Friday night at Belle Clair Speedway with a good crowd in the stands and cars in the pits
by: Jack Pugh

Belleville, IL (April 7, 2006) - The 2006 racing season opened Friday night at Belle Clair Speedway with a good crowd in the stands and cars in the pits. The weather was threatening all day, but Mother Nature decided to let the racing season begin and the threat did not materialize.

In the UMP Late Model division, there were 16 cars on hand for the first night. In the first heat race, Rick Salter took the win over Brent Kreke, Rick Standridge, Mark Voigt, Mike Hammerle, Mike Schulte and Aaron Kleine. In the second heat race, Don Klein won over Ed Dixon in a tight battle with Vince Grondzki, Jim Gibson, John Paule, Don Grimm, Bob Geaschel, and Bob Brown trailing. The dash went to Klein followed by Dixon, Salter, Kreke, Grondzki and Standridge.

The first feature of the new year started with Grondzki and Salter on the front row. With the dropping of the first green flag, Salter took the early lead with Grondzki, Dixon, Kreke and Klein in tow. With one lap in the books, the first caution appeared as Geaschel quit. The running order was Salter, Grondzki, Dixon, Kreke and Klein.

On the return to green, the next caution appeared for leader Salter. Salter lost his drive shaft on the restart and was done. With all cars moving up one position for the next restart, the race restarted.

Grondzki took the lead temporally while Dixon worked his way to the front on lap three. Dixon held the lead while the dicing was going on behind him.

Kreke moved into second and tried to give Dixon a run for the lead but could only get to his rear bumper. The leaders ran mostly on the bottom of the track. The car on the move was seventh starting Voigt. Voigt moved around cars easily and was in third quickly.

Dixon would maintain the lead, but the battle for second between Kreke and Voigt was the race to watch. While the two fought for the position, they ran into lapped cars and provided to be the challenge for both drivers. Voigt fought to pass Kreke, but would be running on the outside and getting a run for pass when the encountered a lapped car on the outside. This battle went on lap after lap until finally late in the race, Voigt got by Kreke for second.

One of the impressive runs of the night was made by 10th starting Don Grimm. Grimm ran the top and moved forward with ease to get into the top five.

At the checkered flag it was Dixon taking the first feature of the new season. He was followed by Voigt, Kreke, Grimm and Klein to complete the top five.

In the UMP Modified class, there were 16 cars on hand. The first heat race saw Paul Reinneck took the win followed by Ryan Driemeier, Bobby Bittle, Jesse Carson, Dave Thorton, Chad Fraunenfelder, Steve Ellison, and David Cann. The second heat went to Marty Smith Jr. over Marty Smith Sr., Wayne Downing, Brian Bielong, Lance Dehm, Brett Korves and Chris Smith. The dash went to Smith Jr. over Reinneck, Driemeier, Smith Sr., Bittle and Downing.

The 20 lap feature started with Smith Sr. and Bittle on the front row. With the dropping of the green flag, Bittle jumped in front, but the race did not last long as Dehm rolled his car going down the back straight. He was done for the night before he got to race. The feature was re-lined up and started again. With this restart it was again the Bittle show with Bittle jumping to the top and stretching his lead.

This race saw the front running cars go to the top and compete their race on the outside wall. With Bittle way out front, the battle was on behind him. Pole setting Smith Sr. held on to second with challenges from Driemeier and eighth starting Bielong.
This race went green after the restart with Bittle taking the win followed by Smith Sr., Driemeier, Bielong and Smith Jr. to complete the top five.

The UMP Sportsmen had 16 cars as well to compete on opening night. Notice that UMP is sanctioning this class this year and the drivers are competing for national points. In the first heat race, Joe Volluz took the victory with Paul Bauman, Jimmy Cummins, David Grzywacz, Mike Seymour, Tom Smallwood, Dustin Homan, and Ron Weidler trailing. In the second heat, Brian Shubirg took the checkered flag with Shawn Seymour, Denny Tribout Jr., Wade Sutter, Jim Clark, Mike Krutz, Mike Jones and Mike Harris in pursuit. Harris blew his engine while leading. The dash went to Volluz over Bauman, Shubirg, S. Seymour, Tribout Jr. and Cummins.

The 15 lap feature started with Tribout Jr. and S. Seymour on the front row. On the dropping of the green flag, Tribout jumped to lead and never looked back. S. Seymour, Volluz and Shubirg raced behind Tribout in the early going.

The first caution came early with Weidler spinning in turn one. The running order was Tribout, Bauman. Seymour, Volluz and Grzywacz in the top five. Bauman had worked his way from fifth to second.

With the green flag back out, Tribout was back to leading and running a good race. Bauman tried, but could only get close to Tribout, but not pass him. The final caution came out on lap 11 when Clark spun in turn two. The running order of the top five was the same as the prior caution.

At the checked flag, it was Tribout with the win followed by Bauman, S. Seymour, Volluz and Grzywacz.

All the racing was done by 10:00 P.M. As a matter of fact, the features started at 8:45. Good track and good racing made for a short night, but the winds were cold.