By Greg Soukup
Sunny skies and mid-80’s turned to a cool, clear evening for Full House Frenzy-Fan Appreciation Night, presented by Great Clips, Nebraska Lottery and Hoosier. The track was tacky and fast, with 3-wide racing thrilling the huge crowd.
The Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car A Main saw Keith Dragoo’s 77D first back to the flag stand with Tim Hilfiker’s 20, the 12N of Neil Nickolite and Ryan Kitchen in the 21 rounding out the top 4. Tige Jensen’s 12T stopped on the front stretch on lap 2 and the yellow flag came out. Kitchen moved up to third on the restart. Shon Pointer put the 20P into fourth the next lap. Adam Gullion took over the fourth spot on lap 8 in the #91. Mike Boston’s 51 spun to a stop at the top of turn 1 the next time around. Kitchen grabbed second on the restart. Gullion moved up to third on lap 11. 2 laps later Kitchen took the lead from Dragoo. Gullion and Pointer both moved up 1 spot as Gullion tried to reel Kitchen in. Gullion made his move with 3 to go, passing Kitchen for the lead as Jason Danley moved to fourth in the 4X. Gullion proceeded to hold off Kitchen to the end making the final top 4 Gullion, Kitchen, Pointer and Danley.
Victory #2 this year at Eagle for Gullion. “We’ve been struggling this year and we’ve had just some stupid stuff happen. I told my guys last week ‘Hey, we’ve done about all of the dumb stuff that we can do, so now It’s all out of the way. Now we just need to finish where we deserve’. I told my guys while we were getting ready for the feature and setting the car up ‘It’s going to be the old Eagle that it was before’. They wanted to set up for the bottom and drag race. But I said ‘The bottom is going to be gone in about 12 laps, so let’s pound the fence and hopefully we can stay with people early and then late let’s see if we’ve got something for them’. On the buzz lap I thought ‘Man, we’re too good right now’, but the car just kept getting better and better. I ran the whole race up on the fence and getting into 1 there were some ruts, but I knew how to get through them wide open. Ryan didn’t, because he’d been running the bottom the whole race. I actually got by him, but then his Dad told him to go to the top and I was thinking ‘I’ve got 1 shot at this because he’s not going in hard. I’ve got to go through the middle and try to get by him’. I didn’t get as good a restart as I needed to and he kind of got away from me. I went to the middle and kind of let him drive back by me. He started to drive away from me and I thought to myself ‘Just make some laps and see if we can get to traffic and do something with him’. We were fortunate enough late in the race that we were making a little bit better time on the top than he was. I think that was just the experience from running the top the whole race. But, I was able to slide him. I heard him coming low and I went straight into 3 and kind of slid myself. I got back to the top and just tried to make good laps”. Gullion’s sponsors include Walker Performance, BR Motorsports, King Racing Products, Maxim, Weld Wheels, Filley Custom Powder Coating, Cheetah Racing Engines, Pro Shocks, Speedway Shock Technology, Butler, Simpson and PT Steering Gear Service.
Next weekend is the much-anticipated Black Jack Bonanza-Kids Night presented by Colby Ridge and Casey’s. Happy D Klown and Blinky the Clown will both be there from 5 to 8 for the kids. As always, there will be a huge bike giveaway for the kids at intermission. Register to win a Bike in the Courtyard for FREE! Kids must go to the courtyard to draw for a chance to win a bike starting at 4:45pm until the last one gets drawn… it is first come first serve on the bike giveaway… Please follow the signs. All kids that do not win a bike will get a prize.
The bikes will be given to the winners at intermission. There will be drivers in the courtyard for autographs beginning at 4:45.
Front gates open at 5:15 with hot laps at 5:30 and racing at 6:30. Adult and youths 6-12 are just $5 and children 5 and under are free.
The Racesaver Sprint Cars, Runner Freight Modifieds, Hoosier Racing Tire Sport Modifieds, Valentino’s Hobby Stocks and ATV Motorsports Sport Compacts will all be in competition.
Pit gates open at 4 P.M. with pit passes costing $25.
RESULTS:
IMCA Sprint A-Feature 1. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 2. Ryan Kitchen(r) Lincoln, Ne. 3. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 4. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 5. Toby Chapman Panama, Ne. 6. Keith Dragoo Greenwood, Ne. 7. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne. 8. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 9. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 10. Danny Nekolite O'neill, Ne. 11. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 12. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 13. Kaleb Johnson Sioux Falls, Sd. 14. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 15. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 16. Boyd Peterson Ithaca, Ne. 17. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne. 18. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 19. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne. 20. Tige Jensen(r) Lincoln, Ne.
IMCA Sprint B-Feature 1. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne. 2. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 3. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 4. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 5. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 6. Brandon Horton Omaha, Ne. 7. Dwight Carter Lincoln, Ne. 8. Josh Riggins(r) Lincoln, Ne. 9. Nathan Weiler Lavista, Ne. 10. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. 11. Jason Miller Omaha, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 1 1. Ryan Kitchen(r) Lincoln, Ne. 2. Keith Dragoo Greenwood, Ne. 3. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne. 4. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 5. Kaleb Johnson Sioux Falls, Sd. 6. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne. 7. Stuart Snyder Lincoln, Ne. 8. Brandon Horton Omaha, Ne. 9. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 2 1. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 2. Toby Chapman Panama, Ne. 3. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne. 4. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 5. Tige Jensen(r) Lincoln, Ne. 6. Josh Riggins(r) Lincoln, Ne. 7. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 8. Nathan Weiler Lavista, Ne. 9. Jason Miller Omaha, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 3 1. Boyd Peterson Ithaca, Ne. 2. Danny Nekolite O'neill, Ne. 3. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 4. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 5. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 6. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 7. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 8. Dwight Carter Lincoln, Ne.