Spieker, Stewart, Hardisty and Derry Take Opening Night Wins at ACS


CORNING, IA. (April 21) - The 2007 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season is underway at the Adams County Speedway. Saturday night provided some familiar faces in victory lane and a couple of fantastic finishes. Chris Spieker, Russell Stewart, Tony Hardisty and Brad Derry all found themselves in victory lane when the night was done.

2006 NAPA hobby stock Most Improved Driver Brad Derry got his season off to a great start by drawing the number two starting position for the feature. Derry pulled ahead of fellow front row starter David Weeda, but the main challenge of the night would come from Ryan Vicker. Derry was up to the task as he recorded his first career win over Brad Bergren, Weeda, Jesse Sobbing, and Kevin Yearington.

Tony Hardisty took full advantage of his pole drawn starting position in the Northland Oil pro street feature as he jumped to early command of the event. Jeff Orr started right behind Hardisty and was in position after each of the races restarted to provide some pressure, but Hardisty was always able to slowly pull away to take the victory. At the stripe, it was Hardisty, Orr, Jeremy Swanson, Mike Garner and Ron Ballinger rounding out the top five.

The Budweiser modified feature quickly became the feature that Mother Nature ruined seven months ago. Dan Mueller jumped from his second starting position to take command of the event with Jeremy Tibben and Jerry Carlson coming from their fifth and seventh starting spots to challenge Mueller for the lead. And for as tight as this trio ended the 2006 points campaign with only 1 point separating them, they raced just that tight to open the 2007 season. Tibben was able to nose Mueller to the flag stand just before a caution waved which put him to the front of the pack on the restart. Tibben pulled a small lead from there, but it was Russell Stewart who soon shot out of the pack to begin slicing through the front-runners and into second place. As the white flag flew, Stewart had gotten to Tibben’s bumper and by the middle of the backstretch the pair was side by side. Stewart got the better of the battle in three and four as he rolled around the outside to take the checkered ahead of Tibben, Carlson, Mueller and Ryan Peckham.

The Whelen late model feature saw a return to the track of long-time veteran Gary Hopp and with Hopp on the pole for the feature, he took full advantage to pace the early laps of the feature. Chris Spieker soon ran down Hopp and pulled into the lead. Spieker opened up a decent sized lead until Joe Kosiski moved up to second place and began to run down the leader. As Spieker and Kosiski encountered lapped traffic in this caution free event, the margin kept shrinking. Kosiski was able to pull alongside for the lead with just two laps to go, but Spieker was up to the task and pulled back for a small margin of victory with Kosiski, Jason O’Brien, Ryan Vicker and Paul Glendenning rounding out the top five.

Join us next week for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series with more great action of the Whelen late models, Budweiser modifieds, Northland Oil pro streets, and NAPA hobby stocks. Gates open at 5:00, hot laps are at 6:30, and racing starts at 7:00. Admission is just $8 for adults, $6 for students, and 12 and under are free. For more information go to acspeedway.com or call 712-785-3271.



Results:

NAPA Hobby Stock:

Heat 1: 1.Bergren 2.Ribbey 3.Werner

Heat 2: 1.Shiflett 2.Hudson 3.Vicker

Heat 3: 1.Derry 2.Williamson 3.Sink

A Feature: 1.Brad Derry 2.Brad Bergen 3.David Weeda 4.Jesse Sobbing 5.Kevin Yearington 6.Matt Williamson 7.Brent Ricker 8.Pat Shiflett 9.Jeremy Auten 10.Ryan Vicker 11.Jeremy Ribbey 12.Chris Vannausdle 13.Cody Werner 14.Ron Helvie 15.Heath Anderson 16.Tanner Rinehart 17.Rick Ritchie 18.Matt Hudson 19.Brett Sink 20.Dean Orr 21.Shain Sites 22.Jeff Danner 23.David Orr



Northland Oil Pro Street:

Heat 1: 1.Swanson 2.Garner 3.Orr

Heat 2: 1.AJ Miller 2.Pitzer 3.Andy Miller

Heat 3: 1.Ballinger 2.Hardisty 3.Zadina

A Feature: 1.Tony Hardisty 2.Jeff Orr 3.Jeremy Swanson 4.Mike Garner 5.Ron Ballinger 6.Kevin Jobe 7.Joe Zadina 8.Steve Churchill 9.Todd Owens 10.Craig Garner 11.Mike McCurdy 12.AJ Miller 13.Rick Pitzer 14.Jason Oathoudt 15.Scott Bond 16.Dwain Pelzer 17.Greg Miller 18.Austin Arndt 19.Jason Rold 20.David Schafroth 21.Andy Miller 22.Glen Hoyt 23.Les Helvie 24.Raymond Gebhards



Budweiser Modified:

Heat 1: 1.Stiens 2.Mewhirter 3.Spriggs

Heat 2: 1.Hogan 2.Tibben 3.L. Foote

Heat 3: 1.Carlson 2.Mueller 3.R. Foote

A Feature: 1.Russell Stewart 2.Jeremy Tibben 3.Jerry Carlson 4.Dan Mueller 5.Ryan Peckham 6.Kirby Stiens 7.Chris Hogan 8.Richard Spriggs 9.Chase Mewhirter 10.Larry Foote 11.Randy Foote 12.Brian Foote 13.Jesse Dennis 14.Jeff James 15.Jeff Wiggins 16.Brian Broermann 17.Kevin Bills 18.Eric Hanna 19.Jeremy Hodapp 20.Mark Hoover 21.Ryan Stiens 22.Kelley Roof 23.Jared Stiens 24.Ben Wolverton 25. Kevin Parman



Whelen Late Model:

Heat 1: 1.Houck 2.Glendenning 3.Spieker

Heat 2: 1.Jackson 2.J. Kosiski 3.Vicker

A Feature: 1.Chris Spieker 2.Joe Kosiski 3.Jason O’Brien 4.Ryan Vicker 5.Paul Glendenning 6.Karl Ritterbusch 7.Gary Hopp 8.Jamie Kinyon 9.Jeremy Houck 10.Trent Jackson 11.Josh Most 12.Kenny Edwards 13.Troy McKee 14.Andrew Kosiski 15.Todd McKee 16.Scott Koskovich 17.Justin Zeitner