On a Great Night for racing in Belleville Illinois 119 race teams and car loads of race fans descended upon Belle-Clair Speedway. The action was intense all night in all 5 classes!
In the UMP Super Late Model Division Frankie Martin from DuQouin, Il received a late gift from Matt Weidner and was able to whip out the broomon 24 other teams for a clean sweep! Weidner took the lead at the drop of the green and would lead the first 17 circuits with Martin hot on his trail. Early in lap 18 Weidner would encounter traffic problems and lost control bringing out the yellow flag. Martin would assume the lead on the restart and never looked back leading laps 18 through 25 and getting his first feature win @ Belle-Clair in 2011 and becoming the 5th different feature this season. In post race interview Frankie said he felt for Weidner who he said clearly had the best car, but also dedicated he win to his longtime sponsors Rich & Mary Dambacher from Dambacher Trucking in Freeburg, Il. Celebrating their 44th Anniversary! Mike Schulte was the runner up, followed by Jim Gibson, Mike Hammerle & Richie Standridge.
An awesome field of 23 UMP Modifieds rolled into the Speedbowl in search of Checkered cloth! Heat race winner’s were Ricky Heubner, Ray Walsh & Rookie of the year candidate Bradley Venhaus scoring his first ever win in a modified. Steve Lach hustled to the dash win, with Shane Wilson topping a tough semi feature field. Next up was the 20 lap feature event which saw Dean Hoffman from Troy, Il best the 19 other competitors to be the first repeat feature winner in 2011. Lach would bring his ride home in 2nd followed by Walsh, Bobby Johnson and Bobby Bittle 5th from a 12th starting position.
The UMP/AARA Sportsman class produced another anniversary gift for the Dambacher’s as another sponsored driver Mike Jones from Marissa, Il would take his ford powered hotrod across the stripe 1st for his second feature win of the season. He was pressured hard by Matt Brucato who finished 2nd. Jim Clark was third, then Mark Schaefer, and Joe Volluz 5th. Volluz also snared a heat race win!
A great field of 24 UMP/AARA Pure Stocks came to battle in the dirt. Randy Deitzel would prove to be the best this night scoring his 1st feature win this year. Jake Hewitt, Tyler Ratajczyk & Jeff Buss proved best early collecting heat race wins!
Night 1 of the Pro 4 Stocks “TOP DOG” Series saw 28 teams vie for the first 5 qualifying positions. The heat race action was Fast & Furious with some of the best drivers in the area wheel to wheel. Rookie Travis Bittle paced the field to the green for the 15 lap TOP DOG event. Trevor Isaak would take the early lead. With great racing going on throughout the field of 20 cars Jordan Suhre would overtake Isaak and hold off late race pressure from Rob Shaw racing to 2nd from the 14th starting position. TOP DOG on this night “Jordan Suhre”. Shaw finished second Isaak held on for third Jacob Rexing fourth and Dave Racer grabbed the final qualifying spot.
What an exciting night it was!
Pure Stock
Heat 1
1. Jake Hewitt, 2. Nash, 3. Bryan Baker, 4. Zach Hoffman, 5. A.J. Marks, 6. Jim Rowney, 7. Ron Weidler, 8. 04
Heat 2
1. Tyler Ratajczyk, 2. Randy Dietzel, 3. Troy Bunfill, 4. T.J. Eilers, 5. Eric Harris, 6. 54, 7. David Keuhn, 8. Dawn Rheinacker
Heat 3
1. Jeff Buss, 2. Brian Crawford, 3. Nick Collette, 4. Dustin McClintock, 5. Amber Casey, 6. A.J. Cline, 7. Fohne, 8. 16
Semi:
1. Ron Weidler, 2. Amber Casey, 3. A.J. Marks, 4. David Keuhn, 5. 04, 6. 16, 7. Dawn Rheinacker, 8. Fohne, 9. 54
Feature
1. Randy Dietzel, 2. Tyler Ratajczyk, 3. Troy Bunfill, 4. Nick Hoffman, 5. Brian Crawford, 6. Jake Hewitt, 7. Jeff Buss, 8. Amber Casey, 9. Ron Weidler, 10. Brian Baker, 11. Nick Collette, 12. 59, 13. Eric Harris, 14. 16, 15. A.J. Marks, 16. Jim Rowney, 17. T.J. Eilers, 18. A.J. Cline. 19. 04, 20. Dustin McClintock
Pro 4
Heat 1
1. Justin Suhre, 2. Joe Merritt, 3. 19, 4. Ryan Emig, 5. Calvin Robke, 6. Scott Wickliffe, 7. Derek Reeves
Heat 2
1. Trevor Isaak, 2. James Southers, 3. 15, 4. Chuck Johnson, 5. Billy Lapaglia, 6. Kyle Foutch
Heat 3
1. Jordan Suhre, 2. Dave Racer, 3. Jacob Rexing, 4. Rob Shaw, 5. 19x, 6. Randy Horner
Heat 4
1. Travis Horner, 2. Travis Bittle, 3. 3, 4. 21j, 5. Avery Branson, 6. Mark Crady, 7. Willy Myers
Semi:
1. Calvin Robke, 2. Mark Crady, 3. Billy Lapaglia, 4. 19, 5. Avery Branson, 6. 71, 7. Randy Horner, 8. Kyle Foutch, 9. Derek Reeves
Feature:
1. Jordan Suhre, 2. Rob Shaw, 3. Trevor Isaak, 4. Jacob Rexing, 5. Dave Racer, 6. Travis Horner, 7. Mark Crady, 8. James Southers, 9. Travis Bittle, 10. 15, 11. Billy Lapaglia, 12. 3, 13. Calvin Robke, 14. Joe Merritt, 15. Avery Branson, 16. 71A, 17. 19x, 18. 19, 19. Ryan Emig, 20. Chuck Johnson
Late Model
Heat 1
1. John Beck, 2. Mike Schulte, 3. Don Klein, 4. Mike Hammerlee, 5. Mike Harris, 6. Matt Zimmerly, 7. Aaron Kleine, 8. Steve Leach, 9. Paul Roider
Heat 2
1. Jason Crump, 2. Matt Weidner, 3. Eddie Pursell, 4. Brian Wolfmeier, 5. Dewayne Kiefer, 6. Michael Kloos, 7. Brent Kreke, 8. Bob Brown
Heat 3
1. Frankie Martin, 2. Jim Moon, 3. Jim Gibson, 4. Richie Standridge, 5. Mark Ford, 6. Dan Dondero, 7. Vince Grondzki, 8. Dave Thornton
Dash:
1. Frankie Martin, 2. Matt Weidner, 3. Jason Crump, 4. Mike Schulte, 5. Jim Moon, 6. John Beck
Semi:
1. Michael Kloos, 2. Brent Kreke, 3. Dan Dondero, 4. Vince Grondzki, 5. Dave Thornton, 6. Bob Brown, 7. Matt Zimmerly, 8. Aaron Kleine, 9. Steve Leach, 10. Paul Roider
Feature:
1. Frankie Martin, 2. Mike Schulte, 3. Jim Gibson, 4. Mike Hammerlee, 5. Richie Standridge, 6. Jim Moon, 7. John Beck, 8. Dewayne Kiefer, 9. Jason Crump, 10. Dan Dondero, 11. Don Klein, 12. Michael Kloos, 13. Mike Harris, 14. Mark Ford, 15. Dave Thornton, 16. Brian Wolfmeier, 17. Matt Weidner, 18. Brent Kreke, 19. Vince Grondzki, 20. Eddie Purcell
Modified
Heat 1
1. Ricky Huebner, 2. Dean Hoffman, 3. Tommy Smallwood, 4. Tim Fohne, 5. Paul Reinneck, 6. David Seger, 7. Chris Winters, 8. Aaron Kleine
Heat 2
1. Brad Venhaus, 2. Steve Lach, 3. Blake Cook, 4. Tyler Deibert, 5. Jeremy Thoele, 6. Shane Wilson, 7. Brian McCormick, 8. Jimmy Cummins
Heat 3
1. Ray Walsh, 2. Bobby Johnson, 3. Brett Korves, 4. Bobby Bittle, 5. Rusty Griffaw, 6. Brendan Bittle, 7. Zeb Moake
Semi:
1. Shane Wilson, 2. Zeb Moake, 3. 21x, 4. Brendan Bittle, 5. Brian McCormick, 6. David Seger, 7. Aaron Kleine, 8. Jimmy Cummins
Feature:
1. Dean Hoffman, 2. Steve Lach, 3. Ray Walsh, 4. Bobby Johnson, 5. Bobby Bittle, 6. Ricky Huebner, 7. Brett Korves, 8. Tyler Deibert, 9. Tommy Smallwood, 10. Brad Venhaus, 11. Zeb Moake, 12. Jeremy Thoele, 13. Tim Fohne, 14. Shane Wilson, 15. Chris Winters, 16. Paul Reinneck, 17. Rusty Griffaw, 18. Brendan Bittle, 19. Blake Cook, 20. Brian McCormick
Sportsman
Heat 1:
1. Joe Volluz, 2. John Schrand, 3. Mark Schaefer, 4. Ryan Gegg, 5. Jon Ripperda, 6. Brian Eaves, 7. Brian Shubirg, 8. Stu Springer, 9. Daryn Klein, 10. Lenny Garson
Heat 2
1. Mike Jones, 2. Jim Clark, 3. Matt Brucato, 4. Jason Keller, 5. C.J. Simpson, 6. Denny Tribout, 7. Brad Paquet, 8. Mike Armstrong, 9. Dave Armstrong
DNF: Armstrong (34), Armstrong (168)
Feature:
1. Mike Jones, 2. Matt Brucato, 3. Jim Clark, 4. Mark Schaefer, 5. Joe Volluz, 6. John Schrand, 7. Ryan Gegg, 8. Jon Ripperda, 9. Stu Springer, 10. Jason Keller, 11. C.J. Simpson, 12. 168 Mike Armstrong, 13. Brian Shubirg, 14. Brian Eaves, 15. Daryn Klein, 16. Brad Paquet, 17. Denny Tribout, 18. Lenny Garon, 19. Dave Armstrong