PEORIA, IL (August 18, 2012) – Bloomington driver Billy Drake held off repeated challenges from current UMP National Championship points leader Brian Shirley
DRAKE TAKES BUD SERIES ROUND 7 AT PEORIA SPEEDWAY
Bollinger, Feger, Maier, Brickley, Kingsley and Kelly all get feature wins
PEORIA, IL (August 18, 2012) – Bloomington driver Billy Drake held off repeated challenges from current UMP National Championship points leader Brian Shirley, winning Round 7 of the Budweiser UMP Super Late Model Series at Peoria Speedway with 113 race cars in the pits.
Drake took another step towards securing the $5,000 Bud Series title with a brilliant drive in traffic and with Shirley in hot pursuit. The duo started on the front row, with Drake getting the jump at the start from his pole position. Debris on the front stretch brought out a caution on lap 2, and Drake jumped right back into the lead, followed by Shirley, Todd Bennett and Kevin Weaver. Shirley began running the high side in turns one and two, and was catching Drake, who was hugging the bottom of the track.
By lap 11, Drake had heavy lapped traffic ahead of him, with the majority in his line on the bottom. Drake scooted past 3 lapped cars, but Shirley stayed glued to his bumper. Drake won the race on lap 18, moving to the middle of the track and putting 2 lapped cars between himself and Shirley. Shirley could never close the gap, and Drake took home the $2,000 win. Shirley, Bennett, Weaver and 9th-starting Bobby Pierce completed the top 5.
“I think we’re finally figuring this car out, we are getting better”, said Drake in victory lane. “Brian has been running real good and to beat him these days is quite a feat. It was tough to pass on the bottom, so I had to move around to get by the lapped cars.”
Drake set fast time among the 21 Late Models of 12.768. Heats were won by Drake, Bennett and Shirley, with Drake making it a clean sweep by winning the Dependable Towing Dash.
25 UMP Modifieds were on hand, with the race coming down to a battle between the top 2 in track points- Erik Bruce and Ray Bollinger. Bollinger took the lead at the green, driving past pole-sitter Billy Tuckwell for the lead. Bruce made the move of the night on the first lap, going 3 wide with Mike Chasteen, Jr. and Russ Coultas exiting turn 2 for 3rd. Bruce then drove past Tuckwell on a lap 6 re-start and set sail for Bollinger.
Bruce drove the top and middle of the track and began to stalk Bollinger, pulling even coming out of turn 4 on lap 14. As it appeared Bruce would make his move, the caution flew for Dan Turner. Bruce made several more attempts, but could never get enough to get by Bollinger. Bollinger took the win, with Gary Cook, Jr., Tuckwell, Bruce (who lost 2 spots on the last lap), and Nathan Balenseifen completing the top 5.
“The track was real smooth tonight”, Bollinger said. “Erik made it interesting there, I could see his nose a few times. I want to thank all the fans for coming out tonight.
Bollinger set fast time of 13.769. Bruce, Cook, Jr., and Chasteen, Jr. won the heats, with Joe Gillespie winning the B Main.
Carl Feger won his first Limited Late Model feature of the year, taking the win flag-to-flag. The rest of the top 5 were Robbie Bauman, Jr., Brian Crebo and Kenny Egan. “We’ve been trying to win one of these for awhile”, Feger told the crowd. “I had a lot of guys helping me out, and they know who they are. I wanna thank everyone for the help.
Jason Maier happened to be in the Peoria area for a birth in the family, and decided to visit the track for the fist time. Maier made it pay, passing Wally Zander on lap 5 for the win. Zander ended up 2nd, followed by Justin Layne, 15th starting John Farris, and Mike Cusack.
The feature of the night was in the Speedway Motors Illinois Lightning Sprints, with Billy Brickley and Brad Funk waging a race-long war. The two drivers exchanged the lead 5 times in the last 10 laps, darting all over the track as Brickley came out on top. Funk, Austin Archdale, Mark Billings and Jake Sollenberger followed Brickley.
“That was one heckuva race there with Brad”, said Brickley. “The fans got their moneys worth there, that was a lot of fun.
The 18 Hornets on hand ran 2 feature races, with Jeremy Kingsley winning the first race and Shane Kelley capturing the 2nd.
UMP Modifieds will run double features next Saturday, August 25 as the make-up feature from July 26 will be run along with a regular program. Ray Bollinger Racing Night will feature prizes given away to lucky fans all night, courtesy of Bollingers’ friends and sponsors. Limited Late Models, UMP Street Stocks, Speedway Motors Illinois Lightning Sprints and UMP Hornets will also be racing.
Round 8 of the Budweiser UMP Super Late Model Series race will be on Thursday, August 30, paying $2,000 to-win.
Category: Illinois, News, Peoria Speedway
