By: Betty Glynn
LaSalle, IL - Former Track Champion Frank Reaber rode the rails to slide past last weeks winner, Ryan Dauber of Tonica, during the final laps of a very wild night of racing. Saturday nights dropping temperatures weren’t enough to keep tempers in check for the third night of action at the LaSalle Speedway. It seemed as though the calendar was wrong and it was truly a Friday the 13th.
The Late Model field of sixteen feature starters hosted Dauber and LaSalle’s Mike Glynn on the front row with West Chicago’s Jay Fiene and Reaber in row number two over Bart Schwartz and Ritchie Bell. Once the green was signaled, Dauber took over all grooves available and powered his way into the lead with Fiene falling in behind him. By Lap 9, Dauber had generated a decent amount of real estate over a high running Reaber, Fiene, Glynn, Bell, and Schwartz.
During Lap 16, the caution was thrown for Bell who then left the field. Before the next lap could be scored, Glynn lost a driveshaft and Schwartz found himself into the backstretch concrete barrier. For the restart, three of the top six runners were out of commission and there were a mere eleven cars remaining in competition.
Dauber pulled away on the backstretch from Reaber with Fiene holding his own in third over Dixon’s Tim Hamburg, Tom Markham and Jason Bogle.
With only four laps remaining unscored, Reaber’s high groove run helped him gain ground and moved to the back bumper of Dauber. One lap later Reaber made a surprising bonzai move on Dauber and slid in front of him stealing the lead like a bandit in the night. Dauber, who successfully held the lead for twenty-two laps, then charged into the tail of Reaber but the veteran racer kept control and Dauber found himself in a spin into the infield area.
Dauber returned to the field and stopped in front of the leaders bringing out another unnecessary caution and eventually being ejected from the track surface but not before making contact again with Reaber under yellow.
With two to go, it was now a showdown between Reaber and Hamburg. Reaber scored the victory over Hamburg, who had come back after a frightening roll over during his heat event. Fiene collected third with Markham fourth, Bogle fifth in front of Travis Rokey, Larry Stotts, Ben Hamburg, Joe Burba and Joe Partipilo as the only ten finishers.
Dauber set fast time with a lap of 12.545. Reaber picked up the first Heat win over Glynn, Bell and Jim Loomis. Dauber hustled for the second win ahead of Fiene, Schwartz and Markham.
The Midwestern Late Model class had the best car count showing with an impressive twenty-four cars but struggled the most to get their eighteen car main event into the books.
The first scored five laps were a painful reminder of how cold the temperatures were getting. The score board didn’t seem to change much for a long period of time as the yellow flag was constantly being forced to fly.
Tonica’s Eric Dauber was fast to take the point with front row partner Brian Ray falling in behind him. Racing really did not start until at least seven laps were on the board. When the green stayed on for multiple laps it was Dauber over a lower running Bryan Moon, Eric Rebholz, Reno Markham and brother TJ Markham.
On the back stretch of Lap 13, Rebholz took command of the second place running spot after a quick side by side race with Moon
When the checkered dropped, it was Dauber taking home the trophy over Rebholz, Moon and Reno. John Heath charged his way from a tenth place start on the grid to earn a strong fifth in front of TJ, Mick Miller, Joe Dynek, Cody Sommer and Tony Coglianese.
Ralph Markham, Shane Hill and Moon each won their Heat races. Heath posted the fasted lap with a qualifying time of 13.654.
Nine Midwestern Sportsman drivers made their way back for the Saturday night action. Bobby Morgan carried the competition flag to flag with Jake Patterson, Tina Soberi, Rick Koltveit, Fleety Beltz, BJ Grabow, Duane McCarville, Scott Cimei and Aaron Schmitt finishing behind him. Morgan was later disqualified sacrificing the win to Patterson.
Cimei won the Heat as Patterson, Grabow and Soberi wrapped up the four top finishers for the only preliminary event.
The Hornets made their debut with nine cars signing in. Dave Roggy made a clean sweep of their divisional races. Tom Cain took second in the feature ahead of Jeff Seitz, Jeff Frank, Justin Rutledge, Troy Thompson, Johnny Barnas, Mike Stewart and Shane Whittington. The Hornets are scheduled to return to the speedway on June 25th.
The Street Stock divisional results were unavailable as a controversy during tech inspection left officials unable to make a decision until next week. After a lengthy meeting it was determined that more time would be needed to sort out the conclusion.
Next Saturday night, the Lucas OIL NARA Dirtcar Series paying $10,000 for the Spring Shootout tops the venue.
LaSalle, IL - Former Track Champion Frank Reaber rode the rails to slide past last weeks winner, Ryan Dauber of Tonica, during the final laps of a very wild night of racing. Saturday nights dropping temperatures weren’t enough to keep tempers in check for the third night of action at the LaSalle Speedway. It seemed as though the calendar was wrong and it was truly a Friday the 13th.
The Late Model field of sixteen feature starters hosted Dauber and LaSalle’s Mike Glynn on the front row with West Chicago’s Jay Fiene and Reaber in row number two over Bart Schwartz and Ritchie Bell. Once the green was signaled, Dauber took over all grooves available and powered his way into the lead with Fiene falling in behind him. By Lap 9, Dauber had generated a decent amount of real estate over a high running Reaber, Fiene, Glynn, Bell, and Schwartz.
During Lap 16, the caution was thrown for Bell who then left the field. Before the next lap could be scored, Glynn lost a driveshaft and Schwartz found himself into the backstretch concrete barrier. For the restart, three of the top six runners were out of commission and there were a mere eleven cars remaining in competition.
Dauber pulled away on the backstretch from Reaber with Fiene holding his own in third over Dixon’s Tim Hamburg, Tom Markham and Jason Bogle.
With only four laps remaining unscored, Reaber’s high groove run helped him gain ground and moved to the back bumper of Dauber. One lap later Reaber made a surprising bonzai move on Dauber and slid in front of him stealing the lead like a bandit in the night. Dauber, who successfully held the lead for twenty-two laps, then charged into the tail of Reaber but the veteran racer kept control and Dauber found himself in a spin into the infield area.
Dauber returned to the field and stopped in front of the leaders bringing out another unnecessary caution and eventually being ejected from the track surface but not before making contact again with Reaber under yellow.
With two to go, it was now a showdown between Reaber and Hamburg. Reaber scored the victory over Hamburg, who had come back after a frightening roll over during his heat event. Fiene collected third with Markham fourth, Bogle fifth in front of Travis Rokey, Larry Stotts, Ben Hamburg, Joe Burba and Joe Partipilo as the only ten finishers.
Dauber set fast time with a lap of 12.545. Reaber picked up the first Heat win over Glynn, Bell and Jim Loomis. Dauber hustled for the second win ahead of Fiene, Schwartz and Markham.
The Midwestern Late Model class had the best car count showing with an impressive twenty-four cars but struggled the most to get their eighteen car main event into the books.
The first scored five laps were a painful reminder of how cold the temperatures were getting. The score board didn’t seem to change much for a long period of time as the yellow flag was constantly being forced to fly.
Tonica’s Eric Dauber was fast to take the point with front row partner Brian Ray falling in behind him. Racing really did not start until at least seven laps were on the board. When the green stayed on for multiple laps it was Dauber over a lower running Bryan Moon, Eric Rebholz, Reno Markham and brother TJ Markham.
On the back stretch of Lap 13, Rebholz took command of the second place running spot after a quick side by side race with Moon
When the checkered dropped, it was Dauber taking home the trophy over Rebholz, Moon and Reno. John Heath charged his way from a tenth place start on the grid to earn a strong fifth in front of TJ, Mick Miller, Joe Dynek, Cody Sommer and Tony Coglianese.
Ralph Markham, Shane Hill and Moon each won their Heat races. Heath posted the fasted lap with a qualifying time of 13.654.
Nine Midwestern Sportsman drivers made their way back for the Saturday night action. Bobby Morgan carried the competition flag to flag with Jake Patterson, Tina Soberi, Rick Koltveit, Fleety Beltz, BJ Grabow, Duane McCarville, Scott Cimei and Aaron Schmitt finishing behind him. Morgan was later disqualified sacrificing the win to Patterson.
Cimei won the Heat as Patterson, Grabow and Soberi wrapped up the four top finishers for the only preliminary event.
The Hornets made their debut with nine cars signing in. Dave Roggy made a clean sweep of their divisional races. Tom Cain took second in the feature ahead of Jeff Seitz, Jeff Frank, Justin Rutledge, Troy Thompson, Johnny Barnas, Mike Stewart and Shane Whittington. The Hornets are scheduled to return to the speedway on June 25th.
The Street Stock divisional results were unavailable as a controversy during tech inspection left officials unable to make a decision until next week. After a lengthy meeting it was determined that more time would be needed to sort out the conclusion.
Next Saturday night, the Lucas OIL NARA Dirtcar Series paying $10,000 for the Spring Shootout tops the venue.
