Brian Shirley dominated the first ever Prelude to the Slocum on Friday night as he set quick time in the field of 41, won his heat race to start from the pole of the forty lap $5,000-to-win main event and then was never challenged through that distance. That's not say there wasn't any drama behind him though!
Shirley's one moment of challenge actually came on lap thirteen when the soon to be lapped car of Jake Timm spun right in front of him in turn two. The leader was able to stand on the brakes and avoid contact. On the restart Shirley again had things well in hand with Billy Moyer trying his best to keep pace until the caution came out again with ten laps remaining. Mason Oberkramer and Dennis Erb Jr. had tangled on the front stretch sending Oberkramer spinning into the infield where he backed over one of the brand new sponsor billboards.
On this restart the crowd cheered as Bobby Pierce sailed around Moyer for second only to have the caution wave again on lap thirty-one when Rodney Sanders and four other drivers gathered in turn one. Once back to racing Shirley again left his competitors in his wake as Ryan Gustin joined the battle with Pierce and Moyer. With five to go Gustin charged to the inside of Pierce in turn three and completed the slide job to perfection to take second, but when Bobby tried to return the favor a lap later things did not go quite so well.
How you saw this incident might be effected by which driver you cheer for more and since I like them both I will just say that Bobby's slider required Ryan to hit the brakes and set his car sideways to keep from making contact and when he got sideways the right side wheels caught the cushion and caused Gustin to roll over one time. During the red flag Gustin walked over to Pierce's car on the back stretch to show his displeasure before Bobby drove around to the front stretch where he was greeted with a chorus of boos. Oh how fickle us race fans can be as just moments before he seemed to be a crowd favorite!
Once back to green Shirley put the final five dominating laps in the book to take the win followed by Pierce and Moyer. Tony Jackson Jr. started seventh and finished fourth while Frank Heckenast completed the top five. During the victory lane ceremonies, once announcer Billy Rock moved over to Pierce the crowd again jeered and heckled prompting Bobby to say "there must be a lot of Reaper fans here tonight". Then after a few more hecklers had their say he pointed out that none of them had ever driven a Late Model before and that they should come on down and see him.
Some will find that kind of brash behavior unacceptable. Not me, I love it. This is what sells tickets and you will want to make sure that you are there tonight when the big money is on the line to see what happens!
Support class action had plenty of incidents to help make this a long night. The Sprint Car main event saw four cautions and two red flags in the first nine laps, but once they got it out of their system the final eleven laps was very entertaining. Defending track champion Cody Wehrle had marched to the front from his eighth starting spot taking the lead on lap four as leader Andy Huston slowed and pulled to the infield. In the final eleven lap segment Dugan Thye was the first to mount a challenge pulling to the push bar of Wehrle only to have the leader pull away. Meanwhile Dan Keltner had found a fast way around the top side and he was now coming fast after starting tenth. Keltner would take the lead as the white flag waved and when Wehrle tried to get it back on the final lap his car wheel hopped in turn three and the win would go to a jubilant Keltner. Wehrle was able to recover to hold on to second ahead of Daniel Bergquist and Dugan Thye while Noah Samuel filled out the top five.
The 305 Winged Sprints will be back in action tonight.
While most of the crowd was on their way home following the Late Model feature I stuck around to watch a couple of young men from my hometown compete in their first ever night of racing in the Mini Hauler Truck division. I have known Matt and Ryan Barton since they were kids and over the offseason they had decided to get into racing by purchasing a couple of the race trucks from the Fenton family. I could see the excitement in Ryan's eyes as he was preparing for the evening telling me that they hadn't even driven them down a gravel road yet.
Both Bartons were on the move early in their heat race and while Matt had some handling issues, Ryan went on to win the heat as if he had been racing for years. Come feature time Ryan lined up third and was definitely not shy as he worked his way to the front, but one lap after taking the lead on the fourth circuit he got too high exiting turn four and slapped the wall on the front stretch. Thinking that Barton would come across the track in front of him, the second place truck of Jerad Ruble turned sideways and he then collected Brian Tipps.
Barton restarted at the point but with a damaged right front he was not as fast as before and Tim Wagner was able to take the lead from him and the eventual victory. Ryan would finish second for a pretty impressive debut and another driver, Sheldon Brockett would have an interesting story to tell from his first night of racing. On the second lap Brockett got sideways off of turn four, overcorrected and tipped the truck over on its side. After a quick check by his crew Sheldon returned to the track and worked his way all the back up to third at the checkers. Ryan White and Tipps would complete the top five while Matt Barton would put a seventh place finish in his opening night scrapbook.
The IMCA Stock Cars will replace the trucks on tonight's card.
Tonight's the night, the 13th Annual Slocum 50 takes the green at 34 Raceway west of Burlington. Bundle up, bring a blanket and come on out for a great night of action!
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