Pevely, MO (April 26, 2003) Mother Nature dropped almost two inches of rain on I-55 Raceway on Friday, therefore track crews only put a minimum amount of water on the track during preparation on Saturday. However, it became obvious after the first set of hotlaps that the track needed more water, so promoter Ray Marler put his crews back to work on the track immediately. After a short delay to the start of the program, the racing went by fast.

In the U.M.P. Late Model division, after two early cautions, the race went the final twenty-one laps non-stop. Ed Dixon, who started on the outside of the front row, jumped out to the early lead and it appeared he was going to run away and hide from the rest of the field. However, Tim Ratajczyk stepped up and provided a tough challenge to Dixon. The two fought hard through lapped traffic, but it was Dixon taking the checkered flag first. Kevin Gundaker came home third. Jim Durbin moved up from his eighth place starting position to take fourth and Kyle Steffens was fifth. Late Model point leader Mark Oller recovered from a hard crash in his dash and finished ninth in the feature, the last car on the lead lap.

Dennis Richards took his first U.M.P. Modified feature, holding off a tough challenge from Brian Worley. Worley was able to pull along side Richards several times in the closing laps, but each time Richards held off the challenge. Bobby Bittle kept the pressure on both of those guys as well and he came home third. Rusty Griffaw recovered from a disqualification in his heat because his car was leaking fuel to finish fourth. Griffaw started the feature in the twenty-second position. Doug Wood brought home one of his best finishes ever in a modified as he took fifth.

It proved to be a tough night on the point leaders, U.M.P. Modified point leader Scott Weber made contact with another car in his heat and slammed the inside wall going into turn one. Weber was then late getting on the track for the semi feature and was two laps down before he made his way to the track. He failed to qualify for the feature event.

In the AARA Sportsman division, it appeared Todd McGraw was going to take his second straight feature as he had opened up a full straight-away lead with just five laps remaining. But a late race caution bunched up the field and Paul Bauman, who started seventh, used the high side to move past McGraw and take the win. McGraw was second, Scott Stuppy third, Dave Jenkins fourth and Ron Imm fifth.

Robbie Hoffman moved past his mom with just two laps to go to claim the AARA Wannabee feature. His mom, Sharon Hoffman took second and Dave Heinrichs third.

U.M.P. Late Models 22 Entries

Heat 1: 1. 47 Danny Haynes, 2. 112 Tim Ratajczyk, 3. 11 Kevin Gundaker, 4. 2J Dave Jumper

Heat 2: 1. 8 Kyle Steffens, 2. 77 Clay Baumann, 3. 50 Ed Dixon, 4. 10 Andy Pryor

Heat 3: 1. 3D Jim Durbin, 2. 27 Kenny Helmick, 3. 51 Jody Wood, 4. 82 Roger Brickler

Dash: 1. 47 Danny Haynes, 2. 50 Ed Dixon, 3. 112 Tim Ratajczyk, 4. 8 Kyle Steffens

Feature: 1. 50 Ed Dixon, 2. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 3. 11 Kevin Gundaker, 4. 3D Jim Durbin, 5. 8 Kyle Steffens, 6. 77 Clay Baumann, 7. 2J Dave Jumper, 8. 9B Chuck Baird, 9. 67 Mark Oller, 10. 82 Roger Brickler, 11. 46 Paul Belken, Jr., 12. 28 Don Klein, 13. 82 Billy Laycock, 14. 51 Jody Wood, 15. 70 Rich Lawson, 16. 47 Danny Haynes, 17. 27 Kenny Helmick, 18. 441 Brian Wolfmeier, 19. 10 Andy Pryor, 20. 1D Dean Hoffman, 21. 44 Dean Motsinger, DNS. 23 Brian Garner

U.M.P. Modifieds 35 Entries

Heat 1: 1. 9W Doug Wood, 2. 89 Bobby Bittle, 3. 95B Jim Beisher, 4. 45 Eric Franklin

Heat 2: 1. 21 Dennis Richards, 2. 166 Brian Worley, 3. C4 Chris Soutiea, 4. 444 Matt Simpson

Heat 3: 1. 18 Brent Thompson, 2. 70 Josh Russell, 3. 45M Eric Mabery, 4. Z34 Steve Zelch, Jr.

Heat 4: 1. 1W Ray Walsh, 2. 8 Kirk Murphy, 3. 6 Ray Wagner, 4. 59 Rich Whaley

Dash: 1. 9W Doug Wood, 2. 21 Dennis Richards, 3. 89 Bobby Bittle, 4. 166 Brian Worley

Consi: 1. 56 Kevin Epperson, 2. 16 Rusty Griffaw, 3. 58D David Shepard, 4. 41 Larry Hull, 5. 22X Clint Eckenrodt, 6. 82 Glen Miller, 7. 4J Scott Weber, 8. 32 Eldred Winebaugh, 9. 58 Eugene Hoffman, 10. 14K Loren Knox, DNS. 68 Andy Pryor, DNS. 7M Kevin Moffett, DNS. 51 John Hoffman, DNS. 99 Brian Wolfmeier, DNS. 35 Paul King

Feature: 1. 21 Dennis Richards, 2. 166 Brian Worley, 3. 89 Bobby Bittle, 4. 16 Rusty Griffaw, 5. 9W Doug Wood, 6. 6 Ray Wagner, 7. 45M Eric Mabery, 8. 56 Kevin Epperson, 9. X1 Dave Sandage, 10. 444 Matt Simpson, 11. 12 Tom Ratajczyk, 12. Z34 Steve Zelch, Jr., 13. 8M Kirk Murphy, 14. 23 Dylan Sharp, 15. 41 Larry Hull, 16. 22X Clint Eckenrodt, 17. 70 Josh Russell, 18. C4 Chris Soutiea, 19. 1W Ray Walsh, 20. 95B Jim Beishir, 21. 58 David Shepard, 22. 8X James Reed, 23. 45 Eric Franklin, 24. 59 Rich Whaley

**Brent Thompson scratched from feature

AARA Sportsman 26 Entries

Heat 1: 1. 00 Scott Stuppy, 2. 66 Darren Holland, 3. 24 Paul Bauman, 4. 01 Steve Borgetti

Heat 2: 1. 10 Todd McGraw, 2. 75 Ron Imm, 3. 3P Bob Prince, 4. 72 David Grzywacz

Heat 3: 1. D5 Dave Jenkins, 2. 7 Craig Wodicker, 3. 411 Marty Heck, 4. 50 Eric Rudd

Dash: 1. 10 Todd McGraw, 2. 00 Scott Stuppy, 3. D5 Dave Jenkins, 4. 66 Darren Holland

Feature: 1. 24 Paul Bauman, 2. 10 Todd McGraw, 3. 00 Scott Stuppy, 4. D5 Dave Jenkins, 5. 75 Ron Imm, 6. 3P Bob Prince, 7. 66 Darren Holland, 8. 50 Eric Rudd, 9. 38D Mark Blanke, 10. 15 Randy Dietzel, 11. 19 Jimmy Cummins, 12. 01 Steve Borgetti, 13. 411 Marty Heck, 14. 27 Nathan Walsh, 15. 72 David Grzywacz, 16. 64 Lee Bowers, 17. 53 Dwight Scott, 18. 93 Jeff Honea, 19. 111 Zac Parks, DNS. 4 Ricky Horton, DNS. 46 Greg Stumbaugh, DNS. 98 David Bardin, DNS. 86 Doug Kim, DNS. 69 Mark Hunter, DNS. 23 Mark Schnurbusch, DNS. 7 Craig Wodicker

AARA Wannabees 14 Entries

Heat 1: 1. 72 Stan Cain, 2. 2 john Honaker, 3. 6 Joe Gruhala, 4. 57 Don Hoffman

Heat 2: 1. 21 Dave Heinrichs, 2. 3 Craig Truman, 3. 8 Pat Brewer, 4. 99 Robbie Hoffman

Feature: 1. 99 Robbie Hoffman, 2. 58 Sharon Hoffman, 3. 21 Dave Heinrichs, 4. 2 John Honaker, 5. 8 Pat Brewer, 6. 3 Craig Truman, 7. 72 Stan Cain, 8. 01 Robert Denny, 9. 8 Ken Williams, 10. 49 Dennis Harris, 11. 188 Gary Price, 12. 6 Joe Gruhala, 13. 57 Don Hoffman, 14. 77 Ron Lyons