July 20, 2002; Lebanon, MO. - 17 Year old Marty Castens Jr, finally became the bride after being the bridesmaid several times as he captured his 1st ever Modified Feature win Sat.Night after taking the lead from Brian Schutt on lap 8 of the 30 lap Modified feature and gathered an extra $100 compliments of Showmw Brake and Muffler in Bolivar as they put up an extra 300 to the Modified purse.
The feature started as Ron Myers jumped to the early lead with 5 time track champion David Bates in hot pursuit from the 16 car starting field.Myers and Bates would keep swapping spots until lap 4 when the duo got together coming out of turn 4 and Bates ended up riding the fronstretch wall ans destroying his machine and Myers headed to pit road.On the restart-Brian Schutt began his forward movement as he opened a 5 car lead on Castens. Castens from Oklahoma had been making the trip along I-44 for the past 2 seasons and was still looking for his first ever feature win.With Castens now on the move,he would close up the gap 3 laps later and make his move after a side-by-side battle.From there Castens would put distance between himself and Schutt as point leader Dale Roper was putting on the moves from his 11th starting spot.2 late cautions would close everyone up as Roper and Jay Bates would put on a classic battle for third place. As the checkered fell,Castens gathered a 6 car length victory over Schutt,Roper,Bates,and Defending Champion Jim Hayes.Doing a famous polish victory lap,Castens tried a Spiderman climb along the Fence in the Winners Circle."I wanted this one real bad because my family has been so strong and supportive,but also because Raymond Patterson my main Sponsor is here tonight with his Late Model,maybe he will let me drive it later!!,this win and my prayers are also with Richard and his family,I hope he is alright and I want the trophy to go to his group tonight." The Late Models once again showed why the best is saved for last at Midway Speedway as the Green flew,Tom Smith jumped from his front row starting spot with veteran Archie Griffin in hot pursuit.On lap 3,Griffin would put the Sonic Pontiac in the lead as Steve Holt followed in tow and 1 lap later would pull along side of Griffin.While they ran like this,point leader Tim Swearengin,and the other half of the T-n-T duo,Tony Jackson Jr were coming fast. On lap 8,these 4 cars ran side-by-side in the 2 rows for a straight 12 laps until Swearengin finally made the low-line pass around Holt coming out of turn 4 and pulled ahead as Jackson fllowed in tow.The last 5 laps of the 30 lap feature saw the Rookie pull right behind and even to the rear quarter panel but not enough as the 2 time champion gathered his 7th win of the season."This guys are really making it hard to gather the trophy, but it's fun as they are racing clean and we hope the crowd enjoys this type of racing.My crew won this one tonight as we weren't very good in the heat race,but they figured the weather was changing abit and made the right choices,this win is all theres,but I'll take the paycheck!!"Following in a close battle behind was Griifin,Holt and a fast moving Jerry Kelley. The Sportsman feature was a wire-to-wire win as Robert Reeves captured his second win of the season after starting on the pole with Veteran Sam Payne following right on his bumper,and last weeks winner Gary Klossner charging up to a close 3rd."We thought that 1 win in this class would be great,but this is even sweeter,when you can hold off Sam for 9 hard laps and knowing he is in the points battle,then we feel we can run up front every night in this class." The Superstocks saw Jeremy Kelley-a third generation driver in only his second start jump out to the early lead as Jared Brown,Steve Shaw,and Dale Scherer were swapping spots faster than the scoreboard could click them off for the first 7 laps.A single caution out 1 lap later would allow point leader Steve Maddux to move up to third and 4 laps later make the charge to the lead gathering his8th victory of the season as he survived a late race caution as Kelley lost his motor coming out of turn 4.Dale Scherer also riding the Bridesmaids tails came home a strong 2nd followed by last weeks winner Aaron Douglas,Shaw,and Brown. The Bomb Squad saw another new face in the O'Reillys Autoparts Winners Circle as Ron Stokes became the 7th different winner this season taking over the lead from Jeff Stewart on lap 5 anmd would drive away to gather his first win of the season as the 20 lap feature would run green and clean with no cautions.Behind Stokes,Stewart would gather a carrer best ever runner-up finsh with point leader Jason Otto breaking away from deep in the field to finish-up in third followed by Missy Shaw,and Trent Harrison. The AMSOIL Mini-Stocks made there debut with a 10 lap feature and Bryan Davenport taking his Mustang over the top spot from Tracy Warner on lap 4.Brian Schoffstall came charging hard in latter stages to finish second with Tracy who was making her first ever start in racing came home third. Midway Speedway lost a valuable member to its racing family as Modified driver Richard Post was pronounced dead at Breech Hospital. Richard who was in his second season of driving in the area had undergone serious heart surgery of the Len Bias Disease(the FamousMaryland Basketball College Star drafted by the Celtics). While taking the time off and awaiting doctors clearance,Richard was always in the pits and giving morale support to the track and his Modified teammates(The Bates Modified Team). In his first season of racing,Richard finished in 8th in points and was Voted Most Improved Driver. Richard a very devoted familyman leaves behind a wife Jennifer,and 3 children Amanda,Dalton,and Dustin,and many friends.richard who had severed as Chief of Police in the Fair Grove Area was very well respected and cared for by all at the Speedways.This coming weekend the Speedway will have a special Sat Night opening Ceremony and the Drivers will be asked to go throughout the stands and pass the helmets to help out with the Post Family. Richard was running in the top 10 on Sat night when the caution flag flew, he took his #71 hard to the infield and rode over the ditch down in the infield area towards the safety crews. Richard Post passed away from heart problems later at Breech Medical. Results- Late Models |
