Burlington, IA (Saturday, April 7, 2012) - 34 Raceway in Burlington, IA opened there 2012 season with the 4th Annual "Slocum 50", featuring the Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models. This race was put together to honor the late Brent Slocum, who was killed in a freakish accident in the pits during the 2005 season. At the end of the night Mike Murphy Jr. (IMCA Late Models), Jayson Ditsworth (305 Sprints), Mike Morrill (Mod Lites) and Adam Gates (4 Cylinders) all took home feature wins in there respective divisions.
The first feature to take to the track was the 10 lap 4 Cylinders, with John Whalen and Billy Stanford drawing the front row for the event. But it was fourth place starter Adam Gates who edged out Stanford at the line to grab the lead on lap 1. Gates, Whalen and Nick Wilkerson, who started 5th, had a great three car battle for the lead until lap 8. Wilkerson who was trying to go around the outside of Gates for the lead, suddenly came to a stop on the high side of turn 2 to bring out the only caution of the race. On the restart Gates would jump back out into the lead and then held on for the final 2 laps to claim the win. Whalen settled for 2nd, Bradley Stevenson was 3rd, Daytona Fenton was 4th, with Casey Mehaffy coming from 8th to round out the top 5.
Up next was the 20 lap 305 Sprint feature, with Brandyn Martin and Jayson Ditsworth drawing the front row for the event. Ditsworth would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on the drop of the green flag, only to be slowed before the lap was complete. Harold Pohren got into the turn 3 wall to bring out the first of two cautions. On the restart Ditsworth again jumped out into the lead, with Donnie Steward and Josh Schneiderman close behind. Schneiderman would come off of turn 2 on lap 8 to get up beside Ditsworth going down the backstretch. But the two would come up on the lapped car of rookie driver Chase Wanner, which allowed Ditsworth to hold the lead. Just as Schneiderman regrouped to challenge Ditsworth for the lead, the final caution of the event would come out on the completion of lap 9. This time Shane Quam got into the turn 4 wall to end his night. Ditsworth moved back out front on the restart and then pulled away to pick up the win. Donnie Steward used the final restart to get by Schneiderman to finish in 2nd, Schneiderman settled for 3rd, Alan Ambers passed 6 cars from his 10th place starting spot to finish in 4th, with Daniel Bergquist coming from 8th to finish in 5th.
Mike Morrill and Brad Wheeler led the field to the green in the 15 lap Mod Lite feature, but just as the green was waved the red flag would come out to halt the action. Todd Cramer, who started 6th, would roll just under the flag stand to bring out the red. He would climb from his car ok. On the restart Morrill moved out front to grab the lead on lap 1, only to be slowed on the completion of the lap. Cody Lam would get into the front stretch wall to come to a stop, bringing out the caution. Morrill once again moved out front on the restart, with Josh May close behind in second. Just as Morrill started to put some distance on the second place car, the caution would appear on the track once again on lap 2. This time Justin Buchholz, who started 10th, was trying to work under Jim Neal for the battle for 5th when they touched. Buchholz would come to a stop in turn 2 with a broke right rear, while Neal pulled off on the back with a broken left front. On the restart Morrill again jumped out into the lead, with May and Greg Rossell, who started 9th, battling it out for second. Once again Morrill started to put some distance on the battle for second, when he was slowed for the final time on lap 4. Joe Huggins, who started 26th, had worked his way up to 12th when he spun his machine in turn 3 to bring out the final caution of the event. Morrill again grabbed the lead on the restart and then pulled away over the final 11 laps to claim the win. May settled for 2nd, Randy Bryan came from 15th to finish in 3rd, Rossell would finish in 4th, with Evan Epperson rounding out the top 5.
The final feature of the night was the 50 lap "Slocum 50" for the IMCA Late Models. Jay Johnson and Tyler Bruening would draw the front row to lead the field to the drop of the green, with Johnson taking the lead on lap 1. The action was slowed for the one and only time on lap 3, when Sam Halstead spun his machine in turn 3 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Johnson jumped back out into the lead, with Bruening close behind in second. While Johnson and Bruening battled for the lead, Mike Murphy Jr., who started 8th, was quickly working his way to the front. Johnson would slip coming off turn 2 on lap 8, which allowed Murphy to slip past for the lead. Murphy would then start to pull away from the field, even as he entered lapped traffic on lap 17. Murphy would work the high and low side to get by the lapped cars and never was slowed over the final 42 laps to cruise to an easy win and the $3,000 top prize. Bruening held on for 3rd, Joel Callahan came from 11th to finish in 3rd, Ray Guss Jr. passed 12 cars from his 16th place starting spot to finish in 4th, with Andy Eckrich coming from 15th to round out the top 5.
Notes from 34: 37 IMCA Late Models, 27 Mod Lites, 17 305 Sprints and 12 4 Cylinders made up the 93 cars signed in on the 2012 season opener....Nick Wilkerson who was battling for the lead in the 4 Cylinder feature, when he slowed to a stop in turn 2 on lap 8 to bring out the caution. He would restart 9th for the green-white-checkered finish and could only move up to finish 6th....Jerrod Nichols came from 11th to finish in 7th....Dustin Ravelin started 12th and came home in 8th......Corey Timmerman started the 305 Sprint feature in 17th and passed 10 cars to take home a 7th place finish....Ryan Jamison came from 11th to finish in 8th....Dave Getchell finished 9th after starting in 12th....Kyle Peterson came from 15th to finish in 10th....Jerrod Schneiderman lost an engine in his heat to scratch from the feature......Adam Davis started the Mod Lite feature in 11th and came home in 6th....Shon Sanders passed 10 cars from his 17th place starting spot to finish in 7th....Andrew Smith came from 18th to come home in 8th....Dusty Masolini passed 11 cars from his 20th starting spot to take home 9th....Jason Whitehead came from 14th to finish in 10th....Huggins came from 26th to 12th before spinning out on lap 4 to bring out the caution. He would go to the tail for the restart and once again moved up to finish 11th at the checkered....Brian Woodruff came from 23rd to finish in 13th....Todd Thornburg started 21st and passed 7 cars to finish in 14th....Gary Snyder came from 22nd to take home 17th....Danny Foster started 24th and took home an 18th place finish......The 37 Late Models were broken down into four heat races, with the top 3 in each getting the chance to redraw for the first 6 rows of the feature. A new twist for the redraw that was added for the 2012 season, was that all the drivers would come over to the frontstretch during intermission to be lined up in front of 12 cards. Those cards started with an ace, representing the pole, and going up to the queen, which was 12th. Then they started with the 3rd place finisher in the 4th heat and worked there way to the winner of heat 1. The drivers then had a choice to keep there card or swap it with any other driver, none of the drivers knew where they started until all the drivers had a chance to swap. Once all drivers got the chance to swap or keep there card, then the cards where turned over to determine where they would start the 50 lap feature. The biggest swap was Matt Strassheim swapping cards with Jay Johnson, which moved Johnson to the pole and Strassheim back to 12th....Mike Murphy Jr. took home the 4th Annual "Slocum 50" win, which was a top prize of $3,000. He would also take home a $100 bonus for leading at lap 38, which was in memory of a crew member for Colby Springsteen who was killed in an accident earlier in the year.....Jeff Aikey started the 50 lap event in 20th place and then passed 14 cars to finish in 6th to earn the hard charger award....Tom Darbyshire came from 13th to finish in 9th....Darrel DeFrance started 17th and took home 11th....Colby Springsteen finished 12th after starting 14th....Sam Halstead came from 21st and recovered from his lap 3 spin to finish in 13th.
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