By Greg Soukup
Rain the night before and in the morning made the track a little soft for the High Roller Rumble, presented by ATV Motorsports and Runner Freight at Eagle Raceway Saturday evening. The pits were full, and the track was tacky, so the racing was fantastic!!
In the B Feature for the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Cars Dakota Osborn’s #79 ended up too high in turns 1 and 2 and went up and over. Osborn was not seriously injured.
Keith Dragoo put the 77D out in front of the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car A Main with Chase Weiler’s 0, the 57B of Boyd Peterson and Trey Gropp in the 54 closing out the top 4. Neil Nickolite put the 12N into fourth on lap 2. Danny Neckolite looped the 22D in turns 1 and 2 on lap 12. Clint Benson jumped up to third in the #100 1 lap after the restart. Mike Boston moved to fourth the next time around in the 51. Benson advanced to second the next time around. Boston advanced to third with 8 to go and Adam Gullion put the 91 into fourth after another circuit. Benson passed Dragoo for the lead with 3 laps left but, having gotten into the final 2 turns too hard slipped up and allowed Dragoo to retake the lead on the final lap. The saying usually is that the top 2 could be covered by a blanket, but this time it was more like a cocktail napkin with Dragoo winning, Benson second, Gullion third and Boston fourth.
Dragoo joined the Racesaver sprint car ranks back in 2014, but this was his first ever win. When I mentioned that it was about time, he said “I would say so! The new car is absolutely running great. We should have gotten it out sooner, but we wanted to wait until we got the old one sold so that we could save this one for the end of the year. We evidently saved the best for last. It definitely gives you an advantage starting up front, but we still had to work for it. We got passed with 3 to go and we just didn’t give up. It looked like Clint pushed up a little bit and jumped the cushion. That gave us enough to get back around and drag race to the finish line. We’re the team who runs on used EVERYTHING! We prove that it doesn’t take the best of everything to win a race. We won this race on a set of used tires and a shock package from Jason Martin. One of his guys came over after the race and said, ‘Those seriously aren’t the tires that we gave you, are they?’ and I told him they sure were!!! I couldn’t do this without Ray, he works day and night on the car while we go to our jobs. Also, my family who supports me while we’re out there doing this”. Dragoo’s sponsors include The Shop Inc., Cruzon Graphics and 1320 Video.
Next Saturday is High Stakes Showdown, presented by Rotella’s Bakery. Twinky the Clown will be there for the kids from 5:30 to 7:30.
Front gates open at 5:15 with hot laps at 5:30 and racing at 6:30. Adult and youths 6-12 are just $5 and children 5 and under are free. Those 55 and older receive free front gate admission.
The Racesaver Sprint Cars, Runner Freight Modifieds, Hoosier Racing Tire Sport Modifieds, Valentino’s Hobby Stocks and ATV Motorsports Sport Compacts will all be in competition.
Pit gates open at 4 P.M. with pit passes costing $25.
RESULTS:
IMCA Sprint A-Feature 1. Keith Dragoo Greenwood, Ne. 2. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 3. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 4. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 5. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 6. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 7. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne. 8. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne. 9. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 10. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 11. Boyd Peterson Ithaca, Ne. 12. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 13. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne. 14. Ryan King Bennet, Ne. 15. Nathan Weiler Lavista, Ne. 16. Danny Nekolite O'neill, Ne. 17. Nick Bryan Lincoln, Ne. 18. Brandon Horton Omaha, Ne. 19. Matt Richards Lincoln, Ne. 20. Ryan Kitchen(r) Lincoln, Ne.
IMCA Sprint B-Feature 1. Brandon Horton Omaha, Ne. 2. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 3. Ryan King Bennet, Ne. 4. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne. 5. Mike Houseman Jr Des Moines, Ia. 6. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 7. Mark Pace Lincoln, Ne. 8. Nate Johnson Hastings, Ne. 9. Dustin Reeh(r) Council Bluffs, Ia. 10. Jeremy Schultz Stewart, Mn. 11. Frank Rodgers Lucas, Ia. 12. Dwight Carter Lincoln, Ne. 13. Tim Fricke Lincoln, Ne. 14. Jason Miller Omaha, Ne. 15. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. 16. Dakota Osborn(r) Savannah, Mo. DNS. Dan Satriano Papillion, Ne. DNS. Rick Hansen Omaha, Ne. DNS. Austin McLean Loveland, Co.
IMCA Sprint Heat 1 1. Nathan Weiler Lavista, Ne. 2. Gene Ackland Martell, Ne. 3. Ryan Kitchen(r) Lincoln, Ne. 4. Matt Richards Lincoln, Ne. 5. Tim Hilfiker Greenwood, Ne. 6. Jeremy Schultz Stewart, Mn. 7. Andrew Jackson Fremont, Ne. 8. Tyler Drueke Eagle, Ne. 9. Tim Fricke Lincoln, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 2 1. Keith Dragoo Greenwood, Ne. 2. Neil Nickolite Bellwood, Ne. 3. Clint Benson Papillion, Ne. 4. Jason Danley Lincoln, Ne. 5. Brandon Horton Omaha, Ne. 6. Mark Pace Lincoln, Ne. 7. Mike Houseman Jr Des Moines, Ia. 8. Frank Rodgers Lucas, Ia. 9. Jason Miller Omaha, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 3 1. Chase Weiler Lincoln, Ne. 2. Trey Gropp(r) Lincoln, Ne. 3. Mike Boston Lincoln, Ne. 4. Danny Nekolite O'neill, Ne. 5. Doug Lovegrove Waverly, Ne. 6. Dan Satriano Papillion, Ne. 7. Dwight Carter Lincoln, Ne. 8. Dakota Osborn(r) Savannah, Mo. 9. Rick Hansen Omaha, Ne.
IMCA Sprint Heat 4 1. Adam Gullion Lincoln, Ne. 2. Boyd Peterson Ithaca, Ne. 3. Shon Pointer Grand Island, Ne. 4. Nick Bryan Lincoln, Ne. 5. Ryan King Bennet, Ne. 6. Nate Johnson Hastings, Ne. 7. Dustin Reeh(r) Council Bluffs, Ia. DNS. Austin McLean Loveland, Co.