Pevely, Mo. (May 13) — Randy Korte swept a stellar field of UMP Late Model drivers at I-55 Raceway, knocking off defending track champion Ed Dixon and NASCAR Winston Cup driver Ken Schrader to win his first feature at the track this year.
The feature race had three leaders, but 15 laps into the race there were still seven cars racing three, and occasionally four, wide in the lead pack. Tim Ratajczyk and Steve Shive swapped the lead three times in the first four laps while Dixon, Schrader, Korte, Mark Oller and Brian Wolfmeier scrapped within a second of the lead.
"I was looking for some place to go, but I had four guys around me!" Schrader said after race, which was witnessed by the track's biggest audience of the season.
Shive broke and coasted off the track on lap 10. By lap 15 Korte led Dixon and Schrader and the three began inching away from the field. After a restart on the seventeenth of 25 laps, Korte put two car lengths on Dixon and maintained that distance until he received the checkered flag.
Schrader started 11th in his heat race and moved up to fifth before he ran out of time. He started ninth in the feature and had advanced to fifth by the second lap and fourth by the fourth lap. He took third on the 13th lap, and that was as far as he went.
Korte also won his heat and the late model dash. The other heat was won by Wolfmeier.
Ray Walsh led all 20 laps of the UMP Modified feature, but had points leader Scott Weber all over his back bumper much of the way. Weber jumped the cushion with two laps left and scuffed the wall, knocking his car's right front suspension loose and forcing him to slam on the brakes and slide to a halt in the third turn. Walsh then held off John Seets Sr. and Wolfmeier, who drove two cars Saturday night, to win his first race of 2000.
Walsh, Weber, Mark Gansmann and Jeff LeBaube won the modified heats. Walsh's victory in his dash gave him a sweep for the night.
Two modified semi-features were required because 40 cars were entered in the class. The winners were Jay Hughes and 15-year-old Kyle Steffens.
Paul Belken Jr. led all 15 laps of the sportsman feature. Doug Wood passed Scott Stuppy coming out of the final turn to take second.
Stuppy, Belken and Dennis Wernle won the sportsman heats, and Belken also won his dash. Brothers Sam and Brian Worley finished first and second in the sportsman semi.
In the cruisers, Paul Bauman and Lynn Marshall won the heat and feature.
There were 111 race cars on hand Saturday. The 20-race program was completed, however, in three hours and 17 minutes, ending at 10:17 p.m.
With Korte and Walsh going into the record books Saturday, there now have been 11 different winners in 18 features at I-55 this year.
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AARA Cruisers Heat : 1. 26 Paul Baumann/Lynn Marochell |
Feature :
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UMP Modifieds – 40 CarsHeat 1: 1. 1W Ray Walsh 2. 99 Brian Wolfmeier 3. 14 Leroy Haney 4. 16 Danny Haynes |
Heat 2: 1. 0 Mark Gansmann 2. 18R Shawn Rayfield 3. 18 Brent Thompson 4. 82 Mark Schaefer |
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Heat 3: 1. 4J Scott Weber 2. 6 Ray Wagner 3. 67 John Seets, Jr. 4. B1 Tom Seets |
Heat 4: 1. 29 Jeff LeBaube 2. 4M Brent Mullins 3. 360 John Seets, Sr. 4. 68 Andy Anderson |
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Dash: 1. 1W Ray Walsh 2. 4J Scott Weber 3. 18R Shawn Rayfield 4. 6 Ray Wagner |
Semi #1: 1. 71 Jay Hughes 2. 1D Dean Hoffman 3. 7 Keith Grider 4. 16 Rusty Griffaw 5. 95 Jerry Grither 6. 37 Loren Knox 7. 462 Mark Blanke 8. 88 Joe Puricelli 9. 19 Vic Catalano 10. 81 Mike Barbeau 11. 29C John Campbell |
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Semi #2: 1. 11 Kyle Steffens 2. 7Z Matt Zimmerly 3. C4 Chris Soutiea 4. 21H Dave Henry 5. 36 Danny Greene 6. 8 Kyle Murphy 7. 64 Jim Smith 8. 14B Tim Burdel 9. 28K Jason Keith
Other Cars Present 28 Chris Woods |
Feature: 1. 1W Ray Walsh 2. 360 John Seets, Sr. 3. 99 Brian Wolfmeier 4. 14 Leroy Haney 5. 29 Jeff LeBaube 6. 4M Brent Mullins 7. 377 Casey Pearson 8. 1D Dean Hoffman 9. 0 Mark Gansmann 10. 18R Shawn Rayfield 11. 18T Brent Thompson 12. B1 Tom Seets 13. 6 Ray Wagner 14. 71 Jay Hughes 15. 59 Rich Whaley 16. 68 Andy Anderson 17. 82 Mark Schaefer 18. 67 John Seets, Jr. 19. 7Z Matt Zimmerly 20. 4J Scott Weber 21. 45M Eric Mabery 22. 11 Kyle Steffens 23. 16J Danny Haynes 24. 12 Tom Ratajczyk |
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AARA Sportsman – 36 CARS Heat 1: 1. 00 Scott Stuppy 2. 38D Mark Blanke 3. 48 Mike Harvey 4. 67 Jim Brown |
Heat 2: 1. 46 Paul Belken 2. 10 Todd McGraw 3. 9 Doug Wood 4. 18 Daryl Dodge
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Heat 3: 1. 74 Dennis Wernle 2. 15 Jim Troutman 3. 105 Matt Hancock 4. 127E Tory Ernst |
Dash: 1. 46 Paul Belken 2. 00 Scott Stuppy 3. 74 Dennis Wernle 4. 15 Jim Troutman |
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Semi: 1. 28 Sam Worley 2. 166 Brian Worley 3. 76 Brian Roberts 4. 80 Steve Borgetti (DQ – LIGHT) 5. 55 Scott Barker 6. 44 Nick Werner 7. 96 Stan Cernik 8. 79 Travis Tilley 9. 2% Tim Streisel 10. 97 Leonard Norbert 11. 350 Robert Dill 12. 61 Mike Whitter 13. 58 Jeff Barker 14. 42 Nathan Walsh 15. 50 Mike McGowan 16. 111 Zac Parks
Other Cars Present 75 Ron Imm, Jr. 37 John Imm |
Feature: 1. 46 Paul Belken 2. 9 Doug Wood 3. 00 Scott Stuppy 4. 15 Jim Troutman 5. 38D Mark Blanke 6. 74 Dennis Wernle 7. 127E Tory Ernst 8. 36 Bob Schmidt 9. 67 Jim Brown 10. 23 Mark Schnurbusch 11. 13 Brent Kreke 12. 18 Daryl Dodge 13. 28 Sam Worley 14. 84 Jim Ott 15. 44 Nick Werner 16. 48 Mike Harvey 17. 96 Stan Cernik 18. 55 Scott Barker 19. 166 Brian Worley 20. 76 Brian Roberts 21. 105 Matt Hancock 22. 10 Todd McGraw 23. 81 Billy Ames 24. 87 Gary Haynes |
UMP Late Models – 24 CarsHeat 1: 1. 37 Brian Wolfmeier 2. 67 Mark Oller 3. 78 Chad Zobrist 4. 2 Darrel Hoffman 5. 99 Kenny Schrader 6. 50 Ed Dixon 7. 20 Mark Gansmann 8. 11 Jim Shereck |
Heat 2: 1. 00 Randy Korte 2. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 3. 51 Steve Shive 4. 87 Ken Rumble 5. 32 Danny Maguire 6. 95 Jeff Johns 7. 77 Clay Baumann 8. 3D Jim Durbin |
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Dash: 1. 00 Randy Korte 2. 67 Mark Oller 3. 37 Brian Wolfmeier 4. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 5. 51 Steve Shive 6. 78 Chad Zobrist
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Feature: 1. 00 Randy Korte 2. 50 Ed Dixon 3. 99 Kenny Schrader 4. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 5. 67 Mark Oller 6. 37 Brian Wolfmeier 7. 78 Chad Zobrist 8. 2 Darrell Hoffman 9. 95 Jeff Johns 10. 77 Clay Baumann 11. 87 Ken Rumble 12. 32M Danny Maguire 13. 11 Jim Shereck 14. 3 Jim Durbin 15. 7 Rick Bayer 16. 28 Don Klein 17. B1 Bob Brown 18. 6Q Pat Ryan 19. 2J Dave Jumper 20. 10 Rodney Pense 21. 51 Steve Shive 22. 78 John Stanton 23. 44 Dean Motsinger
DNS: 20 Mark Gansmann
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