SALINA, Kan. — The rain stayed away from Salina Speedway on Friday night and the fans were treated to some electric action on the track.
So far in 2014 Delbert Smith has been the man to beat in the BSB Manufacturing NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly Racing Series Late Models.
Friday night there were a season high (16) competitors ready to do battle. Darrick Klima was the driver who was up for the competition.
Scotty Phillips got off to a good start on the evening. After winning the 2nd heat race of the night, Phillips would start 2nd row inside for the feature event. It would be a good omen as he would become the early leader in the feature.
Phillips wouldn’t hold the top spot for long. Klima, who started 6th on the grid for the feature, only needed 6 laps to take over the lead in the main event. At the front of the field Klima was on cruise control until a yellow involving Phillips, Brad Morris and the point leader, Delbert Smith.
As the green flag waived on the field Klima would take out into the lead and go on to the feature win. This would be Klima’s 2nd feature win of the season at Salina Speedway.
Justin Kinderknecht, who won the 1st heat race, rolled from 8th in the feature to finish 2nd, Daniel Smith kept his string of top 5?s going with a 3rd place finish, 4th went to Chris Kratzer and rounding out the top 5 was Jill Roberg.
Joe Cleveland has always been a strong force in the Belleville Motor Sports IMCA Modified class at Salina Speedway. Cleveland is the reigning champ in the class and Friday night he showed just why.
Out of the gate it was Jesse Richter with the early lead from the pole position. At the midpoint of the feature things started to heat up as a new leader, Corey Burch, took over the top spot and was looking to secure his first win. Someone forgot to relay the message to Cleveland.
Cleveland would catch up to Burch and worked to get around the leader. It was a good battle for the top position. The two would attack and counter lap after lap. On lap 18 it was Cleveland’s time to move into the lead and he would hang on for his 2nd win of the season.
Burch would finish in the runner-up spot, 3rd went to Mike Petersilie, another former champ, Corey Lagroon, finished in 4th and the early leader, Richter, finished in the 5th position.
Belleville Motor Sports IMCA Modified Heat Races were won by Brian Knoell and Burch.
It was another competitive race in the Budweiser IMCA Hobby Stock division. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t just competitive it was down right entertaining.
The top 5 cars in the feature passed an average of 7 cars to get to their finishing positions. All the drivers in the top 5 started 3rd row or further back in the A Main.
Tommy Fose happened to be the man of the hour on Friday night in the Hobby Stocks.
Fose worked his way from 5th to take over the lead. Once at the front of the field Fose was gone! At one point a yellow came out on the track and it would bunch the field up one more time, but it didn’t matter to Fose. He would jet back out into the lead and sprint away with the win. The win was Fose’s first of 2014.
Aaron McBride started 6th and finished 2nd, going from 8th to 3rd in the feature was Mike Traskowsky, GW Fuller started 13th and finished 4th and the big mover of the night was Kelly Pihl who started 16th and finished 5th.
Budweiser IMCA Hobby Stock Heat Races were won by Fose and Travis Coop.
Russell Roberg put the squeeze on the competition in the Chamuco’s Night Club Mini Stock main event.
Stacey Huffman jumped out to the lead early in the feature and held on to it for a long while. Huffman and Roberg have been the class of the field in the early part of the season and this was setting up to be a great battle.
Roberg kept pace with Huffman, but he still had to get around Elliott May before he could get a shot at Huffman.
Just past the midway point Roberg would finally get around May for 2nd. He then zeroed in on the leader, Huffman.
At the white flag lap Roberg flexed his muscle and worked his way around Huffman and took the lead for good. It was Roberg’s 2nd win in a row and 2nd win on the season.
Huffman came home in 2nd, May was 3rd, 4th went to Tracy Montague and in 5th it was Randy Rice.
The only heat race winner on the night in the Chamuco’s Night Club Minis Stocks was Huffman.
There was a 2 car breakaway in the Coors Light Street Stock feature. Scott Miller and Jerry Phillips put on a good show for the fans in this division. Miller would go on to his 2nd win of the season. He picked off the first on win on opening night and he was excited for his return visit to victory lane.
Phillips finished in the runner-up spot, 3rd was Jeremie Myers, 4th went to Geoff Jermark and Tony Steenson finished in 5th.
The Coors Light Street Stock Heat Race was won by Phillips.
Don’t miss a minute of the upcoming action at Salina Speedway.
Racing gets underway with Hot laps at 7:15 p.m. and heat races shortly after that.
Fans wanting to get the 411 on Salina Speedway just need to stay logged in to their home on the world wide web at https://www.racesalinaspeedway.com. As fans visit the site take a look at the 2014 schedule to see what classes are running, great stories and results and sign up for the Text & Email Blasts! You can also like their Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/SalinaSpeedway or Follow on Twitter @SalinaSpeedway1.