By Greg Soukup
I’m not sure how you could have asked for a better evening to round out the final chase for the regular 2023 season points chase than we had at Eagle Raceway Saturday as Avid Realty and A1 Iron presented the Eagle Shootout at America’s Home Track.
80 degrees at race time with a nice breeze greeted the large crowd and the teams as the battleground was set to try and grab that coveted prize, points champion.
There were no serious incidents in the preliminary racing.
It was time for the A Feature for the Twin Rivers IMCA Racesaver Sprint Cars. Elizabeth Phillips, a visitor at Eagle Raceway led the first circuit in the 08E with Mike Boston’s 51, the 25A of Alex Davenport and Bill Garrow’s 3G close behind. Josh Riggins put the 14J into fourth on lap 2. Alex Salzman’s 2A spun in turn 4 on lap 5 for a caution. Trevor Grossenbacher passed Garrow on the restart to put the 35 into fourth. Grossenbacher moved to third on lap 7 and advanced to second place on lap 9 before taking over the top spot on lap 10. Adam Gullion cracked the top 4 on lap 13 in the 91, then moved up to third the next lap and got up to second after 1 more circuit. Brandon Horton put the 1B into fourth with 10 to go but spun out in turns 1 & 2 with 6 laps remaining. That moved Boston back to fourth. The restart saw Tyler Drueke jump up to third in the 12 with Boston remaining in fourth. Riggins did a slow roll over in turns 3 & 4 with 3 to go for another caution. From the restart to the finish, it was all Grossenbacher. Trevor finished first, Gullion finished second, third went to Drueke with Boston coming home in fourth.
Tyler had wrapped up the points last week, ending up 51 counters ahead of Jason Danley with Gullion third and fourth going to Gene Ackland.
Trevor’s victory was #2 on the year, having taken the checkers on August fifth. He had missed a few weeks doing to a crash earlier in the year. He related “Second win and it was a good one! They’re always good here at the end of the year, giving us confidence going into the Nationals. It’s a great way to end the year and I couldn’t have had a better car. I had an awesome car. We’re back to doing what we used to do. I think a lot of our problems was because of how I was driving. Back to what we used to do and we’re pretty good right now. Everything is clicking right now, the motor is running good, the car is working good. Zach at Speedway Motors Engines has been down, helping us get the engine running figured out and it's fast!! Without all of the help from Tyler, Ben, Zach, my Dad, Tate, my wife and my daughter I couldn’t do this”. Trevor’s sponsors include Stop ‘N Shop, Muehling Financial, Fast Trak Farms, Husker Diesel, Buda Concrete, Greg’s Masonry, Cornhusker Heating and Air Conditioning, W.C.’s South, Mark Burch and Team Jack, Icon Pistons, Speedway Motors Race Engines, Ron Fox Motorsports, Onyx Digital Group and Zamp.
With the regular season over, we turn our attention to the biggest event of the year; the IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car Nationals! Beginning Thursday, August 31st we kick off the weekend with a practice night followed by qualifying for the Race Jugs Race of Champions. Then, night 2 is the first night of competition with heats and preliminary features, culminating with an A Feature that will determine the first three rows for the 3-wide A Main on Sunday. Night 3 will be the same as night 2, except the top 9 finishers will line up in rows 4 to 6 Sunday. Night 3 is the finale of the weekend with preliminary features to determine the final 3 rows of the Big Dance that evening.
Who will bring home the big check for $3000 for being first to the checkered flag Sunday? Will it be one of our local racers, or an invader from somewhere around the country? The competition will be VERY strong, you can bet on that. As of Saturday afternoon, we had received 110 preregistrations. Come on out all 4 nights for the biggest IMCA Racesaver event in the country.
RESULTS:
Sprint-IMCA A-Feature
1. Trevor Grossenbacher Panama, Ne. 2. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 3. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 4. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 5. Gunnar Pike South Bend, Ne. 6. Ryan Kitchen Seward, Ne. 7. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 8. Elizabeth Phillips Bixby, Ok. 9. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 10. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 11. Jake Galusha Lincoln, Ne. 12. Alex Davenport Lincoln, Ne. 13. Shayle Bade Raymond, Ne. 14. Jake Neal(r) Omaha, Ne. 15. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. 16. Bill Garrow Lincoln, Ne. 17. Josh Riggins Lincoln, Ne. 18. Cole Wayman(r) Lincoln, Ne. 19. Alex Salzman Lincoln, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 1
1. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 2. Elizabeth Phillips Bixby, Ok. 3. Cole Wayman(r) Lincoln, Ne. 4. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 5. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 6. Jake Neal(r) Omaha, Ne. 7. Jake Galusha Lincoln, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 2
1. Josh Riggins Lincoln, Ne. 2. Bill Garrow Lincoln, Ne. 3. Ryan Kitchen Seward, Ne. 4. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 5. Shayle Bade Raymond, Ne. 6. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne.
Sprint-IMCA Heat 3
1. Brandon Horton Waterloo, Ne. 2. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 3. Trevor Grossenbacher Panama, Ne. 4. Alex Davenport Lincoln, Ne. 5. Gunnar Pike South Bend, Ne. 6. Alex Salzman Lincoln, Ne.