Herbert Makes Van Dyke's Bad
Timing His Good Timing
By Darin Racek
(Norton, Kansas--July 31) A storm south of Norton that had officials and
drivers worrying about whether or not the races would be run never moved
north, and the second night of the Norton County Fair Races at Elmwood Park
Speedway went on as planned. Brian Herbert of Dodge City, David Murray of
Oberlin, Tyler Frye of Belleville, and Kensington drivers Josh Hudson and
Jeromy Wagner were glad the events went on as planned, as they picked up the
larger than normal A Feature checks.
The URSS Sprint Cars
remained for a second night, except it was a non-points event. Howard Van
Dyke of Clay Center started on the front row and shot out to the early lead.
It was definitely a “Howard” track come their feature, as the high line is
where his car runs best. Brian Herbert, current leader in the URSS points,
slowly worked from his third row starting spot to catch up to Van Dyke. In
spite of jumping the cushion a couple of times, Van Dyke was able to find
his line again before Herbert was able to make a pass. On lap nine, they
caught up to a slower car. Van Dyke had to leave his line to get by, and as
he tried to pedal the car back up to the top, Herbert was able to pass both
the slow car and he for the lead. The Clay Center driver would keep tight
with the Dodge City gunslinger, but could not find his way back around for
the win. Heat race winners Darren Berry of McCook, Nebraska and Lance Davis
of Sublette finished in third and fourth places. Randy Bantam of Norton won
the duel for fifth place over Bill Hays of Edison, Nebraska. The Sprints
went caution-free.
The IMCA Modifieds went
without a yellow as well. Mike Petersilie of Hoisington got to the races
late, but was able to run his heat and draw a front row starting spot. He
took the lead, but was soon challenged by the heat race winner, David
Murray. On lap four, Murray tried to make the pass in corner one on the low
side, lost grip with his tires, and nearly spun his car completely. Tim
Watts of Beloit drove by him for the second spot. Undaunted, the former
four-time national champion went back to work, drove underneath Watts, and
successfully made the pass on Petersilie on the ninth circuit on his way to
the pay window. Fourth place went to Brian Calhoun of Beloit, while David
Brack of Hoisington, driving Rick Schwab's car, finished in fifth place.
Two false starts
prevented the IMCA Northern SportMod feature from being called caution-free,
but they did go the fifteen laps with consecutive green flag conditions.
Tyler Frye knew he would have to be on the gas early, knowing he had fellow
heat race winner and national points contender Brian LaRiviere of Wichita in
the field. Frye took the lead on lap one, but LaRiviere, who started in
ninth spot, moved into second place by the end of the first lap. For the
first part of the race, Frye extended his lead over his rival. During the
last half of the race, LaRiviere began reeling him in. Frye's early lead was
enough to earn him the win. Tanner Portenier of Luray fought the good fight
for third place holding off Caid Calhoun of Beloit and Ben Hobbs of Red
Cloud. Hobbs would be passed right at the finish line by Smith Center driver
Jason McCartney for fifth place.
Blown engines and
wrecked cars seemed to be the theme for the IMCA Stock Car heat races. Two
cars blew up and another was crashed out before the drivers could even get
to the money race, the A Feature. Josh Hudson dropped the hammer on the
field when the green came out, and he was quickly joined by Tyler Hahn of
Stockton. Hahn had some good runs on the Kensington driver, but could never
find the right line to get by him. Near the end of the race, Dustin McClurg
of Logan and Jason Davis of Norton caught the leaders. On the last lap,
McClurg passed Hahn on the back straight, and that move gave Hudson the
distance he needed to win the race. Somehow, Hahn was able to sneak back by
McClurg right at the finish line, and Davis' front bumper was by the door of
McClurg as he crossed in fourth place. Jay Hachmeister of Lenora had to get
his spare car after blowing an engine after only one night on it that had
different gears than what he normally runs at Norton, but after having
starting scratch, he was able to take the fifth spot. Hudson and Davis won
the heats.
After trying much of
the season to get his replacement car to work right, Jeromy Wagner finally
struck gold with his gold car. After finishing third in his heat race,
Wagner started in row two of the main event and quickly established a lead.
Heat winner Jim Buss of Fullerton, Nebraska started one row behind him and
moved into second place a lap later. Three cautions in the middle of the
race really slowed the fifteen lap race down. Once the field got everything
back together, Wagner went back to work and kept Buss stopped at second
place. Heat winner Kelly Karnopp of Norton finished in third and had his
four race winning streak snapped. Anthony Martin of Wilcox nearly was not
quite able to drop Karnopp out of the top three. Mike Giesenhagen of Colby
finished the race in fifth place.
On August 13, Elmwood
Park Speedway will host Flattrack Motorcycle racing beginning at 7 p.m. On
August 20, racing with the five regular IMCA classes will return, also at 7
p.m.
July 31 results
URSS 305 Sprint Cars
Heat 1
12-Darren Berry
97-Brian Herbert
74-Howard Van Dyke
Heat 2
9D-Lance Davis
2H-Bill Hays
22-Mike Madden
A Feature
97-Brian Herbert
74-Howard Van Dyke
12-Darren Berry
9D-Lance Davis
5R-Randy Bantam
2H-Bill Hays
54-Mike Stear
22-Mike Madden
99-Troy Edwards (DNF)
IMCA Modifieds
Heat
97M-David Murray, Jr.
43C-Brian Calhoun
25P-Mike Petersilie
A Feature
97M-David Murray, Jr.
25P-Mike Petersilie
11W-Tim Watts
43C-Brian Calhoun
43-David Brack
20H-Hunter Hembree
383-Milo Lippelmann (DNF)
IMCA Stock Cars
Heat 1
76-Jason Davis
44T-Tyler Hahn
99B-Pat Bedore
Heat 2
97J-Josh Hudson
737-Nick Tubbs
7-Rod Bencken
A Feature
97J-Josh Hudson
44T-Tyler Hahn
26-Dustin McClurg
76-Jason Davis
08-Jay Hachmeister
37-Jeff Tubbs
1-Chase Conaway
99B-Pat Bedore
8SK-John Annon
737-Nick Tubbs
97-Jay Schmidt
7-Rod Bencken (DNS)
9C-Bob Rutherford (DNS)
IMCA Hobby Stocks
Heat 1
12-Jim Buss
62-Rick Maynard
9T-Theron Martin
Heat 2
3N1-Kelly Karnopp
9A-Anthony Martin
29-Jeromy Wagner
A Feature
29-Jeromy Wagner
12-Jim Buss
3N1-Kelly Karnopp
9A-Anthony Martin
111-Mike Giesenhagen
112-Tyrel Smith
62-Rick Maynard
6M-Jason McIntyre
9T-Theron Martin (DNF)
24-Ray Caldwell (DNF)
IMCA Northern SportMod
Heat 1
55-Tyler Frye
27-Tanner Portenier
7C-Caid Calhoun
Heat 2
2-Brian LaRiviere
76-Ben Hobbs
21C-Brian Conness
A Feature
55-Tyler Frye
2-Brian LaRiviere
27-Tanner Portenier
7C-Caid Calhoun
1-Jason McCartney
76-Ben Hobbs
36W-Willie Wynn
21K-Frank McClurg
77W-Tyler Watts
19-John LaShell
21C-Brian Conness (DNF)