I-55 Raceway (Video Highlights from DirtVision.com)
4/2/21
I-55 Raceway
WoO
27 cars
James McFadden (1st car out to time) set quick time on the 1/4-mile oval at 10.433 seconds. Rico Abreu (8th car out) was second quick, followed by Jacob Allen (10th), Scotty Thiel (6th), Kraig Kinser (5th), Donny Schatz (14th), Wayne Johnson (9th), Brock Zearfoss (17th), Brad Sweet (26th) and Carson Macedo (16th). Ayrton Gennetten chased engine problems all night and didn’t get a time in.
Heat one (started): 1. McFadden 9 (1) 2. Thiel 73 (2) 3. Macedo 41 (4) 4. Johnson 2c (3) 5. Sheldon Haudenschild 17 (5) 6. Logan Schuchart 1s (7) / 7. David Gravel 2 (8) 8. Clinton Boyles 98 (9) 9. Jason Sides 7s (6)
Ten lap heats took the top six to the feature and top two to the Dash. McFadden led the distance. The best battle was for fourth. Haudenschild took the spot from Johnson on the last lap, but it was negated when Sides slowed while running in a transfer spot and the checkers flew for the lead pair only. Schuchart snatched the final transfer after Sides misfortune.
Heat two (started): 1. Kinser 11K (2) 2. Rico Abreu 24 (1) 3. Zearfoss 3z (3) 4. Brian Brown 21 (6) 5. Gio Scelzi 18 (4) 6. Parker Price-Miller 19 (7) / 7. Noah Gass 20G (8) 8. Zach Hampton 35 (5) 9. Brayton Lynch 29 (9)
Kinser led flag to flag. Brown passed Scelzi for fourth on lap two.
Heat three (started): 1. Schatz 15 (2) 2. Allen 1a (1) 3. Sweet 49 (3) 4. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (5) 5. Aaron Reutzel 83 (7) 6. Carson Short 21s (8) / 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer 27 (4) 8. Mason Daniel 33m (6) DNS - Ayrton Gennetten 3
Contact with Reutzel’s right rear sent Daniel into a series of flips. He was unhurt and made repairs for the B. Schatz led up front while the battle was in the back. Short pressured Reutzel for the final transfer, but couldn’t find a way around. On lap nine, Reutzel snuck by Klaasmeyer, and Short saw his opportunity. He came downhill in turn four and nipped Klaasmeyer at the line by .041 of a second.
Dash (started): 1. McFadden (2) 2. Schatz (3) 3. Kinser (4) 4. Allen (5) 5. Thiel (1) 6. Abreu (6)
McFadden dusted them all in the 8-lapped that set the first three rows of the feature.
B main (started): 1. Gravel (3) 2. Hampton (2) 3. Klaasmeyer (1) 4. Gass (4) 5. Boyles (5) 6. Sides (6) / 7. Daniel (8) 8. Lynch (7) DNS - Gennetten
Klaasmeyer led Hampton and Gravel early. Hampton used the cushion to shoot around Klaasmeyer to the point on lap five. Two laps later, Gravel repeated the move for second. Gravel then utilized a slide job to take the lead with three to go.
A main (started): 1. Sweet (9) 2. Kinser (3) 3. Schuchart (16) 4. Haudenschild (13) 5. Macedo (7) 6. Abreu (6) 7. Reutzel (15) 8. Gravel(19) 9. Brown (11) 10. Hafertepe (12) 11. McFadden (1) 12. Zearfoss (8) 13. Scelzi (14) 14. Price-Miller (17) 15. Allen (4) 16. Sides (22) 17. Hampton (20) 18. Thiel (5) 19. Short (18) 20. Schatz (2) 21. Gass (23) 22. Johnson (10) 23. Boyles (21) DNS - Klaasmeyer
Klaasmeyer lost a brake caliper and did not start. Schatz led McFadden and Kinser early on the 40 lapper. Abreu passed Allen for fourth on lap three and the leaders entered lapped traffic on lap six. At that point, Johnson stopped with ignition problems. Schatz chose the inside lane on the double file restart ahead of McFadden, Kinser, Abreu and Allen. Haudenschild was up to eighth. Sweet moved into the top five and a great battle ensued with Kinser and Allen. Sweet took third from Kinser on lap seven. The leaders were back in lapped traffic on lap eleven. Kinser surged by both Sweet and McFadden to take second on lap 13. Johnson slowed to a stop again on lap 16. The jumble up front saw Schatz leading Sweet, Kinser, McFadden and Allen back to green. Kinser surged to second and Haudenschild to fourth. On lap 18, Schatz saw his shot at his 300th WoO win go away with ignition issues, handing the lead to Kinser. Gass was contacted and sent into the turn one wall on the restart. He was ok. Sweet shot into the lead on the restart. McFadden and Haudenschild battled for third for several laps before McFadden suffered a left front flat with 13 to go. Sweet led Kinser, Haudenschild, Allen and Abreu back to green. Allen would spin on the restart, relinquishing fourth. Sweet wouldn’t be challenged down the stretch, but Kinser and Haudenschild put on a great battle for second. Kinser grabbed the spot for good with seven to go, and Schuchart would come home third late as the hard-charger. The win was Sweet’s third in a row.