Murray, Schoenberger repeat at Norton
By Mike Hughes

NORTON, KS (May 27, 2006) - David Murray Jr. of Oberlin and Gorham’s Jason Schoenberger were repeat winners at Elmwood Park Speedway in Norton, KS, Saturday evening, May 27.

Murray continued his dominance at the ½-mile oval, picking up his fourth IMCA Modified feature win in six outings at Norton. Brice Riley of Indianola, NE, led the first 7 laps of the 15-lap main event, but just as the field took the crossed flags at the halfway mark, Murray powered past Riley and pulled away from the field. Riley finished a distant second, with Mitch Kline beating out Nate Schaben and Rick Schwab to the checkers in a close race for third. Murray and Kline won the two heat races.

Schoenberger became the only repeat winner in the IMCA Stock Car division, winning his second main event at Elmwood Park. Kensington’s Cory Struckhoff took the lead on lap 2 from Jay Hachmeister and led the next 3 laps before Josh Hudson got around his teammate. Hudson led the field to the halfway mark, but then problems on his race car forced him to slow and pull to the pits. Struckhoff regained the lead with Schoenberger right behind. Schoenberger finally got around Struckhoff on lap 17 and held on for the win. Hachmeister finished third, followed by Jason Davis and heat two winner Tyler Hahn. Hachmeister won the other heat race.

The Late Models made a special appearance and Rod Bencken of Oakley claimed the win in the 15-lap feature. Brad Wagoner of Colby led the first 10 laps before Bencken made the pass on the outside coming out of turn 2 down the backstraight. Wagoner finished second, followed by heat race winner Rusty Miller, Mike Hetrick and David Easterday.

Veteran Gene Sneath of Plainville won his first IMCA Hobby Stock feature of the season at Norton. Sneath led all 12 laps to win easily over Norton’s Kelly Karnopp. Jim Buss, Adam Balthazor and Brady Schoen rounded out the top five. Balthazor and Karnopp claimed the checkers in the two heat races.

Wes & Chuck Eagleburger of Norton took advantage of a restart to win the Cruiser main event. Nick & Tim Horn of Stockton led the first 8 laps of the 10-lap race when the caution came out, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. As the field took the green on the restart, heat one winners Eagleburgers took command from the Horns, winners of the second heat, and scored the win. Jim Cary & Bruce Rexroat were third.

Racing action returns to Elmwood Park Speedway Saturday night, June 10, when the regular four divisions will be joined by the Dwarf Cars. Race time is 7:00 p.m.



RESULTS

IMCA Hobby Stocks
Heat 1: 1. Adam Balthazor, 2. Wade Wagenblast, 3. Brent Schoen, 4. Phil Hinger.

Heat 2: 1. Kelly Karnopp, 2. Gene Sneath, 3. Jim Buss, 4. Brady Schoen.

Feature: 1. Sneath, 2. Karnopp, 3. Buss, 4. Balthazor, 5. Brady Schoen, 6. Brent Schoen, 7. Wagenblast, 8. P. Hinger, 9. Laura Hinger, 10. Brett Gray (DNF), 11. Jebb Tally (DNS).

IMCA Stock Cars
Heat 1: 1. Tyler Hahn, 2. Jason Davis, 3. Jason Rogers, 4. Dan Lauer.

Heat 2: 1. Jay Hachmeister, 2. Jared Remus, 3. Cory Struckhoff, 4. Josh Hudson.

Feature: 1. Jason Schoenberger, 2. Struckhoff, 3. Hachmeister, 4. Davis, 5. Hahn, 6. Caleb Peters, 7. J.R. McCreery, 8. Remus, 9. Lauer, 10. Michael Zajic, 11. Jason McCartney, 12. Hudson (DNF), 13. Rogers (DNF).

IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1: 1. David Murray Jr., 2. Jason Schoenberger, 3. Mike Petersilie, 4. Jim Bell.

Heat 2: 1. Mitch Kline, 2. Brian Calhoon, 3. Tim Watts, 4. Rick Schwab.

Feature: 1. Murray, 2. Brice Riley, 3. Kline, 4. Nate Schaben, 5. Schwab, 6. Calhoon, 7. Watts, 8. Schoenberger, 9. Petersilie, 10. Bell, 11. Marty Clark (DNF).

Cruisers
Heat 1: 1. Wes Eagleburger/Chuck Eagleburger, 2. Joe Carter/Jim Carter, 3. Jeremy Simmons/Roger Deal, 4. Heather Brown/Michael Smith.

Heat 2: 1. Nick Horn/Tim Horn, 2. Macy Thomas/Kimberly Thomas, 3. Jim Cary/Bruce Rexroat, 4. Michael Hockemeier/Jim Ellis.

Feature: 1. Eagleburger/Eagleburger, 2. Horn/Horn, 3. Cary/Rexroat, 4. Thomas/Thomas, 5. Hockemeier/Ellis, 6. Carter/Carter, 7. Simmons/Deal, 8. Rhona Annon/Joann Ellis, 9. Smith/Brown (DNF), 10. John Annon/Josh Wonderly (DNF).

Late Models
Heat: 1. Rusty Miller, 2. Rod Bencken, 3. Brad Wagoner, 4. Vince Wagoner.

Feature: 1. Bencken, 2. B. Wagoner, 3. Miller, 4. Mike Hetrick, 5. David Easterday, 6. V. Wagoner (DNF), 7. Tim Hans (DNS).