By Greg Soukup
High Bank Thunder, presented by Kaplan University and Rotellas saw a great car count and a better fan turnout Saturday at Eagle Raceway. Beautiful weather, lots of racing action and a great track made for a fantastic evening.
There were 2 serious incidents in the preliminary action; both in the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Cars. In heat #1, Toby Chapman’s 7KX and the 57B of Boyd Peterson went flipping in turn 1. In the B Feature, Dan Nekolite’s 22B rolled over in turn 4. None of the drivers were seriously injured.
The Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car A Feature saw Brandon Horton’s 1B, the 00 of Gregg Bolte, Clint Benson’s 100 and the 03 of Shayle Bade out front of lap #1. Benson spun in turn 4 on lap 2, putting Jason Danley’s 4X into fourth. Bade took second on the restart and then grabbed the lead the next time around as Danley moved to third. Terry Richards put his #18 into fourth on lap 8 but gave the spot up to Jason Martin’s 5X the next lap. Danley moved up to second on lap 11 as Stu Snyder put his 23S into fourth. 2 laps later Nick Bryan’s 52 flipped in turns 1 and 2. At that time the running order in the top 4 was Bade, Danley, Martin and Snyder. However, Danley headed to the pits putting Horton in fourth. Snyder passed Martin for second on the restart and Jake Bubak put his 9X into fourth. Richards flipped in turn 4 with 8 laps remaining and landed on top of the 20P of Shon Pointer. Pointer was injured and ended up being taken to the hospital for observation. As of the time of this story, his condition was unknown. After the red lights were extinguished, Martin and Snyder exchanged the second spot for 2 laps with Snyder ending up with the spot. At the finish it was Bade, Snyder, Martin and Bubak.
This was Bade’s first Eagle Raceway victory this season. “I’m speechless!! It was great to get a win on my dad’s birthday. There’s nothing better than this. I saw Stu’s nose and told myself ‘You’ve got to get going’. I’m thankful for a win here in 2016 finally, especially right before Nationals. There isn’t anything better than winning at your home track; and when it’s a track famous for sprint car racing like Eagle Raceway, it’s even better!”.
Bade’s sponsors include MDR, Helget Construction Onyx Wraps, Chix Gear Race Wear, Fremont Roofing, Rowe Graphics, TST Photography, Good Life Fitness and 905 Inc.
Next weekend is the final points racing for the 2016 season. The Eagle Shootout will feature the NAPA IMCA Sport Modifieds, Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stocks, Kaplan University IMCA Modifieds, Mountain Dew Kick Start IMCA Sport Compacts and Racesaver IMCA Sprint Cars.
Front gates will open at 5:15, hot laps start at 5:30 and racing kicks off at 6:30. Adult front gate admission is $10, youths 6-12 are $5 and children 5 and under are free.
Pit gates open at 4:00. Pit admission is $25.
RESULTS:
Sprints A-Feature1. Shayle Bade 03 2. Stu Snyder 23S 3. Jason Martin 5X 4. Jake Bubak 9X 5. Jack Dover 84 6. Mike Boston 51 7. Trevor Grossenbacher 35 8. Gregg Bolte 00 9. Adam Gullion 91 10. Ron Love 5 11. Matt Richards 1R 12. Ryan King 93 13. Brandon Horton 1B 14. Terry Richards 18 15. Shon Pointer 20P 16. Jason Danley 4X 17. Nick Bryan 52 18. Clint Benson 100 19. Tim Hilfiker 20 20. Dwight Carter 4U
Sprints B-Feature 1. Matt Richards 1R 2. Trevor Grossenbacher 35 3. Shon Pointer 20P 4. Ryan King 93 5. Ben Woods 11B 6. Tyler Drueke 12 7. Blain Petersen 68+1 8. Doug Lovegrove 1 9. Nate Weiler 4W 10. Richard Weers 55 11. Chase Weiler 0 12. Lee Bowes 73 13. Dan Nekolite 22D 14. Cody Ledger 47 15. Joey Danley 14 16. Jimmy Grasso 8G DNS Boyd Peterson 57B
DNS Toby Chapman 7KX DNS Dan Satriano 95
Sprints Heat 1 1. Jason Martin 5X 2. Clint Benson 100 3. Brandon Horton 1B 4. Dwight Carter 4U 5. Trevor Grossenbacher 35 6. Ryan King 93 7. Boyd Peterson 57B 8. Toby Chapman 7KX 9. Joey Danley 14
Sprints Heat 2 1. Stu Snyder 23S 2. Terry Richards 18 3. Adam Gullion 91 4. Nick Bryan 52 5. Matt Richards 1R 6. Jimmy Grasso 8G 7. Ben Woods 11B 8. Tyler Drueke 12 9. Dan Satriano 95
Sprints Heat 3 1. Mike Boston 51 2. Gregg Bolte 00 3. Jake Bubak 9X 4. Tim Hilfiker 20 5. Doug Lovegrove 1 6. Cody Ledger 47 7. Nate Weiler 4W 8. Chase Weiler 0
9. Blain Petersen 68+1
Sprints Heat 4 1. Jason Danley 4X 2. Shayle Bade 03 3. Jack Dover 84 4. Ron Love 5 5. Dan Nekolite 22D 6. Lee Bowes 73 7. Shon Pointer 20P 8. Richard Weers 55