Racing was hot at Belle Clair Speedway Friday night
by: Jack Pugh

BELLEVILLE, IL (June 15) - The summer is here as the heat was turned up but the racing was hot at Belle Clair Speedway Friday night. There was a special money race for the UMP Modifieds.

In the UMP Late Model class, there were 16 cars on hand. In heat one, Aaron Kleine took the victory over Do Klein, Jim Gibson, Clay Bauman, Scott Ford, Dan Dondero, Casey Schaefer and Dave Thornton. In the second heat, Ed Dixon won followed by Rick Standridge, Mike Schulte, Mike Hammerle, Bob Geaschel, Ron Jarrell,, Bob Brown and Paul Roider. The dash went to Kleine with Standridge, Schulte, Dixon, Klein and Gibson trailing.

The 25 lap feature started with Kleine and Rick Standridge on the front row. With the dropping of the green flag, Standridge jumped to the lead with Kleine, Dixon, Mike Schulte and Jim Gibson giving chase.

Standridge held the lead though the early stages with Dixon running on his bumper on the high side of the track. The first slow down of the race happened on lap 6 when Roider spun in turn two. The running order was Standridge, Dixon, Schulte, Kleine and Klein in the top five.

With the green light back on, Standridge continued lead with Dixon hot on his bumper. Standridge had good runs off of turn two to keep Dixon behind him. The next caution came when fourth and fifth place runners Kleine and Schulte tangled on lap nine in turn four and Schulte was though for the night, while Kleine went to the back.

This was the turning point of the race as the restarts were not completed successfully. There were two attempts to restart and Standridge was one of them. Standridge was leading, but lost his brakes going into the turn one outside wall and was done. This gave the lead to Dixon.

Dixon went on to win his fourth feature of the year. Jim Gibson would get his best finish of the year and finish second followed by Don Klein, Mike Hammerle and Clay Baumann to complete the top five.

The UMP Modifeds ran for a special purse that paid $1,000 to win and $75 to start. There were 16 cars ready to win the big money. In the first heat race, Bobby Bittle beat Brian Bielong, Chris Smith, Chris Gray, Tom Ratajczyk, David Seger, Chris England and Matt Koesterer. In the second heat, Dean Hoffman took the checkered flag over Jim Morrison, Jesse Carson, Bobby Johnson, Paul Reinneck, Brett Korves, Jason Davinroy and Jake Seets. The dash went Hoffman followed by Morrison, Bielong, Bittle, Smith and Carson.

The front row consisted of Hoffman and Jim Morrison for the 30 lap race. Hoffman jumped to the lead at the start with Bittle, Morrison, Brian Bielong and Chris Smith in tow.

Hoffman had the lead with Bittle ready to take the lead. The caution on lap seven for Johnson and Morrison started the change of events to follow. Both cars were eliminated from the race. The running order was Hoffman, Bittle, Bielong, Smith and Gray at this point.

With the restart, Hofffman continued to lead but that was about to change. Bittle took the lead on lap nine and never looked back. Bittle was riding the top and driving a smooth race.

On lap nine, the final caution came out when Ratajczyk and Korves tangled in turn one. The running order was now Bittle, Hoffman, Bielong, Smith and Gray.
With the green out again, Bittle continued to pursuit the checkered flag. Hoffman began to loss positions as Bielong and Smith got by and then Carson took fourth before the end of the race.

Bittle went on to win his first feature of the year at Belle Clair Speedway and took home a check worth $1,000. Bielong, Chris Smith, Jesse Carson and Hoffman completed the top five.

In the UMP Sportsmen class, there were 17 cars ready to race. The first heat race went to Mike Harris with Randy Tyson, Kent Nations, Justin Ketrow, Jim Abshier, Corey Ford, Derek Byrant, and Jim Clark trailing. The second heat had Joe Volluz with the win over Brian Eaves, Ronnie Bader, Brad McKinnon, Jimmy Cummins, Tom Smallwood, Brian Shubirg and Denny Tribout Sr. The dash went to Harris over Tyson, Nations, Eaves, Volluz and Bader.

The 15 lap feature started with Harris and Randy Tyson on the front row. Harris would take the lead that he never gave up. Harris went on to win his third feature of the year, second in a row and a sweep for the night. Kent Nations, Tyson, Volluz and Justin Ketrow completed the top five.