Carl, Koch, Theim, and Douglas Successful at Lincoln County Raceway
By Darin Racek

NORTH PLATTE, Ne. (May 13, 2006) - Opening night for the 2006 racing season at Lincoln County Raceway had to be deemed a success by new promoter Gary Herbst, as the opening night crowd was as big as it has been in the last three years, and the car count was solid. Despite the pull of the full moon on the racers, Dan Carl and Troy Douglas of North Platte, Brady Koch of Cambridge, and Derek Thiem of Columbus were successful in earning the A Feature wins.

The opening lap of the IMCA Modified A Feature showed what the affect of a full moon can have on a race track. A car spun in corner two, bringing out the caution. As the caution came out, another one spun in corner three. A split second later, the lights in the infield went out. There were enough lights around the track so that the race could resume before the other ones would come on. When the race started, heat race winner Dan Carl turned the lights out on the field, taking the lead from Brandon Hagan of Culbertson on a restart and never allowing anyone close to him for the rest of the race. Ronnie Wallace of North Platte had a good run, out dueling Charley Brown of Maxwell for the second spot. R. C. Heil got by Hagan to finish in fourth place. Brown was also the other heat race winner.

Charley Brown did double duty, racing in the IMCA Stock Car class as well. After winning his heat race, he started on the pole of the A Feature and quickly took off. That lead turned sour after he spun, handing the top spot over to Mikey Dancer of North Platte. The race would get to half way before the first caution period occurred, but that would be the first of five where drivers near the front would have trouble. That was never so prominent as on lap thirteen as Casey Werkmeister of Maywood made a move on Dancer for the lead. The two made contact, both flattening tires. That handed the lead to Brady Koch, who had been swapping positions with Bryan Hagan of Culbertson many times during the race. Koch was finished swapping spots after he gained the lead, and took home his second A Feature win in two nights, winning the night before in McCook. Lloyd Meeske of Champion championed a third place finish, ahead of Brown and Todd Chrisman of North Platte, who both had to go to the back and work their way to the front. The Stock Cars were so prominent in the pits, a B Feature was run as well. It was won by Bill Dover of North Platte. The two other heats were won by Chrisman and North Platte racer Shane Stout.

The IMCA Hobby Stock division made it’s debut to the track, and a dozen cars ran a fairly clean race. Derek Thiem, who lived in North Platte at one time, showed his was the car to beat in the heat race, beating area hotshoes Justin Wagner of Culbertson and Jason Koch of Cambridge. Thiem jumped to the lead at the start of the race, with Wagner on his tail. Koch started in row five, but worked his way to third place to challenge the two again. The race was stopped on lap twelve after Derrik Bundy of Benkelman rolled his car three times off of corner two. He was able to get out of the car on his own power. On the restart, Thiem went back to work on his line, while Wagner became more defensive, thinking second was better than third. Theme would hold on to win the first ever IMCA Hobby Stock A Feature at Lincoln County Raceway, with Wagner second, Koch third, John Huffman of McCook fourth, and Bruce Hagan, Sr. of Culbertson rounding out the top five. Jason Davis of Benkelman took the other heat race win.

The Mini-Sprints went twelve laps of their fifteen lap race before a caution flag, and it was definitely a flag leader Meddie Cote of Cozad did not want to see. He had a big lead on the field before the second place driver Bob DeRouchey of Ft. Collins, Colo., spun. On the restart, Cash Dash winner Josh Sabin of North Platte started second, and made a move to the front on the high side. The two came together in corner four, forcing both cars to spin, and taking them out of contention. Troy Douglas thought he won the lottery, as he inherited the lead. J. R. Way of Lexington was then in second place, but did not the right numbers dialed into the car to take the lead or the win away from Douglas. Cory Kelley and Trent Hansen of North Platte finished in third and fourth places, while Rick Putnam of Gothenburg rounded out the top five. Putnam and DeRouchey took the wins in the heat races.

Lincoln County Raceway will be back in action next Saturday, May 20 at 7 PM Central Time. The popular Colorado Outlaw Lite Dwarf cars will be on hand to race each other. The four regular classes will run as well.


May 13 results
IMCA Modified
Heat 1
31-Dan Carl
3RW-Ronnie Wallace
9-R. C. Heil

Heat 2
4C-Charley Brown
94H-Don Hagan, Jr.


A Feature
31-Dan Carl
3RW-Ronnie Wallace
4C-Charley Brown
9-R. C. Heil
2C-Brandon Hagan
71-Andrew Dillenburg
94H-Don Hagan, Jr.
29S-Mike Saathoff
9R-Robby Haines
20-Jeremy Herbst
69-Brad Turner
4KJ-Terry Houchin
A19-Art Porter
12J-Jay Steffens
83C-Chris Stevens (DNF)
99-Bob Aspenleiter (DNF)

IMCA Stock Car
Heat 1
5B-Charley Brown
45-Mikey Dancer
25KO-Brady Koch

Heat 2
5S-Shane Stout
67-Terry Fletcher
7-Jeremy Halouska

Heat 3
11-Todd Chrisman
25H-Bryan Hagan
32-Lloyd Meeske

B Feature
1R-Bill Dover
28-Alex Silos
18-Stew Holmes
12J-Kerry Jones
55Z-Zach Schultz
47-Russ Small
69-Adam Kackmeister
8-Jeff Ward
75-Dan Eller (DNF)
72D-Justin Gentry (DNF)

A Feature
25KO-Brady Koch
25H-Bryan Hagan
32-Lloyd Meeske
5B-Charley Brown
11-Todd Chrisman
5S-Shane Stout
12J-Kerry Jones
4K-Kent Lower
45-Mikey Dancer
67-Terry Fletcher
7-Jeremy Halouska
42KC-Kyle Werkmeister
28-Alex Silos
18-Stew Holmes (DNF)
24KC-Casey Werkmeister (DNF)
55Z-Zach Schultz (DNF)
1R-Bill Dover (DNF)
47-Russ Small (DNS)

IMCA Hobby Stock
Heat 1
17-Derek Thiem
2-Justin Wagner
74KO-Jason Koch

Heat 2
3T-Thomas Lower
00H-Greg Hoing
X5-Eric Picquet

A Feature
17-Derek Thiem
2-Justin Wagner
74KO-Jason Koch
3-John Huffmann
23H-Bruce Hagan, Sr.
00H-Greg Hoing
14-Les Janousek
33-Shane Klockman
7-Derrik Bundy (DNF)
22-Austin Davis (DNF)
3T-Thomas Lower (DNF)
X5-Eric Picquet (DNF)
93-Joe Thiem (DNS)

Mini-Sprints
Heat 1
4-Rick Putnam
20K-Cory Kelley
9-Trent Hansen

Heat 2
66-Bob DeRouchey
7-Tom Koster
28-J. R. Way

Cash Dash
23S-Josh Sabin

A Feature
14-Troy Douglas
28-J. R. Way
20K-Cory Kelley
9-Trent Hansen
4-Rick Putnam
7-Tom Koster
1-Meddie Cote
23S-Josh Sabin (DNF)
3H-Bobby Houser (DNF)
66-Bob DeRouchey (DNF)
5-Randy Miller (DNF)
25-Toph Harmon (DNF)
42-Arden Myers (DNS)