Schwien Wins September Sprint Special at McCook Speedway
By Darin Racek

McCOOK, NE, (Sept 30) - The day woke up gloomy and windy in McCook on September 30, and it looked as though it would not be a good one for the United Rebel Sprint Series to come to town. However, at race time, the day had become sunny and the wind actually went down as evening approached. The day became very sunny for Justin Schwien of Russell, Kan., Austin Davis of Benkelman, Tracy Bayne of Fort Collins, Colo., and Max Pollmann of Trenton, as they had ended their race days with A Feature victories.

Sixteen 305 Sprint Cars lined up for the 20 main event. Hometown driver Darren Barry was on the pole, and had thoughts about backing up his popular heat race win with the feature win. It looked as though his experience at the track in Mini Sprints had helped him, as he was able to move out to a large lead when the caution came out on lap four after Tim Perkins of Parker, Colo, drove his car off of corner one. He was able to return to the race. As Berry was leading the field, Rick Salem of Oberlin, Kan. And Justin Schwien were working their way through the rest of the field from the fifth and fourth rows, respectively. Schwien was able to get by Berry and take the lead on lap twelve. Schwien then ran into lapped traffic, which helped Berry keep close. A caution after the completion of lap thirteen helped clear the slower cars out of Justin’s way, and that helped him pull away from the competition for his third win of the year in the series.

Rick Salem moved into second place after the last caution and remained there. Brian Herbert of Dodge City, Kan. finished in third place. Darren still pleased the locals with his fourth place A Feature finish. Cody Salem of St. Joseph, Mo. rounded out the top five. Smokey Fairbank of Ransom, Kan. did not have a great race, but his finish helped cap of a great season, helping him earn the URSS points championship, his first ever. All sixteen starters completed the race. Rick Salem and Smokey Fairbank were the other two winners of the heat races.

The Hobby Stocks tried to see how many cars they could take out on the first lap. Wayne Piper of McCook, in his very first A Feature, drove the car owned by Jim Huffman off of corner one on the opening lap and rolled the car down the hill and over the guard rail near the bottom. He was not injured. After two more unsuccessful tries to get a lap in, the wild things finally got their momentum going, led by Benkelman driver Leland Stute. He lost the lead to Austin Davis on lap six, who had to give it up to Cambridge driver Aaron Koch one lap later. Koch had to get a right front tire changed after it went flat in one of the opening lap wrecks and started in the back. After an exciting charge through the field, Koch separated himself from them. However, with only four laps to go, that right front tire came off of his car, ending his chance at the win and some extra money. Davis was the leader for the last four laps, closely followed by Shane Klockman of Ogallala. Todd Pankonin of Benkelman passed Stute in the waning laps to earn third place. Corey Cruzan of Maxwell found himself in fifth place at the end of the race. Cody DeWester and Michael Brunswig, both of Benkelman, were the Hobby Stock heat race winners.

The Colorado Mod Lites came back to McCook Speedway by popular demand after their show on August 12. It was a Nebraska driver pacing the way early, as heat winner Bryan Herrick of Curtis showed the way at the start of the race. Tracy Bayne quickly got by Herrick, who ended up in a heated battle for second place with Barry Richards of Oberlin, Kan., and Windsor, Colo. driver Travis Bayne. Travis spun out of contention, and then Richards drove off the back stretch on lap seven, then spun on lap eight to put him at the back of the field. Brad Bayne of Nunn, Colo. worked his way back up to second place after spinning early, and tried to catch his cousin Tracy, who could not be shaken from the lead. Richards was able to come back for a third place finish, ahead of Duane Bayne of Nunn, Colo., and Herrick.

Max Pollmann had new competition in the Classic Modifieds, his brother Alex, who substituted for his dad Loren, after the Pollmann family brought the only Classics to race on Sunday. It was Alex’s first time in a full-size race car, and he showed some promise early. It was a new experience for him, as he made some extra turns on the straightaways that were not necessary. It allowed Alex to pull away for the victory.


September 30 results
URSS Sprints
Heat 1
86-Rick Salem
76J-Justin Schwien
23-Cody Salem

Heat 2
12-Darren Berry
97-Brian Herbert
38-Cody Keiswetter

Heat 3
2-Smokey Fairbank
5R-Randy Bantam
07-Corey Lutters

A Feature
76J-Justin Schwien
86-Rick Salem
97-Brian Herbert
12-Darren Berry
23-Cody Salem
07-Corey Lutters
79-Ken Lutters
5R-Randy Bantam
C3-Reed Bernbeck
38-Cody Keiswetter
99-Tim Perkins
7R-Larry Radcliffe
2H-Bill Hays
9DJ-Lance Davis
2-Smokey Fairbank
74-Dennis Fair
21R-Jeff Radcliffe (DNS)

IMCA Hobby Stocks
Heat 1
20-Cody DeWester
33-Shane Klockman
70KO-Aaron Koch

Heat 2
32M-Michael Brunswig
20H-Hunter Cantrall
3L-Leland Stute

A Feature
22-Austin Davis
33-Shane Klockman
16D-Todd Pankonin
3L-Leland Stute
8C-Corey Cruzan
5W-Richard Boon
20-Cody DeWester (DNF)
70KO-Aaron Koch (DNF)
32M-Michael Brunswig (DNF)
20H-Hunter Cantrall
5J-Wayne Piper (DNF)

Colorado Mod Lites
Heat
07-Bryan Herrick
12-Duane Bayne
17-Travis Bayne

A Feature
21-Tracy Bayne
3-Brad Bayne
7-Barry Richards
12-Duane Bayne
07-Bryan Herrick
10-Frank Beck
17-Travis Bayne

Classic Modifieds
A Feature
P82-Max Pollmann
P83-Alex Pollmann