Sun Prairie, WI. The Illini Racing Series was in action for the second day of a two day event at Angell Park Speedway. There were 13 cars for the 2 ten lap heats and a 20 lap feature.
Lamont Critchett (#77) and Sean Murphy, driving the #7, led the field around for the green flag to start the first heat. Kurt Mayhew (#21) and Allen Gillis (#39) started in the second row and it did not take them long to battle for the lead. Mayhew fought off Gillis to win the heat with Sean Murphy (#7) in 3rd followed by Eddie Sauer (#6), Jason Dull (#56) and Lamont Critchett (#77).
Heat 2 found Derrick Gough (#31) and Doug Orseske (#0) on the front row. Gough took the early lead and stayed at the top spot to collect his first heat win with the Illini Racing Series. Joe Knippel (#11) took the second spot away from Orseske on lap two to claim the 2nd spot for the race. Scott Koerner (#4) finished 3rd with the rookie Mike Gass (#17) in 4th followed by Orseske (#0) and Tyler Trainor (#25).
For our feature event, Kurt Mayhew (#21) and Allen Gillis (#39) were asked by the owners of Illini Racing Series if they would like to start in the back of the field and if either of them won they would collect a bonus. They were both up for the challenge starting from the 11th and 12th position. With the drop of the green it took only 6 laps for Mayhew to assume the lead while it took Gillis 11 laps to get up to 2nd but he had to hope for a yellow flag to close the gap on Mayhew but the race stayed green from flag to flag. The final finishing order was Mayhew, Gillis, Sean Murphy (#7), Derrick Gough (#31), Eddie Sauer (#6), Joe Knippel (#11), Jason Dull (#56), Tyler Deschaine (#33), Scott Koerner (#4), Tyler Trainor (#25), Mike Gass (#17), Doug Orseske (#0), and Lamont Critchett (#77).
The drivers of the Illini Racing Series would like to thank Spencer’s Jewelry for their continued sponsorship of our heat and feature races. Our next event will be at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois for the Night of Features.
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 29, 2010 – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – Angell Park Speedway – National Midget Auto Racing “Hall of Fame Classic”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71, Kunz-14.948; 2. Davey Ray, 14, Fatt-Fro-14.961; 3. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-14.990; 4. Daniel Robinson, 57, Reisdorf-15.124; 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-Pak-15.126; 6. Levi Jones, 21, Stewart-15.133; 7. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/Kunz/BCI-15.135; 8. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-15.149; 9. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-15.195; 10. Mike Hess, 4H, Hardy-15.205; 11. Brad Loyet, 05, Loyet-15.220; 12. Scott Hatton, 15, Huston-15.270; 13. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-15.275; 14. Robbie Ray, 3R, Ray-15.314; 15. Levi Roberts, 2D, Roberts-15.325; 16. Mario Clouser, 06, MCM-15.343; 17. David Budres, 33, Ray-15.413; 18. Dereck King, 91, Harris-15.559; 19. Courtney Erfurth, 25, Hardy-15.875; 20. Brandon Waelti, 41, Jones-15.930; 21. Cody Weisensel, 20, Weisensel-16.176; 22. Aaron Fiscus, 6, Fiscus-17.142; 23. David Gough, 57x, Reisdorf-NT; 24. Jason Dull, 56D, Dull-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Darland, 3. Clarke, 4. Hess, 5. Robinson, 6. Clouser, 7. Erfurth, 8. Fiscus. 2:34.12
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. R.Ray, 3. Loyet, 4. D.Ray, 5. Coons, 6. Waelti, 7. Budres. 2:34.56
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kuhn, 2. Jones, 3. Hatton, 4. Hines, 5. King, 6. Weisensel, 7. Roberts, 8. Dull. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Brad Kuhn, 4. Davey Ray, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Darren Hagen, 8. Levi Jones, 9. Robbie Ray, 10. Brad Loyet, 11. Mike Hess, 12. Brandon Waelti, 13. Henry Clarke, 14. David Budres, 15. Daniel Robinson, 16. Dereck King, 17. Courtney Erfurth, 18. Mario Clouser, 19. Cody Weisensel, 20. Scott Hatton, 21. Jason Dull, 22. Aaron Fiscus. NT
**Roberts flipped during the third heat. Hatton flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Coons, Laps 21-30 Clauson.
NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Clauson-1,093; 2-Kuhn-1,032; 3-Hines-1,005; 4-Coons-970; 5-Hagen-951; 6-Darland-937; 7-Brad Sweet-860; 8-Clarke-650; 9-Zach Daum-638; 10-Bobby East-635.
NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: September 4 – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – Angell Park Speedway – “Pepsi Firemen’s Nationals”
By Gary Thomas: Keeping up his domination since returning home the previous weekend San Jose, California’s Tim Kaeding withstood a relentless late-race charge from young Kyle Larson to score victory in the 50-lap Johnny Key Classic main event on Saturday night at Ocean Speedway and add his name to the prestigious winners list of the event.
It was Kaeding’s fourth win in as many starts over the last couple weekends and with lap money added in the former King of California brought home nearly $6,000 for his efforts behind the wheel of the DTR Transport Inc., Roth Motorsports No. 83jr. sprinter.
Along with grandfather Howard, father Brent and brother Bud, the soon to be 32-year-old now becomes the fourth Kaeding to win the Johnny Key Classic.
“I’m so excited right now I really don’t know what to say,” commented Kaeding after leaping from his car in celebration. “I’ve definitely wanted to get this race under my belt for a long time so I could join my grandpa, dad and brother on that list and to finally do that is pretty amazing feeling.”
An extremely large crowd on Saturday night witnessed former two-time Johnny Key Classic winner Brent Kaeding of Campbell grabbing the lead at the waving of the green flag in 50-lap feature. Over the first handful of laps it was ’98 Key winner Ronnie Day of Salinas applying heavy pressure to the rear bumper of Kaeding, as the two veteran drivers raced closely together for the top-spot.
With the front two fighting it out T. Kaeding then entered the picture and grabbed second from Day just prior to a caution on lap-eight. When the green lights flashed back on the “TK Express” then came roaring to the front by charging to the high-side and driving around “BK” to slice his way to the lead. Another yellow flag would wave on lap 12 and during it issues were apparent under the hood of the Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69, as a sour noise began to emit from B. Kaeding’s machine.
After going back green T. Kaeding proceeded to escape with the lead while B. Kaeding tried everything to maintain the runner up spot with a pack of fast cars coming after him on the very racy quarter-mile bullring. The 13-time King of California hung onto the spot until lap 16, when Easton’s Tommy Tarlton charged around to move into second. On that same lap Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson was also able to dispatch of “BK” to claim the third position aboard the Stadelhofer Construction No. 99x mount.
A mandatory stoppage then came at halfway and with 25-laps complete the top-five was comprised of T. Kaeding, Tarlton, Larson, B. Kaeding and Prunedale’s Justin Sanders.
During the stoppage teams could whatever they needed to try and make their cars better, with the most dramatic being an engine change performed by Brent Kaeding on the front stretch. A number of people joined in to help swap the engine, in what was an amazing site to behold and by the time cars pushed back off, everything was complete and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Member had a new Shaver power plant under the hood. (THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! - JD).
When the field was realigned Larson was put back three-spots for an incident earlier in the race, in which he had spun to a stop at the same time a red flag period had occurred. The penalty certainly did not faze the 2010 King of California however, as he put on an entertaining charge back to the front when the green flag was unveiled. The 18-year-old driver clawed his way past Day, B. Kaeding, Sanders and Tarlton in just seven-laps to jump into the runner up spot with the race playing on.
As T. Kaeding continued to sit out front he soon had to deal with the fast moving Larson and the talented youngster proceeded to hound “TK” for the lead, with him able to get to the inside on a number of occasions trying everything he had. Multiple stoppages over the remaining circuits slowed things down, but in between all of that the action remained fast and furious with multiple grooves still being seen around the speedway. With just under 10-laps left Larson stayed committed to the bottom-side with T. Kaeding remaining up high and the pair would put on a great show for the strong crowd on hand.
Doing everything he could to fend off Larson, “TK” took the white flag and looked for victory, but a yellow flag before the checkered brought on a green-white-checkered restart. The San Jose entrant didn’t let it slow him down though and when the green waved for the final time he checked out from the pack to tally his fifth triumph in his last five starts with the Ocean Sprint Cars presented by Taco Bravo.
“I was getting a little nervous there for a while since I could see Kyle poking his nose in there, because he’s always one of the toughest out here,” said T. Kaeding. “I just love running these bullrings in California and wish we had more of them across the country, because this is the best racing you’ll see. I have to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth, all our sponsors and my whole team, who have been doing a great job all year and I think it’s time to go have a beer with them,” he concluded with a smile.
Larson was able to hold off a strong last lap challenge from Tarlton to record a career best second place Johnny Key Classic finish, with Tarlton crossing the checkered in third at the helm of his Corporate America Lending No. 21. Campbell’s Bud Kaeding came from the sixth row to finish fourth behind the wheel of the Sala/Matherly Racing No. 19 and rounding out the top-five in the 50-lapper was Brent Kaeding. Completing the top-10 was 15th starter Jason Statler of Grass Valley, Sanders, Morgan Hill’s Devon Ostheimer, Stockton’s Brad Furr and Gilroy’s Ken Fredenburg.
The evening’s six-lap dash for cash was captured by Tommy Tarlton and the two 15-lap b-mains were picked off by Brad Furr and Bud Kaeding. Furr also began the night by setting fast-time out of the 25-cars trying to qualify for the 50th Johnny Key Classic. The former World of Outlaw regular carved his way around the Ocean Speedway quarter-mile in 11.728 seconds aboard the Ray Scheidts Electric No. 2 sprinter.
..... Former NASCAR driver Tommy Ellis and his wife will serve time in prison for their scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by not reporting all the proceeds from their car wash service, said the Associated Press. The 1988 Busch Series champion was sentenced July 30 to 18 months in prison for defrauding the IRS of more than $133,000 in tax revenue from the couple's two Richmond (Va.) area Buzz Thru Car Washes from 2003 through 2007. Ellis' wife Brenda received a 12-month sentence. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson noted 60-year-old Brenda Ellis' health problems in giving her the shorter sentence. He will allow 63-year-old Tommy Ellis to serve his sentence after his wife finishes hers.
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71, Kunz-14.948; 2. Davey Ray, 14, Fatt-Fro-14.961; 3. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-14.990; 4. Daniel Robinson, 57, Reisdorf-15.124; 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-Pak-15.126; 6. Levi Jones, 21, Stewart-15.133; 7. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/Kunz/BCI-15.135; 8. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-15.149; 9. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-15.195; 10. Mike Hess, 4H, Hardy-15.205; 11. Brad Loyet, 05, Loyet-15.220; 12. Scott Hatton, 15, Huston-15.270; 13. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-15.275; 14. Robbie Ray, 3R, Ray-15.314; 15. Levi Roberts, 2D, Roberts-15.325; 16. Mario Clouser, 06, MCM-15.343; 17. David Budres, 33, Ray-15.413; 18. Dereck King, 91, Harris-15.559; 19. Courtney Erfurth, 25, Hardy-15.875; 20. Brandon Waelti, 41, Jones-15.930; 21. Cody Weisensel, 20, Weisensel-16.176; 22. Aaron Fiscus, 6, Fiscus-17.142; 23. David Gough, 57x, Reisdorf-NT; 24. Jason Dull, 56D, Dull-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Darland, 3. Clarke, 4. Hess, 5. Robinson, 6. Clouser, 7. Erfurth, 8. Fiscus. 2:34.12
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. R.Ray, 3. Loyet, 4. D.Ray, 5. Coons, 6. Waelti, 7. Budres. 2:34.56
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kuhn, 2. Jones, 3. Hatton, 4. Hines, 5. King, 6. Weisensel, 7. Roberts, 8. Dull. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Brad Kuhn, 4. Davey Ray, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Darren Hagen, 8. Levi Jones, 9. Robbie Ray, 10. Brad Loyet, 11. Mike Hess, 12. Brandon Waelti, 13. Henry Clarke, 14. David Budres, 15. Daniel Robinson, 16. Dereck King, 17. Courtney Erfurth, 18. Mario Clouser, 19. Cody Weisensel, 20. Scott Hatton, 21. Jason Dull, 22. Aaron Fiscus. NT
**Roberts flipped during the third heat. Hatton flipped during the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Coons, Laps 21-30 Clauson.
NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Clauson-1,093; 2-Kuhn-1,032; 3-Hines-1,005; 4-Coons-970; 5-Hagen-951; 6-Darland-937; 7-Brad Sweet-860; 8-Clarke-650; 9-Zach Daum-638; 10-Bobby East-635.
NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: September 4 – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – Angell Park Speedway – “Pepsi Firemen’s Nationals”
By Gary Thomas: Keeping up his domination since returning home the previous weekend San Jose, California’s Tim Kaeding withstood a relentless late-race charge from young Kyle Larson to score victory in the 50-lap Johnny Key Classic main event on Saturday night at Ocean Speedway and add his name to the prestigious winners list of the event.
It was Kaeding’s fourth win in as many starts over the last couple weekends and with lap money added in the former King of California brought home nearly $6,000 for his efforts behind the wheel of the DTR Transport Inc., Roth Motorsports No. 83jr. sprinter.
Along with grandfather Howard, father Brent and brother Bud, the soon to be 32-year-old now becomes the fourth Kaeding to win the Johnny Key Classic.
“I’m so excited right now I really don’t know what to say,” commented Kaeding after leaping from his car in celebration. “I’ve definitely wanted to get this race under my belt for a long time so I could join my grandpa, dad and brother on that list and to finally do that is pretty amazing feeling.”
An extremely large crowd on Saturday night witnessed former two-time Johnny Key Classic winner Brent Kaeding of Campbell grabbing the lead at the waving of the green flag in 50-lap feature. Over the first handful of laps it was ’98 Key winner Ronnie Day of Salinas applying heavy pressure to the rear bumper of Kaeding, as the two veteran drivers raced closely together for the top-spot.
With the front two fighting it out T. Kaeding then entered the picture and grabbed second from Day just prior to a caution on lap-eight. When the green lights flashed back on the “TK Express” then came roaring to the front by charging to the high-side and driving around “BK” to slice his way to the lead. Another yellow flag would wave on lap 12 and during it issues were apparent under the hood of the Al’s Roofing Supply No. 69, as a sour noise began to emit from B. Kaeding’s machine.
After going back green T. Kaeding proceeded to escape with the lead while B. Kaeding tried everything to maintain the runner up spot with a pack of fast cars coming after him on the very racy quarter-mile bullring. The 13-time King of California hung onto the spot until lap 16, when Easton’s Tommy Tarlton charged around to move into second. On that same lap Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson was also able to dispatch of “BK” to claim the third position aboard the Stadelhofer Construction No. 99x mount.
A mandatory stoppage then came at halfway and with 25-laps complete the top-five was comprised of T. Kaeding, Tarlton, Larson, B. Kaeding and Prunedale’s Justin Sanders.
During the stoppage teams could whatever they needed to try and make their cars better, with the most dramatic being an engine change performed by Brent Kaeding on the front stretch. A number of people joined in to help swap the engine, in what was an amazing site to behold and by the time cars pushed back off, everything was complete and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Member had a new Shaver power plant under the hood. (THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! - JD).
When the field was realigned Larson was put back three-spots for an incident earlier in the race, in which he had spun to a stop at the same time a red flag period had occurred. The penalty certainly did not faze the 2010 King of California however, as he put on an entertaining charge back to the front when the green flag was unveiled. The 18-year-old driver clawed his way past Day, B. Kaeding, Sanders and Tarlton in just seven-laps to jump into the runner up spot with the race playing on.
As T. Kaeding continued to sit out front he soon had to deal with the fast moving Larson and the talented youngster proceeded to hound “TK” for the lead, with him able to get to the inside on a number of occasions trying everything he had. Multiple stoppages over the remaining circuits slowed things down, but in between all of that the action remained fast and furious with multiple grooves still being seen around the speedway. With just under 10-laps left Larson stayed committed to the bottom-side with T. Kaeding remaining up high and the pair would put on a great show for the strong crowd on hand.
Doing everything he could to fend off Larson, “TK” took the white flag and looked for victory, but a yellow flag before the checkered brought on a green-white-checkered restart. The San Jose entrant didn’t let it slow him down though and when the green waved for the final time he checked out from the pack to tally his fifth triumph in his last five starts with the Ocean Sprint Cars presented by Taco Bravo.
“I was getting a little nervous there for a while since I could see Kyle poking his nose in there, because he’s always one of the toughest out here,” said T. Kaeding. “I just love running these bullrings in California and wish we had more of them across the country, because this is the best racing you’ll see. I have to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth, all our sponsors and my whole team, who have been doing a great job all year and I think it’s time to go have a beer with them,” he concluded with a smile.
Larson was able to hold off a strong last lap challenge from Tarlton to record a career best second place Johnny Key Classic finish, with Tarlton crossing the checkered in third at the helm of his Corporate America Lending No. 21. Campbell’s Bud Kaeding came from the sixth row to finish fourth behind the wheel of the Sala/Matherly Racing No. 19 and rounding out the top-five in the 50-lapper was Brent Kaeding. Completing the top-10 was 15th starter Jason Statler of Grass Valley, Sanders, Morgan Hill’s Devon Ostheimer, Stockton’s Brad Furr and Gilroy’s Ken Fredenburg.
The evening’s six-lap dash for cash was captured by Tommy Tarlton and the two 15-lap b-mains were picked off by Brad Furr and Bud Kaeding. Furr also began the night by setting fast-time out of the 25-cars trying to qualify for the 50th Johnny Key Classic. The former World of Outlaw regular carved his way around the Ocean Speedway quarter-mile in 11.728 seconds aboard the Ray Scheidts Electric No. 2 sprinter.
From Phil Pash (old news, but good): The mixed message NASCAR of Brian France is running scared, sez I. Attendance at races is down, partly because of the economy, but also because of NASCAR's outrageous ticket prices. One affects the other. In your lifetime, did you ever think you would hear about tickets being available for Bristol? I didn't. And the fans staying home aren't tuning in like they used to. Fans used to get upset, vocally, if a particular race wasn't on the tube. This is happening now, I believe, because fans have fallen out of love with the product. The romance is over and it's the cold, hard reality of the morning after. For one thing, the races are too long. For another, NASCAR is like the federal government--too many regulations. I made the comment last time that pretty soon, everyone will need a pickup truck just to haul around the rule book. The NASCAR of Brian France has lost sight that a great many of its fans came to the sport because they were free thinkers, not conformists. Even if they're full of hot air, free thinkers believe in speaking their minds. If something is not to their liking, they will let you know. Another crack in the dike is even tracks are turning down NASCAR races, witness Gateway here in Illinois. NASCAR's reaction to all of this? To start eating their own by fining star drivers--in secret, no less--for alleged disparaging remarks they made. While at the same time publically espousing a "Have at It, Boys" philosophy for yet another mixed message. I call this one "Muzzlegate," and it's another step on a very slippery slope. Will NASCAR start fining drivers--in secret--for criticizing tires or race tracks because those criticisms--which have been plentiful--could affect the NASCAR brand? Does NASCAR really want robots out there, agreeing with everything that comes from headquarters, with no dissent, no backtalk, no nothing. When the sport owes its birth to personalities, some good, some not so good. Because that will turn off fans even more. A recent FOX Sports poll asked this question online: Should NASCAR fine drivers for speaking their minds? The answer was a resounding no--by a 93-7 percent margin. An AOL Fanhouse online poll asked about the specific action: Was NASCAR right fining drivers without announcing what for? Again, a resounding no by an 81-19 percent margin--despite the poll question appearing in a very pro-NASCAR column. NASCAR needs to wake up and get back in touch with those non-conformist fans, who ponied up their money for the drive to the top. And knock off the mixed messages. People don't like that.—PJP
...announced July 28 it would not ask for NASCAR events at Gateway International Raceway for 2011. That track, which had two Nationwide events and one Truck event on its 2010 schedule, was devalued from $10 million to $2.036 million, which is primarily the value of the land. "This was obviously a difficult decision, but with expenses rising and the economy continuing to exert pressure on revenues across the industry, we just didn't feel we had a choice," Dover CEO Denis McGlynn said on the call. The write-down of Gateway's value resulted in a loss of $6.284 million during the first six months of 2010, compared with a loss of $800,000 for the first six months of 2009. Dover also closed Memphis Motorsports Park after the 2009 season. ..
. ..... Often criticized by drivers for long races and for taking up two spots on the Cup schedule, "tricky triangle" Pocono now is being called unsafe. Track president Brandon Igdalsky said he is listening and he's promising changes. The track plans to add more safer barriers for next year's races and would like to install a catch fence on the non-grandstand areas. Igdalsky has taken a bigger role as his grandfather, track owner Joseph Mattioli, scales back his duties. Igdalsky brought corporate sponsorship to the races, a Truck race and has an eye on bringing back an IndyCar Series race. Pocono held its first race in 1968, its first Indy car race in 1971 (Guess who covered that one?--PJP) and first NASCAR race in 1974. Pocono co-owner Dr. Mattioli told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody he might be willing to give up one of the track's two race dates, but not in the near future. He said he will retain his two Cup dates until at least 2013, when new NASCAR television contracts take effect.