Dixon wins his second race of the year and his 582nd of his career.
by: Jack Pugh

BELLEVILLE, IL (April 6) - The racing continued at Belle Clair Speedway on a windy and cold night. There were plenty of cars for the second night of racing including NASCAR’s Kenny Wallace in a Modified and there was a good crowd consisting the weather.

In the UMP Late Model division, there were 19 cars ready to race. In the first heat race, Ed Dixon took the win followed by Jim Gibson, Mike Hammerle, Dan Dondero, Mike Bryant, Jared Haselhorst and Paul Roider. In the second heat, Mike Schulte took the win over Rusty Griffaw, Dave Thornton, Matt Weinder, Bob Geaschel and John Pauley. In the third heat, Kevin Cole got the win with Rusty Schlenk, Don Klein, Dallas Bennett, Michael Jacober, Dan Jacober and Frankie Martin trailing. The dash went to Cole followed by Dixon, Griffaw, Schlenk, Schulte, and Gibson.

The start of the 25 lap feature race started with Cole and Dixon on the front row. Dixon took the lead after a tangle on the first start resulted in a restart. Cole, Schlenk and Griffaw were giving chase of Dixon.

The first caution came on lap two when Roider spun in turn four. The running order was Dixon, Cole, Schlenk, Griffaw and Schulte in the top five.
With the green light back on, Dixon continued to lead with Cole and Schlenk giving chase. The racing continued for several more laps before the yellow came out again when Roider hit the front straight wall and was done for the night. The running order up front remained the same.
Back to the racing for a few more laps before another caution came out. During this period Schulte got by Griffaw for fourth. The caution on lap 11 was for Geaschel’s spin in turn two.

With another lap in the books, Schaefer spun in turn two. At this time, Schlenk pulled off the track with problems while running third. The running now was Dixon, Cole, Schulte, Griffaw and Klein.

After a few more laps, Jacober and Schaefer tangled in turn two for the last caution on the night. No change in the front running five.
With the remaining laps being running under the green light, it was the Schulte show as he moved past Cole and gave Dixon and the crowd a run for the win. Schulte was on Dixon and could him passed for the win, but he ran out of laps. Hammerle also came on during this part of the race to crack the top five.

Dixon went on to win his second race of the year and his 582nd of his career. Trailing Dixon were Schulte, Cole, Hammerle, and Klein to complete the top five.
In the UMP Modified class, there were 20 cars ready for action. In the first heat, Kent Robinson took the win followed by Tim Hancock, Chris Smith, Brian Bielong, David Seger, Jason Pritz, Brett Korves, and Dean Hoffman. In the second heat, Kenny Wallace won over Mark Miner, Todd McGraw, Steve Ellison and Bobby Bittle. In the third heat, Paul Reinneck took the victory with Todd Feber, Tom Ratajczyk, Marty Smith and Chad Frauenfelder in tow. The dash went Wallace followed by Reineck, Hancock, Robinson, Feber and Miner.

In the 20 lap feature, Wallace and Reinneck started on the front row. With the dropping of the green flag, Wallace took the lead that he never gave up. Reineck, Robinson and C. Smith chased Wallace in the early going.

The first caution came out after the first lap was completed as Korves stopped on the track. The top five were Wallace, Reinneck, Robinson, C. Smith and Miner.
With the green light back on, Wallace continue to lead and began pulling away a little. Hancock jumped into the top five during this run. On lap five, Seger spun in turn four to slow the race down. The top five were Wallace, Hancock, Reinneck, Robinson, and C. Smith.
The race went on until lap nine when Korves and McGraw got together in turn two to stop the action. The top five was now Wallace, Hancock, C. Smith, Robinson and Reinneck.

Wallace went on to sweep the night and also get his first ever feature win at Belle Clair Speedway. Completing the top five were Hancock, Bittle, Robinson and Ellison.

In the UMP Sportsmen class, there were 21 cars ready to do battle. In the first heat, Jimmy Cummins took the win followed by Tommy Smallwood, Brian Shubirg, Mike Harris, Jason Keller, Jim Clark and Randy Dietzel. The seond heat went to Jason Ketrow followed by Troy Medley, Matt Workman, Kyle Stozler, Derek Bryant and Louie Hayes. The third heat race saw the win go to Mike Jones over Joe Volluz, Shawn Seymour, Gary Haynes, Ronnie Bader, Adam Haas and Brad McKinnon, The dash was won by Ketrow followed by Volluz, Cummins, Medley, Smallwood and Jones.

The 15 lap race started with Ketrow and Volluz on the front row. Cummins raced to the lead before the completion of the first lap. He was followed by Volluz, Ketrow, Smallwood and Medley in the early laps.

Volluz was challenging but on lap 7, he caught the tire in turn two and spun on the back straight and was done for the night. The running order was Cummins, Ketrow, Medley, Smallwood and Shubirg.

Cummins continued to lead the race and took the checkered flag for his first win of the season and became the second feature winner in the Sportsmen class. Medley managed to get by Ketrow for second with Shubirg and Smallwood completing the top five.