Hot Night On And Off The Track At Lakeside Speedway

KANSAS CITY, KS (July 220, 2012) – Temperatures have been running high all week long in the Midwest. As the sun went down on Friday night the temps went down, but the action on the track heated up yet again as it has done all season long at the fast 1/2 mile in Kansas City, KS known as Lakeside Speedway.

Darron Fuqua, earlier in the season, got his 1st Lakeside Speedway career Modified Feature win. Friday night he picked up another first for his Fuqua/Murphy Race Team, his 2nd consecutive Modified Feature win.

Starting the feature inside the 3rd row, Fuqua rode the bottom of the track to move up to 2nd by the end of the 1st lap.

Tom Charles shot to the early lead in the feature, but several cars were on his rear bumper and coming. The track conditions at Lakeside Speedway weren’t what most had expected during the extreme heat on Friday.

By the end of the 2nd lap, Fuqua, had overtaken Charles for the top spot. The battle at the front still had more action in it.

An early race yellow on lap 5 would bunch the field back up again and when the green flag fell on the Speedway, Cody Agler and Aaron Marrant also decided to join the party with Fuqua at the front of the competition.

Agler, running the bottom of the race track, would take the lead away from Fuqua. The young driver from Emporia, KS would hold the lead for a few laps until the top side of the track began to put Fuqua back up in the top spot.

The crafty racer, Fuqua, took the lead away from Agler and then dropped into Agler’s line to steal more of his momentum and keep him in the 2nd place spot.

As Fuqua sped away from the field, Aaron Marrant locked horns with Agler for 2nd. In the battle a long green flag run would allow both the 2nd and 3rd place cars to cut into Fuqua’s lead. A yellow with 3 laps remaining would bunch the field together for what looked to be an exciting finish.

The excitement stayed with Fuqua on the restart. He would get a good jump and would hold on for his 3rd feature win of the season at Lakeside Speedway. After some bad luck at the beginning of the season, Fuqua, with the win, vaulted into the top 5 in the points race.

Agler would hold race his way to a 2nd place finish during the feature, Aaron Marrant wound up in the 3rd position, racing from 19th to 4th, and maintaining his points lead, was Tim Karrick and rounding out the top 5 was Mark Hoover.

In the Grand National Feature Gary Donaldson returned to his winning ways as he rolled to win #6 on the season.

At the end of the first 1/4 of the season it looked as if Gary Donaldson was going to win 80% or more of the Grand National races at Lakeside. As we have seen over the past month, everything isn’t always what it seems. Donaldson has struggled a little, that is, until tonight.

Donaldson rocketed to the top spot at the end of the first lap. He would extend his lead on over the course of the feature. The Gary Donaldson, who had previously won 5 features, had returned. Lap after lap Donaldson ran consistent, smooth laps that kept him at the front of the field. His preferred line started out in the middle, but it was slowly creeping higher every lap.

Unlike his domination in his previous 5 wins, the competition has been slowing getting better and better at Lakeside in this division. Not to mention that the track surface also in good enough shape to allow other lines of racing to remain competitive throughout the main event.

David Holcomb worked his way around Lakeside on the bottom line for a large portion of the feature. In doing so he pulled up along the leader. A couple of times it looked as if he would take the lead. Donaldson and Holcomb were set to go toe to toe. The handling on Holcomb’s car would go away late in the race, preventing him from taking down Donaldson.

As Holcomb’s handling went away, Donaldson sped away with the feature win. It was his 6th on the season and it’s the most wins of any driver in any division this season at Lakeside.

A 4 car battle ensued as the handling as Holcomb fell from the 2nd place spot. Tim Shields had a strong runner-up finish on the night, Ben Kyle kept his hot streak of good finishes going in 3rd, 4th went to Jim Baker and Holcomb rounded out the top 5 on the night.

To get 1 win in the Factory Stock division says a lot at Lakeside Speedway. Picking up multiple wins on a season is a huge bonus to most drivers. Scotty Moore can join that elite fraternity of Factory Stock drivers to win more than 1 feature in 2012 after Friday night.

As the first feature of the night got underway, Joe Smith Jr., the winner on opening night, raced out to an early lead on the competition.

Moore worked his way into the 2nd spot in the opening laps. After a successful heat race win earlier in the night, the high line would catapult Moore into the lead. At the front of the field he continued to work the high side of the Speedway to perfection. He would extend the lead just enough to keep him comfortable. The close racing from 2nd to 10th place allowed him to ride up at the front with no pressure.

Lap 10 would see a yellow flag come out and all bets were off. In the past weeks, late race yellows had produced many surprise winners. Would this happen again tonight? Scotty Moore answered that question as he took to the top spot once the green flag racing resumed. Not to be denied on the night, Moore blasted to win #2 on the season. Moore would also leave Lakeside on Friday night as the points leader in what appears to be a close points battle.

The 2nd spot would go to Caleb Mcclellan, Smith finished in 3rd, 4th went to Brett Heeter and rounding out the top 5 was Justin Siefert.

There are a lot of veteran racers in dirt track racing. Lakeside Speedway is no different. They have their fair share of veteran racers. Gene Claxton is one of those veterans and he isn’t out riding around for fun. Claxton is out to win every race he competes in and if a points championship happens to be in the way, he might be willing to take that too.

Friday night, Claxton chalked up another victory at Lakeside Speedway in the B Mod division. It was his 2nd win of 2012. Over the years Claxton has picked off wins in 3 different divisions and he also has won a feature every year at Lakeside since 2003.

It did not look like Claxton or anyone had a shot at the win on Friday night as Nic Newton started on the front row. Newton entered the night with 4 race wins to his credit and by virtue of starting on the front row, his odds looked good for number 5.

Newton shot to the early lead, but 16 year old, Chad Feather gave Newton a strong run on the inside of the track. Lap after lap he cut into Newton’s lead. Feather’s line on the track gathered more momentum with each lap he took. Claxton, meanwhile gave chase in the 3rd spot and Terry Bruner was closing in 4th. All 3 of those cars must have known something because they were all racing the same line and it was moving them up quickly on the competition.

It didn’t take long for what looked to be a promising night Newton, to take disastrous turn. Mechanical problems set in on the Newton and he would be forced to leave the track.

Feather took over the lead. The young driver was now going to square off with one of the elder statesmen. The battle didn’t pan out to be much.

Feather was working the bottom line and at the top spot had a huge bobble coming into turn 4. It was the only mistake Feather would make on the night and it was all that Claxton needed to shoot by into the point position. The race would stay clean of yellow flags and it allowed Claxton to race to his 4th B Mod feature win in 2 years at Lakeside Speedway. The win would also cut into the points lead as Claxton now trails Newton for the top spot by just 27 points.

Feather was able to salvage an impressive runner-up finish, 3rd went to former feature winner, Terry Bruner, Jake Richards raced his way to a 4th place finish and Chad Clancy finished 5th on the feature.

Next Friday night, July 27, the racing action will again return to Lakeside Speedway as the racers continue their quest for the Budweiser Season Championship.

Modifieds – Feature

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points

1 5 87 Darron Fuqua Mayetta , Ks 50.00
2 4 77 Cody Agler Emporia , Ks 48.00
3 3 34A Aaron Marrant Orrick , Mo 46.00
4 19 1K Tim Karrick Basehor , Ks 44.00
5 9 8 Mark Hoover Maryville , Mo 42.00
6 1 81 Tom Charles Bonner Springs, Ks 40.00
7 13 01 Kirby Stiens Conception Junction, Mo 38.00
8 23 15 Nic Bidinger Perry , Ks 36.00
9 8 99 Tim North, Jr. Olathe , Ks 34.00
10 6 68 Kerry Davis Parkville , Mo 32.00
11 14 0 Joe Cobb Kansas City, Ks 30.00
12 15 53 John Baker Basehor , Ks 28.00
13 11 4J Jake Richards Kansas Ctiy, Ks 26.00
14 10 13H Eric Hanna – 24.00
15 18 34 Mark Schafman Edwardsville , Ks 22.00
16 2 90 Terry Schultz Sedalia , Mo 20.00
17 16 28L Nick Little Plattsburg , Mo 18.00
18 17 66T Tyler Schmidt Easton , Ks 16.00
19 12 13 Joe Walker Harrisonville , Mo 14.00
20 20 5R Dillon Rowland Kansas City, Ks 12.00
21 7 81J Dan Charles Basehor , Ks 0.00 DNS
22 21 28 Jerry Liston, Jr. Kansas City, Ks 0.00 DNS
23 22 3 Larry “bubba” Harvey, Jr. Kansas City, Ks 0.00 DNS

Grand National – Feature

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points

1 3 28D Gary Donaldson Liberty , Mo 50.00
2 5 42T Tim Shields Kansas City, Mo 48.00
3 6 45 Ben Kyle Gardner , Ks 46.00
4 7 52 Jim Baker Kansas City, Ks 44.00
5 1 46 David Holcomb Kansas City, Ks 42.00
6 9 69 Steven Dibben Smithville , Mo 40.00
7 4 3E Kelby Ostrander Oskaloosa , Ks 38.00
8 13 30 Darren Kling Basehor , Ks 36.00
9 14 72 Matt Dibben Smithville , Mo 34.00
10 10 18 Frank Littrell Claycomo , Mo 32.00
11 15 07 Tony Brown Kansas City, Mo 30.00
12 2 1 Christopher Smith Kansas City, Mo 28.00
13 16 69T Brian Mills – 26.00
14 12 711 Bill Ruisinger Bonner Springs, Ks 24.00
15 11 6 Marshall Jewett Gardner , Ks 22.00
16 8 9 Don Marrs Shawnee , Ks 20.00
17 17 60 James Glackin Kansas City, Ks 0.00 DNS

Factory Stock – Feature

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points

1 5 12 Scotty Moore Kansas City, Ks 50.00
2 7 68M Caleb Mcclellan Kansas City, Mo 48.00
3 3 56 Joe Smith, Jr Kansas City, Ks 46.00
4 12 05 Brett Heeter Kansas City, Ks 44.00
5 10 37 Justin Seifert Kansas City, Ks 42.00
6 8 21V Vic Tranckino Basehor , Ks 40.00
7 1 26 Anthony Whitham Kansas City, Mo 38.00
8 13 19 Jay Barnes Kearney , Mo 36.00
9 9 OG Tony Barnhart , Mo 34.00
10 6 27 Jason Ryun Kansas City, Mo 32.00
11 17 7 Marshall Jewett Gardner , Ks 30.00
12 14 46 Philip Holcomb Kansas City, Ks 28.00
13 15 49C Cory Mulich Kansas City, Ks 26.00
14 16 33 Phil Snodgrass Kearney , Mo 24.00
15 2 17 Kevin W. Mcginnis Kansas City, Ks 22.00
16 18 T2 Tom Fogarty Olathe , Ks 20.00
17 4 0T Bobby Tavis Iii Leavenworth , Ks 18.00
18 11 ON1 Jason Park Kansas City, Ks 16.00
19 19 79J Javier Fierro Kansas City, Mo 14.00
20 21 6 Hank Thompson Kansas City, Ks 12.00
21 20 13 William Brehm Kansas City, Mo 0.00 DNS

B Mods – Feature

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points

1 8 42 Gene Claxton Kansas City, Mo 50.00
2 3 11C Chad Feather , Mo 48.00
3 7 8 Terry Bruner Shawnee , Ks 46.00
4 6 4D Jake Richards Kansas City, Ks 44.00
5 5 21C Chad Clancy Smithville , Mo 42.00
6 4 181 Luke Nieman Nortonville , Ks 40.00
7 9 21K Kevin Sloan Easton , Ks 38.00
8 15 7M Heath Murray – 36.00
9 16 74 Rodney Schweizer Kansas City, Ks 34.00
10 10 222 Colten Stevens Basehor , Ks 32.00
11 12 3J Joe Pete – 30.00
12 14 80 Tyee Parrott Kansas City, Mo 28.00
13 13 93 Shelby Caldenwood – 26.00
14 2 X33 Nick Newton Kansas City, Ks 24.00
15 18 26 Steve Gearhart Buckner , Mo 22.00
16 17 1D Dj Demotte Basehor , Ks 20.00
17 1 14S Paul West Shawnee , Ks 18.00
18 11 14W Bobby Wood Rayville , Mo 0.00 DNS

Category: Kansas / Nebraska, Lakeside Speedway (Kansas), News