I-35 Speedway returns to action this Saturday
Winston, MO - May 12, 2008
By: Chet Querry
I-35 Speedway PR
I-35 Speedway had every intention, as of early afternoon, to still race Saturday night. But as race time got closer it became obvious that wasn’t going to happen.
The first two races of the season have been nothing less than thrilling. Even with the cold temperatures and wind, the fans still came to see the excitement on the new racing surface. Both weekends were a great success both in the stands and in the pit area. Nearly 100 cars checked into the pits both nights.
After two weeks of racing in the Hornet class, Justin Marrant and James Reed both have a feature win. Reed finished second opening night and won week two which gives him the points lead early in the season. Jason Eagleson has been very quick about getting to the front and running in the top three both weekends. Eagleson is currently second in the points with Marrant in third. Steve Hacker has been the most dominate car at I-35 for the past few years. This year he finds himself fourth in the points early but still able to run up front and challenge for the win every week.
The Grand National class has raced twice after a one year absence from the facility. Travis Walker won the opening night feature and finished second in week two so he currently holds the points lead. Mike Johnson Jr is in second with a solid performance on opening night. Jimmy Winkler won the feature on week two and sets in third in the points with Mark Smart in fourth after a second place finish on opening night.
Currently there are two drivers tied for the points lead in the IMCA SportMod class. Jeremiah Asher won the feature on opening night and finished third in week two. Royce Stanley Jr finished second both weeks despite having to come from the final starting spot in week two. That puts both of them ahead of Jon Boller Jr, who won the feature in week two, by just one point. Brandon Bouzek has spent the first two weekends trying to rebound from terrible starting spots in the feature to finish in the top six both nights. Bouzek sets fourth in the points.
The only repeat feature winner this year is in the IMCA Stock Car class. Coming off of his third National IMCA Stock Car point championship in 2007, Mike Nichols has won both features of the year. In week one Thomas Roberts finished second and Brad Whitney third. In week two, those three drivers headed into the third corner three wide on the final lap with Nichols on the low side, Roberts on the high side and Whitney in the middle. They all three had every intention of winning that feature. But Whitney and Roberts made contact. Whitney finished second, which helped him have a one point advantage over Roberts who finished fourth and is now in third in the points. Rick Steele and Jason Anderson are both tied for fourth in the points with great runs both weekends.
The IMCA Modified feature was rained out on opening night. So all the points accumulated so far were gained on a single weekend. Week two started off with the makeup feature. Steven Glenn started the season by picking up the win. In the second feature of week two, JJ Baumli took the checkered flag. But both had problems in the other feature and didn’t finish very well. The one driver who did find his way to the front in both features was Terry VanTrump. VanTrump holds the top spot in the points because he is the only driver who finished in the top five in both feature races. Mike Tanner has finished just one or two spots behind VanTrump both nights and is second in the points. There is a three way tie between Jim Cameron, Rick Spriggs and JJ Baumli for third in the points and they are only one point ahead of Johnny McGinnis.
Racing continues next Saturday night with the Hornet, Grand National, IMCA SportMod, IMCA Stock Car & IMCA Modified classes.
“Dirt Trackin’ at Its Best” at I-35 Speedway every Saturday night all summer long.
www.i-35speedwayllc.com
