Billy Moyer, Gary Cook, Jr. and Darrin Kohler take wins at Kankakee County Speedway!

jdearing

Administrator
Staff member
by Paul D. Bayne

The eagerly anticipated UMP Summernationals Tour returned to the Kankakee County Speedway for tour stop #2 of the grueling 27-stop "Hell Tour". A capacity crowd was on hand to welcome fifty-two late model competitors representing nine states, all with their eye on the $10,000 top prize.
Five 10-lap heat races were needed, with the top three from each transferring into the 40-lap feature event. The remainder of the 21 car field was filled with three B main transfers and three UMP provisional's.

Matt Miller of Ohio, took the first heat, holding back Brian Birkhofer, who worked his way past Illinois driver Steve Sheppard Jr. in the closing laps.

Two-time defending UMP Summernationals champion Dennis Erb Jr. won the second heat after leader Jeep Van Wormer of Michigan got crossed up with a lapped car late in the heat race. Van Wormer recovered though in time to hold off local driver Ted Loomis.

The third heat was all Billy Moyer's. The driver from Batesville, AR led wire-to-wire to score the win with relative ease, but the battle for second and third saw a pair of home state drivers, Ryan Unzicker and Kevin Weaver, secure the final transfer spots.

Heat four was a terrific battle between Wisconsin's Terry Casey, Indiana's Scott James, and Illinois drivers Rodney Melvin and Eric Smith. James would get by Casey midway through the race, with Melvin holding back Smith for the final transfer spot.

The fifth and final heat race went to Missouri driver Will Vaught, but hot on his heels were a pair of local favorites Jason Feger and Shannon Babb.

Jason McBride and young Brandon Sheppard each won C Main events to transfer themselves into the B Main, and while Sheppard would climb to a sixth-place finish in the B Main, neither would get into the transfer positions for the A Main. Randy Korte easily won the B Main event over Brian Shirley and Wes Steidinger. UMP provisional's went to Justin Ratliff of Kentucky, and Eric Smith of Illinois, while Aaron Ricketts was awarded the track's provisional by virtue of being the current point leader at KCS.

When the field rolled off, it was Billy Moyer and Matt Miller making up the front row, followed by Dennis Erb and Scott James in row two, and Will Vaught and Brian Birkhofer in row three. From the drop of the green flag, Moyer looked to establish control of the race by taking his Victory Circle M1 chassis to the hub, while Miller committed himself to the high side. Moyer wasted no time showing his early dominance as he built up a straight-away lead over Miller, James and Erb. Miller would briefly grab the lead from Moyer on lap 15, but that only served as a wake up call to Moyer to drop the hammer.

However, with ten laps to go, Miller would have his hands full with a tricky berm at both ends of the track and coming off turn four his car slowed after wrestling the berm. James, with no where to go, made a sudden move to the left to avoid Miller's car and in doing so, made contact with Erb, who was looking to scramble his way by both drivers on the inside. The end result was a flat left rear tire on Erb's car and damage to James car. Both drivers were able to continue after a visit to the pits, but neither would factor in the end result. Though words got heated in the pits following the race, both were able to walk away and put the night's exchange behind them.

Their demise would allow Birkhofer to take over the third spot, but all eyes were on the trio of Babb, Feger, and Rodney Melvin, who were rocketing up through the field. Babb and Feger used the top groove while Melvin used the bottom. But with the laps dwindling down, Moyer would stretch out his lead once again to score the win and claim the $10,000 top prize. Miller came home second, holding off Birkhofer, while Babb would claim fourth after starting fifteenth. Melvin would sneak past Feger to grab fifth after starting fourteenth, while Feger started tenth. For his eleven position gain, Babb would earn the FastLane Web DeZigns Hard Charger award.

In UMP Modified action, former UMP national champion Denny Schwartz looked to have things well under control until a late race flat tire sent the Ashmore, IL driver pitside, thus relinquishing the lead to Gary Cook Jr., who has already scored a win two weeks ago at KCS. Cook would again pick up the win followed by Kankakee's own Phil Line, who rebounded very nicely from an ill car of a week ago. Lance Dehm finished third, while Danny Schwartz and Dave Porth rounded out the top five. The younger Schwartz, who began in fifteenth position, would earn the FastLane Web DeZigns Hard Charger award for improving eleven positions.

In street stock action, Darrin Kohler would score the win after starting fifth. Pole sitter and early leader David Hurst, making his first visit to KCS this season, finished second, while Nate Payton continued his string of good finishes with a third place. Point leader Rick Thomas finished fourth while "Electric" Joe Hillman rounded out the top five. Heat races were won by Hurst, Payton, and Thomas, while Don McCarty won the consi event. In other news, Shannon Shutter of Aroma Park, was involved in a violent hit with Dustin Hubert, after Shutters car slowed along the front stretch and was tagged in the rear by the oncoming Hubert. Shutter blacked out initially from the impact, and other than a lot of soreness and stiffness to his neck and back, will be alright to climb back in the car as early as next week.

Promoter Doug Judy was all smiles as he grabbed the microphone to address the overflow crowd. With such a tremendous turnout of fans and drivers alike, he announced to the crowd not once but twice, that tickets from the UMP Summernationals race will be good for half-off admission to next week's Father's Day Special, which features a $1,500-to-win UMP Modified Special and the first visit by the Illini (Midgets) Racing Series. Street Stocks and Hornets will also be on the card.

UMP Summernationals Tour Stop #2
52 Late Models
Overall Fast Qualifer - Jeep Van Wormer 13.968

Heat 1
1. 7 Miller
2. B15 Birkhofer
3. 5S Sheppard
4. 3S Shirley
5. 1W Walden
6. M27 Provenzano
7. 77M Morris
8. 5x Sievert
9. 11x Dimmick
10. 99J Dehm
11. 5* Dickinson

Heat 2
1. 28 Erb
2. 55 VanWormer
3. 23 Loomis
4. 16C Ratliff
5. 55T Toczek
6. 83 Bull
7. 92R Pleasant
8. 10 Parker
9. 10S Scheffler
10. 43 Gendusa
11. T111 Reiniche

Heat 3
1. 21 Moyer
2. 24 Unzicker
3. B12 Weaver
4. J1 Stiedinger
5. 30B Voight
6. 89 Friedman
7. 77J McBride
8. 35 Chandler
9. 74 Adams
10. 10x Schmidt

Heat 4
1. 83 James
2. 42 Casey
3. 27 Melvin
4. 9 Smith
5. 91 Logue
6. 92P Potts
7. B5 Sheppard
8. 13 Kreke
9. 99JR Heckenast
10. Z Harlan

Heat 5
1. 1V Vaught
2. 25 Feger
3. 18 Babb
4. 00 Korte
5. 1C Chamberlain
6. 95 Ricketts
7. 96 Daugherty
8. 1M Mataragas
9. 10H Hilleary
10. 0 Hedrick

C Main 1 (1 transfered to B main)
1. 77J Jason McBride
2. 5 x Bret Sievert
3. 13 Brent Kreke
4. 1M Mike Mataragas
5. 99JR Frankie Heckenast
6. 74 Russ Adams
7. 5* Brian Dickinson
8. 77M Jay Morris
9. 43 Alan Gendusa
10. 96 Cory Daugherty
11. Z Joe Harlan - no start

C main 2 (1 transfered to B main)
1. B5 Brandon Sheppard
2. 11x Steve Dimmick
3. 99J Jimmy Dehm
4. 92R Rusty Pleasant
5. 10H Don Hilleary
6. 10s George Scheffler
7. 35 Derek Chandler
8. 10x Scott Schmitt
9. 10 Pete Parker - no start
10. 0 Richie Hedrick - no start
11. T111 Bill Reiniche - no start

LM B Main (3 transfered to feature)
1. 00 Randy Korte
2. 3S Brian Shirley
3. J1 Wes Steidinger
4. 1C Duane Chamberlain
5. 9 Eric Smith
6. B5 Brandon Sheppard
7. 1w Donny Walden
8. 83 Scott Bull
9. 89 Daren Friedman
10. 77J Jason McBride
11. 92P Dick Potts
12. 16C Justin Ratliff
13. 30V Mark Voigt
14. 91 Kyle Logue
15. 55 Shawn Toczek
16. M27 Mike Provenzano
17. 95 Aaron Ricketts

FEATURE (40-laps, $10,000-to-win)
1. 21M Billy Moyer (1)
2. 7M Matt Miller (2)
3. B15 Brian Birkhofer (6)
4. 18 Shannon Babb (15)
5. 27 Rodney Melvin (14)
6. 25F Jason Feger (10)
7. 1V Will Vaught (5)
8. 3S Brian Shirley (17)
9. 00 Randy Korte (16)
10. B12 Kevin Weaver (13)
11. 42 Terry Casey (9)
12. 28E Dennis Erb (3)
13. 83 Scott James (4)
14. 24 Ryan Unzicker (8)
15. 55 Jeep VanWormer (7)
16. 16C Justin Ratliff (19) provisional
17. 9 Eric Smith (20) provisional
18. J1 Wes Steidinger (18)
19. 23 Ted Loomis (12)
20. 5S Steve Sheppard (11)
21. 95 Aaron Ricketts (21) provisional


36 Modifieds
Fast Time - 21S Denny Schwartz 15.308

Heat 1
1. 16 Griffaw
2. G4 Aimone
3. 21D Schwartz
4. 83 Balensiefen
5. 36L Lomax
6. P51 Hufford
7. 7K Myszkiewicz
8. 48 Pockrus
9. 41 McCarty
10. 74J Sanford

Heat 2
1. 35 J. Hastings
2. 42 Wenger
3. 70 Cooper
4. 36 K. Hastings
5. 20 Dixon
6. 47 Hayes
7. 06 Kortge
8. 22K Keller
9. 08 Wakeley

Heat 3
1. 21A Allen
2. 31 Bell
3. 10 Scripter
4. 24 Ransom
5. 6B Baldwin
6. 58 Carlson
7. 17 Martin
8. 0 Kohler
9. C4 Williams - no start

Heat 4 (fast heat)
1. 21S Schwartz
2. 7 Farris
3. 64 Cook Jr
4. 7R Robinson
5. 66 Line
6. 89 Spatola
7. D1 Dehm
8. 25P Porth

Mod Consi 1
1.. 20 Dixon
2. 83 Balensiefen
3. P51 Hufford
4. 0 Kohler
5. 24 Ransom
6. 48 Pockrus
7. 58 Carlson
8. 06 Kortge
9. 74 Sanford
10. 08 Wakeley

Mod Consi 2
1. 36L Lomax
2. 6B Baldwin
3. 36 K. Hastings
4. 47 Hayes
5. 41 McCarty
6. 17 Martin
7. 7K Myszkiewicz
8. 22K Keller - no start
9. C4 Williams - no start

FEATURE
1. 64 Gary Cook Jr (3)
2. 66 Phil Line (5)
3. D1 Lance Dehm (7)
4. 21D Danny Schwartz (15)
5. 21P Dave Porth (8)
6. 36L Jamie Lomax (17)
7. 7R Kent Robinson (4)
8. 70 Vince Cooper (16)
9. 16 Rusty Griffaw (9)
10. G4 George Aimone (12)
11. 89 Mike Spatola (6)
12. 42 McKay Wenger (13)
13. 35 Jason Hastings (10)
14. 21A Nick Allen (11)
15. 20 AJ Dixon (18)
16. 6B Dave Baldwin (19)
17. 31 Tom Bell (14)
18. 83 Nathan Balensiefen (20)
19. 21S Denny Schwartz (1)
20. 7 Jim Farris (2)
21. 10 Shawn Scripter - no start


33 Street Stocks
Heat 1
1. 8 Hurst
2. 23JR Funk
3. 1W Wirtz
4. 55 Wicker
5. 6 Hamilton
6. 12 Stevenson
7. 16 Turner
8. 68 Thompson
9. 44 Lenzen
10. V7 Glassford
11. 2T Tolliver


Heat 2
1. 99 Payton
2. 21K Kohler
3. 2 Roundtree
4. 75 Cleary
5. 43 Hubert
6. 52 Kingsnorth
7. 12x Pasek
8. 33G Gaus
9. 53 Carson
10. 46 Kroll
11. 36 Keen - no start

Heat 3
1. 23T Thomas
2. J01 Hillman
3. 5 Shutter
4. B13 Peters
5. 15G Gaus
6. V17 McCarty
7. 96 Malone
8. 59 Polak
9. 23 Hemp
10. 70H Huffman
11. 420L Woodruff


Consi (top 5 advance)
1. V17 McCarty
2. 59 Polak
3. B53 Carson
4. 12 Stevenson
5. 16 Turner
6. 46 Kroll
7. 23 Hemp
8. 68 Thompson
9. 96 Malone
10.. 52 Kingsnorth
11. 420L Woodruff
12. 70H Huffman
13. 33G Gaus
14. 12x Pasek - no start
15. 44 Lenzen - no start
16. V7 Glassford - no start
17. 2T Tolliver - no start
18. 36 Keen - no start

FEATURE
1. 21K Darrin Kohler (5)
2. 8 David Hurst (1)
3. 99 Nate Payton (2)
4. 23T Rick Thomas (3)
5. J01 Joe Hillman (6)
6. 1W Brian Wirtz (7)
7. 23JR Joel Funk (4)
8. 6 Jay Hamilton13)
9. 15G Eric Gaus (15)
10. 2 Brandon Roundtree (8)
11. 55 Billy Wicker (10)
12. B53 Brad Carlson (18)
13. V17 Don McCarty (16)
14. 59 Dave Polak (17)
15. 16 Robert Turner (20)
16. 75 Matt Cleary (11)
17. 12 Bill Stevenson (19)
18. 43 Dustin Hubert (14)
19. 5 Shannon Shutter (9)
20. B13 Brett Peters (12)
 




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