May 25, 2002; Lebanon, MO. -A full moon loomed over Midway Speedway Saturday night as some of those odd things happened. Restarts took too many laps, some drivers got over anxious to gain positions, and that old dreaded black flag popped up a few times. But when it was all said and done, Tim Swearengin pocketed a check for $1500 in his win over Ken Dickinson in the 75 lap Late Model Feature. Modified driver Dale Roper, Super Street Stocker Steve Maddux, and Pure Streeter Jason Otto all returned to the O'Reilly's Winner Circle. Along with Late Model Sportsman, Scott Atkinson in one of the best recoveries in a spinning car, took home the trophy..
On the drop of the green flag, you could see that the 75 lap Late Model race was going to be interesting. Tim Gittimeier got into an incident with Tony Jackson Jr. on the back stretch, sending Jackson into the infield and destroying his front suspension. Jackson's car would sit on the infield for the entire race. Then it took several laps to reline the field up and Leo Morgan looked the field over and dropped the green flag, Archie Griffin, Springfield took to the front and held off a hard charging Jerry Kelly. Several laps later, Griffin had to go to the rear of the field on a spin out of turn four, leaving Kelly to lead the field on the restart. But in the chase was Ken Dickinson, Lebanon, and 2-time track champion Tim Swearengin. Dickinson would eventually pass Kelly, with Swearengin following. Swearengin dialed up the pressure on Dickinson and held tight to his bumper as they went lap after lap in this position. Then to make things interesting Swearengin pulled to the inside of Dickinson and for 10 plus laps they went around the track side by side. Eventually coming into some lap traffic Swearengin had the low line and took the lead. Dickinson tried to make the pass on a few attempts, but never got enough momentum to make the pass. These two drivers had put the rest of the field at least a half track behind. Steve Holt managed a third place finish, and Archie Griffin claimed a fourth place. Jerry Kelly rounded out the top five. What seemed to be a promising night for Ron Myers went by the wayside in the Modified Division, as in a battle for the third position with only three laps to go, Myers and Marty Castens, Oklahoma got together and Myers put a hole in the transmission in the incident. While all this was going on Dale Roper managed his way to the front and led the field for 25 laps to take the checkered from flagman Leo Morgan. Jay Bates, who had led the field of 18 cars early in the race came home second. Roper and Bates put on a good show for the crowd as they ran close together for most of the race. With the Myers-Castens incidence, this put Jim Hayes up to third. Hayes had been making his way through the field and had fortunately stayed out of trouble in the couple of cautions that plagued this feature event. Last week's feature winner, Terry Holtkamp, made his way from 11th to fourth. David Bates, who got caught up in the first incident of the night and had to start at the rear of the 18 car field came home fifth. After a close race last week in the in the Super Street Stock division between last weeks feature winner Aaron Harden and Steve Maddux, it was Maddux on the pole and Harden in the back. In comments with his feature win on the night, Steve Maddux, "It is nice to win when you are on the pole, but if you loose from their it is a little embarrassing." Maddux put a big distance between him and second place finisher John Carrigan. Aaron Harden was third along with Steve Shaw fourth. Andrew Stake, who was doing double duties, in the Super Street and late Model Stock Division, took home fifth. It was one of the best saves on the high banks of Midway Speedway, but it was a
challenge for the top spot, Scott Atkinson and Gary Klossner touched and they both went
3/4 around, but somehow managed to keep their foot in the floor, brought their cars back
straight. Klossner was leading at the time, but coming across the line and taking the
checkered flag was Scott Atkinson, for his second Late Model Sportsman feature win in as
many weeks. Klossner would take second and Robert Make it win number two in the pure Street Division, Jason Otto blasted his way from the middle of the field to the front. Otto seemed to have everything under control, but last week's feature winner, Jason Woods was making noise coming through the pace fast. Woods manage to come within two car length, but would have to settle for second. Ron Stokes took third place honors, with Trent Harrison fourth and Matt Hamner fifth. With his crowd pleasing back flips, it was his third straight win. Carl Edwards had to outrun Ron Rouse for the victory. Rouse and Edwards put on a battle for the top spot through out the event. Mark Brumley would take third and Rolla's Chester McDowell finished fourth. Chad Culp would make up the fifth spot in the field. This coming night, the high banks of Midway Speedway will see it first ever 150 lap Enduro. Over 40 cars have registered for this event which pays $4000 to win. In addition, the modifieds will be taking to the track , with $1000 to win on the line. The Baby Grands will round out the Friday Night Special presented by KJEL & O'Reilly Auto Parts. Heat Results: Late Model : Late Model Stock: Modified: Super Street: Pure Street: |
