Loyet, Kloos & Andruskevitch are Victorious at the Battle at Belle-Vegas!

On a stormy night in Belleville Illinois the Fans packed the house for the first ever Battle at Belle-Vegas Valvoline sponsored Twin 30’s. The POWRi Midgets sponsored by Lucas Oil would be first to hit the track and thrill the fans. Running the first half of the Valvoline Twin 30’s 22 cars headed to the Green flag led by Derek King & 2 time POWRi Champion Brad Loyet. King would beat Loyet to the lead and show the way until lap 3 where Loyet had a good run and would dive in on the low side and slide to the front. The action was incredible behind the leaders with 2 & 3 wide racing everywhere on the track. The first stop in the action came as Brett Anderson’s ride clipped the inside wall after contact with another car causing him to flip and land on his top. After the restart Loyet paced the field masterfully dealing with lap traffic driving any groove needed top to bottom. Meanwhile Nick Knepper had wheeled his way to third challenging King for second. King was up for the challenge holding Knepper off and proceeded to mount a chase to run down the leader Loyet. King was able to close to about three car lengths but ran out of laps with Loyet Taking Home his second POWRi victory in a row! King was the bridesmaid for the 5th time and Knepper third with his 4th top five finish this season.
Andrew Felker & Tom Siner rounded out the top five.

Next up were the Speedway Motors 600 cc Outlaw Micros. Always fun to watch these winged warrior’s hit the high banks of Belle-Clair Speedway in attack mode! Three time POWRi Micro champion Dereck King would power his way to the lead and show the way for most of the race. After a few lap battle for second and third between JB Gilbert and Aaron Andruskevitch, Andruskevitch passed Gilbert and set his eyes on King. Motoring his machine through the center of the track he ran down King passed him coming out of turns 3 & 4 on lap 17 and never looked back taking the checkers for his 1st ever POWRi feature win! King held on for 2nd, Gilbert was third, Jeremy Camp fourth & Natasha Cox fifth.

The second half of the Valvoline Twin 30’s, the UMP Super Late Models were ready to thrill the fans once more. After crowd pleasing 5th to 1st win in the dash Richie Standridge paced the field to the starting line along side Randy Korte. Korte would charge to the lead down the back stretch and slide up to the high side where the cushion was just to his liking. Korte mounted a half a straightaway lead through the middle circuits of the race, followed by Standridge with Aaron Kleine and Michael Kloos battling for the third & fourth spots. Around lap 13 on Friday the 13th Standridge’s luck would turn ugly experiencing a flat right rear tire bringing out the yellow and forcing him to retire from the race. His bad luck was a gift to Kloos who now was able to restart on the bumper of the leader Korte. The green flag flew and the battle was on. Korte & Kloos side by side wheel to wheel lap after lap. It looked like a photo finish was in order. As the race wore on the cushion on top was getting thinner & thinner. With three laps to go Korte clipped the wall in turn two allowing Kloos to power his ride to the lead. Kloos went on to win his third feature of the year at Belle-Clair Speedway. Korte held off Kleine for second, Brent Kreke was fourth and Matt Weidner finished fifth. The huge crowd headed to the pit area to congratulate the racers on job well done! Ken Slaven from Illinois said this was the Best Dirt Track racing I’ve ever seen!

Heat 1:
1. Michael Kloos
2. Richie Standridge
3. Mike Hammerle
4. Brandon Sheppard
5. Ray Emgling
6. Paul Roider
7. Mike Harris

Heat 2:
1. Randy Korte
2. John Beck
3. Brent Kreke
4. Frankie Martin
5. Mike Schulte
6. Jim Gibson

Heat 3:
1. Aaron Kleine
2. Tim Manville
3. Vince Grondzki
4. Matt Weidner
5. Dave Thornton
6. Bob Brown

Dash:
1. Richie Standridge
2. Randy Korte
3. Aaron Kleine
4. Tim Manville
5. John Beck
6. Michael Kloos

Feature:
1. Michael Kloos
2. Randy Korte
3. Aaron Kleine
4. Brent Kreke
5. Matt Weidner
6. Mike Hammerle
7. Mike Schulte
8. Ray Emling
9. Vince Grondzki
10. Dave Thornton
11. Frankie Martin
12. John Beck
13. Mike Harris
14. Bob Brown
15. Paul Roider
16. Tim Manville
17. Richie Standridge
18. Jim Gibson
19. Brandon Sheppard