By Greg Soukup
Schools Out For Summer, presented by Mammoth Station and Avid Realty Saturday night saw some of the best racing so far this season at Eagle Raceway. A brief period of sprinkles put no damper on the festivities as a great crowd showed up to see action on the high banks, and action they got.
There were no serious incidents in the preliminary racing.
The final contest of the evening was the Twin Rivers IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car A. Contact with Alex Davenport in the 25A caused Cole Vanderheiden to loop the 15V in turn 2 on the start to call back the start. Adam Gullion pulled into the pits during the caution but returned before racing began again. The second attempt at a start saw Adam Gullion loop the #91 in turns 1 & 2 after contact with the 51 of Mike Boston. Boston suffered damage to the right front of his sprinter and Gullion went to the pits behind the wrecker due to having no steering. When a lap was officially in the books the top 4 were the 1B of Brandon Horton, Alex Salzman’s 2A, the 03 of Shayle Bade and Gene Ackland in the 14G. Lap 2 saw Bade pass Salzman for second. Contact with Ackland by Salzman on lap 3 ended up sending Gene snap rolling through turn 3. He was not seriously injured, but his car was beyond repair. Both Ackland and Salzman were taken to the pits. The top 4 at the time were Horton, Bade, the 88J of Jeremy Huish and Cody Ledger’s 47. Huish moved up to second on the restart with Bade falling to third and the 11 of Jake Bubak advancing to fourth. Bubak got past Bade for third the next time around. Stu Snyder cracked the top 4 after 1 more lap to put the 5 into fourth place. Bubak advanced to second place on lap 9 and grabbed the lead with 12 laps left as Snyder took over third. With 5 to go Snyder moved up another spot to take over second with Huish getting back up to fourth. The next lap Alex Davenport spun out in turns 3 & 4 to slow the action. Tyler Drueke cracked the top 4 with 4 laps left, putting the #12 in fourth. The final top 4 were Bubak, Horton, Snyder and Drueke.
I asked Jake if he didn’t get enough of Eagle Raceway’s money in September that he had to come up here mid-season. He said “This was just for one night. We’re trying to get Toby Chapman and Jeff Stefonik going a little better. They have been struggling all year, so we’re just here to help. We changed a whole bunch this week and still were changing throughout the night and the car ended up pretty dang good by the end of the night. I’ve got some experience in sprints, but Toby has been doing this a lot longer than I have. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do next week. I think he’s going to feel like it’s a whole different car”. Toby’s sponsors are J & K Trucking, Stefonik Racing and Speedway Shocks.
Fans are going to get twice as much racing this week as Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet bring their High Limit Sprint Cars, presented by K&B Promotions to America’s home track for the first time. This will be a big treat for sprint car fans because there has been no 410 sprints on the high banks since 2017.
Adult front gate admission is $40, youths 6-12 are $20 and kids 5 and under are free. Pit passes cost $45.
Front gates swing open at 4:00 with hot laps kicking off at 6 PM and racing beginning at 7:15.
Then Saturday the Nebraska Lottery presents 90’s Jam Showdown.
All 5 classes will be competing including the Twin Rivers Sprint Cars, Nebraska Lottery Modifieds, Avid Realty SportMods, A1 Iron Stock Cars & Valentino’s Hobby Stocks. Track, State, Regional & National Points for all classes. Following the racing there will be fan favorite school bus races.
Front gates open at 5:15 with adult admission being $15, youths 6-12 $5 and children 5 and under free.
Hot laps kick off at 5:30 with racing at 6:30.
Pit gates open at 3:45 with pit admission being $30.
RESULTS:
Sprint-IMCA A-Feature
1. Jake Bubak Lincoln, Ne. 2. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 3. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 4. Cody Ledger Omaha, Ne. 5. Jeremy Huish Ness City,
Ks. 6. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 7. Josh Riggins Lincoln, Ne. 8. Gunnar Pike South Bend, Ne. 9. Shayle Bade Raymond, Ne. 10. Alex Davenport Lincoln, Ne. 11. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 12. Jacob Dye Albany, Mo. 13. Jake Galusha Lincoln, Ne. 14. Alex Salzman Lincoln, Ne. 15. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 16. Cole Vanderheiden Papillion, Ne. 17. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 18. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 19. Cole Wayman(r) Lincoln, Ne. DNS. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA B-Feature
1. Josh Riggins Lincoln, Ne. 2. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 3. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 4. Cole Wayman(r) Lincoln, Ne. 5. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 6. Ryan Kitchen Seward, Ne. 7. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 8. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne. 9. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 1
1. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 2. Jeremy Huish Ness City, Ks. 3. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 4. Alex Salzman Lincoln, Ne. 5. Jake Galusha Lincoln, Ne. 6. Josh Riggins Lincoln, Ne. 7. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 8. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 2
1. Cole Vanderheiden Papillion, Ne. 2. Alex Davenport Lincoln, Ne. 3. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 4. Cody Ledger Omaha, Ne. 5. Gunnar Pike South Bend, Ne. 6. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 7. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. 8. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 3
1. Jake Bubak Lincoln, Ne. 2. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 3. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 4. Shayle Bade Raymond, Ne. 5. Jacob Dye Albany, Mo. 6. Cole Wayman(r) Lincoln, Ne. 7. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 8. Ryan Kitchen Seward, Ne.