Since 2005 the Midway Speedway has always held a special fireworks show along with an exciting racing program. Despite the extreme high temps,the show went on as racing action got back underway saturday Night at the Lebanon dirt track.
After being away from the dirt track action for a couple of seasons, 2 time track Modified champion Jason Otto found his way back into victory lane as he took advantage of leader DeWayne Hobbs issues to get his first win of the 2012 racing season in the Modified class.
Hobbs grabbed the opening lead from pole setter Brian Myers and looked untouchable until he pulled to the infield on lap 8.Otto had beeb running a strong second place and found himself in the right place as point leader Ted Ballinger gave chase. A late race caution on lap 13 for Michael Jones spinning around bunched the field-up and would give Ballinger a last chance for the win. Otto withstood the Ballinger charge in taking the win with Ballinger, Bill Schaar,Brian Myers and Tony Fincher rounding out the top 5.
Buffalo’s Mark Simon brought out the broom tonight as he took home 4 wins in 4 races by capturing both the Factory Stock and Street Stock features along with the qualifying heat races.
In the Factory feature,Simon started inside row 2 as 2 time champion Tyson Troutman jumped to the opening lead with Dylan Keepper,Simon and points contender Bob Gustin following.
Simon moved into second place on lap 2 and started to run down Troutman as double wide fast paced action followed.Simom caught Troutman and on lap11 made the winning pass as Troutman had Keepper and Gustin quickly coming along with Matt Miller.Simon would then hold off a late surge by Dylan Keepper to take the win as Troutman slowed on the final lap.After the winner Simon was Keepper,a photo finish with gustin getting the spot over aq fast moving Matt Miller and point leader Tim Petty in the top 5 rundown.
Simon made the night complete by taking the lead on the opening lap in the Street Stock feature and never looked back in his 7th win and first in the last 4 races at Midway. Joe Francis finished in the runner-up position with Brandon Henderson rounding out the top 3. Lady driver and feature winer Karla Lampe saw her night end early after she hit the wall on the opening lap.
Pure Stock point Rob White moved around leader Caleb Starnes on lap 8 after coming from the 11th starting slot. Starnes set the early fast pace as Tyler Schoen and Matt Young stayed close while White was moving in and out of traffic. Once on front tonight, White would leav the race for second as Starnes and Monk Barker went back and forth.Young joined the pack as the rookie Starnes was having a great run tonight.Up front it was all White with the win as Starnes runer-up spot would go away after an issue in tech developed.This moved defending champion Young,Monk Barker,Stacye Francis and John Dowell in the top 5.
A new winner this season would take the honors in the Midwest Modified class as 2 time champion Little JC Newell made a rare apperance. Newell took advantage of the front row starting spot and grabbed the lead from Travis Hill leading al 15 laps. Points leader Sam Petty worked his way from the 9th starting spot,but never had a chance to get to Newell.After the top two were Travis Hill, Jamie Petty and Les Hayes as a wild feature sent several to the pits early.
Racing action resumes Saturday Night with Racing at 7:30PM featuring Factory Stocks, B Modifieds,Pure Stocks,Street Stocks and Midwest Modifieds.
Factory Ft-1-Mark Simon 2-Dylan Keepper 3-Bob Gustin 4-Matt Miller 5-Tim Petty 6-Trevor Ellingson 7-Tyson Troutman 8-Brandon Waters 9-Mike Murzynski 10-Frank Escamilla 11-Josh Lewis
B Modifieds-1-Jason Otto 2-Ted Ballinger 3-Bill Schaar 4-Brian Myers 5-Tony Fincher 6-Tim Ballinger 7-Michael Jones 8-DeWayne Hobbs
Pure Stocks-1-Rob White 2-Matt Young 3-Monk Barker 4-Stacye Francis 5-John Dowell 6-Jim Alexstates 7-Bo Alexstates 8-Christopher Sawyer 9-Scott Lampe 10-Russell Ireland 11-Tyler Schoen 12-Zeb Keepper DQ-Caleb Starnes
Midwest Modifieds-1-JC Newell 2-Sam Petty 3-Travis Hill 4-Jamie Petty 5-Les Hayes 6-Bennie Joiner 7-Billy Pearce 8-Chris Cheever 9-Keith Cheever 10-Dustin Brown
Street Stocks-1-Mark Simon 2-Joe Francis 3-Brandon Henderson 4-Richard Adams 5-Karla Lampe