West Liberty, IA (Sat. April 30, 2011) - Its hard to believe after two weeks of almost no racing in this part of the country, I was able to get in two nights in a row in. Saturday at the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty, Iowa was night 2 of the May Day Classic Shootout, featuring the Open Late Models battling for $10,000 to win.
After three Late Model heats with the top 16 in passing points going to the A Main, in which the top 6 going to the dash. Then a B Main, with the top 8 cars going to the A Main. The 24 car field was set for the 50 lap A Main, paying the winner $10,000.
The first feature of the night was the 12 lap IMCA Sport Compacts, with Bill Whalen and Dwyane Herb leading the field to the drop of the green flag. But it was 4th place starter Jarod McMichael who jumped into the lead on lap 1. McMichael would then hold the top spot until lap 3, when Merv Chandler, who started 8th, slipped by for the lead. The field was stopped for the one and only red, as Herb, who was running 3rd, rolled coming out of turn 2 and collected Whalen, who was running 4th. Herb and Whalen both climbed from there machines unhurt, but done for the event. On the restart Merv Chandler grabbed the lead, with Nathan Chandler, who started 10th, close behind in 2nd. Coming off of turn four for the checkered Nathan would get under Merv, as the two drag raced to the line. Merv was able to edge out Nathan by inches to claim the win. Brad Chandler would cross in 3rd, Steve Miendke came from 7th to finish in 4th, with McMichael coming home in fifth.
Tim Sands and Colt Mather drew the front row for the 20 lap Open Modified feature. Johnny Spaw would spin in turn 1 on the drop of the green flag with a flat to bring the caution out. On the restart Justin Spears came to a stop on the top of turn 2 to bring the yellow light back on. Mather jumped into the lead on the restart, with Steve Stewart and Scott Dickey, who started 7th, battling for 2nd. Mather quickly pulled out to a big lead and started to lap cars on lap 6. But the field was brought back to his back bumper on lap 9, when Bruce Hanford, who started 9th and was up to 4th, slowed to a stop to bring out the caution. On the restart Mather again moved out into the lead, with Stewart and Rayn Dolan, who started 14th, battling for 2nd. Mather would hold off a late challenge from Stweart to pick up the win. Dolan settled for 3rd, Mark Schulte started 13th and passed 9 cars to finish in 4th, with Ryan Peckman coming from 8th to round out the top 5.
Up next was the 50 lap Open Late Model Shootout, with dash winner Brian Birkhofer and Brian Shirley on the front row. Birkhofer would take advantage of his front row start to jump into the lead on lap 1 over Shirley, Billy Moyer and Shannon Babb, who started 6th. While Birkhofer set a fast pace up front, Babb would over take Moyer on lap 5 for the 2nd spot and then went to work on Birkhofer. But the first of two cautions would come out on lap 10. Jason Utter, who started 17th and had worked his way to 10th, slowed to a stop in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Birkhofer moved back into the lead, with Moyer over taking Babb for 2nd. Once again Birkhofer was pulling away, when Babb over took Moyer for 2nd on lap 22. Babb then caught Birkhofer as the two went side-by-side on laps 23rd and 24th, before Babb grabbed the top spot on lap 25. Babb then started to pull away from 2nd, as Moyer over took Birkhofer for 2nd on lap 30. The field was slowed for the final time on lap 36 for debris in turn 3. On the restart Babb jumped back into the lead over Birkhofer and Moyer. While Babb worked the bottom of the speedway, Birkhofer went to the top to take the top spot away from Babb on lap 39. But Babb didn't give up, as he closed in on Birkhofer with 2 laps to go. Then on the white flag lap Babb would slip under Birkhofer to take the lead and then pulled away on the final lap to claim the $10,000 top prize. Birkhofer settled for 2nd, Moyer was 3rd, Shirley 4th, with Justin Mitchell taking home fifth.
Notes from WL: Only 29 Open Late Models signed in on the night to compete for $10,000, with 28 Open Modifieds and 12 IMCA Sport Compacts making up the 69 cars total......Ryan Walker started the Sport Compact feature in 12th and passed 6 cars to take home 6th....John Flurry started 9th and finished 7th....Jason Delzell finished 9th after starting 11th....Larry Herring passed 6 cars from his 12th place starting spot in the Open Modified feature to take home 6th....Johnny Spaw recovered from his lap 1 flat tire to come back to finish in 7th......Kellen Chadwick came from 16th to finish in 10th....Chris Zogg passed 13 cars from his 24th place starting spot to take home 11th....Zack Less started 19th and came home in 12th....Rick Hixson, who was running 6th, went to the pits on the lap 9 caution for a left rear flat. He was credited with a 15th place finish....Scott Dickey, who was running 3rd on the lap 9 caution, would pull into the pits with troubles and was credited with 16th....Todd Hansen was suppose to start 3rd in the feature, but motor troubles in his heat caused him to scratch from the the event....Noah Coppess was another one with troubles after his B Main, as he was suppose to start the feature in 20th. But was forced to scratch from the event....Dan Albirght, Brad Dierks, Mike Zogg, Alex Buffington all crashed in there B Main events. All cars were to damaged to continue on for the rest of the night....Terry Walker was leading the 3rd heat, when he crashed hard in the turn 4 wall to end his night. He walked away ok......Chad Simpson started 10th in the Open Late Model feature and finished 6th....Jeremiah Hurst came from 12th to finish in 7th....Todd Frank made the pull down from Green Bay, WI pay off, as he started 18th and passed 9 cars to finish in 9th....Matt Furman came from 14th to finish in 10th....Darren Miller was credited with 11th, after starting 11th and making it up to 4th before pulling off on lap 26 with troubles....Andy Eckrich came from 16th and was running 12th, when he pulled off on lap 21 to get credited with 12th....Brain Harris came from 22nd and passed 8 cars to finish in 14th....Tyler Bruening, who passed Ricky Frankel on the last lap of the B Main to take the final transfer spot, started the A Main in 24th. He would pass 9 cars to take home a 15th place finish....Chris Simpson was suppose to start the dash, after coming from 5th to 2nd in heat 3. But motor troubles after the checkered in that heat would force him to scratch from the dash. He would tag the tail of the A Main and only made 1 lap to finish in 24th....Only 9 cars of the 24 Late Models that started the A Main would finish the race. While only 5 of them were on the lead lap....Those who failed to make the A Main were Ricky Frankel, Jim Rychtik, John Brauns, Mike Fryar, who was running 3rd in the B Main but pulled off with troubles to end his night, and Andrew McKay..........My only question on the night was the way they qualified the Modifieds. With 28 cars signing in they ran 4 heats races and only taking the top 3 to the A Main. They then ran 2 B Mains, with only 8 cars in each. On the start of each B Main they had two cars pile up to cut the field to 6, in which all 6 would make the A Main. But they still ran 8 laps. Why? Guess they needed to stretch the program out or tried to sell more concession to the small crowd in attendance...who knows!
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