Looney, Roberts top winners in I-44 Speedway season opener
By: Dusty Luthy - PR Director, I-44 Speedway

Lebanon, Mo. (April 1, 2006) - The season opener for the Lebanon I-44 Speedway was full of energy Saturday night. Shaking the winter off of their tires, 111 cars checked into the pits for a fast-paced night of racing.

Brad Looney won the Late Model feature, leaving the 2005 track champion Will Vaught with a second place finish. "We weren't as good as I wanted to be," Looney said, "but we'll take a win any way." Vaught struggled with the lap traffic and couldn't close the gap, a problem he had to deal with last season. "The lapped cars, there were so many of them," Vaught said. "Getting through them was hard and we got held up by a couple of them. I think we had a chance to win it, but you know, that's part of it."

The first lap of the feature started with a red flag as Dave Ware spun in turn two, tapping another car and continued to flip side over side, finally coming to rest again on his wheels. Ware walked away unhurt but was unable to finish the race. After a second position start, Looney jumped to the pole originally held by Justin Wells. Vaught came charging in from third on the inside to take second, leaving Brandon McCormick and Wells to battle for third. Looney and Vaught held their positions with little competition, but Wells and McCormick traded the third position several times before McCormick secured the spot with six laps to go in the 25-lap feature.

The Modified class had the largest car count of the night with 31. Scotty Roberts took home the Modified trophy after a hard drive and hard luck for a few other drivers. Rex Merritt won the pole, followed by Terry Beckham Jr., Roberts, Virgil Jeffrey and Sean Williams. Beckham got the quick jump to first, but failed to race back to the yellow flag on a caution on lap 2. Merritt and Roberts were able to pass him, putting him in third. Beckham, who usually runs his car on the high side of the speedway, couldn't find his normal groove and was forced to take the bottom of the track for most of the race. He gave one last effort to run at the top, but got too loose, allowing Gary Blackburn to take third. Merritt kept his first place position until lap 12 when he took the infield with some mechanical problems. Roberts was left in first, with a hard-charging Justin Neuman on his tail. Neuman came from a ninth place start to finish the feature in second place.

Roberts said racing the previous night at Bolivar helped tune his car for the night's victory. "We went and raced at Bolivar and weren't very good and made a bunch of changes today," Roberts said. "Scotty Allen built the cars and he helped us out a bunch with making changes and all the changes we made seemed to work out." The Modified best finisher of the evening was Steve Martin with fifth place. Martin qualified to the main feature through the B feature, starting the main in 17th position.

David Hendrix ran a fast groove for the Factory Stock feature win. He held first place for all 15 laps of the feature. Tim Brown received second place, followed by Lake Mooneyham, Derrick Peterson and Chad Smith. After the play date practice a week before, Hendrix said changing gears made all the difference in his finish."That was really the key," he said. "I was just running out of steam on the straight-a-ways in practice."

The Super Stock feature crowned Josh Woody as the evening's champion. Dusty Rhoads took home the first Bomber trophy of the year and Jack Essary won first place and in the Mini Stock class. Dean Hensler became the first winner in the inaugural Rookie class division.

RESULTS:

Late Model
Heat 1:
1.1v Will Vaught
2.02 Dustin Mooneyham
3.42 Brandon McCormick
4.15 Shane Essary
5.99 Larry Jones
6.51 Donnie Gemes

DNS 3 John Farmer

Heat 2:
1.14 Brad Looney
2.33 Gary Stolba
3.60 Ed Dixon
4.56 Tony Jackson Jr.
5.26 Burl Woods
6.71 Jason Meadors
7.Darrin Hendricks

Heat 3:
1.10w Justin Wells
2.10b Dallas Bennett
3.1 Ron McQuarry
4.55 Dave Ware
5.17m Matt Miller
6.33L Jim Lyle
7.75 Shanon Anastopolis

Feature:
1.14 Brad Looney
2.1v Will Vaught
3.42 Brandon McCormick
4.10w Justin Wells
5.02 Dustin Mooneyham
6.60 Ed Dixon
7.33s Gary Stolba
8.56 Tony Jackson Jr
9.71 Jason Meadors
10.99 Larry Jones
11.26 Burl Woods
12.17m Matt Miller
13.1 Ron McQuarry
14.33L Jim Lyle
15.51 Donnie Gemes
16.75 Shanon Anastopolis
17.15 Shane Essary
18.3 John Farmer
19.112 Darrin Hendricks
20.55 Dave Ware
DNS 10b Dallas Bennett


Factory Stocks

Heat 1
1.5 Lake Mooneyham
2.94 Kenny Carroll
3.89 Wayne Bysor
4.4b Timmy Ballinger
DNS: 76p Jay Flinn, h23 Jimmy Miller



Heat 2
1.Tim Brown
2.83 Tim Riffle
3.14p Bud Pursley
4.25 Chad Smith
5.27 Devin Wolansky

DNS 18 Trent Harrison

Heat 3
1.54 David Hendrix
2.76h Lonnie Henderson
3.37 Derrick Peterson
4.24 Roger Flood
5.29 Troy White
6.4 Chad Palmer
7.41 Dennis Jones

DNS 7 Adriel Sheppard

Feature
1.54 David Hendrix
2.1 Tim Brown
3.Lake Mooneyham
4.37 Derrick Peterson
5.25 Chad Smith
6.94 Kenny Carroll
7.76h Lonnie Henderson
8.24 Roger Flood
9.83 Tim Riffle
10.41 Dennis Jones
11.14b Timmy Ballinger
12.4 Chad Palmer
13.7 Adriel Sheppard
14.89 Wayne Bysor
15.76f Jay Flinn
16.27 Devin Wolansky
17.14p Bud Pursley
18.29 Troy White



Super Stock

Heat 1
1.4c Chuck Avis
2.83 Ben Newell
3.21 Josh Woody
4.8 Jeff Scroggins
5.t10 Rick Brown
6.4 Eddie Brown
7.17t Ted Ballinger
8.14 Tim Ballinger
9.18 Mike Joplin

Feature
1.21 Josh Woody
2.83 Ben Newell
3.10 Rick Brown
4.4 Eddie Brown
5.17t Ted Ballinger
6.4c Chuck Avis
7.14 Tim Ballinger
8.8 Jeff Scroggins
9.18 Mike Joplin



Bombers

Heat 1
1.23 Jason Huey
2.8 Justin Wilson
3.7 Brandon Pister
4.55jr Eric Morgan
5.32 Joe Francis
6.17b Teddy Ballinger
7.9w Greg Wall

Heat 2
1.42 Donnie Jackson
2.t10 Tyler Brown
3.9c Darrin Crisler
4.84 Corey Pope
5.007 Kevin Hettland
6.25 Chad Comer
7.b21 Brian Warner

Heat 3
1.4 Dusty Rhoads
2.11 Matt Cates
3.68 Brian Mannahan
4.15 Sheldon Stoufer
5.244 Richard Talley
6.5 Jacob Fry
7.21 Landon Johnson

Feature
1.4 Dusty Rhoads
2.10 Tyler Brown
3.23 Jason Huey
4.5 Jacob Fry
5.7 Brandon Pister
6.17b Teddy Ballinger
7.244 Richard Talley
8.84 Corey Pope
9.007 Kevin Hettland
10.32 Joe Francis
11.21 Landon Johnson
12.11 Matt Cates
13.68 Brian Mannahan
14.9w Greg Wall
15.21 Brian Warner
16.55jr Eric Morgan
17.9c Darrin Chrisler
18.15 Sheldon Stoufer
19.42 Donnie Jackson
20.25 Chad Comer



Rookie Class
Heat 1
1.9 Dean Hensler
2.45 Lee Quick
3.6 J.C. Morton
4.31 Danielle Lampe

Feature
1.9 Dean Hensler
2.45 Lee Quick
3.6 J.C. Morton
4.31 Danielle Lampe

Mini Stock

Heat 1
1. b4 Bobby Moore
2. 73 Jack Essary
3.3 Tony Moore
4.28v Wesley Buggs
5.10 Mendall Neddham

Feature
1.73 Jack Essary
2.3 Tony Moore
3.10 Mendall Neddham

DNS b4 Bobby Moore, 28 Wesley Buggs