PEVELY, MO (April 21, 2001) Defending UMP National Late Model and I-55 Raceway track champion Ed Dixon returned to his winning ways by sweeping the evening's events. It didn't come easy, in his qualifying heat, fourteen year old Justin Allgaier got the jump on Dixon and led the first seven laps of the heat. On the final lap, Dixon got underneath Allgaier coming out of turn four and just beat him across the finish line. Chuck Baird and Jason Frankel won the other qualifying heats. Dixon won the dash.
Dixon jumped out to an early lead in feature event, but Tim Ratajczyk used the low side to take the lead on lap two. Ratajczyk held the lead for the next four laps, but Dixon came back strong on the high side and regained the lead on lap six. Dixon and Ratajczyk pulled away from the rest of the field and Dixon held on for the win. Dave Jumper had his best finish of the season by finishing third. Danny Haynes came home fourth and Mike Hammerle fifth.
The UMP Modifieds provided some of the most exciting racing so far in the young season at I-55 Raceway. The feature event got off to a rough start however, a twelve car pileup on the front stretch as they came down to take the green. On the restart, Scott Weber jumped out front and took the early lead. Weber was racing around the topside while Jim Shereck pulled along side of him each lap on the low side. With four laps remaining, it looked like the battle was going to be between Weber and Shereck for the win, but Ray Wagner used the middle of the track to make it three-wide and drove past both Weber and Shereck for the win. Shereck edged out Weber for second. Dean Hoffman and Brent Mullins finished fourth and fifth respectively. Cars further back were racing three and sometimes four wide during the entire feature event. Wagner, Tom Ratajczyk, Brian Wolfmeier and Brian Collins won the heats and Wagner also won the dash.
Paul Belken picked up his second win of the season in the Sportsman division. Scott Stuppy finished second and Mike McGowan, Mark Blanke and Dan Dixon rounded out the top five. Dixon, McGowan, Stuppy and Mike Whitter won the heats and Dixon also won the dash.
UMP Late Models
22 Cars
Heat 1: 1. 50 Ed Dixon, 2. 1A Justin Allgaier, 3. 11 Kevin Gundaker, 4. 51 Steve Shive
Heat 2: 1. 9 Chuck Baird, 2. 112 Tim Ratajczyk, 3. 7 Rick Bayer, 4. 16 Mike Hammerle
Heat 3: 1. 33 Jason Frankel, 2. 2J Dave Jumper, 3. 44 Dean Motsinger, 4. 77 Clay Baumann
Dash: 1. 50 Ed Dixon, 2. 33 Jason Frankel, 3. 112 Tim Ratajczyk, 4. 11 Kevin Gundaker
Feature: 1. 50 Ed Dixon, 2. 112 Tim Ratajczyk, 3. 2J Dave Jumper, 4. 47 Danny Haynes, 5. 16 Mike Hammerle, 6. 67 Mark Oller, 7. 33 Jason Frankel, 8. 70 Marc McClintock, 9. 11 Kevin Gundaker, 10. 7 Rick Bayer, 11. 87 Ken Rumble, 12. 1A Justin Allgaier, 13. 77 Clay Baumann, 14. 28 Don Klein, 15. 51 Steve Shive, 16. 37 Brian Wolfmeier, 17. 69S John Scott, 18. 44 Dean Motsinger, 19. 9 Chuck Baird, 20. 69K George Kamer, 21. 56 Tommy Worley, DNS 10 Rodney Pense
UMP Modifieds
31 Cars
Heat 1: 1. 6 Ray Wagner, 2. 4J Scott Weber, 3. 1D Dean Hoffman, 4. 4M Brent Mullins
Heat 2: 1. 12 Tom Ratajczyk, 2. 21R Dennis Richards, 3. 41M Steve Maisel, 4. 62 Trey Medley
Heat 3: 1. 99 Brian Wolfmeier, 2. 17 Jim Shereck, 3. 3S Dan Schlup, 4. 18R Shawn Rayfield
Heat 4: 1. 11Z Brian Collins, 2. 68 Andy Anderson, 3. 59 Rich Whaley, 4. 56 Kevin Epperson
Dash: 1. 6 Ray Wagner, 2. 4J Scott Weber, 3. 17 Jim Shereck, 4. 12 Tom Ratajczyk
Semi: 1. 16 Rusty Griffaw, 2. 29 Jeff LeBaube, 3. 11S Kyle Steffens, 4. 19C Vic Catalano, 5. 29C John Campbell, 6. C4 Chris Soutiea, 7. 94S John Schuerman, 8. X1 Dave Sandage, 9. 41 Larry Hull, 10. 45 Eric Franklin, 11. 23 Tim Barrett
Feature: 1. 6 Ray Wagner, 2. 17 Jim Shereck, 3. 4J Scott Weber, 4. 1D Dean Hoffman, 5. 99 Brian Wolfmeier, 6. 11S Kyle Steffens, 7. 16 Rusty Griffaw, 8. 12 Tom Ratajczyk, 9. 18R Shawn Rayfield, 10. 29 Jeff LeBaube, 11. 4M Brent Mullins, 12. 14 Leroy Haney, 13. 11Z Brian Collins, 14. 21R Dennis Richards, 15. 1W Ray Walsh, 16. 68 Andy Anderson, 17. 62 Troy Medley, 18. 19C Vic Catalano, 19. 81 Mike Barbeau, 20. 56 Kevin Epperson, 21. 59 Rich Whaley, 22. 41M Steve Maisel, 23. 3S Dan Schlup, 24. 8 Kirk Murphy
AARA Sportsman
34 Cars
Heat 1: 1. 500 Dan Dixon, 2. 8 Ed Lowery, 3. 105 Matt Hancock, 4. D5 Dave Jenkins
Heat 2: 1. 50 Mike McGowan, 2. 12 Troy Naeger, 3. 38D Mark Blanke, 4. 10 Todd McGraw
Heat 3: 1. 00 Scott Stuppy, 2. 48 Mike Harvey, 3. 9 Doug Wood, 4. 26 Rob Inman
Heat 4: 1. 61 Mike Whitter, 2. 46 Paul Belken, 3. 166 Brian Worley, 4. 87 Gary Haynes
Dash: 1. 500 Dan Dixon, 2. 00 Scott Stuppy, 3. 12 Troy Naeger, 4. 50 Mike McGowan
Semi: 1. 36 Bob Schmidt, 2. 42 Nathan Walsh, 3. 19 Brad Grantham, 4. 218 Matt O'Harver, 5. 93 Jeff Honea, 6. 92 Jim Abshier, 7. 111 Zac Parks, 8. 01 Steve Borgetti, 9. 18 Daryl Dodge, 10. 20 Rich Whaley
Feature: 1. 46 Paul Belken, 2. 00 Scott Stuppy, 3. 50 Mike McGowan, 4. 38D Mark Blanke, 5. 500 Dan Dixon, 6. 166 Brian Worley, 7. 9 Doug Wood, 8. 105 Matt Hancock, 9. 10 Todd McGraw, 10. 8 Ed Lowery, 11. D5 Dave Jenkins, 12. 36 Bob Schmidt, 13. 87 Gary Haynes, 14. 61 Mike Whitter, 15. 45 Mike Seymour, 16. 75 Ron Imm, 17. 19 Brad Grantham, 18. 24 Paul Bauman, 19. 42 Nathan Walsh, 20. 26 Rob Inman, 21. 93 Jeff Honea, 22. 218 Matt O'Harver, 23. 64 Lee Bowers, 24. 12 Troy Naeger
Other Cars Present: 27 Dan Walsh, 35 Mark Stolle, 34 Ray Wohlschlaeger, 6 Kenny Kennedy
