Burlington, IA (April 3, 2010) - Mother nature tried to spoil 34 Raceways season opener, as 1.5 inches of rain fell over night Friday. But the sun and wind would come out early Saturday morning to allow for enough time to dry things up to go racing. The 2nd Annual "Brian Hetrick Memorial Race" featuring $1,000 to win for the 305 Sprints was on the card, along with the IMCA Stock Cars, and race 1 of 6 in the Mod Lite Series. Bobby Mincer (305 Sprints), Jeff Mueller (IMCA Stock Cars) and Josh May (Mod Lites) would take home opening night wins in there respective divisions.
The first feature to take to the speedway was the 20 lap Mike's Auto Parts IMCA Stock Cars, with Abe Huls, the defending track champion, and Tim Breuer drawing the front row for the event. Breuer would take advantage of his front row start to jump out into the lead on the drop of the green flag, with Huls and John Oliver Jr. battling for second. Breuer would only hold the top spot for 1 lap, as Huls slipped under him on lap 2 to take over the lead. As Huls was leading the field, Jeff Mueller, who drew number 12 was making his way towards the front, as he was up to 2nd by lap 6. Mueller then went to work on Huls for the lead, and on lap 11 he would slip under Huls to take over the top spot. The first caution of the event would come out after the completion of lap 11, for Blaine Dopler who slowed to a stop on the front stretch. On the restart, Mueller moved back out front and now had Matt Greiner, who started 7th, battling him for the lead. Another caution would appear on the speedway on lap 14, when Corey Strothman came to a stop in turns 3 and 4. Brett Timmerman, who started 10th and had worked his way up to 3rd, got sideways in turn 2 on the restart to bring the caution back out. Huls had to pull in with a left rear flat after contact from Chris Webb, as the two drivers tried to avoid Timmerman's spinning car. Mueller again jumped out into the lead on the restart, with Greiner challenging him for the top spot. Disaster would strike Greiner on lap 18, as he spun off of turn 2 to bring out the final caution, ending his great run up front. Mueller would hold on for the final 2 laps to pick up his first win of 2010. Jim Redmann came from 8th to finish in 2nd, Dave Warth was 3rd, Kirk Kinsley charged from 15th to come home in 4th, with Jason Cook rounding out the top five.
Troy Philpott and Josh May drew the front row for the 15 lap Holmes Concrete Mod Lite feature, with May grabbing the lead on lap 1. The first caution would come out on lap 5, as Philpott and Tom Schnabel got together while lapping a car coming out of turn 2, leaving Philpott stopped on the backstretch. On the restart, May grabbed the lead and started to pull away from the field, when another caution came out on lap 10. Todd Thornburg would come to a stop on the backstretch, to bring the field back to May's back bumper. Mike Morrill, who started 12th, jumped to the outside of May on the restart to take over the top spot. But another caution on lap 12 for Michael Dominquez who spun in turn 2, set up a great battle for the win. Morrill, who was running the top of the speedway, and May, who was on the bottom, ran laps 13 and 14 side-by-side, but May would grab the top spot away from Morrill going into turn 1 on the final lap. May then held off a last corner challenge from Morrill to take home the win. Eric Hendrickson came from 10th to finish in 3rd, Johnny Mordock was 4th, with A.J. Fike coming from 11th to come home in 5th.
The final feature of the night was the 25 lap WT Gabeline & Sons Trucking "Brian Hetrick Memorial" 305 Sprints, with Justin Newberry and Andy Huston leading the field to the drop of the green flag. The red would appear on the start, as Huston would take a hard roll in turn two, he would walk away ok. Bobby Mincer would have to pit, as he got a left rear tire cut while trying to avoid Huston's flipping car. He would get the tire changed and had to restart 16th. On the restart Nick Guernsey would spin on the top of turn one, with Randy Roberts having no where to go and collided with Guernsey. John Drapler would take advantage of the cautions to move up to the front row, and grabbed the lead on lap 1. Newberry and Shawn Whiting would battle for second, with Kevin Hetrick and Matt Krieger battling for fourth. Drapler would hold the top spot until lap 9, as Krieger worked his way to the front to take over the lead. After the completion of lap 9, Shawn Whiting would spin in turn four to bring the caution out. On the restart Cale Hutchings would spin off of turn 2 to bring the caution back out. Hutchings miss fortunes would continue 1 lap latter, as he and Nick Hennefent got together coming off of turn four and hit the front stretch wall hard. Both drivers walked away ok. Krieger again jumped out into the lead on the restart and was starting to pull away from the field. On lap 15 Krieger would pull into the pits, giving the lead over to Draper. Draper then tried to hold off a charging Mincer, but Mincer would jump to the outside of him on lap 17 to take over the top spot. Mincer then went on to lead the final 3 laps to claim the $1,000 top prize. Draper held on for 2nd, Hetrick was 3rd, Jarrod Schneiderman came from 9th to finish in 4th, with Newberry holding on for fifth.
Notes from 34: 29 Mod Lites, 20 305 Sprints and 19 Stock Cars braved the cool temperatures to battle it out on the first race of 2010 at 34 Raceway......Mincer made a nice rally in the feature to take home the top prize in the 305 class, as he started 6th and tried to avoid a flipping Huston on lap 1. Mincer would get a cut left rear tire after contact from another car. He would get the tire changed and had to restart 16th, but was up to 5th by the lap 9 caution. Mincer then slowly worked his way into 2nd on lap 15 when Krieger pulled in, and then worked to the top of Draper on lap 17 to take over the lead. Mincer then held on over the final 3 laps to make a nice recovery to take home the $1,000....Randy Roberts made the pull up from Concordia, MO and started the 305 feature in 12th. He would recover from the contact with Guernsey on the start of the feature to come home in 6th....Brandyn Martin started 14th and would pass 7 cars to come home in 7th....Jim Hetrick came out of retirement after 25 years to compete in the 305 class. He started the feature in 18th and would survive to take home an 11th place finish....Krieger who had worked his way to the front and into the lead on lap 9, was looking like the car to beat until lap 15. Krieger suddenly pulled into the pits with fuel pressure problems and having to settle for a 12th place finish......Chris Webb started the Stock car feature in 17th and by lap 14 had slowly worked his way up to 8th. He would pass 2 more cars in the final 6 laps to take home a 6th place finish....Timmerman, who started 10th, had worked his way up to 3rd but on the lap 14 restart he would get sideways in turn 2 to bring out the caution. Timmerman had to restart 14th, but in the final 6 laps he would work his way back up to finish in 7th....Greiner had a great run to the front go away on lap 18, as he spun off of turn turn while running in second. He would only manage to get back to 12th in the final 2 laps....Rookie Stock Car driver and defending Hobby Stock track champion, Derek St. Clair had a nice run in his first night behind the wheel of a Stock Car. He would make the redraw from his heat and redrew 6th for the 20 lap feature. He would stay out of trouble all night and came home in the 13th spot....The defending Stock Car track champion Abe Huls drew the number 1 for the feature and grabbed the lead away from Breuer on lap 2 of the event. Huls would loose the lead to Mueller on lap 11 and with the double file restarts being used for 2010, Huls would slip back to fourth on lap 14. He would get a left rear tire cut after trying to avoid a spinning Timmerman and had to pit, giving him a 15th place finish....On the lap 14 caution John Oliver Jr., who was running 7th, pulled into the pits with left rear problems delegating him to a 16th place finish......USAC Midget driver A.J. Fike made a rare appearence to 34 Raceway driving Greg Rossell's Mod Lite. Fike would start the 15 lap feature in 11th and showed patience to take home a top five....Robb Guss came from 16th to finish in 10th....Johnathan Huston started 22nd and passed 11 cars to come home in 11th....Evan Epperson started 18th and finished in 12th....Mark Winkel charged from 26th to 13th in the 15 lap event....Todd Hanson came from 24th to finish in 17th....Philpott who was battling for second, when a lapped car caused him to spin on lap 5, restarted in 20th. On lap 12 he had worked his way back up to 10th, but would pull in with troubles on lap 13 to give him an 18th place finish....Tom Schnabel was running 5th when he pulled in on lap 10 with troubles and had to settle for 20th.
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