Two former Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track winners earned their second victory during the Port-A-Cool Texas World Dirt Track Championship Saturday night with Dennie Gieber in the Limited Modified class and Jack Sullivan in O’Reilly Auto Parts SUPR Late Models.
Gieber, the 2003 Texas World Dirt Track champion, dominated the 30-lap Limited Modified feature as he finished .494 seconds ahead of Randy Timms.
“This win has been a long time coming,” Gieber said. “We ran second one time to a friend of mine and had a pretty decent car there and had a good shot, but we’ve been trying for a while and felt like we were owed one so we really stepped it up and had a really good car tonight.”
Chris Brown crossed the finish line first in the Modified division, but Iowa native Kelly Shryock inherited the win after Brown was disqualified in post-race tech inspection. Shryock led the majority of the 40-lap feature, but was passed by Brown just before the white flag dropped. The win marks Shryock’s first victory at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.
“This is the third time running here, so the third time is a charm I guess,” Shryock said. “I didn’t make the show the first two times. I had bad luck. I blew and engine and got crashed. Coming here and running good in this facility – it’s unbelievable. I told my wife, we would come back here one more time and try our luck.”
Sullivan, from Greenbrier, Ark., was the 2010 Texas World Dirt Track champion and added another prominent win to his lengthy list of late model accomplishments. Sullivan took the lead on Lap 14 and maintained the first-place position for the remaining 36 laps.
“All wins are special,” Sullivan said. “Racers talk about wins but it’s funny how somebody will remember a win a little more than you. But you never forget them, you always remember it. I’ve been lucky enough to win two of them here.”
Another former Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track champion, Steve Whiteaker Jr., pulled triple duty in this weekend’s Port-A-Cool Texas World Dirt Track Championship and qualified for the main races in all three classes. Whiteaker Jr. finished 16th in SUPR, seventh in Modified and 21st in Limited Modified.
Limited Modified (30 Laps): 1, Dennie Gieber, $2,000; 2, Randy Timms; 3, John Whittington; 4, Jason Troutman; 5, Jason Ingalls; 6, Robert Elliot; 7, Gene Bryce; 8, Troy Taylor; 9, Kyle Slader; 10, Derrick Grigsby; 11, Garrett Gregory; 12, Chase Allen; 13, Edward Oakes; 14, Dakota Moore; 15, Craig Oakes; 16, Craig Ridgeway; 17, Greg Deterdying; 18, Doug Easterling; 19, Jimmy Day; 20, Cody Simpson; 21, Steve Whiteaker Jr.; 22, Matt Mueller; 23, Robert Vetter; 24, RJ Stroman; 25, Joe Bohnstedt; 26, Jimmy Staats.
Modified (40 Laps): 1, Kelly Shryock, $3,000; 2, Zack Vander Beek; 3, Randy Timms; 4, Bobby Malchus; 5, Triston Dycus; 6, Steve Whiteaker Jr.; 7, John Anderson; 8, William Gould; 9, Troy Taylor; 10, Kyle Pleasant; 11, Grant Junghns; 12, Kyle Schmidt; 13, Robert Baker; 14, Eric Tomlinson; 15, Dustin Hyde; 16, Mitch Keeton; 17, Monte Bolton; 18, Chris Cole; 19, Clyde Dunn; 20, Danny Caldwell; 21, Sean Jones; 22, Colby Smith; 23, Chris Henigan; 24, John Whittington; 25, Chris Brown; 26, Corey Babbitt.
O’Reilly Auto Parts SUPR Late Models (40 Laps): 1, Jack Sullivan, $3,500; 2, John Anderson; 3, Morgan Bagley; 4, Will Vaught; 5, Kevin Sitton; 6, Rob Litton; 7, Jon Mitchell; 8, Robbie Starnes; 9, Dennie Gieber; 10, Chris Holley; 11, Derek Perkins; 12, Chris Brown; 13, Tommy Weder Jr.; 14, Lee Davis; 15, Jay Brunson; 16, Steve Whiteaker Jr.; 17, BJ Robinson; 18, Allen Tippen; 19, Zach McMillan; 20, Timothy Culp; 21, Jeff Chandler.