Dixon Powers to First Win at I-55 this Season!
I-55 Raceway finally reopened after flooding had caused the racing to be cancelled for two consecutive weeks. A mild beautiful evening with a full moon greeted fans and racers and the action on the track was fast.
In UMP Late Model action, Mark Oller jumped out to the early lead in the first heat race and held off a hard charging Dean Motsinger. Billy Laycock came home third and Dwayne Kiefer was fourth.
In the second heat, Ed Dixon set the tone as the man to beat as he pulled away to the victory. Danny Haynes, Tim Ratajczyk and Justin Allgaier completed the top four.
Dixon's dominance continued in the dash as he jumped out front and pulled away. Oller, Ratajczyk and Haynes battled fiercly for second and finished in that order.
Dixon jumped out front in the feature and let the other competitors battle it out for the runner up spots. Ratajczyk and Oller battled each other the entire 25 laps for second with Ratajczyk earning the position. Dave Jumper recovered from a crash in his heat to storm back to a fourth place finish in the feature. Justin Allgaier, Jim Durbin, Danny Haynes and Billy Laycock swapped positions lap after lap in a battle for fifth and finished in that order. Clay Baumann and Rodney Pense rounded out the top ten.
The UMP Modifieds put on one of the best races of the season thus far at I-55 Raceway. Dean Hoffman jumped out to the early lead in the feature. Ray Wagner moved up to challenge Hoffman on lap ten and the two battled side by side for several laps. That allowed Rich Whaley to use the high side to challenge those two for the lead. Whaley made it three wide on lap fifteen for the lead and then he was able to pull ahead and take sole possession of the lead. As the laps were winding down, Brent Thompson moved up from his twelfth starting spot to take the second spot. Tom Ratajczyk, who started fourteenth, was also able to get by Wagner and Hoffman and take third. Wagner finished fourth and Hoffman ended up fifth.
In the AARA Sportsman feature, Paul Belken, Jr. took the lead on the opening lap and pulled away to a comfortable lead. However, Belken's car slowed with just three laps remaining and came to rest on the back straightaway. That allowed Ricky Horton to take the lead on the restart and Horton held off Mark Blanke to pick up the win. Dan Dixon, Scott Stuppy and Todd McGraw rounded out the top five.
UMP Late Models
Heat 1: 1. 67 Mark Oller, 2. 44 Dean Motsinger, 3. 82 Billy Laycock, 4. 13 Dwayne Kiefer
Heat 2: 1. 50 Ed Dixon, 2. 47 Danny Haynes, 3. 112 Tim Ratajczyk, 4. 1A Justin Allgaier
Dash: 1. 50 Ed Dixon, 2. 67 Mark Oller, 3. 112 Tim Ratajczyk, 4. 47 Danny Haynes
Feature: 1. 50 Ed Dixon, 2. 112 Tim Ratajczyk, 3. 67 Mark Oller, 4. 2J Dave Jumper, 5. 1A Justin Allgaier, 6. 3D Jim Durbin, 7. 47 Danny Haynes, 8. 82 Billy Laycock, 9. 77 Clay Baumann, 10. 10 Rodney Pense, 11. 13 Dwayne Kiefer, 12. 41 Steve Maisel, 13. 22 Darrell Moser, 14. 44 Dean Motsinger, 15. 23 Brian Garner, 16. 4E Scott Gaeschel, 17. 9B Chuck Baird
UMP Modifieds
Heat 1: 1. 59 Rich Whaley, 2. 11Z Brian Collins, 3. 21 Dennis Richards, 4. 444 Matt Simpson
Heat 2: 1. 16 Rusty Griffaw, 2. 8 Kyle Steffens, 3. 90 Jerry Grither, 4. 166 Brian Worley
Heat 3: 1. 1D Dean Hoffman, 2. 6 Ray Wagner, 3. 29 Jeff LeBaube, 4. 18 Brent Thompson
Dash: 1. 59 Rich Whaley, 2. 1D Dean Hoffman, 3. 11Z Brian Collins, 4. 6 Ray Wagner
Feature: 1. 59 Rich Whaley, 2. 18 Brent Thompson, 3. 12 Tom Ratajczyk, 4. 6 Ray Wagner, 5. 1D Dean Hoffman, 6. 16 Rusty Griffaw, 7. 444 Matt Simpson, 8. 90 Jerry Grither, 9. 21 Dennis Richards, 10. C4 Chris Soutiea, 11. 78 Rich Lawson, 12. 56 Kevin Epperson, 13. 95B Jim Beisher, 14. 23 Dylan Sharp, 15. 4B Neil Wade, Jr., 16. 11Z Brian Collins, 17. 166 Brian Worley, 18. 70 Josh Russell, 19. 8 Kyle Steffens, 20. 8M Kirk Murphy, 21. 99 Rich Steyh, 22. X1 Dave Sandage, DNS. 29 Jeff LeBaube, DNS. 45 Eric Mabery
AARA Sportsman
Heat 1: 1. 4 Ricky Horton, 2. 105 Matt Hancock, 3. 75 Rom Imm, Jr. 4. 92 Jim Abshier
Heat 2: 1. 38D Mark Blanke, 2. 01 Steve Borgetti, 3. 6 Brian Noeth, 4. 27 Nathan Walsh
Heat 3: 1. 10 Todd McGraw, 2. 46 Paul Belken, Jr. 3. 98 David Bardin, 4. 166 Sam Worley
Heat 4: 1. 500 Dan Dixon, 2. 24 Paul Bauman, 3. 00 Scott Stuppy, 4. 25 Denny Tribout, Jr.
Dash: 1. 4 Ricky Horton, 2. 46 Paul Belken, Jr. 3. 10 Todd McGraw, 4. 38D Mark Blanke
Semi #1: 1. 20 Gary McKinnon, 2. 35 Randy Tyson, Jr. 3. 45 Mike Seymour, 4. 59 Jeff Whaley, 5. 350 Robert Dill, DNS. 33 Dale Carroll, DNS. 44 Nick Werner, DNS. D5 Dave Jenkins
Semi #2: 1. 146 Douglas Kim, 2. 34 Ray Wohlschlaeger, 3. 61 Mike Whitter, 4. 19 Brad Grantham, 5. 93 Jeff Honea, 6. 411 Gary Haynes, 7. 126 Gary Wilson, DNS. 7 Craig Wodicker
Feature: 1. 4 Ricky Horton, 2. 38D Mark Blanke, 3. 500 Dan Dixon, 4. 00 Scott Stuppy, 5. 10 Todd McGraw, 6. 105 Matt Hancock, 7. 15 Jim Troutman, 8. 20 Gary McKinnon, 9. 166 Sam Worley, 10. 27 Nathan Walsh, 11. 98 David Bardin, 12. 25 Denny Tribout, Jr., 13. 19M Mike McGinnity, 14. 01 Steve Borgetti, 15. 146 Douglas Kim, 16. 6 Brian Noeth, 17. 24 Paul Bauman, 18. 34 Ray Wohlschlaeger, 19. 111 Zac Parks, 20. 35 Randy Tyson, Jr., 21. 46 Paul Belken, Jr., 22. 92 Jim Abshier, 23. 75 Ron Imm, Jr., 24. 66 Darren Holland