By Greg Soukup
Armed Forces Night, presented by the Lincoln Saltdogs Saturday night was held under a beautiful sunny sky that saw 139 teams do their best to entertain the fans.
17 heats and 4 B Features were run with the only major incident coming in the first Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car heat when Lee Bowes contacted the turn 4 wall hard and flipped his race car. He was not seriously hurt.
Adam Gullion’s 91 led the first lap of the Racesaver IMCA A Feature with Matt Richards in the 1R, the 7KX of Toby Chapman and Shon Pointer’s 20P close behind. Pointer lost fourth to the 14G of Gene Ackland on lap 2. Ackland passed Chapman on lap 6. Ackland moved up to second on lap 8 as Jason Martin moved the 5X into fourth. Martin advanced to third on lap 10. Tyler Drueke cracked the top 4 on lap 11 before putting the #12 into third and then moving to second on lap 14. Ryan King spun the 93 in turns 3 & 4 with 10 to go. That caution erased the huge lead that Gullion had built up, setting up a battle for the checkers. Trevor Grossenbacher vaulted into third on the restart in the #35. From there to the finish it was a futile effort for Drueke to catch Gullion. At the finish it was Gullion, Drueke, Martin and Grossenbacher.
This was Gullion’s first 2016 victory at Eagle Raceway. “It’s been an uncharacteristically rough year for us. But, my 1st son Barrett was born in January and we feel so fortunate for that. It changed my whole attitude and demeanor. Honestly, I was jealous of Trevor Grossenbacher last year. He got to take all those pictures in victory lane with his son; but now I finally got to do that!! The first few laps I focused on the bottom and then drifted up to the cushion when the bottom went away. I followed Ryan up there and said ‘If he can make it work, so can I’ because it gave me the chance to see where to enter the corner. I got lucky with the restarts. When I hit traffic and saw Tyler coming I knew I had to get up on it to win” said Gullion. Gullion’s sponsors include Precise Roofing, Liquid Nitro, Pro Rolloffs, Filley Customer Powder Coating, Pro Shocks, Engler, Fuel Safe and Sardeson Racing.
Next Saturday is Memorial Day Extravaganza and Driver Appreciation Night. All drivers have free admission tickets, so contact them for your free tickets.
A Feature:
1. Adam Gullion (Lincoln, NE), 2. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 3. Jason Martin (Lincoln, NE), 4. Trevor Grossenbacher (Hickman, NE), 5. Gene Ackland (Martell, NE), 6. Matt Richards (Lincoln, NE), 7. Shon Pointer (Grand Island, NE), 8. Mike Boston (Lincoln, NE), 9. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 10. Clint Benson (Papillion, NE), 11. Shayle Bade (Lincoln, ne), 12. Nate Weiler (Omaha, NE), 13. TJ Artz (Lincoln, NE), 14. Ron Love (Lincoln, NE), 15. Blain Petersen (Essex, IA), 16. Tim Hilfiker (Greenwood, NE), 17. Richard Weers (Lincoln, NE), 18. Ryan King (Bennet, NE), 19. Toby Chapman (Panama, NE), 20. Dan Satriano (Papillion, NE)
B Feature:
1. Ron Love (Lincoln, NE), 2. Nate Weiler (Omaha, NE), 3. Ryan King (Bennet, NE), 4. Richard Weers (Lincoln, NE), 5. TJ Artz (Lincoln, NE), 6. Chase Weiler (Lincoln, NE), 7. Joe Miller (Vail, IA), 8. Mark Finnell (Osage Beach, MO), 9. Boyd Peterson (Ithaca, NE), 10. Jimmy Grasso (Omaha, NE), 11. Lee Bowes (Lincoln, NE)
Heat 1:
1. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 2. Trevor Grossenbacher (Hickman, NE), 3. Shon Pointer (Grand Island, NE), 4. Toby Chapman (Panama, NE), 5. Dan Satriano (Papillion, NE), 6. Nate Weiler (Omaha, NE), 7. Mark Finnell (Osage Beach, MO), 8. Chase Weiler (Lincoln, NE), 9. Lee Bowes (Lincoln, NE)
Heat 2:
1. Shayle Bade (Lincoln, ne), 2. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 3. Matt Richards (Lincoln, NE), 4. Gene Ackland (Martell, NE), 5. Tim Hilfiker (Greenwood, NE), 6. Ron Love (Lincoln, NE), 7. Boyd Peterson (Ithaca, NE), 8. TJ Artz (Lincoln, NE), 9. Jimmy Grasso (Omaha, NE)
Heat 3:
1. Adam Gullion (Lincoln, NE), 2. Mike Boston (Lincoln, NE), 3. Blain Petersen (Essex, IA), 4. Jason Martin (Lincoln, NE), 5. Clint Benson (Papillion, NE), 6. Richard Weers (Lincoln, NE), 7. Ryan King (Bennet, NE), 8. Joe Miller (Vail, IA)