BURNSIDE HOLDS ON
By Namgalf
(8/18/00)A perfect weather night and an excellent racing surface the whole evening provided Tommy Burnside the winning formula at Vermilion County Speedway in Danville,Il. Friday night. The win was anything but easy even though he was credited with leading all 25 laps. Using the front row inside starting position Burnside immediatly jumped to the point with fellow front row mate John Hudson trailing. Rick Hufford, Jammie Wilson, Chuck Haga, Jason Lakey, and Michael Bradley all in a tight pack with Hudson formed a minor war for the following positions for the first 11 laps until a caution that eliminated a nearly full straight lead for Burnside. On the ensuing restart Hufford snatched the runner-up spot from Hudson not allowing Burnside to pull away this time. By this time Denny Schwartz had joined the battle along with Cory Rolfe and Tim Reynolds making for some tough racing. About lap 15 Hufford clipped a tire in turn 3 breaking his front suspension taking him from the event but Schwartz was on the attack using the upper groove to pick off cars one by one. Wilson was eliminated when he and Hudson were a pair in a threesome and the resulting contact cut the left rear tire sending him pitward. At lap 20 Schwartz had passed all but the leader and he completed that move at the line on lap 21 but a caution for a spinning Jared Temples nullified the move making Schwartz return to the second spot but before the race could go green again Schwartz pulled pitside. This move Hudson back into second with Haga now 3rd the battle for the following spots between Reynolds, Cory Rolfe, Jim Moore, Don Kiger, Charles Van Ness plus the remaing field. Kiger who had started dead last in the 21 car field had worked his way to 6th but a change in grooves after the last yellow wound him up 9th. Tim Reynolds and Jim Moore ran consistent picking off racers from mid-pack to finish 4th and 5th. Haga used the final caution to move into the bridesmaid spot with Hudson, who appeared to be in the middle of all the tough racing all night held on for third.Charles Van Ness used his first visit to VCS and posted an impressive 7th behind top groove running Cory Rolfe. Results:-------------------------------------------------------
LAKEY
EDGES REYNOLDS AT LINE
By Namgalf
| The modified
feature at Vermilion County Speedway in Danville,Ill. Friday night
went down to the last corner and was decided by about 1 foot. Front
row starters Tim Reynolds and Jason Lakey led the 24 starters to the
green flag with Jammie Wilson, Rick Hufford, Chuck Haga and everyone
else snapping at bumpers. Coming out of turn one on lap 2 it
appeared the engine on Hufford's automobile decided to take an ill
advised vacation locking up the drive line and sending the following
pack into a Chinese fire drill to miss the disabled machine. Kyle
Logue got into the rear of Hufford however he was able to keep
moving and kept his position on the restart. With the fast line on
the bottom this evening Reynolds kept the inside line protected with
Lakey, Chuck Haga, Shane Cottle and Logue all bumping and trying to
root each other to get an advantage so each could gain a position
until lap 18 when back marker Mike Parker spun on top of turn 4. Up
until this time Reynolds was driving an unmistakable race to keep
the lead. On the resulting restart he kept it up even though a
little looseness was apparent coming out of the turns allowing Lakey
to pull completely even coming off turn 2 on lap 20 but Reynolds had
the power to pull back ahead going into the third turn. For the last
4 laps Reynolds kept his modified glued to the bottom until the very
last corner where he pushed up just enough to allow Lakey a lane to
the checkered flag which he took full advantage of and pulled ahead
by about 1 foot at the finish line for an exciting ending to a race
where all drivers were professional by racing hard but not taking
anyone out nor did I see one instance where a driver used his front
bumper to gain a position. All in all it was an excellent race where
you had to be happy for Jason Lakey for what I believe is his first
victory at VCS since 1998 and disappointed for Tim Reynolds who had
worked so hard for 24.9 laps only to lose at the line. Look for some
other posts for great paying races at VCS Labor day weekend. Results
below: Fast time: Bryan Clendenen 15.199 Dash: Jammie Wilson, Shane Cottle, Don Kiger First Heat: Tim Reynolds, Rick Hufford, Kyle Logue, Phil Van Sant Second Heat: Jason Lakey, Chuck Haga, Shane Cottle, Don Kiger Third Heat: Jammie Wilson, Tim O'Donnell, Cory Rolfe, Ken Myracle Feature: 1. Jason Lakey 2. Tim Reynolds 3. Shane Cottle 4. Chuck Haga 5. Kyle Logue 6. Tim O'Donnell 7. Jammie Wilson 8. Cory Rolfe 9. Ken Myracle 10.Don Kiger 11.Jarred Temples 12.Rick Cottle 13.Phil Van Sant 14.Ed Kuhn 15.Bill Waggoner 16.Mike Parker 17.Rick Rife 18.Jesse Simmons 19.Jeff Fisher 20.Rick McDade 21.Mike Gee 22.Mike Gritton 23.Rick Hufford Fast qualifier and #2 point man Bryan Clendenen gave all a light show in his heat when the motor gave way ending his evening and sending his crew home early to change it for tonight NALMS modified race where he is leading the points. 27 cars entered tonight with the promoters deciding to start 24 and cancel the semi allowing the drivers to make more money that would not have made the show.Next Friday is another kids night at VCS where the kids in the stands can get to ride with their favorite driver one time around the track on the race cars.Hope to see ya here....... |
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CLENDENEN
SURVIVES
By Namgalf
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MARVIN BURTON IS THE MAN
By namgalf
Fan favorite Marvin Burton used his experience and more determination than anything to capture the UMP modified feature at Vermilion County Speedway in Danville,Ill. Friday night. Using the front row starting position Burton pulled to an early lead with fellow front row starter and infrequent visitor Ed Kuhn snapping at his heals. Shane Cottle, Jason Lakey,Bryan Clendenen and Don Kiger in tow. With Kuhn and Lakey on top and Clendenen and Kiger hugging the tires allowing Cottle to run anywhere there was room Burton held the lead until Clendenen hooked up and claimed third on lap 2. Going into turn 1 he and Kuhn had an altercation spinning Kuhn which was determined a racing situation thus putting Kuhn to the tail.On the restart Burton held off the hard charging Clendenen until lap 5 when he slid underneath to take the lead all the while the fight for 3rd thru 7th was an all out war between Lakey, Kiger, Cottle, Jeff Houchens, and Roger Cary.Cottle pulled off the track on lap 8 due to a smoking engine while running 4th. Clendenen proceeded to stretch his lead to a bout 10 car lengths when on lap 17 he encountered 2 cars about to be lapped running side by side. It took 2 laps to dispose of the cars allowing Burton to close about 4 car lengths behind. On lap 20 Clendenen once again caught a car to lap, Johnny Gibbs this time, and it appeared that he once again had problems finding a groove to pass which allowed Burton the opportunity to make the pass under Bryan entering turn 1 on lap 21. After clearing the lapper Clendenen kept the pressure on the leader when on the last lap entering turn 1 his final banzai attempt at a pass landed him over the top in turn 2 allowing Kiger to snatch 2nd position in the final tally with Clendenen 3rd, Houchens 4th and Cary rounding out the top 5. Rick Hufford did the best passing job of the evening from his 20th and final starting position to finish 7th on a less than desirable surface. Chuck Haga ended up 6th. Results follow:--------------------------------------------------------