Springfield,Mo.-With over 100 race tems in the pits Sat Night,Pepsi Back To School night at the races carried an emotional beginning as drivers said good bye to a devoted racefan while defending USRA Modified Champion Mitch Keeter got back on track by holding off repeated challanges from John Yeoman in grabbing his third feature win at the Quick-Quarter.

After becoming ill late last weekend, Springfield Raceway fan Wanda”Granny” Jefferies had passed away and the drivers said their final goodbye to her with a 3 wide salute to start the program off with every racecar on the track and drivers outside their cars while the pole position was left open.After telling about the love Granny had for the Quick-Quarter, and her story from last seasons banquet in which she was given a season long pass.The drivers filed single-file back to the pits while her son-in law B Mod driver Larry Tindle was the last car to leave as he carried the checkered flag in a polish victory lap for her honor while God Bless The USA was played over the PA.The last race Mrs Jeffries attended she was able to see her car win the Reliable Chevrolet B-Mods Special 2 weeks ago as Tindle captured the win.

The action put everyone in high gear for the features as small lightning stroms moved through the area.

Budweiser USRA RHS Modified defending champion Mitch Keeter grabbed the opening lead from his pole spot as 3 wide action was the call of the night.With Keeter setting a fast pace, Darrell Jackson,Jerry Lankton,Brian Green,Turkey classic winner Jody Tillman and others fought for position.The first caution flew on lap 8 as Tillman slowed in turn 1 after making contact in the battles ending the points runner-up night.Keeter pulled away again on the restart while Jerry Lankton was riding a smooth race and well known area engine builder John Yeoman III began his charge forward.The only other caution flew on lap 12 as last weeks winner Bobby Pearish spun in front of Jackson and hard-charging Robbie Bryant.Both drivers kept going with sheet metal damage as point leader Jackie Dalton ducked into the pits with a flat tire.Keeter would find Yeoman pull even with him as for the next 8 laps they went side by side with Keeter keeping his front bumper ahead at the stripe.Keeter claimed the hard earned victory as Yeoman III,Lankton,Steve Martin and Green completed the top 5 as 14 of the 17 starters were on the lead lap.

Reliable Chevrolet GM Performace B-Mod action saw Tyler Chainey take the opening lead with a star-studded field battling early while Darrin Crisler stood a solid second and 3 wide action was the call.With Chainey looking for his first ever feature win,Point contenders Bobby Maggard Jr and JC Morotn were picking their way forward.During the long green run,veteran Scott Drake after starting 9th tonight found the low groove to his liking as he began forward progress.On lap 9,following a restart,Chainey found Drake to his inside as the Webb City veteran took over the lead as 13th starter Andy Beauchamp had fought to the front runners.The red flag flew on lap 10 as Chainey spun in front of B Feature winner Sean Williams,and Chris Ratterree collecting them.Morton ducked into the pits to change a slow leaking tire and restarted at the end of the field.On the restart,Drake would pull away with his 602 GM Performance Crate motor to take the win with great action following for the runner-up spot.Gary Rodocker charged on the final restart to grab runner-up honors while Morton rallied for third with Maggard Jr and Beauchamp completing the top 5.

Casey’s General Stores Midwest Modz action saw 21 cars take the green flag with rookie Michael Page grabbing the early lead.Page would slow 2 laps later as Ken Walker grabbed the lead with Matthew Thulin following.For several laps Thulin tried to get around Walker,but a couple of cautions kept the young Miami,Oklahoma driver in the runner-up spot.On lap 7,Thulin took control and grabbed his first win of the season as last weeks winner Sam Petty mounted a late race challange to record the runner-up spot with point leader Trevor Drake,Shane Bias and Gary Krebs completing the top 5 as 15 of the 21 starters finished on the lead lap.The 1st annual Rob Burgess Memorial for Midwest Modz will be in 2 weeks with a whopping $500 to the winner.

Current Pepsi-StreetStock point leader Bryan Tillman got back in his winning ways as he took the lead from Tim Petty on lap 2 and never looked back.Last weeks winner Sundance Keepper rallied from an early spin to charge back to grab the runner-up spot while Brian Schutt,Petty and Steve Morton completed the top 5.The StreetStocks car count keeps going upwards as new area FactoryStock drivers are trying out the quick-quarter oval.

Defending Legends Champion Justin Comer got back into his winning form as he battled Jay Reynolds.Colt Pruente grabbed the opening lead only to spin around causing a restart.Rodney Baird took over the lead with Paul Horton,Billy Cottrill and a fast moving Reynolds following.Reynolds took the lead as Justin Comer kept applying pressure along with Tyler horton.Point leader Dave Comer recovered from ans early spin to mount a charge also.In the closing laps,Comer pulled away with T horton moving around Reynolds to take the runner-up spot as Reynolds,point leader Dave comer and Billy Cottrill completed the top 5.Points runner-up Park Jones was not on hand tonight and third in the points Wayne johnston blew a motor in his heat race allowing Dave Comer to pull away even more and making the battle for second even tighter.

In Wheeler Metals PureStock action second generation driver Jeremy Thulin took the opening lead and was looking for his first ever win at SpringfieldRaceway.Setting a fast pace things looked good for the young driver until a lap 6 caution bunched the field-up.Springfield’s James Redus took advantage of the restart and drove around Thulin on the top side to grab the win with points leader Jack Hamer battling Wayne Morris for the second place honors as Hamer secured the spot.Early leader Thulin and Philip Schloesser completed the top 5.

Action continues next Sat night Aug 13th with Deer Lake Golf And Fitness Night with a contest awarding $100 to the person who can get the golf ball closest to the pin contest along with the Transport Graphics Championship Chase featuring USRA Modifieds,Midwest Modz,Legends,FactoryStocks and Purestocks.B-Mods have the Night off.Grandstand Gates open at 5 with hotlaps at 6:30 and Racing at 7:15.

Pepsi-Back To School Night Results

USRA Modifieds

A Ft-1)Mitch Keeter-Webb City 2)John Yeoman III-Granby 3)Jerry Lankton-Lampe 4)Steve Martin-Ozark 5)Brian Green-Piercre City 6)Erik Maggard-Brighton 7)Robbie Bryant-Willard 8)Darrell Jackson-Carthage 9)Billy Dalton-Exeter 10)Kyle Slagle-Pierce City 11)Jackie Dalton-Carthage 12)Eric Lampe-Springfield 13)Dairian Hendrix-Joplin 14)Dwight Neihoff-Lockwood 15)Nathan Cottrell-Nixa 16)Bobby Pearish-Oronogo 17)Jody Tillman-Branson

1st Ht-1)Keeter 2)Dalton 3)Jackson 4)Pearish 5)Lampe 6)Slagle

2nd Ht-1)Tillman 2)Martin 3)Lankton 4)Hendrix 5)Maggard 6)Neihoff

3rd Ht-1)Yeoman III 2)Bryant 3)B Dalton 4)Green 5)Cottrell

   B-Mods

A Ft-1)Scott Drake-Webb City 2)Gary Rodocker-Willard 3)JC Morton-Springfield 4)Bobby Maggard Jr-Republic 5)Andy Beauchamp-Springfield 6)Jared Thulin-Miami,Okla 7)Ryan Stacye-Fair Grove 8)Darrin Crisler-Clever 9)Kaleb Copher-Webb City 10)Derek Watson-Willard 11)Jon Yeoman Jr-Granby 12)Bill Schaar-St robert 13)Ted Ballinger-Halfway 14)Don Luna-St James 15)Reuben Ellis-Sarcoxie 16)Larry Tindle-Springfield 17)Tyler Chainey-Springfield 18)Sean Williams-Willard 19)Chris Ratterree-Mt Grove 20)Shawn Strong-Republic

B Ft(Top 4 advance) 1)Williams 2)Ballinger 3)Ratterree 4)Schaar 5)Jeff Frohwitter- 6)Mike Green-Springfield 7)Mike Mansker-Republic 8)Kenny Carter-Bolivar 9)Blake Ellis-Sarcoxie DNS-Wayne Graybeal-Springfield,Tim Ballinger-Fair Grove,Michael Maggard-Springfield

1st Ht-1)Crisler 2)Rodocker 3)Tindle 4)Beauchamp 5)Ted Ballinger 6)Schaar 7)Graybeal

2nd Ht-1)Copher 2)Maggard Jr 3)Thulin 4)R Ellis 5)Mansker 6)Tim Ballinger DQ-Williams(Light At scales)

3rd Ht-1)Luna 2)Chainey 3)Drake 4)Yeoman Jr 5)Carter 6)Frohwitter 7)M Maggard

4th Ht-1)Morton 2)Strong 3)Watson 4)Stacye 5)B Ellis 6)Green 7)Ratterree

   Midwest Modz

A Ft-1)Matthew Thulin-Miami,Okla 2)Sam Petty-Niangua 3)Trevor Drake-Webb City 4)Shane Bias-Springfield 5)Gary Krebs-Clever 6)Rusty Forrest-Ozark 7)Monte Padgett-Joplin 8)Randy Belk-Joplin 9)Shawn Eggeman-Willard 10)David Lynch-Webb City 11)Ken Walker-Springfield 12)Chase Coffman-Springfield 13)Brian Warner-Phillipsburg 14)Jordan Green-Rolla 15)Todd McGregor-Clever 16)Taylor Moore-Bois D’Arc 17)Brad Graves-Bolivar 18)Kourtney Stevens-Springfield 19)Dakota Maggard-Republic 20)Michael Page-Webb City DQ-Ryan Hendrix-Joplin(Light At Scales)

1st Ht-1)Page 2)Padgett 3)Drake 4)Forrest 5)Maggard 6)Coffman 7)Belk

2nd Ht-1)Thulin 2)Petty 3)Eggeman 4)Hendrix 5)McGregor 6)Stevens 7)Graves

3rd Ht-1)Bias 2)Walker 3)Krebs 4)Moore 5)Lynch 6)Green 7)Warner

   Legends

A Ft-1)Justin Comer-Joplin 2)Tyler Horton-Joplin 3)Jay Reynolds-Springfield 4)Dave Comer-Joplin 5)Billy Cottrill-Joplin 6)Matt Gruenburg-Joplin 7)Paul Horton-Joplin 8)Colt Pruente-Aurora 9)Bill Cottrill-Joplin 10)James McDugle Jr-Quapaw,Okla 11)Rick Nichols-Cassville 12)Charles Gaines-Miami,Okla 13)Doug Wilson-Joplin 14)Rodney Baird-Oldfield 15)Skyler Looney-Republic 16)Brian boucher-Joplin DNS-Wayne Johnston-Rolla

1st Ht-1)Baird 2)D Comer 3)P Horton 4)McDugle Jr 5)Bill Cottrill 6)Reynolds 7)Gaines 8)Johnston

2nd Ht-1)J Comer 2)Pruente 3)Gruenburg 4)Nichols 5)Billy Cottrill 6)Boucher 7)Looney 8)Wilson 9)T Horton

  FactoryStocks

A Ft-1)Bryan Tillman-Branson 2)Sundance Keepper-Everton 3)Brian Schutt-Lebanon 4)Tim Petty-Niangua 5)Steve Morton-Clever 6)Keith Webster-Highlandville 7)Bobby Maggaard Sr-Brighton 8)Caleb Chapman-Nixa 9)Brent Raulston- 10)Mike Bitner-Pittsburg,Kansas DNS-Mark Davis-Grovesprings  Corey Pritchard-Wheatland

1st Ht-1)Keepper 2)Schutt 3)Morton 4)Chapman 5)Bitner DNS-Pritchard

2nd Ht-1)Tillman 2)Petty 3)Webster 4)Maggard Sr 5)Raulston 6)Davis

 PureStocks

A Ft-1)James Redus-Springfield 2)Jack Hamer-Ava 3)Wayne Morris-Miami,Okla 4)Jeremy Thulin-Miami,Okla 5)Philip Schloesser-Clever 6)Lenny Bell-Willard 7)Bret Testerman-Joplin 8)Richard Sparks-Springfield

1st Ht-1)Hamer 2)Thulin 3)Redus 4)Bell DNS-Derek Lankford-Springfield

2nd Ht-1)Morris 2)Testerman 3)Schloesser 4)Sparks