Durbin, Weber, Belken & Springer win at I-55!
Pevely, MO (August 17, 2002) Jim Durbin grabbed his third UMP Late Model victory of the season at I-55 Raceway. Chuck Baird took the early lead from the pole position as he raced past outside pole sitter Dave Jumper down the backstretch on the opening lap. Baird led until the caution flew on lap eight for Ed Dixon who got into the wall down the front stretch and came to rest in turn one. On the restart, Durbin moved to the outside and sped past Baird down the backstretch to take over the lead. Jumper also moved past Baird to take over second. On lap eleven, Jumper worked his way past Durbin to take over the lead. Jumper's lead was shortlived as Durbin found his way back around Jumper just four laps later. Billy Faust moved up from his tenth starting position to challenge Durbin for the lead. Faust appeared to be the fastest car on the track, but he jumped the cushion in turn two and climbed the wall and narrowly missed getting upside down. His car suffered too much damage to continue. Jeff Johns joined the battle for the lead as well but never made it past third. Durbin, Jumper and Johns battled nose to tail for the final seven laps and finished in that order. Tim Ratajczyk worked his way through traffic to finish fourth and Brian Wolfmeier rounded out the top five.
The excitement continued in the UMP Modified division, Scott Weber took the lead on lap one with Dean Hoffman and Ray Wagner hot on his heels. Weber and Hoffman battled nose to tail around the top, while Wagner used the low side to fight along side the two. Ray Walsh and Bobby Bittle stayed in the hunt as well, as they fought back and fourth behind the three front-runners early on. Trouble struck Hoffman on lap sixteen as he blew a right rear tire to bring out a caution and ended his night. On the restart, Weber pulled away to victory, Walsh moved up to claim second and Bittle third, Wagner came home fourth and Rusty Griffaw moved up from the twenty-second starting position to finish fifth.
Paul Belken picked up another victory in the AARA Sportsman division, but it didn't come easy. Dave Jenkins kept the pressure on Belken for the lead and actually moved ahead of Belken in lapped traffic, only to have a caution flag wave on the same lap, negating his move to the lead. The caution was for a hard crash into the front straight wall involving Jim Wisnewski, Mark Blanke and Ricky Horton. All three drivers were ok, but were done for the night. On the restart, Belken and Jenkins battled side-by-side and nose to tail lap after lap until they got into lapped traffic again, this time Jenkins made contact with the back of the lapped car and the two cars got hooked together. As the two cars finally separated on the front stretch, Jenkins car veered toward the inside and collected Mike Whitter and Jim Troutman in another hard crash. Again, all three drivers were ok, but all three were done for the night. Paul Belken went on to victory, with Paul Bauman finishing second, Marty Heck third, Todd McGraw fourth and Scott Stuppy fifth.
Carl Springer II was a sweeper in the AARA Wannabees division. Springer started the feature in eleventh and drove through very busy traffic to pick up the win. Chris LaRose found things hard going as he made contact with Dennis Harris and went into the front straight wall and then flipped his Chevy S-10 pickup several times. He was ok. Dave Heinrichs and Robert Denny took second and third.
AARA Sportsman
Heat 1:
1. 46 Paul Belken
2. 38D Mark Blanke
3. D5 Dave Jenkins
4. 10 Todd McGraw
Heat 2:
1. 411 Marty Heck
2. 15 Jim Troutman
3. 24 Paul Bauman
4. 75 Ron Imm
Heat 3:
1. 98 David Bardin
2. 27 Nathan Walsh
3. 61 Mike Whitter
4. 4 Ricky Horton
Dash:
1. 46 Paul Belken
2. 38D Mark Blanke
3. D5 Dave Jenkins
4. 411 Marty Heck
Feature:
1. 46 Paul Belken
2. 24 Paul Bauman
3. 411 Marty Heck
4. 10 Todd McGraw
5. 00 Scott Stuppy
6. 98 David Bardin
7. 01 Steve Borgetti
8. 111 Zac Parks
9. 3 Bob Prince
10. 27 Nathan Walsh
11. 17H Dave Heimos
12. D40 Ed DeMille
13. 6 Brian Noeth
14. 75 Ron Imm
15. 146 Douglas Kim
16. D5 Dave Jenkins
17. 61 Mike Whitter
18. 15 Jim Troutman
19. 11 Darrell Crismen
20. 8 Ed Lowry
21. 93 Jeff Honea
22. 38D Mark Blanke
23. 4 Ricky Horton
24. 54 Jim Wisnewski
DNS. 20 Gary McKinnon
DNS. 26 Gary Wilson
UMP Late Models
Heat 1:
1. 9B Chuck Baird
2. 2J Dave Jumper
3. 3D Jim Durbin
4. 51 Steve Shive
Heat 2:
1. 95 Jeff Johns
2. 47 Danny Haynes
3. 37 Brian Wolfmeier
4. 112 Tim Ratajczyk
Dash:
1. 9B Chuck Baird
2. 2J Dave Jumper
3. 3D Jim Durbin
4. 47 Danny Haynes
Feature:
1. 3D Jim Durbin
2. 2J Dave Jumper
3. 95 Jeff Johns
4. 112 Tim Ratajczyk
5. 37 Brian Wolfmeier
6. 51 Steve Shive
7. 77 Clay Baumann
8. 47 Danny Haynes
9. 44 Jimmy Burwell
10. 28 Don Klein
11. 82 Billy Laycock
12. 9B Chuck Baird
13. 12 Mark Schaefer
14. 22 Darrell Moser
15. 26 Billy Faust
16. 68 Tom Fitzgerald
17. 50 Ed Dixon
DNS. 13 Duane Kiefer
UMP Modifieds
Heat 1:
1. 4J Scott Weber
2. 9W Doug Wood
3. 20 Dave Henke
4. X1 Dave Sandage
Heat 2:
1. 6 Ray Wagner
2. 1W Ray Walsh
3. 18 Brent Thompson
4. 14 Leroy Haney
Heat 3:
1. 1D Dean Hoffman
2. 3R Leon Rakers
3. 113 Karl Hartung
4. 78 Rich Lawson
Heat 4:
1. 8 Kirk Murphy
2. 89 Bobby Bittle
3. 22G Steve Grotz
4. H66 John Hudson
Dash:
1. 6 Ray Wagner
2. 4J Scott Weber
3. 1D Dean Hoffman
4. 1W Ray Walsh
Semi:
1. 59 Rich Whaley
2. 16 Rusty Griffaw
3. 166 Brian Worley
4. 70 Josh Russell
5. 45M Eric Mabery
6. 56 Kevin Epperson
7. 88 Joe Puricelli
8. 41 Larry Hull
9. 51 John Hoffman
10. 95 Jerry Grither
11. 10 Todd Ferber
DNS. 5 Joe Johnson
DNS. 9D Dan Hoffman
DNS. C4 Chris Soutiea
Feature:
1. 4J Scott Weber
2. 1W Ray Walsh
3. 89 Bobby Bittle
4. 6 Ray Wagner
5. 16 Rusty Griffaw
6. 11Z Brian Collins
7. 18 Brent Thompson
8. 59 Rich Whaley
9. 22G Steve Grotz
10. 166 Brian Worley
11. 14K Loren Knox
12. 14 Leroy Haney
13. 70 Josh Russell
14. 9W Doug Wood
15. X1 Dave Sandage
16. 8 Kirk Murphy
17. 95B Jim Beishir
18. 1D Dean Hoffman
19. H66 John Hudson
20. 113 Karl Hartung
21. 78 Rich Lawson
22. 20 Dave Henke
23. 12 Tom Ratajczyk
24. 3R Leon Rakers
AARA Wannabees
Heat:
1. 41 Carl Springer II
2. 77 Ron Lyons
3. 01 Robert Denny
4. 21 Dave Heinrichs
5. 51 John Hoffman
Feature:
1. 41 Carl Springer II
2. 21 Dave Heinrichs
3. 01 Robert Denny
4. 8 Pat Brewer
5. 3 Mike Robinson
6. 51 John Hoffman
7. 58 Gene Hoffman
8. 49 Dennis Harris
9. 2 Dan Schmidt
10. 77 Ron Lyons
11. 18 Chris LaRose
