By: Betty Glynn

La Salle, IL – Twenty one UMP Late Model racers along with thirty four UMP Open Wheel Modified drivers kicked off the 2012 regular racing season at La Salle Speedway Saturday night with impressive divisional car counts and exciting racing.

UMP Late Model’s:
Russ Scheffler traveled the quickest lap during qualifying with a fast time of 13.091. He started the first heat event but rolled to a stop during the third circuit. His evening ended with the mechanical woes. With Scheffler off the helm, Shawn Toczek took the lead with Tim Isenberg and Mike Glynn following. Mike Spatola ended Glynn’s heat run by taking him into a spin over the infield tires. At the finish line, Toczek narrowly beat out the low running Spatola with Steve Dimmick third ahead of Isenberg and Matt Furman.

Unzicker lead flag to flag from the pole of the second heat race. He was unstoppable at times generating a decent section of real estate between him and Scott Schmitt with Bret Sievert running a strong third. As the contenders were finishing the final lap, Schmitt had reeled in the leader but not enough to challenge him for the checkers. The heat finish was Unzicker, Schmitt, Sievert, Mike Provenzano, and Rich Bell.

Toczek and Unzicker sat at the top of the feature grid with Spatola and Schmitt rolling into the second row as Dimmick and Sievert took their spots in row three. When the green was signaled, an all out duel ensued between the front row pair. Two cautions in the second lap didn’t halt their battle for long as they picked up right where they left off until the fourth lap when Unzicker took command. He was unstoppable and pulled away from the pack dodging lapped traffic in the process.

Unzicker’s ride was dialed into the exact setup for the bullring running over twenty laps unchallenged. As he was about to take the white flag lap, a caution for Rich Bell brought the pack back to a single file restart for one last chance at the win. Unzicker led the single file format restart with Isenberg now in second ahead of Toczek, Sievert, Spatola, Dimmick, Jason Jaggers, and Schmitt.

Without question, Unzicker was the man to beat capturing the victory over Isenberg, Sievert, Toczek, Spatola, Dimmick, Jaggers, Schmitt, Torin Mettille, Furman, Provenzano, Glynn, Bell, Lake Knutti, Steve Thorsten, John Small, and Jeff Small.

UMP Open Wheel Modified’s:
Nick Allen posted the fastest timed lap beating out the thirty three other entrants with a quick time of 14.425. Just after the start of the first heat contest, the leaders got sideways down the back stretch with a horrific flip by Nathan Balensiefen. With no where to go, Jamie Lomax smashed nose first into his crashed ride. Both drivers were able to exit their machines on their own but their cars both suffered significant damage. Allen held on to take the win with Vince Cooper finishing second in front of Milo Veloz, Kyle Neels, and Cody Bauman.

Dave Porth won the next heat over Donovan Lodge, AJ May, Jason Pershy, and Mike Porth. Jim Farris collected the third heat contest in front of Collin Thirlby, Austin Hewitt, Darcy Wey, and Jamie Balensiefen. Justin McCoy won the consi over Andrew Funk, Tom Knippenberg, Kevin Hughes, and Chris Morefield. The top five finishers for both the heat and consi races were transferred into the main event.

Before the first lap of the twenty lap feature could be scored, three and four wide battles were well underway. The pace was set wide open with Farris, Cooper, Dave Porth, Allen, Thirlby and Lodge all battling to take the lead. By the second lap, it was Farris leading the field of hot rods over Cooper with Allen close on his back bumper. During Lap 8, Allen took the outside line for an attempt at the lead. Farris managed to hang on even pulling away at times.

A caution on the thirteenth lap positioned Allen with a birdseye view of the leader in the single file restart. It didn’t take Allen long to attempt a higher line run on the outside of Farris for a side by side dance. Allen’s choice of a higher groove paid off as most of the front runners were all in a low line. He took the lead with only a few laps left charging his way to victory lane. Farris led the most laps in his impressive run finishing second over Lodge, Cooper, Thirlby, Andrew Funk, Dave Porth, Pershy, Bauman, Morefield, Neels, AJ May, McCoy, Knippenberg, Mike Porth, Jamie Balensiefen, and Hewitt.

UMP Street Stock’s:
Mike McKinney won the only heat event for the fourteen car Street Stock division over Mike Hughes, Kevin Lenzen, Cody Gibson and Keith Miller. Feature pole sitter Hughes was in charge of the main’s first eight laps until McKinney worked the bottom of the track to take the lead. Once he was out front, Hughes continued to be a contender for the lead providing heat until the final two laps when McKinney outran his challenge.

Hughes took second over Lenzen, Gibson, Jake Miller, Aaron Near, Keith Miller, Nick Sell, Matt Heinrichs, Steven Schwemlein, Curtis Radtke, Hamm, Joe Brown, and Michael Prokup.

UMP 4 Cylinder Hornet’s:
Thirteen UMP 4 Cylinder cars were in attendance for the regular season opener. Rick Zifko won their heat race over Allen Provenzano, Peter Hayes, Jon Provenzano and Tyler Benson.

A couple laps into their feature race, the ride of Dull (#56) turned into a moving inferno as it became completely engulfed in flames leaving a ring of fire in its wake. The driver managed to get out on the front stretch as the fire crew quickly extinguished the fiery scene.

Once back in action Allen Provenzano was the man to beat. He made a valiant return to victory lane ahead of his brother Jon with Benson in third followed by Jerry Legner, Zifko, Hayes, Zac Bollinger, Luke Gash, and Crystal Provenzano Broyles.

Next Week:
April 21 – Weekly Super Show for all divisions

La Salle Speedway Results 4/14/12

UMP Late Models: 21 Cars
Qualifying: Russ Scheffler 13.091
Heat 1: Shawn Toczek, Mike Spatola, Steve Dimmick, Steve Thorsten, Matt Furman
Heat 2: Ryan Unzicker, Scott Schmitt, Bret Sievert, Mike Provenzano, Rich Bell
Feature: Ryan Unzicker, Tim Isenberg, Bret Sievert, Shawn Toczek, Mike Spatola, Steve Dimmick, Jason Jaggers, Scott Schmit, Torin Mettile, Matt Furman, Mike Provenzano, Mike Glynn, Rich Bell, Lake Knutti, Steve Thorsten, John Small, Jeff Small, Joe Jelinek, Tom Duncan, Tim Provenzano

UMP Modifieds: 34 Cars
Qualifying: Nick Allen 14.425
Heat 1: Nick Allen, Vince Cooper, Milo Veloz, Kyle Neels, Cody Bauman
Heat 2: Dave Porth, Donovan Lodge, AJ May, Jason Pershy, Mike Porth
Heat 3: Jim Farris, Collin Thirlby, Austin Hewitt, Darcy Wey, Jamie Balensiefen
Consi: Justin McCoy, Andrew Funk, Tom Knippenberg, Kevin Hughes, Chris Morefield, Rick Thomas, Mike Marden, Mike Mennel, Scott Hauge, Don Cole, Richie Dawson
Feature: Nick Allen, Jim Farris, Donovan Lodge, Vince Cooper, Collin Thirlby, Andrew Funk, Dave Porth, Jason Pershy, Cody Bauman, Chris Morefield, Kyle Neels, AJ May, Justin McCoy, Tom Knippenberg, Mike Porth, Jamie Balensiefen, Austin Hewitt, Kevin Hughes, Darcy Wey, Milo Veloz

UMP Street Stocks: 14 Cars
Heat 1: Mike McKinney, Mike Hughes, Kevin Lenzen, Cody Gibson, Keith Miller
Feature: Mike McKinney, Mike Hughes, Kevin Lenzen, Cody Gibson, Jake Miller, Aaron Near, Keith Miller, Nick Sell, Matt Hinrichs, Steven Schwemlein, Curtis Radtke, Hamm, Joe Brown, Michael Prokup

UMP 4 Cylinder Hornets: 13 Cars
Heat 1: Rick Zifko, Allen Provenzano, Peter Hayes, Crystal Provenzano Broyles, Tyler Benson
Feature: Allen Provenzano, Jon Provenzano, Tyler Benson, Jerry Legner, Rick Zifko, Peter Hayes, Zac Bollinger, Luke Gash, Crystal Provenzano Broyles, Dull, Aaron Sutton, Brandon Mallery, Erick Miller