Bell chimes loudly under full moon at La Salle Speedway

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By: Betty Glynn

La Salle, IL – The superstitions about the moon's affect has existed for centuries. Whenever a full moon is glowing in the night sky, the lunar effect is blamed for all that goes awry. Everyone knows it's not safe to go out on a bright moonlit night (despite the good lighting) for fear of werewolves, or, even worse. Well that is how the story goes anyway.

The full moon illuminated the high banks of the La Salle Speedway Saturday night and left many wondering if that was cause to a crazy night at the races. With recent rains most of us have noticed the soil is saturated and the rain has no where left to go leaving massive puddles in areas we don’t normally see filled. Things are no different with the clay oval. As track preparers worked the surface the moisture was coming back up to the top creating a challenge for those who were trying to prep the speed arena. After a delayed start, it seemed as though things just were all out of whack in nearly every division.

Due to the delay, the Late Model and Modified qualifying had to be replaced with heat positions based on the draw system and the feature lineup determined straight up by the heat finishes.

Rich Bell started the first heat contest on the front row and wasted little time leaving the competition in the dust. Lil’ John Provenzano scored second ahead of Joe Fratt and Keith Piano. Wisconsin driver Bret Sievert also started on the front row outside and pulled away from the competition to win the second heat. Bill Rezutek took second in front of Bill Weistart Jr. and Mike Provenzano.

Bell’s victory earned him the coveted feature pole position next to Sievert. Behind the pair, was last week’s winner Lil’ John Provenzano and then Rezutek. Sievert shot to the lead early with Bell on his tail. It was a rocky start with several cautions slowing the action from the get go. During Lap 5, the corner between turns one and two played host to a six car pile up.

At the restart, Bell was put in the lead and started to pull away from the competition evening taking the action three wide as he lapped rides in the rear of the field. Sievert and Lil’ John found themselves side by side with Sievert always able to keep his nose in second.

Bell won the twenty five lapper with Sievert continuing in a strong second ahead of Mike Provenzano who beat his father Lil’ John to the line for third. Mike Glynn charged his way into the fifth place finish from a fourteenth start on the grid. Keith Piano finished sixth ahead of Rezutek, Mark Larson, John Piccatto and Randy Manos.

Twenty four Modified drivers signed in but either the full moon was to blame or it was just a bad night for the class. The corner between turns one and two seemed cursed as lap after lap cars spun in the corner bringing the caution flag out more than green.

The scoreboard was inoperable due to being struck several times by the recent bad storms so counting the laps during the Modified feature was a challenge to say the least. It didn’t seem as though the field of twenty four could travel more than one lap under the fast pace they are capable of without a stopped ride somewhere on the high banks. That somewhere was almost always in the corner of turns one and two. The event turned into a marathon of sorts taking around thirty five minutes until track officials called the event before all scheduled laps could be scored. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem as though there were even ten laps in the books when they dropped the checkers.

Vince Cooper took the victory for the second week in a row in solo action. He was out front without contest leaving Phil Line in the runner up position with AJ May, Kevin Thompson, Tim Loomis, Dale Lueth, Steve Brooks, Dale Manson, Matt Gremminger, Derrick Doerr and Jeramie Johnson crossing the line after him.

Line won the first heat over Marty Thompson, Kevin Thompson and Tom Knippenberg. Cooper claimed the second heat without another ride close by beating Justin McCoy, Loomis and Brad Stewart. Justin Munson won the final heat race ahead of a hard fought battle between May and Lueth who were side by side at the line. May narrowly held the second spot followed by Lueth and Brooks.

Brandon Maciejewski dominated the Street Stock division claiming both their heat and feature races. His ability to avoid contact and sail thru lapped traffic enabled him to pull away from the competition in their feature event.

Like the Mods the corner of turns one and two was continuously hosting a stalled machine. Seventeen started but only eight were still rolling at the conclusion.

Rickels took home second from a third place start over Randy Lucas, Mike McKinney, Orin Naramora, Steve Schwemlein, Wayne Huffman and Ande Bivens.

Maciejewski beat Rickels to the line for the first heat with Kevin Snowberger taking third in front of Huffman. Jake Miller won the second preliminary race in front of Steve Lewis and Mike Hughes.

Twelve cars were on tap for the 4 Cylinder Hornets. The best feature racing of the night may have come from this class of drivers. With action on the track more than yellows it was a nice ending to a long night.

Phil Burdette took the pole with JR Brown on the outside. By the third lap, Burdette looked strong leading but fell off the pace and out of competition. Two laps later, a four wide battle for the point was underway between Jerry Legner, Brown, DJ Kilanowski and Rick Wagner. Legner won that battle but Brown was still knocking on his door.

With two laps to go, Brown stole the lead as the leaders raced hard with lapped traffic in front of them. Legner took second ahead of Wagner, Kilanowski, Rick Zifko, DenisPollak, Dustin Forbes and #13R.

Burdette beat Kilanowski to the line for the first heat win while Josh Trahan took third over Forbes. Brown claimed the second heat with Legner, Zifko and Wagner behind him.

The evenings feature winners also claimed their heat contests in every division.

Next Saturday night, the La Salle Speedway will host their annual spectacular fireworks display for the Fourth of July along with the regular racing program.


La Salle Speedway Scoreboard Results

UMP Late Models – 18 Cars
Heat #1: Rich Bell, John Provenzano, Joe Fratt, Keith Piano
Heat #2: Bret Sievert, Bill Rezutek, Bill Weistart Jr., Mike Provenzano
Feature: Rich Bell, Bret Sievert, Mike Provenzano, John Provenzano, Mike Glynn, Keith Piano, Bill Rezutek, Mark Larson, John Piccatto, Randy Manos, Bill Weistart Jr., Joe Fratt, Jon Small, Todd Alexander, Ed Williams Jr., Aaron Schmidt, Jeff Small, Travis Mahoney

UMP Modifieds – 24Cars
Heat #1: Phil Line, Marty Thompson, Kevin Thompson, Tom Knippenberg
Heat #2: Vince Cooper, Justin McCoy, Tim Loomis, Brad Stewart
Heat #3: Justin Munson, AJ May, Dale Lueth, Steve Brooks
Feature: Vince Cooper, Phil Line, AJ May, Kevin Thompson, Tim Loomis, Dale Lueth, Steve Brooks, Dale Manson, Matt Gremminger, Derrick Doerr, Jeramie Johnson, Mike Marden, Ken Fischer, Brad Stewart, Tom Knippenberg, Justin Manson, Scott Hauge, Geno Hewitt, Don Cole, Chadd Gray, Marty Thompson, AJ Dixon, Justin McCoy, Joe Adam

UMP Street Stocks – 19 Cars
Heat #1: Brandon Maciejewski, Roger Rickels, Kevin Snowberger, Wayne Huffman
Heat #2: Jake Miller, Mike McKinney, Steve Lewis, Mike Hughes
Feature: Brandon Maciejewski, Roger Rickels, Randy Lucas, Mike McKinney, Orin Naramoca, Steve Schwemlein, Wayne Huffman, Ande Bivens, Tim Provenzano, Duane Peterson, Mike Hughes, Nick Sell, Wesley Elkins, Steve Lewis, John Hogue, Kevin Snowberger, Jake Miller

UMP Hornets – 12 Cars
Heat #1: Phil Burdette, DJ Kilanowski, Josh Trahan, Dustin Forbes
Heat #2: JR Brown, Jerry Legner, Rick Zifko, Rick Wagner
Feature: JR Brown, Jerry Legner, Rick Wagner, DJ Kilanowski, Rick Zifko, Dennis Pollak, Dustin Forbes, 13R, Aaron Sutton, Josh Trahan, Asa Robart, Phil Burdette
 




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