600 Thriller Wows Fans,Officials and Race Teams

 

If you decided the heat was too much and you stayed home,it still wasn't as hot as what was happening on the speedway with a 600 micro main that had everyone on their feet,including the track officials.In fact,I will lead off with them in last night's recap.

 

With point leader Richie Hartman pulling out to an early race lead,it was apparent that many of his challengers were set up for the long runs and that was what was in store for everyone as only 3 cautions slowed down the high fliers on the 4 grooved banked speedway.Entering the picture was not just 1 other driver,that being Trent Warner,but Trevor Kobylarz and Dakota Barlet with Warner getting the nose of his # 90 just ahead of Hartman for a few laps followed by Barlet's turn at Hartman.All that can be said is that the last 6 laps of this race might be the best racing seen anywhere in quite some time.With those 4 having their own private battle there was some new faces now finding some late race speed putting the top 6 finish in question until the checkered.Kobylarz passed Warner and now was stalking Hartman with Kobylarz using a sweeping entry into turn 1 to have the bite coming off of turn 2 to take the lead.The 2 new faces in the picture Matthew Warner and Adam Buchel,copied Trevor's move down in turn 3 to get by Hartman with Warner finding some added speed and now stalking Kobylarz for the win as Buchel found a bite on the lowside in the run to the checkered.Kobylarz takes the win by just .08 seconds with the top 6 separated by less than a second.It had everyone talking the rest of the night and there was still 2 A Mains left to run.Matthew Warner from 12th to 2nd,Buchel from 14th to 3rd.Hartman just hanging on for 4th over Barlet with Matt McAnally the last driver under the blanket.The 7th place battle was also a nailbiter with Tyler Bowman slotting in just .3 seconds ahead of Dan Lane,Jr.

 

The Junior Slingshots had a slight reversal from the no yellow A Main last week as the young drivers battled through 6 race slowdowns to complete their 20 lap race.The last few weeks the 911C of Colton Williams has been a win contender with the 2 time winner in 2022 adding another to his total.It wasn't without some pressure as Hailey Eroh had made quite a few lead threats only to be pushed back by a caution and Chase Schott was now in the mix after passing Eroh with with 2 laps to go.The next 5 drivers all improved from their original starting spots as Ryan Rochelle had no challenges for 4th.Dylan Hahn just bested a quick closing Griffin Hendershot for 5th.The run for the 7th place payout was decided at the checker with Daniel Betz just nudging Barry Seaman to the line.Hard luck going to Gavin Wolfe as the 00 had to be towed off after a tangle coming down for the green.

 

Shane Davis has shown improvement in both the car handling and car driving categories.A top 8 runner for most of the season,Shane is now a front runner and continued that trend with his 2nd win besting the challenges of A J Gerhart,who had a hard earned 2nd over current point leader Chris Dolan.With everyone settled in as the only yellow was needed for a slowed Cooper Schoenly on lap 19,it was a single file restart to the checkered with Chase Layser nosing out John Maurer for 4th.Corey Harting got 6th with the Smith Family battle for 7th going to Jase by .3 seconds over Jesse.

 

A nice field of 17 All Star Slingshots came to race and polesitter Jason Dunkelberger tried his best to keep 2nd starter Dylan Hoch from getting by him.Hoch would assume command heading into turn 3 never to be headed for the $500 win.Jason did a fine job warding off Lindsey Garl for 2nd.4th place runner Jax Yohn made some fine moves to get by Patrick O'Brien and Tucker Cole for 4th with Cole getting 5th.O'Brien getting some recent bad luck off his back ran a smooth,steady race to get a 6th place payout. It was a eyecatching run by Dave Carraghan who had to go to the rear after being involved in an early race incident to rebound to get 7th.Regular Super Saturday hotshoe Terry Noll claimed a nice 8th place run in his X ride.13 cars finished the 20 lap main.

 

With a smoking 20M in his Stage 1 qualifier the Jimbo's Gutters pit crew did some extensive repair work to get Mark Mohr out for the A Main and he was wired to the finish with CJ Fritz and Mike Glass both having their chances to take command of the race.Some early race cautions would slow the pace down but not enough to alter the Elite 8 finishing order.Point leader A J Gerhart slotted in for 4th just ahead of Matt Mertz.Bryce Dodig would claim 6th as the 88 of Stephen Smith III claimed 7th place money.Alexis Spatz advanced 4 spots from her 12th starting spot to get 8th.Luck was on Mohr's side as the 20M expired heading to victory lane.

 

The final event of the night piqued the interest of the race fans as teammates Richie Hartman and Louden Reimert who both won their qualifiers from the last starting spot,started on the front row.Hartman held the lead until turn 4 as Reimert's inside groove had some bite coming off the turns.Reimert's run to the checkered was quite easy until a high flying Matt McAnally got by Hartman with 3 laps to go and set his sights on the 88e of Reimert.Matt was reeling him quickly but just ran out of laps as he made up a little over a second in the last 2 laps to get second just .24 seconds behind Louden.Hartman finished 3rd as Sleeveless Mike Kalman did some midpack wheeling in the late stages of the race to get a much earned 4th.Adam Buchel had his red # 10 under the checkered 5th.Dan Lane,Jr. held firm for 6th as Ben Layser advanced 6 spots with just 1 caution waved for the 270 micro racers.The 8th place payout went to Dylan Kuronya who is showing some promise with each outing at the Race Track by the River.

 

Even though there was quite a few more race slowdowns than last week and a late start for track prep,which ended up being a 4 wide speedway the checkered was thrown at 10:13.We would like to thank the drivers for quickly getting into the proper restart lineups and the fans for their support of this show despite the HHH weather that greeted us last night.When other class drivers voice their excitement watching the other A Mains,it means a lot to everyone involved from the fans to the race teams to the officials.The tower staff virtually gave a standing ovation to the 600 drivers when the checkered was thrown,as did many of the fans.

 

The Slingshot drivers were rewarded for their support of the 3 race night week with the top 5 drivers that attended all 3 nights getting some bonus money.

 

We return on August 10th for another night of close,competitive racing.