Landers Prevails At Capitol Federal Late Model Showdown & Modified Shootout

KANSAS CITY, KS (Sept. 29)  - Over the course of 48 hours things can change in one's life. At least if you are Jared Landers it can.

Jared Landers came to the 'Sunflower State' on Wednesday night. He didn't have the run he was looking for at 'Capital City Clash', but after visiting with several people he decided to hang around Kansas a little bit longer and head to Lakeside Speedway Friday night

"I was kind of nervous at first," said Landers, "I liked it, but I was kin da nervous. You never know out there. I just wanted to get a good start and I found a sweet spot."

When Landers got to Lakeside Speedway he heard about the track conditions always being on the heavy side. He thought the key would be to get a good finish there that would put him toward the front of the A Main.

For a driver that fancies a dry and slick track, you wouldn't have noticed it in the heat race. Landers ran down early heat leader Steve Glenn and drove right passed him winning his heat convincingly. From there it was time to redraw for the feature event. An event that would pay $1,200 to win and a standing room only crowd would be watching every single lap. On the redraw Landers took home a good position, third row outside.

As the drivers watched the races before the main event, it was evident that the track was beginning to dry out and become slick.

"When it got slick, this is what I am looking for," said Landers, "It's tough to win with these guys, especially Kelly."

Lakeside Speedway track champion, John Allen, took the early lead in the feature event. Allen would start on the pole position. As the race got underway, Landers sliced is way to the 2nd position before the 1st lap had been completed. He then set his sights on taking down John Allen. A couple of yellows would help him get his priorities straight.

On the restart Landers would use the high side and the momentum to roll past John Allen and take over the lead. Landers would have smooth sailing until some competitors from the back half of the field would make there way to the front of the field. One driver in particular, Kelly Shryock.

Shryock finished 3rd in his heat race, which landed him squarely in the B Main. In the B Main he would finish runner-up to Dustin Boney. In the downtime he would make the necessary adjustments to his Skyrocket Chassis that would give him a chance to win. A tall order considering he was going to start in the 18th position. It wouldn't matter where he started. With 6 laps to go Shryock was in 3rd place (from his 18th starting spot). At one point he pushed the race for the lead to 3 wide and would come out with the lead.

One of the contenders for the win, Jim Moody, went off the pace and another yellow was thrown on the speedway. This would set up a wild, green, white and checkered finish.

As the race resumed, Landers was content to follow Shryock and build up so momentum. As they came to the white flag, Landers pulled a daring move to the bottom between's 3 and 4 and then to the top hard coming out of turn 4. The move gave him back the lead, but he would still have to hold off a driver, who most say is the best in the business today. Driving Shryock to the bottom of turn 1, Landers held the lead as they exited turn two.

Going down the back straight. Landers was able to stay in front of Shryock and block him from making any pass. Landers would hold on and make it to the checkered flag first. Shryock finished a well fought, 2nd place finish.

"Yeah, yeah. I think about it in my mind," said Landers of the possible was to hold off Shryck in the end, "If I would have entered the turn like I had been he would have went under me, this way I kept him from making that move."

Modified Top 5 Results - 1. Jared Landers 2. Kelly Shryock 3. Kenny Wallace 4. Dustin Boney 5. John Allen

One of the big stories of the night, was Nextel Cup driver Kenny Wallace. Wallace ran a strong heat race and picked up the win in the 8th and final heat race of the night. He parlayed his good starting spot into one of his best modified finishes, 3rd place. Wallace used the bottom of the track and his great straightaway speeds to make up a lot of ground on the bottom of the track. A few times he went so low that he was actually in the infield.

Dustin Boney would finish 4th followed by John Allen in the 5th spot.

Heat race winners on the nigh were, Jim Moody, Danny Charles, Justin Boney, Jared Landers, Jeremy Chambers, Kerry Davis, John Allen and Kenny Wallace.

Four special visitors made there way to Lakeside Speedway. Former modified track champion and Nextel Cup Chase competitor, Clint Bowyer was on hand to race his 07 Jack Daniel's late model. He had a very competitive car and looked to be on his way to a solid race. Unfortunately for Bowyer he would spin on the first lap and have to head to the rear of the competition. As he was moving his way up through the crowd, he got hung up in a crash with Delbert Smith. It was a solid return for the legend of Lakeside Speedway.

Kevin Harvick, teammate to Bowyer in the Nextel Cup and Chase Competitor, piloted Bowyer's Jack Daniel's 07 Skyrocket Modified. As he took more laps, the better he got around the track. A Daytona 500 winners provisional was taken by Harvick to make his way into tonight's main event. It looked as if he earned the respect of his fellow competitors.

Richard Childress' grandson, Austin Dillon, also made his first appearance to Lakeside. He raced his No Fear #3 late model on the night. He came up just short of making the A main event.

Nextel Cup driver and television personality, Kenny Wallace, had the best run of all the guests on Friday night. Wallace powered his modified to a 3rd place finish.

75 Modifieds were on hand for the opening night of the Capitol Federal Late Model Showdown and Modified Shootout.

Tonight will be the 2nd night of the Capitol Federal Late Model Showdown and Modified Shootout at Lakeside Speedway. Gates will again open at 5 p.m., with hot laps at 6:30 p.m. and racing going green at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25.00 at the gate for adults, children 8 to 14 are $10.00 and kids 7 & under are free.

Persistance Pays Off For Phillips In Night One Late Model Win
Kansas City, KS - Terry Phillips new that 30 laps would go by quickly. Falling behind after leading most of the A Main, Phillips relaxed and got down to business as he went on to a commanding win at Lakeside Speedway.

"I looking forward to tomorrow night," said Phillips, "It felt good tonight."

Phillips roared to the front of the field after a restart. On the opening lap of the feature event, Clint Bowyer spun heading down the back straight bringing out a yellow. Once the field went back to green, Phillips was a man on a mission. During the early laps of the feature, Phillips had more than a straightaway lead on the field. Only yellow flags would help close the competition on the leader.

John Anderson took a different route than Phillips and he started deep in the field. Lap by lap, Anderson made his way closer to the front. As many drivers were taking to the middle or high groove on the race track. Anderson was heading to the extreme bottom looking for something extra to get him to the front. He found it.

"When you are leading, you want to finish it with a win," said Anderson, "We tried something different and we are happy, from where we started from 2nd isn't too bad."

Anderson shouldn't feel bad. He caught up to Phillips on a late race yellow and with a handful of laps went to the lead. After gaining the lead he put some distance between he and the 2nd place car of Phillips, but the bottom line he was using around the track went away.

"We stayed on the bottom, I have been beat moving around and I wasn't going to come off the bottom," said Anderson, "coming out of four on the bottom wasn't where it was at."

Phillips used the momentum and the high line to roar back into the lead and he would never look back. Phillips would take the checkered flag extending his lead.

Clint Bowyer had the crowd on it's feet most of the night. The former modified track champion returned to Lakeside Speedway with his new love, dirt late models. During the night, Bowyer showed his power. Running into some bad luck in the feature event would end his night. Bowyer spun early in the feature and had to go to the tail end of the field. By the half way point, he was just outside of the top 10 and racing his way back to the front. While moving up he got caught up in a crash with Delbert Smith that would ultimately end his night.

Finishing behind Phillips and Anderson was Kyle Berck, Jeremy Payne and Chris Simpson to round out the top 5.

Heat race winners were Terry Phillips, Kyle Berck, Alan Vaughn, Voit and Clint Bowyer.

A total of 55 late models raced at Lakeside Speedway on night #1 of the Capitol Federal Late Model Showdown and Modified Shootout.