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Beyers, Bittle, Naeger, Fisher, Leahy take wins at I-55 Raceway!

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM I-55 RACEWAY Pevely, MO (May 5, 2007) Mother Nature dumped closed to three inches of rain on I-55 Raceway in the days leading up to Saturday's action at I-55 Raceway, but track crews did an outstanding job in getting the track ready for action. With track crews only putting a small amount of water on the track right before the action started to control the dust, it appeared the track was going to slick over quickly once the racing started, but as soon as the sun went down the moisture from all the rain began to come back to the surface and provided a very fast race track. Jeff Beyers of Pana, IL hit the setup perfectly in the main event as he took the lead from Mark Oller on lap four and never looked back as he picked up his first ever win a UMP Late Model. Bryan Collins, who started deep in the field after finding trouble in his heat race, flew through the field, picking off cars nearly every lap to take the second position. Jeff Johns continued his strong start to the 2007 racing season as he picked up another top five with his third place finish. Mark Oller, who led the opening laps finished in the fourth position with Frankie Martin rounding out the top five. The big contraversy involved two of I-55 Raceway's longtime veterans as they battled for the third and fourth spot. About half way through the event, Tim Ratajczyk and Ed Dixon got together on the restart after a caution. Dixon dove under Ratajczyk for the third spot as they went through turn two and contact was made sending Ratajczyk spinning into the outside wall. Ratajczyk was very upset and through his gloves at Dixon as he came by the next lap under caution. On the re-lineup after the caution, Dixon was sent to the rear for the restart. Dixon wasn't happy with the official's decision and proceeded around the track trying to talk to different officials before running over the restart cone exiting the racetrack. Bobby Bittle of Smithton, IL picked up his second straight UMP Modified victory. Bittle took the lead on the opening lap and then had to hold off Ray Walsh and Mark Miner for the win. Miner took the second spot from Walsh on lap eight and tried to mount a challenge on Bittle. Walsh took back the second spot and lap thirteen and then a caution came out on lap fifteen, which gave Walsh the opportunity he need to close right up on Bittle's rear bumper for the restart. At the drop of the green flag, Walsh dove to the bottom and drove along side Bittle. The two battled side by side for two laps when all of the sudden sparks began to fly from Walsh's machine forcing him to slow and exit the racetrack. Bittle went on to victory with Miner taking the second spot. Jerry Grither came home third with Bobby Martintoni taking fourth and Marty Smith, Jr. rounding out the top five. Troy Naeger claimed his second UMP Sportsman victory of the 2007 season. Naeger led all fifteen laps enroute to the win. Troy Medley tried to mount a challenge for the lead but had to hold off Kent Nations in the closing laps to keep the second position. Jeff Herzog came home fourth and Tyson Gegg fifth. Chris Fisher took the win in the UMP/AARA Pro 4 Stock division. Fisher held off Homer Mooney and Brandon Hedgecoth for the victory. Jason Crump was fourth and Tim Hoffman fifth. John Leahy, Jr. won in a photo finish over Danny Haynes in the Dwarf Car division. Leahy led most of the event, but got held up in lapped traffic late in the event and Haynes charged around the top just coming up short by inches at the start/finish line. Jeff Asher was third, Brad Paquet fourth and Jim Black fifth. UMP Late Models - 26 Entries Heat 1 1. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 2. 1 Ron McQuerry 3. 13 Brent Kreke 4. 50 Ed Dixon 5. 28 Don Klein 6. 82 Billy Laycock 7. F16 Scott Ford 8. 11Z Bryan Collins 9. 45 Scott Bell DNS Heat 2 1. 81 Craig Smith 2. 27 Jeff Beyers 3. 67 Mark Oller 4. 25 Frankie Martin 5. 95 Jeff Johns 6. 27S Kenny Helmick 7. 11D Brian Diveley 8. 30 Mark Voigt 9. 78 Chad Zobrist Heat 3 1. 00 Randy Korte 2. 2J Dave Jumper 3. 47 Danny Haynes 4. 35 Claude Walker 5. 51 Steve Shive 6. 7 Rich Lawson 7. 33 Tim Manville 8. 69 Dustin Korte Dash 1. 00 Randy Korte 2. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 3. 67 Mark Oller 4. 47 Danny Haynes 5. 27 Jeff Beyers 6. 1 Ron McQuerry 7. 13 Brent Kreke 8. 2J Dave Jumper 9. 81 Craig Smith Feature 1. 27 Jeff Beyers 2. 11Z Bryan Collins 3. 95 Jeff Johns 4. 67 Mark Oller 5. 25 Frankie Martin 6. 11D Brian Diveley 7. 27S Kenny Helmick 8. 13 Brent Kreke 9. 51 Steve Shive 10. 78 Chad Zobrist 11. 2J Dave Jumper 12. 28 Don Klein 13. 1 Ron McQuerry 14. 7 Rich Lawson 15. 33 Tim Manville 16. 47 Danny Haynes 17. 82 Billy Laycock 18. 112 Tim Ratajczyk 19. 50 Ed Dixon 20. F16 Scott Ford 21. 35 Claude Walker 22. 69 Dustin Korte 23. 30 Mark Voigt 24. 00 Randy Korte DNS 25. 81 Craig Smith DNS 26. 45 Scott Bell DNS UMP Modifieds - 34 Entries Heat 1 1. 1W Ray Walsh 2. 55 Marty Smith Jr. 3. 7 Mark Miner 4. 1A Steve Meyer Jr. 5. 88 Joe Puricelli 6. C6 Ray Wagner 7. 72X Jason Sinn 8. 72R Jeremy Roth 9. 68 Andy Oswald Heat 2 1. T0 Tim Hancock 2. 12 Tom Ratajczyk 3. 44X Matt Simpson 4. C4 Chris Soutiea 5. 78C Allen Conner 6. 10X Rob Pendergrass 7. 7 Matt Zimmerly 8. 5 Chris Nix 9. 44 Aaron Bell Heat 3 1. 89 Bobby Bittle 2. 48 Bobby Martintoni 3. 31P Mitch Parmeley 4. 9W Doug Wood 5. 6 Ronald Massman 6. 4B Neil Wade Jr. 7. 87 Tony Patterson 8. 10M Todd McGraw Heat 4 1. 15 Jerry Grither 2. 19 Chris Simmerman 3. 31 Ricky Horton 4. 14 Leroy Haney 5. 21 Dennis Richards 6. 3R Leon Rakers 7. 21 Randy Dickman 8. 20Z Dan Zander Dash 1. 89 Bobby Bittle - G&M Steel Dash Winner 2. 1W Ray Walsh 3. 7 Mark Miner 4. 48 Bobby Martintoni 5. 44X Matt Simpson 6. 15 Jerry Grither 7. 19 Chris Simmerman 8. 31 Ricky Horton 9. T0 Tim Hancock Semi 1 Top 6 advance 1. C6 Ray Wagner 2. 3R Leon Rakers 3. 10X Rob Pendergrass 4. 7 Matt Zimmerly 5. 4B Neil Wade Jr. 6. 20Z Dan Zander 7. 21 Adam Parmely 8. 72X Jason Sinn 9. 21 Dennis Richards 10. 44B Aaron Bell 11. 72 Jeremy Roth 12. 87 Tony Patterson 13. 5 Jimmy Nix 14. 6M Ronald Massman DNS 15. 10 Todd McGraw DNS 16. 68 Andy Oswald DNS Feature 1. 89 Bobby Bittle 2. 7 Mark Miner 3. 15 Jerry Grither 4. 48 Bobby Martintoni 5. 55 Marty Smith Jr. 6. T0 Tim Hancock 7. 19 Chris Simmerman 8. 9W Doug Wood 9. 12 Tom Ratajczyk 10. 1A Steve Meyer Jr. 11. 88 Joe Puricelli 12. C6 Ray Wagner 13. 7Z Matt Zimmerly 14. 20Z Dan Zander 15. 14 Leroy Haney 16. 1W Ray Walsh 17. 31 Ricky Horton 18. 44X Matt Simpson 19. 78 Allen Conner 20. 10X Rob Pendergrass 21. 31P Mitch Parmely 22. 4B Neil Wade Jr. 23. 3R Leon Rakers 24. C4 Chris Soutiea UMP/AARA Sportsman - 29 Entries Heat 1 1. 62 Troy Medley 2. 96 Tim Hollerbeck 3. 59 Ryan Gegg 4. 67 Ronnie Bader 5. 92 Jim Abshier 6. 105 Matt Hancock 7. 55 Jason Keller 8. 120 Jimmy Miller 9. 8 Scott Hensler 10. 4 Mark Schnurbusch Heat 2 1. 12 Troy Naeger 2. 128 Tyson Gegg 3. 50 Kent Nations 4. 147 Kyle Stolzer 5. 97 John Goodson 6. 32 Jerry Fleming 7. 36 Danny Ems 8. 811 Wade Sutter 9. 66 Sam Lopretta 10. 20 Brad McKinnon Heat 3 1. 19 Jimmy Cummins 2. 85 Justin Ketrow 3. 11 Jeff Herzog 4. 87 Gary Haynes 5. 23 Kevin Mosier 6. 10 Dustin Homan 7. 360 Rob Stuart 8. M16 Joe McCain 9. 21 Randy Dickman Dash 1. 12 Troy Naeger 2. 128 Tyson Gegg 3. 19 Jimmy Cummins 4. 62 Troy Medley 5. 50 Kent Nations 6. 85 Justin Ketrow 7. 96 Tim Hollerbeck 8. 11 Jeff Herzog 9. 59 Ryan Gegg Semi 1 Top 6 advance 1. 55 Jason Keller 2. 21 Randy Dickman 3. 360 Rob Stuart 4. M16 Joe McCain 5. 36 Danny Ems 6. 811 Wade Sutter 7. 8 Scott Hensler 8. 4 Mark Schnurbusch 9. 20 Brad McKinnon 10. 120 Jimmy Miller 11. 66 Sam Lopretta Feature 1. 12 Troy Naeger 2. 62 Troy Medley 3. 50 Kent Nations 4. 11 Jeff Herzog 5. 128 Tyson Gegg 6. 19 Jimmy Cummins 7. 67 Ronnie Bader 8. 55 Jason Keller - MO/IL Dodge Dealers Hard Charger Award Winner 9. 96 Tim Hollerbeck 10. 87 Gary Haynes 11. 59 Ryan Gegg 12. 10 Dustin Homan 13. M16 Joe McCain 14. 21 Randy Dickman 15. 147 Kyle Stolzer 16. 32 Jerry Fleming 17. 92 Jim Abshier 18. 8 Scott Hensler 19. 811 Wade Sutter 20. 85 Justin Ketrow 21. 23 Kevin Mosier 22. 105 Matt Hancock 23. 36 Danny Ems 24. 4 Mark Schnurbusch UMP/AARA Pro 4 Stocks - 14 Entries Heat 1 1. 10H Homer Mooney 2. 97 Mike Dearing 3. 911 Tim Hoffman 4. 7 Conrad Miner 5. 188 Gary Price 6. 440 Steve Morley 7. 20 Kyle Busch Heat 2 1. 5 Chris Fisher 2. 86 Jason Crump 3. 74 Brandon Hedgecoth 4. 66 Jason Marquitz 5. 186 Stephen Crump 6. 77 Ron Lyons 7. 50 Trey Harris DNS Feature 1. 5 Chris Fisher 2. 10H Homer Mooney 3. 74 Brandon Hedgecoth 4. 86 Jason Crump 5. 911 Tim Hoffman 6. 7 Conrad Miner 7. 186 Stephen Crump 8. 97 Mike Dearing 9. 66 Jason Marquitz 10. 77 Ron Lyons 11. 20 Kyle Busch 12. 440 Steve Morley 13. 188 Gary Price 14. 50 Trey Harris DNS Dwarf Cars Heat 1 1. 47 Brad Paquet 2. 56 Danny Haynes 3. 30 Don Wadlow 4. 60 Taylor Inboden 5. 00 Wayne Arnold 6. 32 David Hoffman 7. 13 Gary Price Heat 2 1. 7 Jeff Asher 2. 10 Jim Black 3. 33 Mike Zoricor 4. 40 Vince Conway 5. 8 John Lechy Jr. 6. 11 Bob Black 7. 20 Ryan Poyner Feature 1. 8 John Lechy Jr. 2. 56 Danny Haynes 3. 7 Jeff Asher 4. 47 Brad Paquet 5. 10 Jim Black 6. 33 Mike Zaricor 7. 30 Don Wadlow 8. 00 Wayne Arnold 9. 60 Taylor Inboden 10. 20 Ryan Poyner 11. 11 Bob Black 12. 32 David Hoffman 13. 40 Vince Conway 14. 13 Gary Price

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