PEVELY, MO. (April 29) — Steve Lance Jr. of Cuba, Ill., won his first late model feature at I-55 Raceway Saturday in a wild and controversial race.
Lance started on the front row and held off Ed Dixon for 13 laps. Lance stayed in the high groove while Dixon repeatedly dived low in the turns to pull along side the leader. Mark Oller, meanwhile, moved up from the rear of the field to create a fender-rubbing three-way battle for the lead. On lap 16 Oller also got past Lance.
The cars of Oller and Dixon bumped on lap 17 as the two raced side by side down the front straight. Dixon's car was squeezed into the wall, breaking the right front suspension and knocking him out of the race. On the 23rd lap, Lance pulled a high-low move on Oller coming out of the fourth turn to retake the lead. He held off Oller for the final two laps to secure the victory.
Jim Durbin and Dave Jumper won the late model heats before Dixon won the dash.
The modified feature was nearly as wild with three leaders in 20 laps and two- to four-car battles for the lead. Tom Ratajczyk led the first five laps, then was passed by Brian Wolfmeier who led seven laps. Dean Hoffman took the lead on lap 13 and held off Scott Weber to win the race.
Hoffman, Ratajczyk and Jerry Grither won the modified heats. Weber won the dash and Jeff LeBaube won the semi-feature.
Paul Belken Jr. had smooth sailing in the sportsman feature. Behind him, however, was a great battle for second spot. In the end, Gary Haynes claimed the runner-up position and Dennis Wernle was third. Steve Maisel, Belken and Haynes won heats. Belken won the dash and Todd McGraw finished first in the semi-feature.
In the two-man cruiser cars, Don Eaton and Dwight Bradley won the feature after Paul Bauman and Gary Klein won the heat.
Saturday was the fourth night of racing at I-55 this year and the first in which the race car count did not exceed 100. The four classes attracted 96 entries.
Late ModelsHeat 1: 1. 3D Jim Durbin 2. 50 Ed Dixon 3. 19 Billy Faust 4. 2 Darrell Hoffman |
Heat 2: 1. 2J David Jumper 2. 87 Kenny Rumble 3. 16M Steve Lance, Jr. 4. 37 Brian Wolfmeier |
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Dash: 1. 50 Ed Dixon 2. 3D Jim Durbin 3. 19 Billy Faust 4. 2J. David Jumper |
Feature: 1. 16M Steve Lance, Jr. 2. 67 Mark Oller 3. 51 Steve Shive 4. 2J David Jumper 5. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 6. 37 Brian Wolfmeier 7. 2 Darrell Hoffman 8. 95 Jeff Johns 9. 19 Billy Faust 10. 7 Rick Bayer 11. 87 Kenny Rumble 12. 28 Don Klein 13. 10 Rodney Pense 14. 6Q Pat Ryan 15. 76 Butch Kruckeberg 16. 44 Dean Motsinger 17. 50 Ed Dixon 18. B1 Bob Brown 19. 78 Chad Zobrist 20. 3D Jim Durbin 21. 16A Mark Johnson 22. 32M Danny Maguire |
ModifiedsHeat 1: 1. 1D Dean Hoffman 2. 99 Brian Wolfmeier 3. 18R Shawn Rayfield 4. 67 B.J. Seets |
Heat 2: 1. 95 Jerry Grither 2. 360 John Seets 3. 6 Ray Wagner 4. 28 Chris Woods |
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Heat 3: 1. 12 Tom Ratajczyk 2. 4J Scott Weber 3. 14 Leroy Haney 4. 11 Kyle Steffens |
Dash: 1. 4J Scott Weber 2. 1D Dean Hoffman 3. 95 Jerry Grither 4. 99 Brian Wolfmeier |
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Semi: 1. 29 Jeff LeBaube 2. 68 Andy Anderson 3. 16 Rusty Griffaw 4. 45M Eric Mabery 5. 29C John Campbell 6. 64 Jim Smith 7. 36 Danny Greene 8. 8 Kirk Murphy 9. 37 Chad Evans 10. 7Z Matt Zimmerly 11. C4 Chris Soutiea
Other Cars Present: 81 Mike Barbeau 21R Dennis Richards |
Feature: 1. 1D Dean Hoffman 2. 4J Scott Weber 3. 99 Brian Wolfmeier 4. 6 Ray Wagner 5. 12 Tom Ratajczyk 6. 67 B.J. Seets 7. 18R Shawn Rayfield 8. 18 Brent Thompson 9. 45M Eric Mabery 10. 11S Kyle Steffens 11. 14 Leroy Haney 12. 29 Jeff LeBaube 13. 28 Chris Woods 14. 16 Rusty Griffaw 15. 29C John Campbell 16. 68 Andy Anderson 17. 28K Jason Keith 18. 21 David Henry 19. 19C Vic Catalano 20. 36 Danny Greene 21. 1W Ray Walsh 22. 95 Jerry Grither 23. 64 Jim Smith 24. 59 Rich Whaley |
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Sportsman: Heat 1: 1. 41 Steve Maisel 2. 92 Jim Absheir 3. 84 Jim Ott 4. 50 Mike McGowan |
Heat 2: 1. 46 Paul Belken 2. 00 Scott Stuppy 3. 500 Dan Dixon 4. 23 Mark Schnurbusch |
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Heat 3: 1. 87 Gary Haynes 2. 74 Dennis Wernle 3. 28 Sam Worley 4. 166 Brian Worley |
Dash: 1. 46 Paul Belken 2. 00 Scott Stuppy 3. 87 Gary Haynes 4. 41 Steve Maisel |
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Semi: 1. 10 Todd McGraw 2. 127E Tory Ernst 3. 13 Brent Kreke 4. 96 Stan Cernik 5. 105 Matt Hancock 6. 19 Brad Grantham 7. 75 Ron Imm, Jr. 8. 18 Daryl Dodge 9. 37 John Imm 10. 350 Robert Dill 11. 76 Brian Roberts 12. 58 Jeff Barker 13. 44 Nick Werner 14. 79 Travis Tilley 15. 175 Peggy Baur
Other Cars Present 111 Zac Parks 12 Troy Naeger |
Feature: 1. 46 Paul Belken 2. 87 Gary Haynes 3. 74 Dennis Wernle 4. 41 Steve Maisel 5. 00 Scott Stuppy 6. 166 Brian Worley 7. 28 Sam Worley 8. 127E Tory Ernst 9. 38D Mark Blanke 10. 84 Jim Ott 11. 10 Todd McGraw 12. 105 Matt Hancock 13. 15 Jim Troutman 14. 13 Brent Kreke 15. 500 Dan Dixon 16. 9 Doug Wood 17. 350 Robert Dill 18. 6 Brian Noeth 19. 50 Mike McGowan 20. 23 Mark Schnurbusch 21. 96 Stan Cernik 22. 19 Brad Grantham 23. 80 Steve Borgetti 24. 92 Jim Abshier |
