Kloos Forges Ironman Late Model Win at Tri-City!
By Steve Birmingham
August 14, 2004; Granite City, IL – Michael Kloos took the raw material of 20 red hot laps on Tri-City Speedway's tight quarter-mile dirt, laid it on the anvil and pounded out his fourth Dodge Ironman Late Model win of the season.
Kloos and veteran Dick Taylor raced side by side into the the first turn to start the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Racing Series event and battled just one lap before Shannon Kuhn and Tom Krankel spun to bring out the caution. The restart saw Kloos take the point once again and he paced the field for only six laps before Steve Meyer, Jr.'s spin on the front straight slowed the action. The resulting restart saw both Kuhn and Ken Johnson jump the field, with Johnson riding over the left front of Krankel and sending him into a tractor tire barrier in turn four. Krankel was relegated to the trailer while both offenders restarted at the back of the field.
Once the fight resumed Kloos raced out to a one-length lead over Taylor and Randy Rawlings. Soon Kloos was able to find breathing room and by the checkers had a full straightaway lead. Trailing Kloos were Taylor, Terry James, Rawlings and Kuhn. The qualifying heats were won handily by Taylor and Justin Anderson.
Dustin Knerrer won his first career Mountain Dew Sportsman feature by less than a foot over the red hot Steve Maisel. Maisel survived several early caution periods to hold on to the lead but as Maisel raced into turn three to complete lap nine Knerrer sailed past on the high side and nipped Maisel at the line. Another caution slowed the field but when the race resumed Maisel was right with the leader. Making a last lap pass on the backstretch, Maisel led going into turn three but Knerrer fought back and the two exited turn four deadlocked. The drag race to the line saw the two side by side with Knerrer ahead by a foot. Maisel, Bert Jacoby, Sam Kizer and Terry Chester rounded out the top five. The qualifiers went to Kizer, Scott Drew and Maisel.
Ray Walsh won the Budweiser Modifed go, besting Bobby Martintoni, Ed Lenhardt, Joe Dresch and Jerry DeGrendele for his second victory of the season. The qualifiers were won by Lenhardt, Ricky Huebner and DeGrendele; John Stanton won the Semi.
Ken Johnson, Jr., won his fourth Domino's Street Stock feature on the year, besting Mark Pflueger, Andy Beavers, Darin Patton and Brad Yotter. Johnson, Jr., Tony King and Ryan Meuth nabbed the heats.
Ken Bell won his first Auto Trader Factory Stock main of the season, topping Aaron Wood, Todd Erickson, Jonathan Schulte and Michael Davidson.