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OSBORN EDGES GASE IN HAWKEYE DOWNS LATE MODEL FEATURE
CHANDLERS SWEEP THE PODIUM IN HORNETS

By Brad Grupe

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (July 2, 2011) - Hawkeye International Trucks presented racing action in all six divisions of the Papa Johns Cup/I-Wireless Championship Series at Hawkeye Downs Speedway on Friday night, July 1st. Despite sweltering temperatures, a good crowd started their Independence Day weekend at the Cedar Rapids landmark, and were treated to some great racing across the board.

The drivers in the Performance Concepts Late Models division have apparently figured out a formula for winning: Follow up a really bad week with a feature win the next week. Kyle Hinrichs did it a couple weeks ago and Friday night it was Brad Osborn’s turn to pull off a win. Last week saw Osborn suffer a mechanical problem that sent him hard into the wall exiting turn four heavily damaging his ride.

A week of thrashing by he and his crew proved worthwhile Friday night as he grabbed the checkers in the 30-lap finale in the Late Model division. Tim Plummer led the first three trips around the half-mile before last weeks’ winner, Kyle Hinrichs, slipped by. Hinrichs continued to lead until lap 22 when Joey Gase powered by caution waved 3 laps later bunching the field. One lap later caution slowed the action again as drivers tried to go three wide in turn one.

Brad Osborn timed the restart perfectly using an outside line to pass both Hinrichs and Gase in what would be the winning pass. Gase charged back on the final lap with Osborn crossing the stripe just .105 seconds ahead of Gase. Hinrichs maintained third with Andy Edwards turning in another solid performance to finish fourth. The point leader heading into Friday night, Mason Mitchell,  finished fifth.

In other action, Matt Petrzelka scored his second straight win and his third win of 2011 in Barron Motor Supply Hobby Stocks. Petrzelka slipped into the lead on the first lap and was never seriously challenged in racking up the win. Point leader Nathan Ballard finished second with Jeremy Robbins edging Martin Ballard for the third slot. Brad Chandler was fifth.

The Coca-Cola Sportsmen staged an entertaining race as well with Cory Houdek prevailing for his fifth win of the season. Craig Stepanek led the first three circuits before Ben Glascock used the outside line to wrestle the lead away. Three laps later, Stepanek regained command of the race but his lead was short-lived as caution bunched the field after Dave Ballstaedt used a bit too much bumper on Cory Houdek, sending him around. Houdek, who kept his track position,  took control of the race on the first lap of the restart with Ben Glascock once again trying to mount a charge in the outside groove as the final laps ticked off. Glascock retained second with Stepanek, Ballstaedt, and Greg Hentrich right behind.

Lacrosse, WI driver Ben Schaitel made the trek to Cedar Rapids a worthwhile one as he led most of the 30-lap McGrath Powersports Legends feature and collected the winners hardware. Dennnis Diercks paced the field for the first five laps before Schaitel slipped by. Al Diercks made a late charge to the front but couldn’t catch Schaitel before the checkers waved. Point leader Matt Blake finished third while Troy Burkhart and Don Erger completed the top five.

Johnny Spaw appeared to have things pretty well in hand in the Budweiser Modifieds feature as he built a comfortable margin over Ryan Luedtke through the first thirteen laps. On lap fourteen a spin bunched the cars setting up a restart for the final six trips around the half-mile. Defending champion Tim Plummer bolted into second on the restart and set his sights on Johnny Spaw. With three laps remaining, Plummer was right on the bumper of Spaw with Spaw stuck to the bottom of the track. As the pair exited turn four for the final time Plummer pulled alongside but couldn’t complete the pass, settling for second. Spaw’s winning margin was a miniscule .086 seconds over the current point leader. Luedtke maintained third with Brian Gibson and Craig Bender also running in the top five.

Chandler, Chandler, and Chandler dominated the Sunline Hornets feature Friday night with Nate and Brad both leading laps before Brad prevailing How they led laps was very different. While Nate started in the front row, Brad was alone in the back row and worked methodically through the pack before taking the lead on lap fourteen of the scheduled twenty. The third brother, Dallas, came almost as far through the field as Brad did after starting in thirteenth. In the end, Brad took the checkers with Nate Second, and Dallas third. Jose DeJesus recovered from an earlier sin to finish fourth and Derek Parrott was fifth.

Also in the Sunline Hornets, Todd Ness brought home some new hardware for the mantle after winning the Innovative Signs Trophy Dash.

Racing resumes next Friday night with all six divisions in action once again. The Lil’ Racer Car Club has scheduled a Candy Dash during intermission next week as well.

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HAWKEYE DOWNS SPEEDWAY

July 1, 2011 Results

BARRON MOTOR SUPPLY HOBBY STOCKS

HEAT- 1. Martin Ballard, Marengo; 2.Nathan Ballard, Marengo; 3.Matt Petrzelka, Vinton; 4.Jeremy Robbins, Swisher; 5. Brad Chandler, Cedar Rapids

FEATURE (15 laps) 1. Petrzelka 2.Nathan Ballard 3.Robbins 4.Martin Ballard 5.Chandler

 

COCA-COLA SPORTSMEN

HEAT 1- 1. Craig Stepanek, Cedar Rapids; 2.David Ballstaedt, Marion; 3.Greg Hentrich, Hiawatha 4. Malena Betzer, Cedar Rapids

HEAT 2- 1.Cory Houdek, Marion; 2.Ben Glascock, Indianola; 3.Josh Williams 4. Al Jarvis, Center Point

FEATURE (20 laps) 1. Houdek 2.Glascock 3.Stepanek 4.Ballsteadt 5.Hentrich 6.Williams 7. Jarvis 8. Betzer

 

MCGRATH POWERSPORTS LEGENDS

HEAT 1- 1.Ben Schaitel, LaCrosse, WI; 2.Brogan Fiala, Fairfax; 3.Don Erger, Vinton; 4.Jason Beauregard, Cedar Rapids; 5.Matt Blake, Cedar Rapids

HEAT 2- 1.Troy Burkhart, Cedar Rapids; 2.Dennis Diercks, Davenport; 3.Bryce Bailey, Cedar Rapids; 4.Heath Ropp, Ames 5.Caleb Adrian, Davenport

FEATURE (30 laps) 1. Schaitel 2.Al Diercks 3.Blake 4.Burkhart 5.Erger 6. Fiala 7.Dennis Diercks 8.Adrian 9.Ropp 10.Bailey 11. Beauregard

 

BUDWEISER MODIFIEDS

HEAT – 1. Johnny Spaw, Cedar Rapids; 2.Brian Gibson, Walford; 3.Ryan Luedtke, Norway 4.Tim Plummer, Cedar Rapids; 5.Craig Bender, Cedar Rapids; 6.Jason Beauregard, Cedar Rapids; 7. James Dixon, Cedar Rapids

FEATURE (20 laps) 1. Spaw 2. Plummer 3.Leudtke 4.Gibson 5.Bender 6.Dixon 7.Beauregard

 

SUNLINE HORNETS

Innovative Signs Trophy Dash- Todd Ness, Cedar Rapids

HEAT 1- 1. Nate Chandler, Cedar Rapids; 2.Brad Chandler, Cedar Rapids; 3. Derek Parrott, Marion;  4.Todd Ness, Cedar Rapids; 5. Joe Bean, Cedar Rapids; 6.J.R. Dvorak, Lisbon; 7.Dakota Dains, Marion

HEAT 2- 1. Jose De Jesus, Cedar Rapids; 2.Dallas Chandler, Cedar Rapids; 3.Aaron Jarvis, Center Point; 4.John Ness, Cedar Rapids; 5.Parker Anderson, Marion; 6.Duayne Herb, Marion;

FEATURE (20 laps) 1. Brad Chandler 2.Nate Chandler 3. Dallas Chandler 4.DeJesus 5.Parrott 6.Todd Ness 7.John Ness 8.Herb 9.Dvorak 10.Anderson 11. Dains 12.Bean 13.Jarvis

 

PERFORMANCE CONCEPTS LATE MODELS

HEAT 1- 1. Kyle Hinrichs, Swisher; 2.Joey Gase, Cedar Rapids; 3.Tim Plummer, Cedar Rapids; 4.Travis Thompson, Cedar Rapids; 5.Chad Siems, Shellsburg; 6.Scott Siems, Cedar Rapids

HEAT 2- 1. Brian Allen, Hiawatha; 2.Brad Osborn, Janesville 3.Andy Edwards, New Hartford; 4.Mason Mitchell, West Des Moines; 5.Jay Jaspers, Steamboat Rock

FEATURE (30 laps) 1. Osborn 2.Gase 3.Hinrichs 4.Edwards 5. Mitchell 6.Chad Siems 7.Scott Siems 8.Thompson 9.Jaspers 10.Allen 11. Plummer