Adrian, Mo. - On a night when race car drivers got together to honor a patriarch of the racing world, Vern Claiborne, the fans of Adrian Speedway in Missouri got to see a great race with a lot of different twists.
Local driver, Matt Johnson, held off a strong field of modifieds to win his 2nd Vern Claiborne Memorial Modified Top Gun Shootout. A great win, a super payday of $1,000 and a monsterous 6' tall trophy waited for Johnson after the win.
"It am really proud," said Johnson in the post race interview, "my guys have been working hard and we have had some tough breaks. I just this darn cast off my hand and I haven't gotten to drive with two hands yet, but it worked out pretty good."
It worked out good for Johnson, the first heat race winner of the night, who started the feature on the pole position for the feature.
Johnson jumped out to an early and commanding lead, but was challanged around the half way mark by another former champion of this event, Johnny Fennewald.
Fennewald came from his 2nd row outside starting spot to the 2nd position on the track. Not to be satisfied with the runner-up spot he made a move on the high side of turn 3 and went into the lead. Unfortunately for Fennewald, the yellow flag would come out on the speedway. This reverted him back to 2nd place.
Under the yellow flag, Fennewald would receive contact with Darren Roberts and when the race went back to green the damage would cause his tire to go down and relegate his finish to 16th in the A main.
Johnson after the yellow went back into race mode, and clicked off the remaining laps of the feature for the win. While going onto victory Johnson held off a strong field of modifieds to get the win.
Roberts would go on to finish in the 2nd spot while Chad Lyle finished 3rd. Fourth would go to a hard charging Tim Setzer and rounding out the top 5 was Justin Boney.
Both Setzer and Boney ended up splitting the In The Pits Hard Charger Award on the evening.
Heat race winners on the night were, Matt Johnson, Josh Poe, Chad Lyle, Johnny Fennewald and Darren Roberts.
Curtis Allen and Andy Claiborne laid claim to the B feature wins.
Fans of Adrian Speedway saw a great event on Saturday night. A total of 35 modifieds from 7 different states were on hand to compete in the event to put on by Andy Claiborne and the staff at Adrian Speedway. This race night held a lot of different stories, different characters and a race within a race.
The Signs by Robbie Customer Appreciation dash for cash was also ran for the fans on Saturday night. This meant that the race fans in attendance got to see 3 more heat races. Each competitor was a customer of Signs by Robbie and the top 2 from each heat went on to compete in the dash.
Local hot shoe, Eddie Bray Jr., came away with the win and the $200 top prize. Jerry Tarwater and Fennewald rounded out the top 3 on the dash.
Larry Sanders, a modified racer from Lampasas, Texas and a solider serving in Iraq, came back to sponsor the event and compete on the evening. Sanders only gets to come back to the U.S. 3 or 4 times a year to race, chose this race to honor his friend, Andy Claiborne.
Sanders' modified held a special wrap commemorating the event and it contained pictures he had taken in Iraq. Army helicopters, Sanders, himself, in Iraq and the logos of the U.S. Millitary gave life to this modified.
Race promoter Andy Claiborne was happy with not only the turnout of fans and racers, but also the way the event went on the night.
"It seems that every year this event is a lot of fun," said Claiborne, "The drivers aren't racing for points, some have some a long, long way to get here and everybody is in relaxed mode. It makes for a fun evening and I can't thank everyone enough."
Modified Results
Heat 1 - 1. Matt Johnson 2. Justin Gregg 3. Jerry Tarwater 4. Jim Wooton 5. Jesse Manning 6. Larry Sanders 7. Brian Hall
Heat 2 - 1. Josh Poe 2. Joe Walker 3. Steve Tiedeman 4. Wally Bauer 5. Tim North Jr. 6. Charlie Laizure 7. Chris Linares
Heat 3 - 1. Chad Lyle 2. Tim Setzer 3. Casey Jesseph 4. Travis Schippen 5. Craig Wood 6. Russell Moore 7. Jeramiah Reynolds
Heat 4 - 1. Johnny Fennewald 2. Justin Boney 3. Alex Hanson 4. Andy Claiborne 5. Dusty Campbell 6. Joshua Alig 7. David Hartsell
Heat 5 - 1. Darren Roberts 2. Gary Clark 3. Eddie Bray Jr. 4. Curtis Allen 5. Travis Darling 6. Chris Prusman
Signs by Robbie Heat 1 - 1. Eddie Bray Jr. 2. Justin Gregg 3. Russell Moore 4. Alex Hanson 5. Andy Claiborne 6. Dusty Campbell
Heat 2 - 1. Gary Clark 2. Jerry Tarwater 3. Tim Setzer 4. Matt Johnson 5. Chris Prusman
Heat 3 - 1. Johnny Fennewald 2. Brian Hall 3. Craig Wood 4. Tim North Jr. 5. Jim Wooton
Dash Feature 1. Eddie Bray Jr. 2. Jerry Tarwater 3. Johnny Fennewald 4. Gary Clark 5. Justin Gregg 6. Brian Hall
B Feature 1 - 1. Curtis Allen 2. Brian Hall 3. Travis Darling 4. Travis Schippen 5. Craig Wood 6. Russell Moore 7. Chris Prusman 8. Larry Sanders 9. Jeramiah Reynolds 10. Jim Wooton
B Feature 2 - 1. Andy Claiborne 2. Wally Bauer 3. Jesse Manning 4. Chris Linares 5. Charlie Laziure 6. Dusty Campbell 7. David Hartsell 8. Tim North Jr. 9. Josh Allig
A Feature - 1. Matt Johnson 2. Darren Roberts 3. Chad Lyle 4. Tim Setzer 5. Justin Boney 6. Josh Poe 7. Joe Walker 8. Gary Clark 9. Jerry Tarwater 10. Casey Jesseph 11. Justin Gregg 12. Eddie Bray Jr. 13. Curtis Allen 14. Wally Bauer 15. Alex Hanson 16. Johnny Fennewald 17. Andy Claiborne 18. Steve Tiedeman 19. Brian Hall
Local driver, Matt Johnson, held off a strong field of modifieds to win his 2nd Vern Claiborne Memorial Modified Top Gun Shootout. A great win, a super payday of $1,000 and a monsterous 6' tall trophy waited for Johnson after the win.
"It am really proud," said Johnson in the post race interview, "my guys have been working hard and we have had some tough breaks. I just this darn cast off my hand and I haven't gotten to drive with two hands yet, but it worked out pretty good."
It worked out good for Johnson, the first heat race winner of the night, who started the feature on the pole position for the feature.
Johnson jumped out to an early and commanding lead, but was challanged around the half way mark by another former champion of this event, Johnny Fennewald.
Fennewald came from his 2nd row outside starting spot to the 2nd position on the track. Not to be satisfied with the runner-up spot he made a move on the high side of turn 3 and went into the lead. Unfortunately for Fennewald, the yellow flag would come out on the speedway. This reverted him back to 2nd place.
Under the yellow flag, Fennewald would receive contact with Darren Roberts and when the race went back to green the damage would cause his tire to go down and relegate his finish to 16th in the A main.
Johnson after the yellow went back into race mode, and clicked off the remaining laps of the feature for the win. While going onto victory Johnson held off a strong field of modifieds to get the win.
Roberts would go on to finish in the 2nd spot while Chad Lyle finished 3rd. Fourth would go to a hard charging Tim Setzer and rounding out the top 5 was Justin Boney.
Both Setzer and Boney ended up splitting the In The Pits Hard Charger Award on the evening.
Heat race winners on the night were, Matt Johnson, Josh Poe, Chad Lyle, Johnny Fennewald and Darren Roberts.
Curtis Allen and Andy Claiborne laid claim to the B feature wins.
Fans of Adrian Speedway saw a great event on Saturday night. A total of 35 modifieds from 7 different states were on hand to compete in the event to put on by Andy Claiborne and the staff at Adrian Speedway. This race night held a lot of different stories, different characters and a race within a race.
The Signs by Robbie Customer Appreciation dash for cash was also ran for the fans on Saturday night. This meant that the race fans in attendance got to see 3 more heat races. Each competitor was a customer of Signs by Robbie and the top 2 from each heat went on to compete in the dash.
Local hot shoe, Eddie Bray Jr., came away with the win and the $200 top prize. Jerry Tarwater and Fennewald rounded out the top 3 on the dash.
Larry Sanders, a modified racer from Lampasas, Texas and a solider serving in Iraq, came back to sponsor the event and compete on the evening. Sanders only gets to come back to the U.S. 3 or 4 times a year to race, chose this race to honor his friend, Andy Claiborne.
Sanders' modified held a special wrap commemorating the event and it contained pictures he had taken in Iraq. Army helicopters, Sanders, himself, in Iraq and the logos of the U.S. Millitary gave life to this modified.
Race promoter Andy Claiborne was happy with not only the turnout of fans and racers, but also the way the event went on the night.
"It seems that every year this event is a lot of fun," said Claiborne, "The drivers aren't racing for points, some have some a long, long way to get here and everybody is in relaxed mode. It makes for a fun evening and I can't thank everyone enough."
Modified Results
Heat 1 - 1. Matt Johnson 2. Justin Gregg 3. Jerry Tarwater 4. Jim Wooton 5. Jesse Manning 6. Larry Sanders 7. Brian Hall
Heat 2 - 1. Josh Poe 2. Joe Walker 3. Steve Tiedeman 4. Wally Bauer 5. Tim North Jr. 6. Charlie Laizure 7. Chris Linares
Heat 3 - 1. Chad Lyle 2. Tim Setzer 3. Casey Jesseph 4. Travis Schippen 5. Craig Wood 6. Russell Moore 7. Jeramiah Reynolds
Heat 4 - 1. Johnny Fennewald 2. Justin Boney 3. Alex Hanson 4. Andy Claiborne 5. Dusty Campbell 6. Joshua Alig 7. David Hartsell
Heat 5 - 1. Darren Roberts 2. Gary Clark 3. Eddie Bray Jr. 4. Curtis Allen 5. Travis Darling 6. Chris Prusman
Signs by Robbie Heat 1 - 1. Eddie Bray Jr. 2. Justin Gregg 3. Russell Moore 4. Alex Hanson 5. Andy Claiborne 6. Dusty Campbell
Heat 2 - 1. Gary Clark 2. Jerry Tarwater 3. Tim Setzer 4. Matt Johnson 5. Chris Prusman
Heat 3 - 1. Johnny Fennewald 2. Brian Hall 3. Craig Wood 4. Tim North Jr. 5. Jim Wooton
Dash Feature 1. Eddie Bray Jr. 2. Jerry Tarwater 3. Johnny Fennewald 4. Gary Clark 5. Justin Gregg 6. Brian Hall
B Feature 1 - 1. Curtis Allen 2. Brian Hall 3. Travis Darling 4. Travis Schippen 5. Craig Wood 6. Russell Moore 7. Chris Prusman 8. Larry Sanders 9. Jeramiah Reynolds 10. Jim Wooton
B Feature 2 - 1. Andy Claiborne 2. Wally Bauer 3. Jesse Manning 4. Chris Linares 5. Charlie Laziure 6. Dusty Campbell 7. David Hartsell 8. Tim North Jr. 9. Josh Allig
A Feature - 1. Matt Johnson 2. Darren Roberts 3. Chad Lyle 4. Tim Setzer 5. Justin Boney 6. Josh Poe 7. Joe Walker 8. Gary Clark 9. Jerry Tarwater 10. Casey Jesseph 11. Justin Gregg 12. Eddie Bray Jr. 13. Curtis Allen 14. Wally Bauer 15. Alex Hanson 16. Johnny Fennewald 17. Andy Claiborne 18. Steve Tiedeman 19. Brian Hall
