By Greg Soukup
It was sunny and warm, with a little breeze at Eagle Raceway Saturday for Mustache Madness-Dad’s Tribute night, presented by Pepsi and Wow-FM. A Friday night rain didn’t stop the track prep crew from giving the racers a great racing surface that provided 3-wide racing through the entire night.
The Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car A showed Chase Weiler’s 0, the 5 of Ron Love, Ryan King in the 93 and Keith Dragoo’s 77D the first four after 1 circuit. Doug Lovegrove put the #1 into fourth on lap 2 and moved to second on lap 10 as Shayle Bade took over the 3rd spot. Toby Chapman looped the 7KX on lap 13. Tyler Drueke took fourth on the restart. Bade grabbed second with 11 left and took the lead the next time around. Drueke moved up to second with 9 to go and took the lead 2 laps later when Bade bobbled going into turn 1 and made contact with the wall. She slowed and came to a halt in turn 4 with a severely damaged front end. That made the top 4 Drueke, Weiler, Lovegrove and Bryan. Lovegrove used the restart to take second. Adam Gullion took over fourth from Bryan with 5 to go. The final slowing of action came with 2 to go when Blain Petersen’s 68+1 hit the turn 4 wall hard. Trevor Grossenbacher used the restart to fly into third and took the second position the next lap as Gullion again moved up to fourth. The final top 4 were Drueke, Grossenbacher, Lovegrove and Gullion.
Drueke’s victory came from the 12th starting spot on the initial grid. “I was kind of riding around behind Shayle the whole time, just hanging out and searching for different lines. When we got to first and second I found the middle in 3 and 4. I was just waiting for lapped traffic. Unfortunately she caught the wall, and gave the top spot to me” related Drueke. Drueke’s sponsors include Drueke Trucking and Ranch, Zoz Farms, Jeffrey’s Trucking, Reid’s Farmacy and Agri-Builders.
Next Friday is the annual Rumble In The Bullring as the Amsoil USAC 410 wingless sprint cars invade the high banks of Eagle Raceway for their only 2016 visit to the Cornhusker state. Also racing will be the Sprint Series of Nebraska Racesaver IMCA Sprint cars and the Midwest Classic Stock Cars. Pit gates open at 4 P.M. and pit passes are $30.
Front gates open at 6 P.M. Adult admission is $20, youths 6-12 are $5 and children 5 and under are free. Racing will begin at 7:30.
Then, Saturday evening the weekly IMCA racing will return with the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Cars, Kaplan University IMCA Modifieds, NAPA IMCA Sport Modifieds, Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stocks and Mountain Dew Kick Start IMCA Sport Compacts on the card.
Pit gates open at 4 P.M. and pit passes are $25.
Front gates open at 5:15, hot laps start at 5:30 and racing begins at 6:30. Adult front gate admission is $10, youths 6-12 are $5 and children 5 and under are free.
RESULTS:
IMCA Sprint 06/18/2016
A Feature: 1. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 2. Trevor Grossenbacher (Hickman, NE), 3. Doug Lovegrove (Waverly, NE), 4. Adam Gullion (Lincoln, NE), 5. Mike Boston (Lincoln, NE), 6. Chase Weiler (Lincoln, NE), 7. Clint Benson (Papillion, NE), 8. Nick Bryan (Lincoln, NE), 9. Jason Martin (Lincoln, NE), 10. Keith Dragoo (Lincoln, NE), 11. Shon Pointer (Grand Island, NE), 12. Nate Weiler (Omaha, NE), 13. Gene Ackland (Martell, NE), 14. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 15. Matt Richards (Lincoln, NE), 16. Ryan King (Bennet, NE), 17. Toby Chapman (Panama, NE), 18. Ron Love (Lincoln, NE), 19. Boyd Peterson (Ithaca, NE), 20. Jimmy Grasso (Omaha, NE), 21. Blain Petersen (Essex, IA), 22. Shayle Bade (Lincoln, NE)
Heat 1: 1. Nick Bryan (Lincoln, NE), 2. Adam Gullion (Lincoln, NE), 3. Ron Love (Lincoln, NE), 4. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 5. Blain Petersen (Essex, IA), 6. Toby Chapman (Panama, NE), 7. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 8. Jimmy Grasso (Omaha, NE)
Heat 2: 1. Ryan King (Bennet, NE), 2. Chase Weiler (Lincoln, NE), 3. Shon Pointer (Grand Island, NE), 4. Doug Lovegrove (Waverly, NE), 5. Clint Benson (Papillion, NE), 6. Nate Weiler (Omaha, NE), 7. Trevor Grossenbacher (Hickman, NE)
Heat 3: 1. Keith Dragoo (Lincoln, NE), 2. Shayle Bade (Lincoln, ne), 3. Gene Ackland (Martell, NE), 4. Mike Boston (Lincoln, NE), 5. Matt Richards (Lincoln, NE), 6. Jason Martin (Lincoln, NE), 7. Boyd Peterson (Ithaca, NE)