RACING AT IT'S BEST ON NALMS NIGHT(4/22/01)
By Jack Taylor

Over the past few years, Vermilion County Speedway race fans have struggled with a periodic appearance of the big beasts which fans at many tracks witness each weekend. On those special occasions at Danville, the stands are usually filled to near capacity and the racing entertainment reigns supreme. Sunday night was no exception as the Northern AllStar Late Models came to town.

The appearance by the Indiana-based Series capped a three-day visit to Illinois, starting with Kankakee on Friday, Fairbury on Saturday,  and capping it off with VCS on Sunday. Rain ruined the Saturday show at Fairbury and it has been rescheduled for July 21st. Thirty-seven Late Models were at the track Sunday and the driver list included all of the local favorites, along with a host of top Midwestern drivers from three other states.

A scheduled late model event at VCS always seems to draw additional support group attention as the pits last night were packed with 138 cars. The usually top billing UMP Modified class turned out 46 entries and the Super Street and Bomber classes added 25 each. Plenty of heats, semi's, and feature action to go around and the Late Model feature ended at 10:00 PM, with the UMP Modifieds over shortly after. The VCS promise to get fans and drivers home early on Sunday nights stayed intact, even with the large car count.

In NALMS action, Steve Barnett was clocked with the fast time in qualifications with a near track record of 13.78 seconds. Throughout the four heat races which followed, fans witnessed very intense driving , as the top four finishers in each heat battled to escape the dreaded Semi-feature.

Barnett picked up the win in the first heat and Bob Pierce, local favorite, took the second heat.  The third heat saw Steve Hillard hold off Bryan Clendenen for honors as the fans watched two former VCS Track Champions in the UMP Modified division, work their skills in the Late Models. The fourth heat was won by the three-wheeling Scott James. Sixteen cars were set for the Feature with twenty-one headed to the Semi-feature.

Jim Curry and Shawn Negangard earned spots in the feature thru the Semi, while Adam Stevens and Frank Reaber were awarded provisionals to fill out the 20-car field.

Feature action put Steve Hillard and Bob Pierce on the front row, with Barnett and James in the second row for the 30-lap event.  The four-wide fan salute was all the fans needed to get the adrenaline flowing and as the green flag was waved Pierce flew to the lead, never to be headed for the entire race. Hillard maintained his position and mounted a few challenges, but it was the "Tall Cool One's" night at home for the home crowd. A caution free race showed 15 cars finishing on the lead lap and some good door to door racing behind the leader. 

For Pierce, it was his second consecutive win this weekend, after capturing the checkered at Kankakee on Friday  night, and kept his hold on the NALMS point lead intact. Barring the rainout at Fairbury, he would have been a good choice for the hat-trick, with Fairbury being one his favorite tracks.        

The 46-car UMP Modified entry was a star-studded program, with drivers from several of the area tracks visiting the high-banks of VCS. There is a good possibility many will return regularly with the Sunday night program at Danville being the only one in the immediate area.

The four heat winners were Tony Roland, Shane Cottle, Ryan Young, and Brandon Raef. Semi winners were John DeMoss and Denny Schwartz. The feature was caution free until the 21st lap, when Charlie Sentman got turned around in turn four. To this point, Shane Cottle had easily led the field as most of the action was for the 2-5 spots.

As the field was tightened for the final four laps, Sean Seavers, who had held second place for most of the race,  stayed with Cottle and with a great effort at  the checkered, edged by Cottle for the win.

Randy Shuman won the Super Street feature over  Marcus Phelps and Rick Baity won the Bomber event over Mike Hope. Lots of action, good racing, and a fast track.

SUMMARY
NORTHERN ALLSTARS-37 cars
Heat 1-Steve Barnett, B,J, McCammon, Kevin Claycomb, Jeff Martin
Heat 2-Bob Pierce, Doug McCammon, Richie Hedrick, Dennis Erb, Jr.
Heat 3-Steve Hillard, Brian Clendenen, Dick Phillips, Kevin Weaver
Heat 4-Scott James, Roger Long, Joe Harlan, Steve Lance
Semi-Jim Curry, Shawn Negangard
Feature-Pierce, Hillard, Barnett, Doug McCammon, Long, James, Phillips, Weaver, Curry, B.J.McCammon

UMP MODIFIED-46 cars
Heat 1- Tony Roland, Sean Seaver, Wes Steidinger
Heat 2-Shane Cottle, J.R.Coyner, Chuck Haga
Heat 3-Ryan Young, Kyle Cooper, Kyle Logue
Heat 4-Brandon Raef, Dan Hamstra, Arby Burton
Semi 1-John DeMoss, Michael Bradley
Semi 2-Denny Schwartz, Don Kiger
Feature- Sean Seavers, Shane Cottle, Denny Schwartz, Tony Roland, Tim O'Donnell

Super Street Feature- Randy Shuman
Bomber Feature- Rick Baity