Kling Snares Grand National Win And Points Lead At Lakeside

KANSAS CITY, KS (June 29, 2012) – The temperatures were in the triple digits for most of this week. Friday night at Lakeside Speedway it seemed as if the temperatures got even hotter as the sun went down. The drivers at Lakeside Speedway decided to turn the heat up on one another during a strong night of competition.

One week ago the Grand National A Main ended in a wild finish. The end result of last week’s finish saw the driver with the most wins in the division, Gary Donaldson, getting suspended for his actions during last week’s feature. That meant that this week, the point standings in the class were about to change.

At the beginning of the race it was Frank Littrell jumping out to the early lead. Littrell would hold the lead for a large majority of the race. It was a surprise to see Littrell running so well. In the heat race he had seemed to miss the setup on his car, but during the intermission he and his crew made the right changes as his lead was pretty lengthy.

After working all week to rebuild his car Kelby Ostrander was back in contention. Ostrander gave chase early in the 2nd place spot, but there were some other cars that were also having some good runs Friday night. Darren Kling, Mike Busby and Marshall Jewett were all heading to the front of the field. Everyone looked to be running for 2nd as Littrell’s lead had been extended during the long green flag run. That’s when things changed again for the 2nd straight week.

Littrell, on a late race restart, bobbled a little coming out of turn 4. It allowed Kling and Busby to amass an attack on the leader. Kling worked on the low side of the leader and Busby went to the high side of the leader. Three wide they all went around the track. The perfect set up seemed to leave Littrell as he started to push in the corners. In turn 1 & 2, Littrell barely escaped disaster when he was able to catch his car pushing up towards Busby on the exit of turn 2. He wouldn’t be so lucky in turn 3.

After making contact down the back stretch Littrell and Busby made their way into turn 3 and again Littrell pushed up the race track. This time he would make hard contact with Busby. Busby, who had just taken the lead on the last lap, went into the wall hard. It was a bad ending to what appeared to be his best run of the season.

Once everything was cleaned up, the restart pitted a duel to the finish. Kling, who came in tied for the points lead, and Jewett worked side by side for the final 4 laps of the feature event. Kling to the bottom and Jewett to the high side. They would trade the top spot back and forth as they came to the white flag. On the final lap Kling got the better of Jewett and went on to win by a car length at the checkered flag.

Third went to Kelby Ostrander, Jim Baker raced his way to a 4th place finish and Tim Shields overcame early problems to battle back for a 5th place finish.

Bobby Tavis was looking for redemption. Earlier this season he had picked off a coveted Factory Stock feature win, but in the post race tech inspection the win was stripped away. Since that time Tavis has been on a mission trying to show the competition and the fans that he could get the job done. Mission accomplished!

Friday night Tavis had a strong run in his heat race and by virtue of where he finished a week ago in the main event, he was scheduled to start on the pole position. At the drop of the green flag, Tavis took advantage of the starting spot and rocketed to the lead.

The Factory Stock division is so competitive that you never know who is going to be challenging the leader, you just know it’s going to happen. The first two drivers to make that bid were Cliff Hedges Jr., Scotty Moore. Moore would take himself out of contention by spinning out in turn two and Hedges would suffer a majority of parts failures as he would spin on the front straight bringing out a yellow flag.

Jason Ryun would take the lead away from Tavis during the A Main. With 5 laps left Tavis decided to keep his car on the bottom of the race track. It would end up being a smart move. Lap after lap he began to edge into Ryun’s lead. Several other cars were right behind the two leaders, it was still anyone’s game. Coming to the white flag Tavis had regained his lead and the momentum would carry him to the checkered flag first as he out raced the competition to the checkered flag. Tavis becomes the 9th different winner this season in the Factory Stock division.

Ryun would hold on for a close 2nd, coming all the way from 20th to 3rd was Brett Heeter, Jewett finished 4th after starting 14th and another strong mover, Caleb Mclellan, went from 18th to 5th in the feature.

The B Mod division appears to be developing a rivalry of shorts. Nick Newton had won 4 features and Mike Higley had 2 wins heading into Friday night’s feature. The competition level is high overall in the class, but it looks as if these two young racers could lock horns for many seasons to come.

Rusty Trimble got the early drop on the competition as he would get the early lead. He would hold the lead until Chad Feather, racing in only his 2nd B Mod event, took the top spot. Feather, a former racer of Thunderlake Speedway (the kart track across the street from Lakeside), looked like a veteran of many years as he held onto the top spot.

Back in the field Higley and Newton were working their way through the field. In doing so they made contact a couple of times and pushed each other to the limit as they made their way up from the 13th and 11th starting spots on the night.

A yellow flag would bunch the field up on lap 9. On the restart, Higley made his march to the front. Working the bottom of the track Higley went from 6th to the top spot in a matter of 2 laps. He would take the lead and extend it, but Newton was still hot on his trail. As Newton moved into 2nd he would have a clear shot to get to Higley, unfortunately as he was moving into 2nd Higley was getting the white flag. Newton made a valiant effort but would come up a little short as Higley scored win #3 on the season at Lakeside Speedway.

Newton finished 2nd, Feather, the rookie finished a strong 3rd, Trimble held on to finish 4th and Kevin Sloan roared his way to a 5th place finish.

The Modified division has seen a couple of different winners in the past two races. Jim Moody and Kerry Davis were both 1st time features winners in 2012 during that time frame.

Just like the season started, Tim Karrick raced his way to win #5 on the season.

Mark Schafman got out to the lead first in the A Main. It looked as if a hungry pack of wolves had been turned loose behind him. Karrick, Joe Walker, Cody Agler and Darron Fuqua were all on a march to run Schafman down. Walker and Karrick would be the first 2 drivers to get to Schafman. Karrick put the pressure on Schafman early. In doing so Schafman made a costly error clipping an infield tire, which sent him spinning across the track and into the front stretch wall.

On the restart Karrick wasted little time wrestling the lead away from Walker. After taking over the lead Karrick flexed his muscle as he ran away from the rest of the field.

Fuqua would give chase, but he didn’t have enough time to catch up to Karrick as the feature would stay green the rest of the way.

Karrick bobbed and weaved his way through lapped traffic to the checkered flag. With the win, Karrick, maintains the points lead in the division and he ties Gary Donaldson for the most wins, in any division, this season at Lakeside.

Fuqua would find himself with another runner-up feature finish, 3rd would go to Walker, Nic Bidinger started 10th and finished with another top 5 in 4th and Bubby Harvey went from 18th to 5th in the main event.

Lakeside gets it’s 2nd night of racing on the weekend as the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars take to the 1/2 mile along with the B Mods.

Spectator gates open up at 5:00 p.m. and the racing starts at 7:30 p.m.

For more information visit www.slspromotions.com or www.lakesidespeedway.net

Modifieds – Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 5 1K Tim Karrick Basehor , Ks 50.00
2 7 87 Darron Fuqua Mayetta , Ks 48.00
3 4 13 Joe Walker Harrisonville , Mo 46.00
4 10 15 Nic Bidinger Perry , Ks 44.00
5 18 3 Larry “bubba” Harvey, Jr. Kansas City, Ks 42.00
6 6 77 Cody Agler Emporia , Ks 40.00
7 9 68 Kerry Davis Parkville , Mo 38.00
8 8 7J Justin Johnson Gardner , Ks 36.00
9 12 81 Tom Charles Bonner Springs, Ks 34.00
10 16 14B Darren Bennett Tonganoxie , Ks 32.00
11 2 4J Jake Richards Kansas Ctiy, Ks 30.00
12 11 81J Dan Charles Basehor , Ks 28.00
13 17 5R Dillon Rowland Kansas City, Ks 26.00
14 13 96 Danny Barker – 24.00
15 20 28L Nick Little Plattsburg , Mo 22.00
16 22 38 Matt Pugh Overland Park, Ks 20.00
17 1 99 Tim North, Jr. Olathe , Ks 18.00
18 14 9 Brad Dibben Kansas City, Mo 16.00
19 21 28 Jerry Liston, Jr. Kansas City, Ks 14.00
20 3 34 Mark Schafman Edwardsville , Ks 12.00
21 15 0 Joe Cobb Kansas City, Ks 10.00
22 19 8 Mark Hoover Maryville , Mo 8.00
23 23 98X Chris Giles – 6.00

Grand National – Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 5 30 Darren Kling Basehor , Ks 50.00
2 1 6 Marshall Jewett Gardner , Ks 48.00
3 4 3E Kelby Ostrander Oskaloosa , Ks 46.00
4 8 52 Jim Baker Kansas City, Ks 44.00
5 2 42T Tim Shields Kansas City, Mo 42.00
6 10 54 Eddie Ingram – 40.00
7 7 45 Ben Kyle Gardner , Ks 38.00
8 3 44 Sam Schuler, Jr. Kansas City, Ks 36.00
9 9 69 Steven Dibben Smithville , Mo 34.00
10 13 26 Donnie Brown Lancaster , Ks 32.00
11 15 23M Michael Morse, Jr. Kansas City, Ks 30.00
12 17 711 Bill Ruisinger Bonner Springs, Ks 28.00
13 16 69T Brian Mills – 26.00
14 11 07 Tony Brown Kansas City, Mo 24.00
15 18 1 Christopher Smith Kansas City, Mo 22.00
16 6 2MB Mike Busby Kansas City, Mo 20.00
17 12 18 Frank Littrell Claycomo , Mo 18.00
18 14 72 Matt Dibben Smithville , Mo 16.00
19 20 60 James Glackin Kansas City, Ks 14.00
20 19 9 Don Marrs Shawnee , Ks 0.00 DNS

Factory Stock – Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 1 0T Bobby Tavis Iii Leavenworth , Ks 50.00
2 7 27 Jason Ryun Kansas City, Mo 48.00
3 20 05 Brett Heeter Kansas City, Ks 46.00
4 14 7 Marshall Jewett Gardner , Ks 44.00
5 18 68M Caleb Mcclellan Kansas City, Mo 42.00
6 4 29 Nate Barnes Kearney , Mo 40.00
7 6 21V Vic Tranckino Basehor , Ks 38.00
8 9 ON1 Jason Park Kansas City, Ks 36.00
9 19 56 Joe Smith, Jr Kansas City, Ks 34.00
10 17 17 Kevin W. Mcginnis Kansas City, Ks 32.00
11 8 19 Jay Barnes Kearney , Mo 30.00
12 10 46 Philip Holcomb Kansas City, Ks 28.00
13 11 49C Cory Mulich Kansas City, Ks 26.00
14 13 41K Vernon Kever Kansas City, Mo 24.00
15 12 T2 Tom Fogarty Olathe , Ks 22.00
16 16 37 Justin Seifert Kansas City, Ks 20.00
17 5 30 Cliff Hedges Jr Kansas City, Mo 18.00
18 2 OG Tony Barnhart , Mo 16.00
19 15 91 Dalton Vanbebber Kansas City, Ks 14.00
20 3 12 Scotty Moore Kansas City, Ks 12.00
21 21 1 J.r. Billings Kansas City, Ks 0.00 DNS

B Mods – Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 13 11 Mike Higley Tecumseh , Ks 50.00
2 11 X33 Nick Newton Kansas City, Ks 48.00
3 2 11C Chad Feather , Mo 46.00
4 1 5 Rusty Trimble Kansas City, Ks 44.00
5 4 21K Kevin Sloan Easton , Ks 42.00
6 6 51M Mike Ryun Pleasant Valley, Mo 40.00
7 10 8 Terry Bruner Sugar Creek, Mo 38.00
8 12 21C Chad Clancy Smithville , Mo 36.00
9 7 4D Jake Richards Kansas City, Ks 34.00
10 21 22G Steve Goodman Meriden , Ks 32.00
11 14 18 Frank Littrell Claycomo , Mo 30.00
12 8 42 Gene Claxton Kansas City, Mo 28.00
13 24 2 Mike Eisenhut Topeka , Ks 26.00
14 19 C9 Kent Caldwell Lawrence , Ks 24.00
15 17 222 Colten Stevens Basehor , Ks 22.00
16 23 17C Chase Galvin , Ks 20.00
17 18 89 Justin Custer Liberty , Mo 18.00
18 9 181 Luke Nieman Nortonville , Ks 16.00
19 16 14S Paul West Shawnee , Ks 14.00
20 5 70 Aaron Marrant Orrick , Mo 12.00
21 3 22 Steve Mcdowell Independence , Mo 10.00
22 15 74 Rodney Schweizer Kansas City, Ks 8.00
23 22 3J Joe Pete – 6.00
24 20 3 Jamie M. Custer Liberty , Mo 4.00

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