The racing continued on Friday night despite the role that Mother Nature play with the area for the two days prior.
by: Jack Pugh

BELLEVILLE, ILL (July 21, 2006) - The racing continued on Friday night despite the role that Mother Nature play with the area for the two days prior. There were many area without electricity, tree damage, house damage from the winds and storms that passed though the area. There were people in the stands and cars in the pits despite these conditions.

In the UMP Late Model division, there were 18 cars on hand to race. In the first heat, Bob Geaschel took the win over Brent Kreke, Mike Hammerle, Dave Thornton, Ed Dixon, Don Klein, Dan Jacober, Ken Rumble and Ron Jarrell. In the second heat, Mike Schulte won with Jim Gibson, Rusty Griffaw, Rick Standridge, John Beck, Vince Grondzki, Andy Pryor and Dewayne Kiefer in tow. The dash went to Kreke followed by Geaschel, Gibson, Schulte, Griffaw and Hammerle.
The 25 lap feature lined up with Griffaw and Kreke on the front row. With the dropping of the green flag, Kreke jumped to the lead with Griffaw, Gibson, Schulte and Hammerle in the top five.

The race went on with Kreke running on the bottom of the track with most car on the bottom to middle of the track. Kreke continued to lead while the field was jockeying for position behind him.

As the laps clicked off, Kreke still held the lead, but the cars behind him continued to change. Schulte found a different groove to race on as he moved to moved to second place in the middle of the track. Hammerle found the same groove and moved to third. These three cars move away form the rest of the field and left the rest of the cars to battle for their position.

The only caution came on lap 15 as a big mess happened on the front straight away. The cars of Kiefer, Rumble, Jarrell and Pryor got tangled up and blocked the track. It was determined that Grondzki caused the tangle and was black flagged and out of the race. Kiefer was also out for the night along with Jarrell. The top five at this point were Kreke, Schulte, Hammerle, Gibson and Standridge.

With the track cleaned up and the cars realigned, the race restarted with Kreke back to the point. Here is where the race would change. On lap 17, Schulte move to the middle of the track and passed Kreke for the lead. Schulte would hold the lead and take the checkered flag for his first ever feature win. He became the ninth different feature winner at Belle Clair Speedway in 2006.

Following Schulte to round out the top five were Kreke, Hammerle, Gibson, and Standridge.

In the UMP Modified class, there were 17 cars in the pits with two new drivers. In the first heat, Bobby Bittle took the win over Brian Bielong, Paul Reinneck, Tom Seets Jr., Lenny Bryant, Scott Weber, Jim Morrison, Marty Smith Jr. and Kelley Devall. In the second heat, Chris Gray got the win followed by Bett Korves, Marty Smith Sr., Wayne Downing, Chad Franenfelder, Todd McGraw, Matt Acord, and Steve Lach. The dash went to Gray over Bittle, Bielong, Korves, Smith Sr. and Reinneck.

The 20 lap feature started with Bittle and Reinneck on the front row. With the dropping of the green flag, it was Bittle to the lead and he was not to be challenged. Following Bittle at the start were Reinneck, Korves, Smith Sr and Bielong.

The first caution came on lap 3 when Lach spun on the back straight away. The running order was Bittle, Reinneck, Smith Sr., Bielong and Korves in the top five.
With the green light back on, Bittle continued to command the race with Reinncek and Smith Sr. trying to give Bittle a run for the lead.

The race continued only until lap 5 as Bryant lose it in turn four and retired for the night. The running order was now Bittle, Reinneck, Smith Sr., Korves and Bielong.
With the race back to green again, it did not take for something to slow it down again. This time it was a group of cars in the top five that were involved. Reinneck and Korves tangled coming out of turn two and going down the back stretch spun out. This changed the top five. The top five now were Bittle, Smith Sr., Bielong, Gray and Downing.

With the race now under green, Bittle continued to lead, but had his hand full with Smith Sr. trying to get by. The car to watch other than the lead duo was 11th starting Weber. Also on the move was 15th starting Smith Jr. Weber was picking cars off using the middle to high line, but got hung up a few times by cars in front of him. Smith Jr. was on the high side moving forward.

As the laps clicked off, it was an intense battle up front as Smith Sr. was on Bittle’s rear bumper, but could not get the move to overcome him for the lead. At the checkered flag, it was Bittle for his ninth feature win followed by Smith Jr., Bielong, Weber and Smith Jr. to complete the top five.

In the UMP Sportsmen class, there were 18 cars ready to race. In the first heat, Don Phillips took the win over Brian Shubirg, Jim Clark, Lonnie Casey, Mike Seymour, Mike Kuntz Sr., Louis Hayes and Dustin Homen. In the second heat, Paul Bauman took the checkered flag followed by Mike Harris, Joe Volluz, Bobby Teutraine, Jason Davinroy, Denny Tribout Jr., Jimmy Cummins, Shawn Seymour and Mike Jones. The dash went to Bauman over Shubirg, Phillips, Clark, Volluz and Harris.

The 15 lap feature race started with Phillips and Shubirg on the front row. With the green light on, Shubirg jumped to the lead. The race only last one lap as debris was located on the track. The running order was Shubirg, Phillips, Volluz, Bauman and Harris in the top five.

With the debris picked up, the race went back to green and Shubirg continued to lead with the battle behind him heating up. Phillips, Volluz and Bauman were racing for position hard. Volluz took second from Phillips on the high side and started after Shubirg.

The battle with Bauman and Volluz was a good race within a race. Bauman appeared to take second from Volluz but a caution for debris again slowed the race on lap 10. The running order was Shubirg, Volluz, Bauman, Harris and Cummins in the top five. Cummins made a charge from 14th starting spot to the top five.

The green light was back on and the final five laps would determine the winner. It took Volluz two laps to overhaul Shubirg for the lead.

At the checkered flag it was Volluz for his fourth feature win with Shubirg, Bauman, Harris and Cummins completing the top five.

Next week, NASCAR star Ken Schrader will be racing his Red Barron Pizza Late Model at Belle Clair Speedway. It has been five years since the last time Ken has raced at Belle Clair Speedway. Come on out and watch Ken and all the rest of the driver. After the races come into the pits and meet Mr. Schrader and get an autograph. Also, Greg Biffle’s Subway car will be on display.