The Little Track That Could.....Did !!!!!
With weather forecasts predicting t-storms from 6 to 10 PM last night,Cordier Family Productions went through with their scheduled racing program.100 cars signed in and much to their surprise the show was completed at 9:40 as the precipitation was increasing.
Some wild and wholly racing was presented in the qualifying events,but once the A Mains started,the focus was getting a full show in for the dedicated race teams and fans.
The 270 micros led the way with an incredible non-stop feature that had Dakota Barlet setting the early pace with some scrambling for positions right behind him.5th starting Louden Reimert was passing a car a lap and got to Barlet's rear tires in 6 laps,these 2 were running side by side until Reimert hugged the lowside out of turn 4 on lap 8 for the lead and the win in 3:02.Barlet got the 2nd place prize money with Matt McAnally continuing to show his talents behind the wheel notching 3rd.With only 1 second separating 4th through 8th after the 20 laps were run,position changes were happening in every turn.Jarrett Imler was stalking McAnally at the finish but came up a few feet short for 4th.Patrick Kirn had just enough to ward off the advances of the next 3 to get 5th.Point leader Richie Hartman finished 6th with Adam Buchel and Dan Lane,Jr. rounding out the top 8.
20 Junior Slingshots signed in for the $500 top prize and again early race yellows were followed by some competitive wheeling from these young racers.With added bonus money on the line,various finishing positions meant more money in the pay envelope.Already showing some speed and handling in his heat race was Colton Williams in the 911C and he transferred that to the main event as his battle with early race leader Chris Tittle came down to him getting a better bite off of turn 4 to take the lead for good.Ryan Rochelle, who was running 2nd, was running the same lap times as Colton and could not make up any ground.The man on a mission was 18th starter Chase Zimmer who didn't let qualifying issues deter him from a good showing rallied for 3rd and got the Zimmer Car Warranty Processing $50.00 Hard Charger bonus.Another steady run by 2nd in points driver Dylan Hahn to claim the 4th spot.Last weeks feature winner Parker Hendricks was out to claim family honors as he just bested Abi Hendricks to the line for 5th.Abi ran a smooth race for 6th with a much improved Chase Gular slotting in at 7th.New sponsors on the 86H of Hailey Bernatowski,were rewarded with her 8th place finish.Point leader Chase Schott and weekly contender Griffin Hendershot were DNF's early in the event.
Not much needs to be said other than AJ Gerhart knew from the drop of the green he was gonna be victorious in the 125 main and that he was.Inheriting the lead from Shane Davis, AJ mashed the throttle for his 2nd win of the season.Coming up from his 11th starting spot and posing a late race threat was last week's winner Chase Layser.Shane Davis held firm in his bid for a podium spot getting 3rd in his #13.Point leader Chris Dolan claimed a 4th place payout as he just bested a high flying Easton Miller who was 5th.The next 3 spots were anyone's guess until the checkered with Abby Witter,just nosing out Steve Simmons and Cory Harting who advanced 3 positions with just 2 laps to go for 8th.
It was time for one of the top 2021 Juniors who moved up to the All Stars to prove a point that he will be a tough competitor and Tucker Cole did just that by putting the #44 by polesitter Jason Dunkelberger heading into turn 3.Last week's winner Lindsey Garl was closing quickly as lapped traffic was starting to slow the leader down with Cole getting the win by just .17 seconds over Garl.Ryan Raidline showed some patience as he started heading through the field after halfway to notch a 3rd place run.Dunkelberger got hooked up in the late going to earn a hard fought 4th.Joey Lyle has found top finishes since he returned to the high banks and got 5th ahead of point leader Jax Yohn,who was working all grooves to find the quick way around the well prepped speedway.Another of the 2021 Juniors moving to the All Stars was Alex Lagun who nabbed 7th with Nolen Layser 8th after the 20 lap main in the sharp looking 3L.
With rain 10 miles up the road, the 600 micros wasted little time on the speedway and the April 18th winner Dan Lane,Jr. wasn't going to slow down the track efforts for a complete show as he vaulted out to a 3 second lead only to be slowed by slower traffic ,but that wasn't going to keep him from victory lane.The real battle was for 2nd as Trevor Kobylarz and Adam Buchel raced side by side for the last 6 laps with Buchel claiming 2nd on lap 17 only to have Kobylarz reclaiming the spot the next lap.Trevor came off of turn 4 a little high as Buchel took advantage of the racing room to get 2nd by just .15 seconds.4th starting Dakota Barlet held his position to get the family owned 54 on the trailer with 4th place money.Richie Hartman tried everything to get by Trent Warner but the 90 had a little more bite coming off the turns to relegate point leader Hartman to a 6th place run.Jackson White was right behind Hartman to get 7th with Fred Heinly just nosing out Aidan Svanda for 8th.
Rain drops were now falling on the speedway but the hot and heavy Stage 1 Modified action didn't slow down the progress of race leader Mike Glass who lived up to his nickname of"Smooth" as he was doing all in his power to stay ahead of Mark Mohr who was trying to celebrate his birthday in victory lane.With rain getting heavier and a lap 12 caution slowing the field the track was starting to glaze and Dave Cordier,jr. decided in the safety of the racers to checker the race at that time.While the green was being shown there was plenty of action as AJ Gerhart,a 3 time Stage 1 winner,Riley Wanamaker and Lawson Szerencits were locked into a 3 way battle with no one giving an inch as behind these 3 Bryce Dodig,Abraxus Hannah and 2021 point champion Matt Mertz had their own private battle.These 2 trios were hoping the rain would hold off,but Mother Nature ruled out over the final 8 laps.Gerhart was 3rd,Wanamaker slotted in for 4th with Szerencits and Dodig 5th and 6th.Hannah took 7th over Mertz.
The added bonuses to the Junior Slingshots was $25.00 to each heat win those being Chris Tittle and Colton Williams.$50.00 to the Hard Charger from Zimmer Car Warranty Processing and the Can Do Motorsports $25.00 to the last running car which was Chris Tittle.
A great night of racing with every weather person trying to put a damper on the great racing at the Race Track by the River.
Big thanks to all race teams and fans that respected Shellhammer's efforts to run a complete show that was checkered at 9:40.
