by Greg Soukup
Eagle Raceway brought the “Rumble in the bullring” to the high banks of America’s Home Track Friday evening under sunny skies with heat indexes over 100 degrees. But, the temperatures and the humidity did little to keep the fans from enjoying a great night of racing. Four heat races for the IMCA Modifieds, 2 heats featuring the Good Old Time Racing Association and 3 heats of O’Reilly NCRA Late Models, coupled with B Features in the Modifieds and Late Models were the preliminary events which set the lineups for the 3 A Mains.
The initial Feature race saw the IMCA Modifieds competing for $1000 to come in first. Dan Nelson’s 94, the 18 of Terry Richards, Brian Cudly’s 57 and the 8A of Dustin Anderson all came to a halt in turns 1 & 2 on the initial lap. This caused a complete restart. Chris Abelson was the leader in his #1X as an official lap was completed. He had Jay Noteboom’s 7N, the 3W of Stacey Wilhelm and Jordan Grabouski’s 30 hot on his heels. The next caution flag was thrown when some debris was spotted on the track on lap #3. As the pack took off again, Grabouski came to a halt in turn four moving Dylan Smith up to the fourth position. Smith moved under Wilhelm on lap #6 to take third. The final yellow light came on lap 13 and was again for debris. Despite numerous attempts at changes in the top positions, Abelson was never headed and grabbed the win. The remainder of the top four were Noteboom, Smith and Wilhelm.
“The track was heavy and fast tonight. Put that together with all of the good cars and you have great racing” Abelson said. He continued by stating “I noticed the smoke coming from the engine area early on, but after watching my oil pressure gauge and never seeing it drop I figured it had to be a valve cover gasket, and luckily that’s all that it was”. “I truly enjoy the long tow down to Eagle every weekend, because the car counts at my local track are pretty low. And, I always said that I want to run against the best or I won’t get any better. And with people like Johnny, Dylan, Jordan and Dan Nelson to compete against all the time you sure have the chance to learn in a hurry”. Abelson’s sponsors include Abelson Auto Body, Skyline Bar & Casino and Dirt Destroyers Cleaning Service.
The GOTRA A was up next and saw Eagle alumnus Bob Workmeister hold the first lap lead in his #32W followed by Rich Munson’s M70, the 48 of Ron Stohlman and Bobby French in the 5. Stohlman got past Munson on lap 3 as Jeff Ferguson in the 13 grabbed fourth. John Orlowski Jr. overtook Ferguson for fourth when there were only 4 laps remaining and then grabbed third the following lap. Crowd favorite Bill Wrich cracked the top 4 the next lap to a rousing cheer. The top 4 were Workmeister, Stohlman, Orlowski Jr and Wrich.
The finale on the evening’s card was the O’Reilly NCRA Late Model A Feature and saw Dickes in the 21T lead the field at the end of lap #1 with Bo Egge’s 1x, the 15 of Jason O’brien and Terry Phillips in the 75 rounding out the top 4. Dickes spun in turn 4 on the second circuit, bringing out the yellow. That moved the 33 of Al Purkey into fourth, Phillips third, O’brien third and Egge in the lead. Both O’brien and Purkey spun in turn 4 on the restart but Purkey never stopped and was put back into third on the restart. He took advantage quickly, moving into second as the 99T of Eric Turner grabbed fourth. Kyle Berck moved into fourth on lap #23, into third 3 laps later and another 3 laps were in the books when he snagged second. Kyle wasn’t finished advancing though as he overtook Egge with just 3 circuits remaining and held off all challenges to take home the $3000 top prize.
“Starting 11th I wasn’t worried because I knew I had a good car and was hopeful for a top 5 tonight. I was very careful early, and starting pushing about the 1/2 way mark and by lap 30 I was going 110%. Hats of to Roger and the prep crew for the track tonight. It was tacky and tacky is fast for us” Berck said. Kyle’s sponsors include Dorothy Lynch, Strobel Construction, Lazer Chassis and Wegner Automotive.
Saturday night regular season returns as No Frills Supermarket presents the annual Kids Night, featuring a huge bike giveaway for the young fans during intermission. Those eligible for the bike giveaway are asked to sign up as soon as they enter the front gate. Ronald McDonald will also be on hand to entertain. Both the front and pit gates will open at 4:00 with hot laps at 5:30 and racing kicking off at 6:30. Adult admission for those 13 and up is $10 with youths 6-12 just $5 and the youngest fans under 6 are free. The Budweiser 360 Sprints, Monster IMCA Modifieds, NAPA Sport Modifieds, Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stocks and Auto Trans Matic IMCA Sport Compacts will be racing.
Results:
IMCA Modified 7/23/2010
A Feature:1. Chris Ableson (Sioux City, IA), 2. Jay Noteboom (Hinton, IA), 3. Dylan Smith (Osceola, NE), 4. Stacey Wilhelm (Martell, NE), 5. Lacey Tuttle (Elmwood, NE), 6. Kyle Berck (Marquette, NE), 7. Dan Nelson (Beatrice, NE), 8. Ed Raines (Lincoln, NE), 9. Matt Richards (Lincoln, NE), 10. Jordan GRABOUSKI (Beatrice, NE), 11. Scott Jones (Council Bluffs, IA), 12. Aaron Pella (Lincoln, NE), 13. Brian Cudly (Lincoln, NE), 14. Chad Andersen (Omaha, NE), 15. Justin Wulf (Arlington, NE), 16. Doug Deterding (Lincoln, NE), 17. Dustin Andersen (Omaha, NE), 18. Johnny Saathoff (Beatrice, NE), 19. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 20. Lance Borgman (Beatrice, NE)
B Feature:1. Dan Nelson (Beatrice, NE), 2. Kyle Berck (Marquette, NE), 3. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 4. Ed Raines (Lincoln, NE), 5. Reese Coffee (Hinton, IA), 6. Bob Zoubek (Dorchester, NE), 7. Shane STUTZMAN (Milford, NE), 8. Mike Densberger (Malcolm, NE), 9. Bob Ruisinger (Bennet, NE), 10. Charles Stryker (Eddyville, NE), 11. Shane Hiatt (Rising City, NE), 12. Andrew Hille (Hickman, NE), 13. Matt Stevens (Waverly, NE), 14. Shane Adams (Percival, IA), 15. Kyle HARPSTER (Omaha, NE), 16. Alan Schmitt (Omaha, NE), 17. Scott Bivens (Ceresco, NE), 18. Roger Hadan (Bennington, NE)
Heat 1:1. Jay Noteboom (Hinton, IA), 2. Lance Borgman (Beatrice, NE), 3. Chad Andersen (Omaha, NE), 4. Dustin Andersen (Omaha, NE), 5. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 6. Mike Densberger (Malcolm, NE), 7. Andrew Hille (Hickman, NE), 8. Alan Schmitt (Omaha, NE)
Heat 2:1. Stacey Wilhelm (Martell, NE), 2. Aaron Pella (Lincoln, NE), 3. Justin Wulf (Arlington, NE), 4. Doug Deterding (Lincoln, NE), 5. Dan Nelson (Beatrice, NE), 6. Ed Raines (Lincoln, NE), 7. Bob Ruisinger (Bennet, NE), 8. Scott Bivens (Ceresco, NE), 9. Kyle HARPSTER (Omaha, NE)
Heat 3:1. Matt Richards (Lincoln, NE), 2. Dylan Smith (Osceola, NE), 3. Lacey Tuttle (Elmwood, NE), 4. Brian Cudly (Lincoln, NE), 5. Shane STUTZMAN (Milford, NE), 6. Bob Zoubek (Dorchester, NE), 7. Charles Stryker (Eddyville, NE), 8. Roger Hadan (Bennington, NE)
Heat 4:1. Chris Ableson (Sioux City, IA), 2. Jordan GRABOUSKI (Beatrice, NE), 3. Johnny Saathoff (Beatrice, NE), 4. Scott Jones (Council Bluffs, IA), 5. Kyle Berck (Marquette, NE), 6. Reese Coffee (Hinton, IA), 7. Shane Adams (Percival, IA), 8. Matt Stevens (Waverly, NE), 9. Shane Hiatt (Rising City, NE)
NCRA LateModel 7/23/2010
Heat 1:1. Kelly Boen (Henderson, CO), 2. Mike Wiarda (Aurora, NE), 3. John Anderson (Omaha, NE), 4. Delbert Smith (Wichita, KS), 5. J.D. Hubert (Cross Timbers, MI), 6. Evan Hubert (Cross Timbers, MI), 7. Corey Zeitner (Omaha, NE), 8. Craig Preble (Yutan, NE), 9. Wylan Perie (Solomon, KS)
Heat 2:1. Jason OBrien (Atlantic, IA), 2. Terry Phillips (Springfield, MO), 3. Eric Turner (Popular Bluff, MO), 4. Kyle Berck (Marquette, NE), 5. Jase Kaser (Lincoln, NE), 6. Mike Wallace (Carter Lake, IA), 7. Todd Bell (Omaha, NE), 8. Alonzo Grosse (Council Bluffs, IA), 9. Dylan Smith (Osceola, NE)
Heat 3:1. Bo Egge (Kearney, NE), 2. Travis Dickes (Madison, NE), 3. Jeremy Payne (Springfield, MO), 4. Al Purkey (Coffeyville, KS), 5. Jerry Warner (LaVista, NE), 6. Shawn Harker (Nebraska City, ), 7. Dustin Reeh (Missouri Valley, IA), 8. Mike Morton, Jr (Waterloo, NE), 9. Tracy Harr (Papillion, NE)
Late Model A Feature:
1. Kyle Berck, 2. Bo Egge, 3. Al Purkey, 4. Terry Phillips, 5. Eric Turner, 6. Mike Wiarda, 7. John Anderson, 8. Evan Hubert, 9. Jeremy Payne, 10. Dylan Smith, 11. JD Hubert, 12. Corey Zeitner, 13. Jase Kaser, 14. Shawn Harker, 15. Alonso Grosse, 16. Mike Wallace, 17. Jerry Warner, 18. Travis Dickes, 19. Jason OBrien, 20. Delbert Smith, 21. Wylan Perie, 22. Kelly Boen, 23. Todd Bell, 24. Craig Preble
