By Greg Soukup
Before we talk about the racing at Eagle Raceway Saturday, I want to request a favor from you all. Would you please all contact Mother Nature? Call her, message her, call her or whatever but remind her that it’s the end of May and not the beginning of March.
It was a chilly night Saturday as Celerion and Nebraska Septic presented the Memorial Day Showdown at America’s Home Track. We all know how hardy dirt track fans are and the very big crowd proved that. The only thing bigger than the crowd was the 170 teams that filled the pits. With 1 D Feature, 4 C Features, 4 B Features and 4 A Mains, a total of 34 races , the cost of a front gate adult admission was just 44 cents. What other track offers that much racing for that little money???
There were no major incidents in the preliminary racing action.
Your Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprints were the next A Main as the rain had stopped. Dominic White in the 11D, Bret Klabunde’s 77, the 25 of Gunnar Pike and Ty Ledger in the 35L were the first four back to the flag stand on lap 1. Cameron Thompson put the 2T into fourth on lap 2 and moved up to second the next lap past Pike. Lap 4 saw Jack Thomas pull a failed slide job on Klabunde coming out of turn 4, hitting Klabunde’s front axle, making contact with the wall and spinning and then doing a slow rollover on the front stretch. He was not seriously injured but was done for the night. He also collected Klabunde and Pike. Pike was towed to the pits as was Thomas, but Klabunde rejoined the field. At the choose cone the top 4 were the 35 of Trevor Grossenbacher, White, Brandon Horton in the 1B and Thompson. Grossenbacher took advantage of the restart to grab the lead, White was second, Horton held onto third and fourth place went to the #32 of Trefer Waller. The next time around Tyler Drueke passed Waller to put the 12T into fourth after having transferred from the B Feature and starting in 16th Drueke got past Horton for third on lap 10 and advanced to second the next lap. Grossenbacher slowed and pulled into the infield on the back stretch on lap 13 and immediately climbed out of the car due to unknown trouble. That moved everyone up 1 position with Drueke inheriting the lead and moving Joey Danley’s 14 into fourth place. Danley passed Waller for third with 10 to go. The next circuit Ledger looped it on the front stretch with front axle damage to slow the action again. Waller regained the 3rd spot on the restart. Just 8 laps were left when Danley tried an ill fated slide job in turn 4, hitting Waller and sending Waller’s car high in the air above the wall, then doing a series of flips before coming to a rest on all 4 tires. He was not seriously hurt. Danley was sent to the rear of the field, moving the 77X of John Klabunde up to fourth. Stu Snyder, also a B Feature transfer, started 17th and had advanced to 5th before the caution. The top 4 at the time were Drueke, White, Snyder and John Klabunde who started 18th. They held their positions to the checkered flag.
Some of the winners of the previous features departed early due to the impending rain. By the time I got to my vehicle the mass exodus of haulers from the pits denied me entrance to the remaining victors so no interviews were done.
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 12T-Tyler Drueke[16]; 2. 11D-Dominic White[1]; 3. 5-Stuart Snyder[17]; 4. 77X-John Klabunde[18]; 5. 2T-Cameron Thompson[6]; 6. 14-Joey Danley[14]; 7. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[4]; 8. 45C-Mike Boston[20]; 9. 4X-Jason Danley[19]; 10. 4W-Nathan Weiler[15]; 11. 17-Justin Bolte[13]; 12. 77-Bret Klabunde[3]; 13. 32-Trefer Waller[10]; 14. 91-Adam Gullion[8]; 15. 35L-Ty Ledger[5]; 16. 1B-Brandon Horton[9]; 17. 3T-Dan Satriano[2]; 18. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[11]; 19. 25-Gunnar Pike[7]; 20. 63-Jack Thomas[12]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 5-Stuart Snyder[1]; 2. 77X-John Klabunde[4]; 3. 4X-Jason Danley[3]; 4. 45C-Mike Boston[8]; 5. 03-Shayle Bade[9]; 6. 2A-Alex Salzman[6]; 7. 100-Clint Benson[10]; 8. 18W-Cole Wayman[7]; 9. 12-Troy Sanford[5]; 10. 25A-Alex Davenport[11]; 11. 14G-Gene Ackland[12]; 12. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[2]
C Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 03-Shayle Bade[2]; 2. 100-Clint Benson[3]; 3. 25A-Alex Davenport[1]; 4. 14G-Gene Ackland[5]; 5. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[4]; 6. 28-Madi Miller[8]; 7. 11C-Cole Cloud[7]; 8. 3G-Dylon Knudson[6]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11D-Dominic White[1]; 2. 25-Gunnar Pike[4]; 3. 63-Jack Thomas[8]; 4. 17-Justin Bolte[2]; 5. 5-Stuart Snyder[7]; 6. 12-Troy Sanford[3]; 7. 25A-Alex Davenport[6]; 8. 14G-Gene Ackland[5]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 2T-Cameron Thompson[3]; 2. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[7]; 3. 77-Bret Klabunde[2]; 4. 14-Joey Danley[8]; 5. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[5]; 6. 2A-Alex Salzman[4]; 7. 03-Shayle Bade[6]; 8. 3G-Dylon Knudson[1]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[2]; 2. 3T-Dan Satriano[1]; 3. 1B-Brandon Horton[5]; 4. 4W-Nathan Weiler[3]; 5. 4X-Jason Danley[6]; 6. 18W-Cole Wayman[7]; 7. 100-Clint Benson[4]; 8. 11C-Cole Cloud[8]
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 35L-Ty Ledger[2]; 2. 91-Adam Gullion[4]; 3. 32-Trefer Waller[5]; 4. 12T-Tyler Drueke[7]; 5. 77X-John Klabunde[6]; 6. 45C-Mike Boston[3]; 7. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[8]; 8. 28-Madi Miller[1]