By Greg Soukup
Saturday night at Eagle Raceway saw Rotella’s present High Stakes Showdown. Beautiful weather, a great crowd and lots of racing on the high banks made for a great evening. With just 2 weeks left in the regular season, the points races are heating up and that became even more obvious after racing finished for the night.
All racing leading up to the features went by without significant problems.
Austin McLean’s 83 led the initial circuit of the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car A Main with Chase Weiler’s 0, the 62 of Tim Fricke and the21 of Ryan Kitchen hot on his tail tank. Kitchen jumped up to second on lap 2. Mike Boston moved the 51 into fourth on lap 3 and advanced to third the next lap. Kitchen passed McLean after another circuit to take the lead, but Matt Richards’ 1R spun in turns 1 and 2. Adam Gullion moved the 91 into fourth on the restart and took over third on lap 7. Gullion passed Kitchen for second on lap 14 but was put back to third when the red lights were lit for a crash in turn 3. Shon Pointer had made extremely hard contact with the large implement tire that guards the back pit entrance. Pointer was finally extracted and walked to the ambulance to be examined. Josh Riggins’ 14J was caught up in the mess and was towed to the pits. At that time, it was McLean, Kitchen, Gullion and Boston the top 4. Jason Danley took the fourth position on the restart in the 4X. Boston and Danley made contact the next lap and both spun out. That put the 93 of Ryan King into fourth. Doug Lovegrove passed King a lap after the restart in the #1. Gullion snagged the lead the next lap when McLean hit the wall in turns 3 and 4 and brought out another caution. At that time, it was Gullion, Kitchen, Lovegrove and King. On the restart Joey Danley put the 14 into fourth and took over the third position the next lap. The final top 4 were Gullion, Kitchen, Lovegrove and the 100 of Clint Benson who moved to fourth in the last 2 laps.
This victory, after starting 11th, made Gullion just the third multi-time winner on the 2018 regular season at Eagle Raceway. He said “Austin was really running good. Honestly, I think he was better than us. He could roll the top in 1 and 2 better than we could. We were having an issue trying to get through there. I was trying to cowboy up too much. I was really costing myself a lot of speed in the middle of the apex, because it was pushing the front end. Later in the race I moved down a little bit and that really helped me through. There was some left rear rubber getting laid down late in the race in 3 and 4, and that made me able to make some speed through there. The stars lined up for us tonight. The last 6 or 7 weeks we’ve had a really, really good run wherever we’ve gone. We’ve had to do very little to the race car because we’ve found a sweet spot and we’re not very far off from that lately. Any time you can give me a cushion up on the wall I’m a happy guy. I love running the cushion at this place. It’s near and dear to my heart because I’ve been doing it for a long time. Sometimes I just LOVE watching people shake their heads in disbelief when we do that. I still get my adrenalin going running the top. It’s just a fine art. You’ve got to be brave and bold, but you have to be meticulous too” stated Gullion. Gullion’s sponsors include Walker Performance, BR Motorsports, King Racing Products, Maxim, Weld Wheels, Filley Custom Powder Coating, Cheetah Racing Engines, Pro Shocks, Speedway Shock Technology, Butler, Simpson and PT Steering Gear Service.
Next weekend is the regular season finale at Eagle Raceway when the Nebraska Lottery presents Fold ‘Em Finale and Prelude to the RaceSaver IMCA Nationals. All of the points champions will be crowned. There are hotly contested battles in each of the classes, so you won’t want to miss a minute of the action.
Blinky the Clown will be there from 5:30 to 7:30 for the young fans. The evening’s 50/50 raffle will benefit Blue Star Moms.
Front gates open at 5:15 with hot laps at 5:30 and racing at 6:30. Adult and youths 6-12 are just $5 and children 5 and under are free. Those 55 and older receive free front gate admission.
The Racesaver Sprint Cars, Runner Freight Modifieds, Hoosier Racing Tire Sport Modifieds, Valentino’s Hobby Stocks and ATV Motorsports Sport Compacts will all be in competition.
Pit gates open at 4 P.M. with pit passes costing $25.
RESULTS:
IMCA Sprint A-Feature 1. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 2. Ryan Kitchen(r) Lincoln, Ne. 3. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 4. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 5. Kaleb Johnson Sioux Falls, Sd. 6. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 7. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 8. Danny Nekolite O'neill, Ne. 9. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne. 10. Joey Danley Lincoln, Ne. 11. Tim Fricke Lincoln, Ne. 12. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne. 13. Austin McLean Loveland, Co. 14. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 15. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 16. Josh Riggins(r) Lincoln, Ne. 17. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 18. Jimmy Grasso Omaha, Ne. 19. Matt Richards Lincoln, Ne. 20. Ryan King Bennet, Ne.
IMCA Sprint B-Feature 1. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 2. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 3. Kaleb Johnson Sioux Falls, Sd. 4. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 5. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 6. Mike Houseman Jr Des Moines, Ia. 7. Nathan Weiler Lavista, Ne. 8. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne. 9. Frank Rodgers Lucas, Ia. 10. Dwight Carter Lincoln, Ne. 11. Bill Garrow Lincoln, Ne. 12. Nick Bryan Lincoln, Ne. 13. Paul Hendrickson Lincoln, Ne. 14. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. DNS. Toby Chapman Panama, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 1 1. Matt Richards Lincoln, Ne. 2. Tim Fricke Lincoln, Ne. 3. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 4. Joey Danley Lincoln, Ne. 5. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 6. Nathan Weiler Lavista, Ne. 7. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 8. Frank Rodgers Lucas, Ia.
IMCA Sprint Heat 2 1. Jimmy Grasso Omaha, Ne. 2. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 3. Josh Riggins(r) Lincoln, Ne. 4. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 5. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 6. Toby Chapman Panama, Ne. 7. Nick Bryan Lincoln, Ne. 8. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 3 1. Austin McLean Loveland, Co. 2. Ryan King Bennet, Ne. 3. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne. 4. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 5. Kaleb Johnson Sioux Falls, Sd. 6. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 7. Paul Hendrickson Lincoln, Ne. 8. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 4 1. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 2. Ryan Kitchen(r) Lincoln, Ne. 3. Danny Nekolite O'neill, Ne. 4. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne. 5. Dwight Carter Lincoln, Ne. 6. Bill Garrow Lincoln, Ne. DQ. Mike Houseman Jr Des Moines, Ia.