Central Missouri Speedway (CMS) Reflects on 2010 and Sets its Sights on 2011 Season!

jdearing

Administrator
Staff member
By Sam Stoecklin
CMS Public Relations
October 15, 2010
(Warrensburg, MO)
It’s been just over a month since the race season concluded at CMS with Jason Thompson (Modifieds), Jason Bodenhamer (ULMA Late Models), Brian Johnson (Street Stocks), and Brad Smith (B-Modifieds) earning the track championships in their respective divisions. CMS will recognize its champion drivers and many more during the annual Central Auto Racing Boosters (CARB) banquet on Saturday, December 4, 2010. The event will take place at 11730 N. Ambassador Drive in the KCI Expo Center with social hour at 4:30, dinner at 5:30, and awards at 6:30. Tickets for the banquet are $35 each and may be purchased by sending payment to Karen Darling, 1811 Linn Ave, Marshall, MO 65340. Deadline to purchase tickets is November 15, 2010. CMS will hand out trophies and point fund monies to its top tier drivers during its portion of the CARB banquet throughout the evening.

Jason Thompson earned his championship through sheer determination and consistent finishes throughout the season, which included two main event wins and seven heat race victories. It was Thompson’s first-ever track championship at CMS after competing at the track off and on for many years. Dustin Boney claimed the most modified feature wins this past season with eight feature wins. He captured two of the track’s big-money specials, including the $5,000-to-win annual BBQ Bowl in July and the Memorial Day special in May, he also finished second in the Labor Day special, which was won by Johnny Bone, Jr. Defending track champion Aaron Marrant claimed one feature win, with Luke Feeback (one win) and Rick Beebe (two wins) also claiming one of the $1,000-to-win weekly CMS ‘Mighty’ Modified main events.

Even though Jason Bodenhamer came up a few points shy of winning this year’s overall ULMA title, he did claim his first-ever CMS track championship in fine form with a dominating performance in the late model division. Bodee came away with eight feature victories, double that of his closest competitor, defending track champion Jon Binning, who earned a very respectable four victories. Bob Test, Steve Clancy, and Bob King also scored main event wins. Late model competition at CMS is very strong with no less than five CMS regulars finishing inside the top ten in the overall ULMA standings. Bodenhamer also claimed the biggest late model win at the track with a $1,500 victory during the annual BBQ Bowl race weekend in July.

Brian Johnson defended his last year’s championship in the Street Stock division and claimed his third CMS overall track championship. Johnson visited victory lane six times in main events and also took the checkers nine times in heat-race action on the road to his 2010 title. In one of the most competitive street stock seasons in recent memory, no less than eight different drivers visited victory lane, which included John Brooks with four wins including the annual $1,500-to-win street stock special and Dean Wille with two wins. Chad Eickleberry, Adam Portzen, Dustin Boney, James McMillin, and Donnie Dannar each scored one victory apiece. It is interesting to note that John Brooks’ car went to victory lane at CMS on eight occasions this season with Brooks, Wille, Boney, and McMillin scoring the wins.

Complete domination is the only way to sum up another outstanding year for Belton, Missouri driver Brad Smith. Smith easily claimed his first-ever CMS championship by taking the checkered flag 12 times in feature race wins, the second year in a row in that he reached double-digit victories. Smith matched his feature wins with an equal number of 12 heat victories as well and also claimed the annual B-Mod $1,500-to-win special event late in the season. Although Smith dominated, there were fierce battles among the rest of the field with a contingent of young and eager drivers claiming the other B-mod feature wins, including Chris Brockway, Jeremy Lile, Dalton Kirk, Jacob Ebert, and last year’s champion Ethan Isaacs. Modified racing is in good hands with this deeply talented group of drivers competing at CMS in the b-mod ranks each weekend.

CMS hosted twenty races and experienced six rained out events this past season. Average car counts were 29.9 in the modifieds, 15.8 in late models, 16.5 in street stocks, and 20.5 in b-mods. There were 196 heat races contested among the four divisions, as well as eight b-features, and 64 main events for a total of 268 races. There were 93 modified drivers, 36 late model drivers, 47 b-mod drivers, and 47 street stock drivers who appeared on the final point standings for the track (numbers do not include drivers competing in non-track point special events only). A total of 228 drivers earned track points this season with 30 drivers having perfect attendance competing in all eligible points-earning race nights.

Looking ahead to next season, promoters Earl and Susan Walls will begin their eighteenth year of owning and promoting the track. Original plans were to continue facility improvements on the back side of the speedway but those plans have been put on hold for now in favor of sprucing up some of the Pitside buildings. Last year, all new facilities were built for the fans on the front straightaway side of the speedway and were met with cheers by the fans. Walls said he intends to continue improving the facility each year that he operates the track but wanted to focus on actual track surface improvements during this off-season. He has already added another 30 loads of clay to the track and track prep man, Don Abney, has already worked the new clay into the surface. Drivers will notice a visible difference next year to the track, especially in the turn-four area as the configuration has slightly changed to promote even more multi-groove racing that the CMS fans have come to expect over the years.

One of the highlights of next year’s schedule and surely one of the most anticipated events in the Greater Kansas City metro will be the first-ever appearance of the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS) at the track on Saturday, April 16, 2011. The USMTS event will serve as the official kickoff to the season. CMS is proud to announce this event and is looking forward to hosting this race, which has been the most requested event at CMS for several years now among both fans and drivers alike. The regular race season actually starts a week earlier than normal next season and will follow the USMTS event on Saturday, April 23 with all four divisions in action, there will be one practice session, which will take place on April 9, 2011 in the evening. Once again, modifieds will race for big money three times throughout the year including the annual Memorial Day ($3,000 to win), Independence Day ($5,000 to win/$1,000 to start), and Labor Day ($3,000 to win) special events throughout the summer. ULMA Late Models, Street Stocks, and B-Modifieds will also race for bigger purses on their designated special-event nights. There are plans to continue working with other series for additional special events next year, including open-wheel action.
Rules for the modified, street stock and b-modified divisions will remain the exact same for next season. ULMA will again sanction the CMS late model action for the fifth-consecutive year with a rules update to be released in the coming weeks regarding some rules clarifications. The track will not hold its annual January meeting for registration but will instead announce a registration meeting for the March time frame. Registration will be available at the annual Bodee’s Racer’s Auction and Trade Show in Sedalia in January at the CMS table, stay tuned to future CMS press releases for more details. There have been some revisions to CMS grandstand admission prices for next season, which may be found at www.centralmissourispeedway.net. In addition to the admission information, the tentative schedule may also be found on the web site. The track is considering the use of the one-way RaceCeiver radios for next year. Registered drivers from the 2010 season are encouraged to voice their yes or no vote on using the radios and may cast their vote by sending a message to the track’s new public relations email address at TrackReport@centralmissourispeedway.net. This same email address may also be used to join the track’s email newsgroup by drivers and fans.

The speedway wishes to thank its 2010 Business Partners for their great support during the 2010 season, they include Waterloo Storage Products, KOKO AM 1450 Radio, Comfort Inn Warrensburg Station, KMMO Radio, LJS Graphics, the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, 98.5 FM The Bar, RSC Equipment Rental, Heartland Waste, KDKD FM 95.3, Bad Boy Mowers, and Midwest Coating. We look forward to continuing to provide the fans and drivers the best ran show in the business again next year and encourage you to stay tuned to future press releases and announcements regarding CMS!
 




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