full straightaway advantage. Lapped traffic allowed the teenager from Illinois to cut into the lead a bit and Hall's cushion over Nienheiser was completely erased when Tim Moore spun in turn two on lap ten.
Last week's runner-up Scotty Thiel was now in contention running third for the restart and both drivers did their best to stay with Hall. Neither could do so however as Hall did exactly as he did in both his heat race and the Budweiser Shake Up Dash, pulling away to win with ease. Nienheiser and Thiel finished second and third establishing themselves as the top two in points after two events, Mike Houseman Jr. was solid coming from eighth to finish fourth and Randy Martin took fifth after starting in the sixth row.
LCS SIA Notes......After drawing thirty cars to the opener at 34 Raceway, the car count was just one less at Lee County giving the Invaders a solid start to the 2013 season that continues tonight (Saturday) on the quarter-mile oval at the Davenport Speedway.....Drivers making their first appearance tonight included Joe Beaver, Matt Moro, Randy Martin and Joey Moughan. Moughan served as the crew chief for Paul Nienheiser during his win at 34 last week, but tonight the Springfield based speedster drove the Wilson Brothers #15 based out of western Tennessee. Moughan started eleventh and finished sixth. Moro was eighth and Beaver failed to make the show after being caught up in an incident not of his own making in the B-Main.....Russ Hall's #45c is sponsored by one of my favorite restaurants, Waterfront Seafood Market in West Des Moines....After having some rough track conditions during their season opener last Friday night, Mike VanGenderen and Dave Sapp put in extra track prep time during the week to provide the sprint car drivers with a hard and smooth surface. A steady cool breeze out of the southeast dried out the surface to send the dust flying though, but the track stayed racy all night as evidenced by the advancement of drivers like Houseman, Martin and Moughan......After the Davenport stop, the Sprint Invaders go to another track promoted by VanGenderen on April 10th when they visit the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. It will be the only event staged on a half-mile during the Sprint Invaders' 2013 schedule.
The Mod Lites made a special appearance for the evening and it was the track point's opener for the Sport Mods, Stock Cars and Sport Compacts. Twenty of the Mod Lite cars started their main event with Chase Flatt leading the first nine laps before Josh May saw an opening and made his move. Once in the lead there was no catching May as the driver from DeSoto cruised in for the victory. Flatt finished second, Greg Rossell came from the fourth row to take third while Andy Hennigar was the true hard charger coming from the ninth row to finish fourth. Justin Bucholz filled out the top five.
Chris Larson held the lead for the first eleven circuits of the Sport Mod headliner with Carter VanDenBerg hanging right with him. After being the runner-up here last week, and finishing second again at Des Moines last night, VanDenBerg was not going to be satisfied with being the bridesmaid again so he went top shelf and drove around Larson coming off of turn four with just three laps remaining to take the win. In victory lane Carter thanked his girlfriend Makenzie for getting the race car ready for the night's event while he worked. Announcer Dan Workman said it best when he replied "keep her!". Larson finished in the second spot, Bobby Anders came from the fourth row to take third, Brett Lowry was fourth and Derek St. Clair finished fifth. Two of the track's top weekly competitors, Tony Dunker and Jim Gillenwater spotted the rest of the field a full night worth of points as they were off competing in the $10,000-to-win B-Modified event at the West Plains Speedway in southern Missouri.
Last week Jason Cook put the pressure on Damon Murty throughout the Stock Car main event only to come up just short at the finish line. Then, to make it a really bad night, his motor blew as the checkers waved. This week went much better for "Big Daddy" as Cook started on the front row and was never challenged throughout the 15-lap distance. David Brandies made the trip down from Atalissa, started eighth and worked his up to second at the checkers followed by John Oliver Jr., Abe Huls and Jim Lynch.
For the second week in a row the IMCA Sport Compact feature race ended in a photo finish at Lee County as Matt Moore edged out Josh Barnes by a bumper to take his first career victory. Michael Grossman was third, Seith Woodruff took fourth and Kimberly Abbott rounded out the top five.
The Lee County Speedway will host their third straight special event next Friday night, April 12th, with the 5th Annual Brian Hetrick Memorial for 305 Sprint Cars. All five weekly classes will also be in action.
My partner Bill Wright will be with the Sprint Invaders in Davenport tonight while I look forward to working with Rich Adams and Dan Workman at 34 Raceway for the annual Slocum 50 as the Deery Brother Summer Series will kick off their 2013 campaign at 34 Raceway racing in memory of one of the nicest guys I've ever come across, Brent Slocum. Get on out to the track of your choice tonight!!
No comments:
Post a Comment