Lebanon, Mo.- Defending Nascar Missouri State and Lebanon I-44 Speedway Pro Late Model Champion Brian Brown of Strafford held back several challenges from Mandy Chick and Rookie Jake Piel in taking his 1st Pro Late Model feature win of the season in Nascar Whelen All-Amiercan Series Action on K and N Filters Night at the races.
Brown, originally from Lebanon took the opening lead from Chick on the start from the front row. Setting a quick pace, Chick stayed close to Brown playing a very patient pace in the 30 lap caution free feature. Fast qualifier Mike Slone who started 3rd in the featurte fell back on the start slipping back into 5th spot during the early stages. At the 15 lap mark, Chick started picking-up her pace and moved to the inside of the leader Brown several times coming off turn 2 as Piel of St. Louis really closed-up the gap on the lead duo making it a 3 car battle while Steve Holt and Slone were dicing for 4th spot. Up front Chick again made several moves on Brown, But Brown would hold back the attempts as Piel was making his presence known. On lap 17, Holt pulled to the pits with problems ending his run for a podium finish as Slone started his march to the lead trio.With 5 laps remaining, Brown opened-up a 3 car advantage of Chick to take his 1st win of the season with Chick recording her career best finish runner-up spot with Piel, Slone and Tim Swearengin completing the top 5.
For Brown, an oil line fitting came loose during practice, the same issue as he felt on opening night but repaired the issue. The win was sweet as the winner had knee surgery 4 weeks ago, but the Speedway had suffered 2 rainouts and took the Memorial weekend off giving him some healing time.
” We tested last week here with Mandy’s team helping her get this new car dialed-in. She was really good off turn 2, but I was a bit better off 3. When asked about the run that Piel and a late surge by Slone, the winner said he only wanted to know about where the 23 car ( Chick), was. I needed to concentrate on hitting my marks and it really helped tonight. Slone set fast time in qualifying with a lap of 14.834 with Brown 2nd quick with a 14.856 as Slone redrew a 3 inverting the fastest 3. Brown captured the Late Model dash while Holt took the qualifying heat.
Current NASCAR Modified point leader Ricky Icenhower moved around leader David Bates on lap 5 and pulled away late to capture his 2nd win of the season. Lebanon’s Chris Johnson and Harrisonville’s Joe Bunkers brought the field to the green as ollowing a lap 1 caution, IcenhowerBates quickly made a move around to lead the opening lap with Johnson and fast qualifier Icenhower following. After a lap 1 caution, Bates was trying to keep the distance as Icenhower movd around Johnson for 2nd place and set his sights on the leader as Brian Lewis was following through also. The lead duo ran side by side until Icenhower made the winning pass on lap 5 on the high-side as Bates stayed close early but the long green flag run played to Icenhower in pulling away. Following the winner across the line was Bates, a fast moving Brian Lewis, Johnson and Richard Lewis who moved from the 10th starting spot to finish 5th. Icenhower set fast time in qualifying for the 3rd time in the races with a time of 15.509 while Bates was 2nd quick with a lap of 15.725 and Bunkers in his 1st start of the season at 15.819.Wayne Lewis capturd the Qualifying position heat while Bates took home the dash win.
In NASCAR Street Stock action Lebanon’s Aaron Douglas used a lap 11 caution to close-up some ground on leaders Jordan Nisbett and Michael Juergensen in taking his 2nd win of the season after starting back in 9th place on the start. Lebanon’s Tony Johnson  took the openng lead on lap 1 as 2015 champion Jordan Nisbett sliced through to grab the lead on lap 2 as Johnson, Nick Cherry, Steve Shaw and opening night winner Michael Juergensen were swapping positions.With Nisbett holding the top spot, Johnson was closing the ground along with a fast moving Juergensen. Juergensen took over 2nd place on lap 6 as the action was plenty behind as Douglas was still in the 6th spot. Action slowed on lap 11 as Nick Cherry and Aaron Wilke made contact sending Cherry Spinning closing the gap. Nisbett was holding back Juergensen as Douglas had moved right even with Juergensen as the trio were giving each other room. On the final lap, Douglas was able to clear Juergensen and then picked-off the top spot from Nisbett in a near photo finish. Following Douglas across were Nisbett, Juergensen, Tony Johnson and Nick Cherry. Douglas set a new Street Stock qualifying record with a lap of 17.196 seconds while Juergensen had also broke the track record with a lap of 17.249 with Nisbett 3rd quick at 17.677. The old record was 17.270 set in May by Juergensen. Steve Shaw and point leader Nisbett won the respective heats.
NASCAR Charger point leader Ronnie Taylor used a lap 8 caution to close the gap on leader Jerry Ellis and pulled the winning move following the restart and then held back a late race surge by Ellis and Justin Blake in taking his 2nd win of the season. Action was a plenty as Justin Gantt caught the frontstetch wall on the start gtherintg up Travis Watson forcing the restart. Ellis quickly took the opening lead while Blake and Taylor followed. The top 3 stayed in a tight line while Breken Johnson and rookie Parker Ellis were swapping 4th place. The caution waved for a fast moving Parker Ellis spin in turn 3 bunching the pack-up. On the restart Taylor pulled to the top side around Ellis and pulled away to a 5 car advantage only to see the battle between Ellis and Blake saw the duo close ground back quickly. Following Taylor to the finish were Jerry Ellis, Blake, Nik Taylor and Luke Oster as both Taylor and Oster had struggled early bu rallied back strong. Ronnie Taylor established a qualifying Charger record in qualifying with a lap of 19.037 seconds. Blae was secong quick with a lap of 19.255 and Ellis 3rd quick with a lap of 19.275. Nik Taylor and Jerry Ellis recording heat race wins.
Action conitunes next Saturday night with a full NASCAR Whelen All-American Series show featuring NASCAR Pro Late Models, NASCAR Modifieds, NASCAR Street Stocks and NSCAR Chargers. A special Motorcycle Stunt Show is planned to perform during the action.
For more information visit the website at WWW.I44Speedway.Net and keep-up on the action on the Facebook Page.
Results K and N Filter Night.
NASCAR Pro Late Models
A Ft.-1) Brian Brown-Strafford 2) Mandy Chick-Desoto, KS. 3) Jake Piel-St. Louis 4) Mike Slone-Rolla 5) Tim Swearengin-Springfield 6) Ronnie Hartford-Raytown 7) Steve Holt-Strafford 8) Jimmy Fohn-Eldridge DNS-Jimmy Van Zandt-Springfield, Terry Limberopolous-Cuba
Dash-1) Brown 2) Chick 3) Piel 4) Slone
Qualifying Ht.-1) Holt 2) Hartford 3) Swearengin 4) Van Zandt 5) Fohn DNS-Limberopolous
Fast Qualifiers 1) Slone 14.834 2) Brown 14.856 3) Chick 14.917 4) Piel 15.010
NASCAR Modifieds
A Ft.-1) Ricky Icenhower-Fair Grove 2) David Bates-Fair Grove 3) Brian Lewis-Willard 4) Chris Johnson-Lebanon 5) Richard Lewis-Willard 6) Mark Riddle-Springfield 7) Joe Bunkers-Harrisonville 8) Wayne Lewis-Springfield 9) Phil Harris-Springfield 10) Chris Kerperian-Lebanon
Dash- 1) Bates 2) Icenhower 3) B. Lewis 4) Johnson 5) Bunkers
Qualifying Ht.-1) W.Lewis 2) R. Lewis 3) Riddle 4) Harris 5) Kerperian
Fast Qualifiers-1) Icenhower 15.509 2) Bates 15.725 3) Bunkers 15.819
NASCAR Street Stocks
A Ft.-1) Aaron Douglas-Lebanon 2) Jordan Nisbett-Lebanon 3) Michael Juergensen-Lebanon 4) Tony Johnson-Lebanon 5) Nick Cherry-Springfield 6) Riley Sharp-Fair Grove 7) Aaron Wilke-Bridgeton 8) Robert Douglas-Camdenton 9) Steve Shaw-Rogersville DNS-James Ellis-Richland, Rocky Teske-Lebanon, Zack Morgan-Springfield
1st Ht.-1) Shaw 2) Cherry 3) R. Douglas 4) Sharp 5) Teske DNS-Ellis, DNS-Morgan
2nd Ht.-1) Nisbett 2) A.Douglas 3) Johnson 4) Juergensen 5) Wilke
Fast Qualifiers-1) A.Douglas 17.196 NTR 2) Juergensen 17.249 3) Nisbett
NASCAR Chargers
A Ft.-1) Ronnie Taylor-Springfield 2) Jerry Ellis-Richland 3) Justin Blake-Osage Beach 4) Nik Taylor-Bolivar 5) Luke Oster-Osage Beach 6) Breken Johnson-Lebanon 7) Parker Ellis-Richland 8) Kameron Farmer-Springfield 9) Travis Watson-Lebanon 10) Justin Gantt-Highlandville
1st Ht.-1) N. Taylor 2) Watson 3) Johnson 4) P. Ellis 5) Farmer
2nd Ht.-1) J. Ellis 2) Blake 3) R. Taylor 4) Gantt 5) Oster
Fast Qualifiers-1) R. Taylor 19.037 2) Blake 19.255 3) Jerry Ellis 19.275