Joe B. Miller – Kirby Laws Photo
Brian Wolfmeier – Kirby Laws Photo
Shane Blair – Kirby Laws Photo
Jason Neel – Kirby Laws Photo
By Christopher Boyd – Hello race fans! This is your race recap for the opening night at St. Francois County Raceway sponsored by Craig’s Roofing. St. Francois County Raceway kicked off their first night of racing for the 2017 season this past Saturday night. In comparison to previous opening nights, this year’s went rather smooth. Also, most are considering the night a great success because of how well it went as well as how well the officials and drivers adjusted to the rule changes that were enacted for the 2017 season and seasons to follow. The opening night of racing consisted of only the four classes that will be running at St. Francois County Raceway all season. Those classes are: Super Streets, A-Modifieds, 410 Sprint Cars, and B-Modifieds.
Up first for the night was the Super Street class. The Super Streets had a total of 16 cars in attendance divided into three different heat races. The first heat race had six cars in it. Taking the checkered flag in the first heat race, from the outside of the front row, was the number 67 car driven by Tony Wyatt. Finishing behind him in the second position was the 42 car with John Dickerson behind the wheel. Finishing third in heat number one was the 572 of Keith Young. The rest of the field was unable to finish the heat race.
Heat race number two had five cars take the green flag. There were more cars able to finish this heat which was won by Jason Neel in the 94N. Neel took an early lead and never looked back. Finishing in second place, from the fourth starting position, was the 45JR driven by Marshall Yount. Driving their racecar across the finish line in the third position was the 99 of Becky Alford.
The third and final heat race for the Super Street class included five cars. The drivers put on a show for the fans and Adam Brown took the win in the number 13 car with Matt Brown in second place, from the fourth starting position, in the number 11 car. Even though his car had smoke coming out the back for most of the race, Kevin Mosier crossed the line in third place in heat number three in the number 40 car.
For the Super Street class, the top two in each heat redraw for the main event to see where they will start within the first three rows. The redraw is something that the track does to kind of mix up the top six drivers a little bit making it more interesting. Anyways, it did not go unnoticed that we were at opening night after watching the Super Street main event. Due to the new time limit rule of one minute for each scheduled lap, the Super Streets only completed five laps of the 15 originally scheduled. Hopefully the opening night kinks have all been figured out. Jason Neel in the 94N took home the first Super Street Main Event win for the 2017 season. He drew the sixth starting spot in the redraw and managed to jump out front pretty early in the race to take home the trophy. Finishing in second place was Matt Brown in the 11 car from the fourth place starting position. If there was a “Hard Charger” Award it would go to the third place finisher of Joe Merritt in the 71 car. Joe raced his way into third from the 13th starting position. Another driver that was on the move was Kevin Mosier in the 40 car as he finished fourth from the ninth starting position with Adam Brown finishing right behind him in fifth place in the number 13 car.
Up next in last Saturday’s line up was the A-Modified class. The A-Modifieds had 16 cars in attendance divided into three heat races. The first heat race had six cars in it and taking the win was Tim Nash in the number 7 car from the fourth starting position. Nash took the win after a great battle with the 2016 A-Modified Champion Billy Smith in the 14 car. Smith took second place. Drew Henderson crossed the line in third place in the first heat behind the wheel of the number 2 car.
The second heat race had five cars originally scheduled to start but only four took the green flag due to a scratch. First place went to the 37 car driven by Brian Wolfmeier with the 15 car of Danny Resinger behind him in second place. David “Superdave” Chilton crossed the line in the third place position in his 69x car.
The third and final heat race for the A-Modified was action packed. Taking the checkered flag was Kodi Savage in the 25S car. Kodi was the 2016 B-Modified Champion. He moved up to the A-Modified class this year and started his A-Modified Rookie year off with a heat race win. Second place went to the 18x of Jeremy Greenwalt as he decided to climb back behind the wheel for the 2017 season. Crossing the finish line in third place was the 56 car of Jeff Asher.
Like the Super Streets, the A-Modifieds also have a redraw for the top two drivers in each heat race. Brian Wolfmeier redrew a fifth place starting position and he drove that 37 car to the front and took home the trophy in the main event. Finishing in second place, from the ninth starting position was the 56 of Jeff Asher with Kodi Savage in the 25s behind him in third place. Danny Resinger brought home a fourth place finish in his number 15 car and in fifth place was Jeremy Greenwalt in the number 18x car.
The third class on the night was the 410 Sprint Car class. The Sprint Car class had 20 cars in attendance divided into three heat races. The first heat race included seven cars with only six taking the green flag and only two taking the checkered. Finishing in first place was Kameron Key in the number 21 car. Jeff Wurst finished second in the number 88 car and even though he did not finish, Andy McElhannon was given third place in the 42 car.
Heat number two for the Sprint Cars had seven cars start the race. Taking the checkered flag was Joey Montgomery behind the wheel of the 35 Sprint Car. In second place, from the fifth starting spot was Robbie Standridge in the 17*. From the sixth starting positon, the 7c of Tommy Worley Jr crossed the finish line in third place.
The third and final heat race for the Sprint Cars had six cars in it. Joe B. Miller took the checkered flag in the 51b car in heat number three. The 87 of Kent Buckley finished second in heat number three after starting in the sixth position and Kevin Petty finished third in his 72 car.
The Sprint Car class is the only class that is running a dash for the 2017 season. The top two cars for each heat draw to see who starts where in the dash which they will then race to see who starts where in the main event. Taking the checkered in the dash was the 87 of Kent Buckley with Joey Montgomery finishing second place in the 35 car and Joe B. Miller taking third in the 51b.
The main event for the Sprint Cars was action packed from beginning to end. After 25 laps of racing, Joe B. Miller took home the trophy in the 51b Sprint Car after a pass for the lead in the later laps. In second place was Joey Montgomery in the 35 car. Joey led the start of the race and put on a great show for the fans along with the rest of the field. Finishing third was Kent Buckley in the 87 car with Andy McElhannon finishing fourth in the 42 car. Crossing the finish line in the fifth place spot was Tommy Worley Jr. in the 7c car.
The final class for the night was the B-Modified class. The B-Modifieds had 22 cars in attendance divided into three heat races. Heat race number one had eight cars take the green flag and the 3d of Lou Driemeier took the checkered flag from the fourth place starting position. Driving his way into second place was Jeremy Welborn in the 27w from the eighth starting position. Bring the car across the line in third place was the number 2 car of Eric Sarakas.
Heat race number two had six cars take the green flag and the 44 of Darryll Dickerson took the win all the way from the last starting spot. Finishing in second place was Kyle Wilde in the 39 car after starting fourth. Bringing the car across the line in third place was the 85g of Joe Giesler.
The third and final heat race of the class and night had seven cars take the green flag. Taking the win, from the fifth starting position was Mike Savage in the 05 car. Shane Blair took second in the 10s after spinning early in the race. Rookie of the Year contender Chasten Boen crossed the line in third place in the 21 car after starting seventh.
Like the Super Streets and A-Modifieds, the B-Modifieds also had the top two in each heat redraw to see where they started. Taking the win in he was Shane Blair in the 10s car after redrawing the third starting position. Finishing behind him in second place was the 3d of Lou Driemeier from the sixth redraw starting position. The 05 of Mike Savage crossed the line in third place with Josh Hauf bring home the fourth place finish in the 25h car. The fifth place finisher was Joe Giesler in the 85g car from the eighth starting position.
St. Francois County Raceway
April 8th, 2017
Sprint Cars
Heat 1:
1. 21 Key
2. 88 Wurst
3. 42 McElhannon
4. 32 Tim Montgomery
5. 26 Campbell
6. 3B Greer
7. 99G Gretzmacher
Heat 2:
1. 35 Joey Montgomery
2. 17* Standridge
3. 7C Worley
4. 67 Boyd
5. 55 Todd
6. 28 Keith
7. 21P Parmeley
Heat 3:
1. 51B Joe B. Miller
2. 87 Buckley
3. 72 Petty
4. 2K Kempin
5. 83 Cruea
6. 44T Carylon
Dash:
1. 87 Buckley
2. 35 Joey Montgomery
3. 51B Joe B. Miller
4. 17* Standridge
5. 21 Key
6. 88 Wurst
Feature:
1. 51B Joe B. Miller
2. 35 Joey Montgomery
3. 87 Buckley
4. 42 McElhannon
5. 7C Tommy Worley, Jr.
6. 17* Standridge
7. 67 Boyd
8. 2K Kempin
9. 21 Key
10. 88 Wurst
11. 83 Cruea
12. 55 Todd
13. 44T Carlyon
14. 32 Tim Montgomery
15. 72 Petty
16. 28 Keith
17. 3B D. Greer
18. 26 Campbell
19. 99G Gretzmacher
20. 21P Parmeley
B-Modified
Feature:
1. 10S Shane Blair
2. 3D Lou Driemeier
3. 05 Savage
4. 25H Hauf
5. 85G Geisler
6. 25 Denayer
7. 39 Wilde
8. 27W Welborn
9. 21 Boen
10. 2 Sarakas
11. 8 Lowry
12. 27J Crump
13. 12 Overbeck
14. 30GR Gibson
15. 13D D. Driemeier
16. 67M McNail
17. 5B Williams
18. 19C Canterberry
19. 77T Thurman
20. 44 Dickerson
A-Modified
Heat 1:
1. 7 Tim Nash
2. 14 Billy Smith
3. 2 Henderson
4. 4m Scott Jarrett
5. 12 Gerdes
6. 28 Singleton
Heat 2:
1. 37 Wolfmeier
2. 15 Resinger
3. 69X Chilton
4. 21R Slade
5. R7 Forster
Heat 3:
1. 25S Savage
2. 18X Greenwalt
3. 56 Asher
4. 99 Burrows
5. 51 D. Resinger
Feature:
1. 37 Brian Wolfmeier
2. 56 Jeff Asher
3. 25S Savage
4. 15 Resinger
5. 18X Jeremy Greenwalt
6. 69X Dave Chilton
7. 4M Scott Jarrett
8. 12M Gerdes
9. 99 Burrows
10. 28 Singleton
11. 7 Nash
12. 51 Dean Resinger
13. 14 Billy Smith
14. 21R Slade
15. 2 Henderson
16. R7 Forster
Super Streets
Feature:
1. 94N Neal
2. 11 M. Brown
3. 71 Merritt
4. 40 Mosier
5. 13 A. Brown
6. 32 Hicks
7. 21W Callahan
8. 44M M. McCullough
9. 99 Alford
10. 42 Dickerson
11. 44C C. McCullough
12. 572 Young
13. 67 Wyatt
14. 45JR Yount
15. 44R R. McCullough
16. 2H Hazlett