Farmer City (IL) Raceway
April 15, 2005
By Dan Stewart
The action at Farmer City Raceway heated up like the dog days of Summer on this cool April night. Twenty Seven late model drivers came to take home the feature win. After the time trials, track record holder Ryan Dauber ended up with fast time of 13.24 seconds. Heats went to Dauber over Benton, KY's Terry English, Joe Harlan and Steve Sheppard, Jr. Second heat went to Darin Friedman over Corey Turner, Joe Ross Jr and Jay Sparks. The third heat went to last week's feature winner Eric Smith over Matt Taylor, Donnie Walden and Steve Lance, Jr. Tim O'Donnell topped Ryan Unzicker for the semi-feature win. Feature time started with Ryan Dauber taking the early lead, surviving several yellow flags in the first 15 laps. But by lap 11, Joe Ross Jr had worked his way from his eighth place starting spot to take over second and set his sights on the leader, pulling alongside Dauber on lap 15, just as another caution came out. As they went to restart the race, Dauber went pitside with steering problems, handing the lead to Ross Jr. By lap 20, Matt Taylor had decided it was time for a win, and for the next three laps, Taylor and Ross Jr went side by side, with Taylor taking the lead for good just before the white flag came out. Taylor was followed to the checkers by Ross Jr, Joe Harlan, Terry English, who had fallen as far back as ninth, and Eric Smith rounding out the top five.
unofficial finish:
3L Matt Taylor
15 Joe Ross, Jr
Z Joe Harlan
96 Terry English
9 Eric Smith
1W Donnie Walden
89 Darin Friedman
17 Corey Turner
7 Jay Sparks
24 Ryan Unzicker
37 Rod Sandage
T33 Tim O'Donnell
25 Steve Lance, Jr.
The Sportsman class had Billy Nail and Steve Ewing winning heats, with Nail again winning the feature over Nick Macklin.
The Modified class also put on a great show for the fans, with heats going to Lance Dehm over Randy Huffman, Kyle Byerline over Gary Cook, Jr, and Jeff Leka over Nick Neville. The semi went to Jay Ledford over Brian Lynn. The modified feature had as much or more excitement as the late models. Randy Huffman took the initial lead, with third place starter Leka taking over on the second lap. Leka led until lap six, when he spun to the infield, never stopping, in sixth place. All eyes in the place were on him, as he took the low side in turns 1 and 2 and put his right rear against the wall in 3 and 4. While he was doing this, lap after lap, Kyle Byerline gave up the lead to Gary Cook Jr, but as they came around for the checkers, Leka muscled all he had and put his car in front for the very exciting feature win.
April 15, 2005
By Dan Stewart
The action at Farmer City Raceway heated up like the dog days of Summer on this cool April night. Twenty Seven late model drivers came to take home the feature win. After the time trials, track record holder Ryan Dauber ended up with fast time of 13.24 seconds. Heats went to Dauber over Benton, KY's Terry English, Joe Harlan and Steve Sheppard, Jr. Second heat went to Darin Friedman over Corey Turner, Joe Ross Jr and Jay Sparks. The third heat went to last week's feature winner Eric Smith over Matt Taylor, Donnie Walden and Steve Lance, Jr. Tim O'Donnell topped Ryan Unzicker for the semi-feature win. Feature time started with Ryan Dauber taking the early lead, surviving several yellow flags in the first 15 laps. But by lap 11, Joe Ross Jr had worked his way from his eighth place starting spot to take over second and set his sights on the leader, pulling alongside Dauber on lap 15, just as another caution came out. As they went to restart the race, Dauber went pitside with steering problems, handing the lead to Ross Jr. By lap 20, Matt Taylor had decided it was time for a win, and for the next three laps, Taylor and Ross Jr went side by side, with Taylor taking the lead for good just before the white flag came out. Taylor was followed to the checkers by Ross Jr, Joe Harlan, Terry English, who had fallen as far back as ninth, and Eric Smith rounding out the top five.
unofficial finish:
3L Matt Taylor
15 Joe Ross, Jr
Z Joe Harlan
96 Terry English
9 Eric Smith
1W Donnie Walden
89 Darin Friedman
17 Corey Turner
7 Jay Sparks
24 Ryan Unzicker
37 Rod Sandage
T33 Tim O'Donnell
25 Steve Lance, Jr.
The Sportsman class had Billy Nail and Steve Ewing winning heats, with Nail again winning the feature over Nick Macklin.
The Modified class also put on a great show for the fans, with heats going to Lance Dehm over Randy Huffman, Kyle Byerline over Gary Cook, Jr, and Jeff Leka over Nick Neville. The semi went to Jay Ledford over Brian Lynn. The modified feature had as much or more excitement as the late models. Randy Huffman took the initial lead, with third place starter Leka taking over on the second lap. Leka led until lap six, when he spun to the infield, never stopping, in sixth place. All eyes in the place were on him, as he took the low side in turns 1 and 2 and put his right rear against the wall in 3 and 4. While he was doing this, lap after lap, Kyle Byerline gave up the lead to Gary Cook Jr, but as they came around for the checkers, Leka muscled all he had and put his car in front for the very exciting feature win.
