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Points leaders Eric Smith, Jeff Leka and Nick Bauman warm up
a chilly night at Farmer City Raceway
by: Dan Stewart
FARMER CITY, IL (July 17) - With the chilliest July 17 in thirty years and
the fans in sweatshirts during time trials, the drivers warmed up the night
with some hot racing action Friday night. Youngster Ryan Unzicker turned in
fast time in the late model class of the twenty-five competitors on hand at
12. 511 seconds. The first heat went to Richie Hedrick over Eric Smith, Ryan
Unzicker and Scott Schmitt. The second heat went to Daren Friedman over
Aaron Ricketts, Joe Harlan and Kyle Logue. The third heat went to young
Brandon Sheppard over Rocky Griffin, Bill Gianetti and Gary Schalmo. The
semi feature saw Steve Sheppard Jr win in a very heated battle with fellow
front row starter Jeff Leka, with Zach Bush a long way back in third.
The feature started with a couple of restarts due to a backmarker spinning.
Once he headed to the pits, the show was on. Richie Hedrick took the initial
lead from his pole position starting spot over Daren Friedman. By the third
lap, Friedman had put out the notice that he also wanted the lead, and took
it from Hedrick. The next lap would see Friedman go spinning, with another
caution period and restart at the tail end, giving the lead back to Hedrick.
The next few laps saw Hedrick out in front with Ryan Unzicker and Brandon
Sheppard racing alongside him, until Unzicker would power away from the
others.
Finally, about fifteen laps into the twenty five lapper, Eric Smith used his
veteran experience to pull alongside Unzicker and wrestle the lead away from
him. Smith would go on to win his third feature in as many weeks, followed
by Unzicker, Hedrick, Brandon Sheppard and semi feature winner Steve
Sheppard Jr.
official finish:
9 Eric Smith
24 Ryan Unzicker
0 Richie Hedrick
B5 Brandon Sheppard
5s Steve Sheppard Jr
95 Aaron Ricketts
Z Joe Harlan
99J Jimmy Dehm
21 Kyle Logue
10 Scott Schmitt
89 Daren Friedman
1G Rocky Griffin
22 Chris Dick
F15 Jeff Leka
45 Zach Bush
05 Gary Schalmo
17G Bill Gianetti
The Modified class had twenty eight cars on hand, with fast time of 14.068
seconds turned in by Mike Spatola. The first heat went to Jeff Leka over
Mike Spatola and Jim Farris. The second heat went to Kyle Byerline over
Randy Huffman and Kyle Logue. The third heat went to Chad Osterhoff over
Lance Dehm and Dave Baldwin. The semi feature went to Alan Stipp, but the
show belonged to last place starter Jeb Friedman. Friedman earlier had been
physically bounced from his outside front row starting spot in his heat
race, made repairs to the car, and after starting last, pulled alongside
Alan Stipp and was mere inches from taking the checkered flag. In the
feature, Jeff Leka started on the pole, and after battling with Chad
Osterhoff and Kyle Byerline took the early lead. Surviving a few yellow
flags, when it came time for the checkers, Lance Dehm was directly alongside
Leka, Dehm was credited with second place as Leka once again took home the
checkered flag. Following Dehm to the line was Mike Spatola and Randy
Huffman.
The Crate Late Models saw the first heat go to Kevin Moffett taking the win
at the flag over Ron Wilson and Timmy Dick. The second heat went to Allen
Thomas over Nick Macklin and John Barnard. The feature event saw Allen
Thomas lead the first half, until getting caught up lapping traffic, and
Nick Bauman slipped by to lead the way to his third feature win in a row.
Thomas came home second, again, followed by Kevin Moffett, Nick Macklin and
John Barnard.
The KidModz heat went to Blake Vinson over Heidi Goodman and the feature was
reversed with the win going to Heidi Goodman over Blake Vinson.
The Streetstock first heat went to Joel Funk over Al Crawley and Chris
Tackett. The second heat went to Jim Quinn over Terry Miller with Rick
Thomas coming from last to finish third. In a wild and crazy four wide race
for the feature win, Rick Thomas emerged the winner, right with him were Jim
Quinn, Chris Tackett and Terry Miller.
The Hornet heats went to Joe Reed over Bob Zbinden and Eric Wilson over
Jason Maier. The feature went to Bob Zbinden over Joe Reed
.
There was a total of 108 cars in the pits tonight
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