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Blame It on The Moon by Darin Racek McCOOK, NE (April 18) - Although Friday night was two days short of the full moon, not one of the people sitting in the stands at McCook Speedway on April 18 could have been convinced otherwise. There were more serious rollovers and wacky situations than there could be accounted for on the night. By the end of the night, Nick Tubbs of Colby, Kan., Mikey Dancer of North Platte, Jim Buss of Blue Hill, Max Pollmann of Trenton, Dalton Dolan of Oberlin, Kan., and Devin Allen of Culbertson were the drivers accounted for in victory lane. The IMCA Modified A Feature started with a horrendous rollover at the start of the race when Chuck Stryker of Eddyville went high to avoid the stalled and spun out car of McCook’s Ronnie Wallace. His car flew off of corner three and rolled several times. He was able to walk away from the accident, but admitted being stiff and sore after the races. The race resumed with heat race winner Nick Tubbs out front. The battle within the field was furious, with Jay Steffens of North Platte and Jeremy Frenier of Fort Morgan having to work from the fourth and fifth rows to move into second and third. With six laps to go, a caution bunched up the field. On the restart, something broke in the back of the car of Todd Hartley of Maywood, emitting sparks. As the officials decided to throw a caution to get him off of the track, Tubbs spun. He was given the lead back, as he was not the cause of the yellow. Jay Steffens flexed some muscle on the restart and briefly took the lead away. Tubbs regrouped, used the low line to get back by Steffens, and end up with a wild victory. Steffens finished in second place, ahead of Jeremy Frenier. John Huffman of McCook spun early in the race, but managed to come back for a fourth place finish. Robby Haines of Benkelman rounded out the top five. The other Modified heat was won by Wallace. The IMCA Stock Car A Feature pretty much started the same way as the Modified feature, with a nasty rollover. Bob Chalupa of McCook spun going into corner three to miss a car, only to have a tire go flat, the wheel dig into the track, and his car go for a four-turn roll. He was able to walk away. Ironically, he was parked next to Stryker in the pits. After another pileup, the race finally got underway, and on the opening lap, Mikey Dancer made a daring three-wide pass around Zach Schultz of North Platte and Kyle Werkmeister of Maywood to take the lead. While the heat race winner was pulling away from the field on his way to the win, Dave Plowman of Gretna was slowly working his way to the front from the back. Late in the race, Plowman was able to get by Schultz, also a heat winner, but did not have enough time to see if he had anything for Dancer. Lloyd Meeske of Champion went home with fourth place points, while Kyle Werkmeister held on for a top five finish. Richard Boon of Benkelman nearly made it a rollover trifecta, as he almost flipped his car on the opening lap of the IMCA Hobby Stock A Feature. Fortunately, his car landed on the wheels, and he was able to complete the race. The race had many twists and turns, besides the five cautions in the first two laps. Aaron Koch of Cambridge was clicking along out front, with Leland Stute of Benkelman not too far behind. A flat tire took him out of the hunt, and handed second place to heat victor Michael Brunswig of Benkelman. Brunswig and Jim Buss closed in on Koch during the waning laps. Brunswig took the lead with three laps to go. Within another lap, something broke on the car. Buss was able to get by Koch and have the lead with one lap to go. Koch came back on the outside and nearly got Buss at the line. It seemed as though the win could go either way, but all three scorekeepers declared Buss was the winner at the line. Cody DeWester of McCook brought his car to a third place finish, ahead of Todd Pankonin of Benkelman and Allen Wissmann of Bertrand, the other winner of a Hobby Stock heat race. Trent Jollensten of McCook was looking to ink his name in as an A Feature winner in the Classic Modified class on April 18. He won his heat, and had the lead early in the main event. However, a spin would take him out of contention. Max Pollmann took advantage of the situation and stayed out front to get his second win in as many race nights in McCook. Matt Matson of McCook and Alex Pollmann of Trenton finished in second and third places. Jollensten made it back to fourth place, while Dan Rockwell of Culbertson took home fifth place. The Mini-Trucks put on an exciting heat race, with Royal Fisher of Oberlin, Kan. ousting Mitch Hamilton of McCook and Dalton Dolan for the win. The feature was not quite as eventful out front, as Dolan managed to find a way to take the lead on the opening lap and never looked back. Fisher and Hamilton did duel again, only this time for second place, and it was taken by Fisher. Delbert Ridenour of Culbertson was the fourth place finisher. The SportMods ran one race for the fans. Devin Allen of Culbertson made his first night special in the class, as he borrowed Bruce Hagan, Sr.’s car and outlasted fellow former Classic Modified competitor Duke Ebert of Culbertson to take the victory. After the race, the two stopped on the front stretch and talked about the cars for the fans. McCook Speedway will be back in action on May 16, with the same six
classes. Southwest Nebraska will now focus it’s racing attention to
Culbertson Speedway. Culbertson opens on Friday night, April 25. The gates
open at 6 PM, and the races will start at 8 PM, Central Time. The IMCA
Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, and IMCA Hobby Stocks will race. Classic
Modifieds and Mini-Trucks will be there as well to compete. IMCA Modifieds |