By Greg Soukup
150 race teams filed through the pit gates on a beautiful sunny Saturday as Rotella’s Italian Bakery and the Nebraska Lottery presented Pink Ladies Night. The fans were greeted by warm temperatures that were tempered by a gentle breeze.
There were no serious incidents in the preliminary racing action that seemed to fly by almost as quickly as the furious competition on the track.
Brandon Horton led the first lap of the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car A Feature in the 1B with Bret Klabunde’s 77, Trefer Waller in the 32 and Dan Satriano’s 3T rounding out the top 4. Tige Jensen jumped up to third on lap 2 in the 24 and passed Klabunde for second after another lap. Waller regained third the next circuit with Klabunde fourth. Jason Danley passed Klabunde on lap to put the 4X into fourth. Lap 8 saw Waller pass Jensen for second but Tyler Hendrickson looped the 14T in turns 3 and 4 for a caution. Waller advanced to second on the restart as Billy Alley jumped all the way up to third in the 11, moving Jensen back to fourth. The restart was called back when Jack Thomas started to spin the #63 on the back stretch. Alley and Danly both passed Waller on the restart to move to second and third with Danley taking over second place the next time around. Trevor Grossenbacher moved up to the fourth position the following lap in his #35. With 9 laps to go Ty Ledger’s 35L went up and over in turns 1 and 2 with the 25 of Gunnar Pike getting caught up. Ledger was not seriously injured. Jensen went up and over in turns 3 and 4 with 4 to go as Hendrickson had nowhere to go and slid into him. The top 4 remained unchanged with Horton, Danley, Alley and Grossenbacher your top 4.
This was Brandon said “We had some engine issues 2 weeks ago and didn’t get the new one in for last weekend. We got it put in and came back, starting on the front row which is a huge advantage. I’ve had a lot of laps out here, so I felt pretty confident when I got to start up there. When we started getting all of those restarts things started getting a little concerning because I knew who’s creeping up behind me. When you’re starting double file, it’s a big concern. It worked out well and we had really good restarts and got it done”. Brandon’s sponsors include Top Turf, Edwards Auto Group, Omaha Barbell, Tech Services Group, West Omaha Boat and Jet ski and Old Smokey Barbecue.
Are you ready for this coming week’s 3-day show as the streamlined ground pounders of the Lucas Oil Late Model Series invade America’s Home Track. Thursday May 15th is night 1 with $10,000 to win on the line for the Late Models with the Nebraska’s Best IMCA Modifieds the support class.
Pit gates open at 2:00 and front gates swing open at 5:30. Adult reserved front gate tickets are $35, general adult grandstand cost $30 with youths 6-12 $10 and children 5 and under free. Three day ticket packages are available with adult reserved tickets costing $105, regular adults being $100 and youths 6-12 just $35.
Hot laps begin at 6:30 and racing kicks off at 7:30.
After the races, the Melon Bar will be open in the pits until 1 AM and there will be live entertainment.
RESULTS:
NE IMCA Sprints 24 Entries
A Feature 1 25 Laps | 00:27:50.369 1. 1B-Brandon Horton[1]; 2. 4X-Jason Danley[10]; 3. 11-Billy Alley[6]; 4. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[18]; 5. 12-Tyler Drueke[12]; 6. 63-Jack Thomas[11]; 7. 18W-Cole Wayman[17]; 8. 32-Trefer Waller[5]; 9. 100-Clint Benson[8]; 10. 22DDaniel Nekolite[20]; 11. 4W-Nathan Weiler[16]; 12. 77-Bret Klabunde[2]; 13. 25A-Alex Davenport[15]; 14. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[7]; 15. 14G-Gene Ackland[19]; 16. 2A-Alex Salzman[14]; 17. 3T-Dan Satriano[3]; 18. 24-Tige Jensen[9]; 19. 25-Gunnar Pike[13]; 20. 35L-Ty Ledger[4]
B Feature 1 10 Laps | 00:08:18.546 1. 4W-Nathan Weiler[3]; 2. 18W-Cole Wayman[2]; 3. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[4]; 4. 14G-Gene Ackland[5]; 5. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[8]; 6. 2T-Cameron Thompson[7]; 7. 3G-Dylon Knudson[6]; 8. 37S-Roman Mason[9]; 9. 45C-Mike Boston[1]
Heat 1 10 Laps | 00:02:12.569 1. 11-Billy Alley[3]; 2. 1B-Brandon Horton[1]; 3. 35L-Ty Ledger[2]; 4. 100-Clint Benson[5]; 5. 25-Gunnar Pike[6]; 6. 45CMike Boston[4]; 7. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[7]; 8. 3G-Dylon Knudson[8]
Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:03:06.310 1. 77-Bret Klabunde[1]; 2. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[3]; 3. 63-Jack Thomas[7]; 4. 12-Tyler Drueke[8]; 5. 2A-Alex Salzman[2]; 6. 18W-Cole Wayman[6]; 7. 14G-Gene Ackland[4]; 8. 2T-Cameron Thompson[5]
Heat 3 10 Laps | 00:03:36.904 1. 32-Trefer Waller[2]; 2. 4X-Jason Danley[6]; 3. 3T-Dan Satriano[1]; 4. 24-Tige Jensen[5]; 5. 25A-Alex Davenport[4]; 6. 4W-Nathan Weiler[3]; 7. 37S-Roman Mason[8]; 8. (DNS) 22D-Daniel Nekolite