Standridge and Gharst share Jacksonville Invader spotlight
By Jake Croxton

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (July 20) – Twenty-two Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders returned to the Morgan County Speedway to complete the May 18 event and start from scratch for rounds 11 and 12 on the 2007 trail. At the end of the night, one of Jacksonville’s favorite sons and the new series points leader each had $1,000 pay stubs.

Kaley Gharst led the opening lap of the make-up main before Morgan County Speedway veteran Jerrod Hull assumed command and looked to be well on his way to victory. Four cautions slowed the pace and on each restart, four-time track champion Robbie Standridge slowly began to make his presence known at the front.

With traffic looming, Standridge moved to the heavy berm and beat Hull to the white flag. The partisan crowd showed their approval as Standridge crossed first and earned his first career Ideal Ready Mix Sprint Invaders victory.

“Jerrod was a lot faster than I was,” said the driver of the Stewart’s Auto Body / Carpenter’s Local 16 / Ley Metals / O’Donley / Maxim. “ I started sticking my nose underneath him and he thought I was getting a hold of something down there. He came down and it slowed him down. I got him in lapped traffic. He ran up on that lapped car on the bottom and I went around him in the middle.”

“That was a good race,” said the runner-up Hull of his battle with Standridge. “ It was rough...wow…hard to hang on. We really didn’t have any control over it. We got in lapped traffic and he [Standridge] got around us.”

“We had the car a little too tight for the first one,” said third-place finisher Gharst. “We misjudged the track. We got out front early and jumped the cushion. The first lap it was pretty good and then…we about stuck it in the wall but got to finish third.”

Josh Schneiderman, Korey Weyant, Bobby Mincer, Joey Moughan, Matt Harms, Matt Rogerson, and Jordan Goldesberry rounded out the top ten.

In the nightcap, Standridge made a run at the clean sweep as he battled Joey Moughan throughout the middle stages of the 25-lapper. Moughan, another former Jacksonville regular, traded the lead with Ryan Jamison before encountering Standridge.

As the duo battled side-by-side on lap 18, it was Gharst who stole the show and blasted around both Moughan and Standridge on the back straightaway.

“We struggled throughout the heat race and the dash tonight and finally got the car working,” Gharst said of his Hostiowa.net / Bell Helmets / Wesmar / Maxim. “ We were patiently running the bottom while everyone else was slamming the top. I guess they got wore out there or something and they moved down to about the middle of the track. Then we went to the top and it worked out perfect for us.”

Moughan earned his best career Invaders finish with the runner-up spot ahead of Standridge.

“Joey [Moughan] got to running the middle there,” said Standridge of the waning laps. “We stayed pretty steady there for about four or five laps and that gave Gharst the outside. He shot by us like we were sitting still. He [Gharst] did a hell of a job.”

Chris Urish wound up fourth ahead of Matt Sutton. Weyant, Hull, Schulz, Jamison, and Goldesberry completed the top ten.

Next up for the Invaders is the non-points Brodix Tournament of Champions before heading back to Donnellson for a Saturday, August 18 event at Lee County Speedway.



Results

Car Count – 29 (May 18)
Cautions – 4 – L5, 8, 14, 16
Leaders – Gharst 1, Hull 2-23, Standridge 24-25
Laps Led – Hull 22, Standridge 2, Gharst 1
Highest Finishing Rookie – Jordan Goldesberry (10th)

Contingency:
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger – Matt Sutton
(Started 20th, Finished 12th)
Rod End Supply – Josh Schneiderman
Rod End Supply – John Schulz
Saldana Racing Product – Matt Sutton
Ultra Shield – Bart Andrews
Diversified Machine – Brian Stansberry
MPD – Matt Harms
The Brake Man – Bobby Mincer
M&W Aluminum Products – Matt Rogerson

(From May 18)
Staats Awards Heat Race #1 -- 1. 12 Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, MO; 2. 49 Josh Schneiderman, W. Burlington, IA; 3. 22X Robbie Standridge, Springfield; 4. 2M Joey Moughan, Springfield; 5. 29 Matt Rogerson, Burlington, IA; 6. 53H Matt Harms, Chillicothe; 7. 14P Rager Phillips, Pleasantville, IA; 8. 99 Jimmy Davies, Oquawka; 9. 86 Josh Fisher, Smithton, MO; 10. 65 Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield

Budweiser Heat Race #2 -- 1. 3* Kaley Gharst, Decatur; 2. 41 Tiffany Wyzard, Williamsville; 3. 2 John Schulz, Burlington, IA; 4. 15 Bobby Mincer, Burlington, IA; 5. 83 Chris Urish, Elkhart; 6. 9X Bart Andrews, Muscatine, IA; 7. 35 Brian Hetrick, Stronghurst, IL; 8. 0 Nick Guernsey, Burlington, IA; 9. 3 Matt Sutton, Macomb; 10. 35X Jimmy Hurley, Springfield

Storm Steel / Abrasive Jet Technologies Heat Race #3
-- 1. 99W Korey Weyant, Springfield; 2. 36 Justin Newberry, Burlington, IA; 3. 51J Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis; 4. 22 Bret Tripplett, Middletown, IL; 5. 4M Mark Tischer, Hannibal, MO; 6. 3G Lance Gullo, Springfield; 7. 38 Seth Wilke, Burlington, IA; 8. 70 Brian Stansberry, Moulton, IA; 9. 18A Dan Avery, Burlington, IA

Shake-up Dash – 1. Gharst; 2. Hull; 3. Wyzard; 4. Schneiderman; 5. Weyant; 6. Newberry

B-Main: All cars that returned started the A-main –
Did not return: Wyzard, Newberry, Hetrick, Guernsey, Fisher, Hurley, Wilke

Morgan County Speedway 25 -- 1. Standridge (5); 2. Hull (2); 3. Gharst (1); 4. Schneiderman (3); 5. Weyant (4); 6. Mincer (9); 7. Moughan (8); 8. Harms (14); 9. Rogerson (11); 10. Goldesberry (21); 11. Schulz (6); 12. Sutton (20); 13. Tripplett (10); 14. Urish (12); 15. Gullo (16); 16. Davies (18); 17. Andrews (15); 18. Stansberry (19); 19. Jamison (7); 20. Phillips (17); 21. Tischer (13); 22. Avery (22)

RACE 2:

Car Count – 22
Cautions – 3 – L0, 0, 2
Leaders – Jamison 1-2, Moughan 3, Jamison 4-9, Moughan
10-18, Gharst 19-25
Laps Led – Moughan 10, Gharst 7, Jamison 8
Highest Finishing Rookie – Jordan Goldesberry (10th)

Contingency:
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger – Matt Sutton
(Started 13th, Finished 5th)
Rod End Supply – Ryan Jamison
Rod End Supply – Bret Tripplett
Saldana Racing Product – Jordan Goldesberry
Ultra Shield – Jimmy Davies
Diversified Machine – Bart Andrews
MPD – Jerrod Hull
The Brake Man – Brian Stansberry
M&W Aluminum Products – Dan Avery


Staats Awards Heat Race #1 – 1. Goldesberry; 2. Moughan; 3. Urish; 4. Rogerson; 5. Hull; 6. Harms; 7. Stansberry; 8. Gullo

Budweiser Heat Race #2 – 1. Jamison; 2. Standridge; 3. Mincer; 4. Schulz; 5. Sutton; 6. Tripplett; 7. Avery

Storm Steel / Abrasive Jet Technologies Heat Race #3 – 1. Weyant; 2. Gharst; 3. Schneiderman; 4. Davies; 5. Andrews; 6. Phillips; 7. Tischer DNS

Quality Service Company Shake-up Dash – 1. Jamison; 2. Moughan; 3. Weyant; 4. Gharst; 5. Standridge; 6. Goldesberry

Morgan County Speedway 25 – 1. Gharst (4); 2. Moughan (2); 3. Standridge (5); 4. Urish (7); 5. Sutton (13); 6. Weyant (3); 7. Hull (12); 8. Schulz (10); 9. Jamison (1); 10. Goldesberry (6); 11. Schneiderman (8); 12. Rogerson (9); 13. Tripplett (16); 14. Davies (11); 15. Harms (15); 16. Andrews (14); 17. Stansberry (18); 18. Avery (19); 19. Phillips (17); 20. Gullo (20); DNS – Tischer, Mincer