PEVELY, MO. (June 10) — Ed Dixon won a wild UMP Late Model feature at I-55 Raceway after race-long leader Tim Ratajczyk bumped a slower car and started to spin in front of traffic, bringing out a caution that sent him to the rear of the field.
After taking the white flag, Ratajczyk nipped the back of a lapped car and started to spin, collecting Dixon. The two cars skidded sideways and slowed in front of traffic. Both cars continued moving and regained speed but only after the caution had waved due to the heavy traffic behind the two.
Officials ruled that the caution had been caused by Ratajczyk and moved him to the rear of the field on the restart, leaving Dixon, the nose of his car knocked sideways, at the front of the field. Dixon held off Ed Bauman and Mark Oller to win his third feature of 2000. Ratajczyk opted to pull to the infield rather than restart in the rear.
Rusty Griffaw led the first seven laps of the UMP Modified feature before jumping the front wheel of a lapped car that took him high in turn three, bouncing his car off the wall and out of the race. The incident left John Seets Sr. out front, but he was passed two laps later by Scott Weber, who led the final 12 laps for his fourth victory of the year. Ray Wagner finished second and Seets was third.
Lapped traffic nearly played a role in the sportsman feature, collecting leader Brian Worley with six laps remaining when he T-boned a car that spun in front of him. The impact flattened the front bodywork of his car, but he was able to stay out front for the final to win his first feature at I-55. Troy Naeger, Paul Belken Jr., Mark Schnurbusch and Doug Wood rounded out the top five.
The car of Travis Tilley was punted into the back-stretch wall and rolled onto its roof in the jumbled traffic that resulted when the yellow was thrown on lap two of the sportsman feature after a car stalled on the track.
The late model heat races were won by Dixon and Ratajczyk, who also won the dash. In the modified class, Brent Mullins, Weber and Shawn Rayfield were the heat winners. Weber also claimed the dash, and Dennis Richards finished first in the semi.
Tory Ernst, Todd McGraw, Mike Harvey and Mark Blanke won the heat races in a big field of sportsman stock cars. Ernst won the dash before Doug Wood and Rob Imm finished first in the semi-features.
Last Wednesday, Sarah McCune won a MARA Midget feature at I-55 Raceway to become the first woman to win a main event at the track. On Saturday night Peggy Baur was leading her sportsmen heat when her engine broke with three laps remaining. The cruiser car feature was won by a car co-driven by Jodi Ritter with Roy Grifford.
Saturday's features were delayed 75 minutes by rain. Racing resumed after the track was tilled and repacked.
Worley's feature victory made him the 14th driver to win in the 27 main events held at the track this season in the late model, modified and sportsman classes.
| UMP Late Models
Heat 1: 1. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 2. 00 Randy Korte 3. 77 Clay Baumann 4. 67 Mark Oller
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Heat 2: 1. 50 Ed Dixon 2. 33 Jason Frankel 3. F15 Ed Bauman 4. 87 Ken Rumble
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Dash: 1. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 2. 50 Ed Dixon 3. 33 Jason Frankel 4. 77 Clay Baumann
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Feature: 1. 50 Ed Dixon 2. F15 Ed Bauman 3. 67 Mark Oller 4. 77 Clay Baumann 5. 20 Mark Gansmann 6. 3D Jim Durbin 7. 51 Steve Shive 8. 95 Jeff Johns 9. 79 Charlie Schaefer 10. 2H Darrell Hoffman 11. 15 Chris Fetter 12. 2J Dave Jumper 13. 28 Don Klein 14. B1 Bob Brown 15. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 16. 6Q Pat Ryan 17. 33 Jason Frankel 18. 00 Randy Korte 19. 87 Ken Rumble 20. 32 Danny Maguire 21. 51K Bob Klausner 22. 7 Rick Bayer 23. 69 George Kamer
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| UMP Modifieds
Heat 1: 1. 4M Brent Mullins 2. 71 Jay Hughes 3. 1D Dean Hoffman 4. 6 Ray Wagner
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Heat 2: 1. 4J Scott Weber 2. 16 Rusty Griffaw 3. 360 John Seets 4. 99 Brian Wolfmeier
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Heat 3: 1. 18R Shawn Rayfield 2. 377 Casey Pearson 3. 1W Ray Walsh 4. 12 Tom Ratajczyk
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Dash: 1. 4J Scott Weber 2. 18R Shawn Rayfield 3. 71 Jay Hughes 4. 4M Brent Mullins
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Semi: 1. 21 Dennis Richards 2. 95 Jim Beishir 3. 64 Jim Smith 4. C4 Chris Soutiea 5. 11 Bob Dueser 6. 21H Dave Henry 7. 37 Loren Knox 8. 93 Clark Roach 9. 29C John Campbell 10. 7Z Matt Zimmerly 11. 28W Chris Wood 12. 8 Kirk Murphy
Other Cars Present: 33 Steve LaFever 28L Patrick Lawson
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Feature: 1. 4J Scott Weber 2. 6 Ray Wagner 3. 360 John Seets 4. 4M Brent Mullins 5. 12 Tom Ratajczyk 6. 377 Casey Pearson 7. 14 Leroy Haney 8. 1W Ray Walsh 9. 99 Brian Wolfmeier 10. 68 Andy Anderson 11. 21R Dennis Richards 12. 18R Shawn Rayfield 13. 59 Rich Whaley 14. 67 John Seets, Jr. 15. 81 Mike Barbeau 16. 21H Dave Henry 17. 64 Jim Smith 18. 71 Jay Hughes 19. 11S Kyle Steffens 20. 16 Rusty Griffaw 21. 1D Dean Hoffman 22. 95 Jim Beishir 23. C4 Chris Soutiea 24. 11W Bob Deuser
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| AARA Sportsman:
Heat 1: 1. 127E Tory Ernst 2. 18 Daryl Dodge 3. F16 Frank Melton 4. 79 Travis Tilley
9 Doug Wood (DQ-Rough Driving) 15 Jim Troutman (DQ-Rough Driving)
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Heat 2: 1. 10 Todd McGraw 2. 500 Dan Dixon 3. 166 Brian Worley 4. 50 Mike McGowan
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Heat 3: 1. 48 Mike Harvey 2. 46 Paul Belken 3. 28 Sam Worley 4. 12 Troy Naeger
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Heat 4: 1. 38D Mark Blanke 2. 23 Mark Schnurbusch 3. 17H Dave Heimos 4. 00 Scott Stuppy
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Dash: 1. 127E Tory Ernst 2. 46 Paul Belken 3. 38D Mark Blanke 4. 10 Todd McGraw
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Semi #1: 1. 9 Doug Wood 2. 91 Dave Blanc 3. 15 Jim Troutman 4. 53 John Dunshee, Jr. 5. 77 Randy Kueker 6. 19 Brad Grantham 7. 111 Zac Parks 8. 42 Nathan Walsh 9. 44 Nick Werner 10. 350 Robert Dill
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Semi #2: 1. 75 Rob Imm, Jr. 2. 84 Jim Ott 3. 6 Brian Noeth 4. 128 Tom Smallwood 5. 60 Kraig Rigdon (DQ-Weight) 6. 61W Mike Whitter 7. 37 John Imm 8. 74 Dennis Wernle 9. 51 John Hoffman
Other Cars Present: 175 Peggy Baur 92 Jim Abshier
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Feature: 1. 166 Brian Worley 2. 12 Troy Naeger 3. 46 Paul Belken 4. 23 Mark Schnurbusch 5. 9 Doug Wood 6. 10 Todd McGraw 7. D5 Dave Jenkins 8. 127E Tory Ernst 9. 18 Daryl Dodge 10. 28 Sam Worley 11. 15 Jim Troutman 12. 75 Ron Imm, Jr. 13. 2% Tim Streisel 14. F16 Frank Melton 15. 105 Matt Hancock 16. 6 Brian Noeth 17. 84 Jim Ott 18. 00 Scott Stuppy 19. 38D Mark Blanke 20. 37 John Imm 21. 48 Mike Harvey 22. 50 Mike McGowan 23. 500 Dan Dixon 24. 79 Travis Tilley
Doug Wood was the Timberwolf Hard Charger Winner!
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Cruisers
Heat: Billy Klein/Phil Grifford
Feature: Jodi Ritter/Roy Grifford, Billy Klein/Phil Grifford, Troy Conway/Chase Patterson
