By: Betty Glynn
La Salle, IL – Just when you think you have seen it all in dirt track racing, you realize there are still plenty of shocking scenarios yet to come. Saturday night the action at La Salle Speedway wasn’t the hard chargers riding the outer rim of the high banks or running the bottom line. For two divisions it was side by side battles in the infield of all places. Yes, you read right – the infield. Prior to the Late Model’s twenty five lap feature, track prep crews watered the bottom of the track and just inside the infield to help cut down on the dust. Their efforts may have eliminated some dust there but it also ended up giving a great bite and a tacky surface for drivers to feed off of.
UMP Late Model’s:
Wisconsin racer Russ Scheffler turned the quickest lap with a time of 13.235. He then hit the track full speed ahead to claim the fast qualifier heat contest over Bret Sievert, Keith Piano, and Scott Schmitt. Jason Jaggers outran Mike Glynn for the second heat victory with Nathan Balensiefen third in front of Aaron Schmidt. Tom Smith took the third heat checkers over Rich Scheffler, Jon Small and Jeff Small.
Twenty four Late’s rolled into the spots earned for the main event’s starting grid knowing they had twenty five laps ahead of them. What couldn’t have been planned was that the race was going to go so low on the track that it was as if cars were flat out racing in the infield area. A spot dedicated to track officials, fire crews, photographers, victory circle and inoperable rides. Not the typical race at the Illinois Valley speed arena.
Russ Scheffler was on the pole with fellow Wisonsin racer Sievert on the outside as Piano and Schmitt took the second row ahead of Rich Bell and Randy Manos. Once the green light was illuminated, the dust was flying and the leader got a bit sideways sending a domino effect thru the field leaving three cars stopped causing the caution. After the restart, Sievert throttled his power plant to pull away from Schmitt who already had a solid second over Scheffler and Piano. A caution brought them back together. It didn’t take long for the leaders to start three way battles with lapped rides using the infield to get it done. During the tenth circuit, the machine of Bobby Morgan Jr. heated up with flames under the chassis causing the field completely stop.
As the field restarted, Russ Scheffler had a birds eye view of his competition and quickly charged for the lead under Sievert. He succeeded on the back stretch of Lap 11. Once in command he flew under the lower rim of the track dodging lapped cars from the infield. With four laps to be scored, Sievert charged just as low to challenge Russ for the point. He managed to pass him in the infield but a caution stopped the run. At the restart of Lap 22, Sievert tried a different approach and went too high even tapping the outer wall of turn two. He quickly changed his mind and flew to the bottom. As the two came into the final turns they were battling hard in the infield again but Russ crossed the line first to take the checkers.
Sievert picked up the second place finish ahead of Mike Provenzano, Bell, Schmitt, Bob Cullen, Jaggers, Piano, Manos, Jeff Small, Rich Scheffler, and Schmidt.
UMP Modified’s:
Twenty two UMP Open Wheel Modified racers were on hand for their divisional contests. Justin McCoy’s fastest lap of 14.715 topped the field of contenders. Dale Lueth beat McCoy in the first heat race with Kevin Thompson third over Phil Line. Mike Marden won the second heat race as Mark Grosvenor took second in front of Kevin Hughes and Tim Bohm.
The Modified feature race started with Lueth on the pole next to McCoy as Thompson and Line rolled to their second row starting spots. Once the green was signaled, Lueth took the lead but before lap two he was off his pace and fell back to third while Thompson took over. After a restart of Lap 8, Lueth had his power plant at full throttle and was making his move. He took back the point but caution for two cars in the twelfth circuit put him back to second. He wasted little time challenging Thompson charging under him to battle it out. He stole the lead before Lap 13. Three laps later, much of the field was running completely in the infield even farther in than the Late Model race just before them. With the dust billowing it became a scorers worst nightmare trying to keep track of the hard chargers.
Lueth and Thompson were putting on a great show with aggressive rubbing but then the tide turned. As Lueth came off of turn four to take the white flag, Thompson powered into the back of the leader’s ride causing him to spin and robbing the fans of a great showdown. He was sent to the tail while Thompson got the spot he desperately wanted, the lead. Quite an unfortunate ending to what could have been a great finish.
Tom Knippenberg took home second after an eighth place start over Matt Gremminger. Lueth charged hard during the final lap to score a fourth place finish in front of Line, Hughes, Charlie Harmon, Bill Theodorf, McCoy, Bohm, and Loren Grosvenor.
UMP Street Stock’s:
Kevin Snowberger won the first Street Stock heat race over Jake Miller, Mike McKinney, and Jamie Balensiefen. Roger Rickels charged hard to win the second heat ahead of Justin Hamm, Nick Sell and Justin Rutledge.
The Street’s were the first feature race running their show prior to the break. Nineteen cars rolled out ready for action. The first three laps had leaders Snowberger and Rickels door to door until McKinney pulled into the scene for a three wide contest. Caution during the third lap brought the field nose to tail for the restart. The unlucky Lap 7 took at least four attempts to get the lap scored. Once they got it rolling it was McKinney dashing away with the lead while Randy Lucas gave chase as Steve Lewis and Matt Ramer battled for the third place running spot.
With the white flag about to drop, Lucas looked to be making his move when a lapped ride shut his momentum down. As the leaders rounded the final turn, the challenge to the finish line was not to be seen. McKinney scored the victory ahead of Randy Lucas, Matt Ramer, Lewis, Jamie Balensiefen, Keith Lucas, Robert Cotton, Mike Hughes, Rutledge, and Miller.
UMP 4 Cylinder Hornets:
Allen Provenzano continued his wining ways with his complete sweep of the Hornet division. He was unstoppable for the second event in a row. First he came out and won the first heat race over Jon Provenzano, Andrew Schwarko, and Freddy Thatcher. JR Brown took home the second heat ahead of Phil Burdette, Steven Doherty, and Jeff Seitz.
Allen was victorious out of the fourteen starters in their feature. Evan Townsend finished a strong second ahead of Jon Provenzano, Burdette, Scott Redder, Brown, Rick Wagner, Thatcher, Crystal Provenzano Broyles, Mark Sutton, Schwarko, Brandon Mallory, Aaron Sutton and Doherty.
La Salle Speedway Results 6/4/11
UMP Late Models: 24 Cars
Qualifying: Russ Scheffler 13.235
Heat 1: Russ Scheffler, Bret Sievert, Keith Piano, Scott Schmitt
Heat 2: Jason Jaggers, Mike Glynn, Nathan Balensiefen, Aaron Schmidt
Heat 3: Tom Smith, Rich Scheffler, Jon Small, Jeff Small
Feature: Russ Scheffler, Bret Sievert, Mike Provenzano, Rich Bell, Scott Schmitt, Bob Cullen, Jason Jaggers, Keith Piano, Randy Manos, Jeff Small, Rich Scheffler, Aaron Schmidt, Ed Williams Sr., Darin Furar, Tom Smith, John Picatto, Lake Knutti, Allen Gendusa, Jon Small, Brian Locke, Ed Williams Jr., Bobby Morgan Jr., Mike Glynn, Nathan Balensiefen
UMP Modifieds: 22 Cars
Qualifying: Justin McCoy 14.715
Heat 1: Dale Lueth, Justin McCoy, Kevin Thompson, Phil Line
Heat 2: Mike Marden, Mark Grosvenor, Kevin Hughes, Tim Bohm
Feature: Kevin Thompson, Tom Knippenberg, Matt Gremminger, Dale Lueth, Phil Line, Kevin Hughes, Charlie Harmon, Bill Theodorf, Justin McCoy, Tim Bohm, Loren Grosvenor, Mike Marden, Travis Kohler, Dan Patnoe, Mark Grosvenor, Ken Fischer, Jason Kolbe, Steve Brooks, Geno Hewitt, Scott Hauge
UMP Street Stocks: 19 Cars
Heat 1: Kevin Snowberger, Jake Miller, Mike McKinney, Jamie Balensiefen
Heat 2: Roger Rickels, Justin Hamm, Nick Sell, Justin Rutledge
Feature: Mike McKinney, Randy Lucas, Matt Ramer, Steve Lewis, Jamie Balensiefen, Keith Lucas, Robert Cotton, Mike Hughes, Justin Rutledge, Jake Miller, Steve Schwemlein, Nick Sell, Keith Miller, Matt Henrichs, Ryan Weistart, Kevin Snowberger, Tim Provenzano, Justin Hamm, Roger Rickels
UMP 4 Cylinder Hornets: 15 Cars
Heat 1: Allen Provenzano, Jon Provenzano, Andrew Schwarko, Freddy Thatcher
Heat 2: JR Brown, Phil Burdette, Steve Doherty, Jeff Seitz
Feature: Allen Provenzano, Evan Townsend, Jon Provenzano, Phil Burdette, Scott Redder, JR Brown, Rick Wagner, Freddie Thatcher, Crystal Provenzano – Broyles, Mark Sutton, Andrew Schwarko, Brandon Mallory, Aaron Sutton, Steve Doherty