By Greg Soukup
Saturday evening was the kick-off to the 2016 “Keep calm, and race on!” season at Eagle Raceway. Temperatures in the low 80’s with a stiff south wind gave way to a cool, breezy night with a total of 180 cars in the pits itching to get out onto the high banks of “America’s Home Track”.
The Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car A Feature rounded out the evening’s racing. Jason Martin jumped out front in his 5X with Tyler Drueke’s 12, the 04 of Shayle Bade and Gene Ackland’s 14G hot on his push bumper. Richard Weers slowed on the front stretch on lap 5 to bring out a caution. He eventually stopped with damage to his front end and was pushed up into the pits. Shon Pointer moved his 20P past Ackland 1 lap after the restart to snag fourth. Bade moved past Drueke on the next circuit, but relinquished the spot back to him on lap 9. Bade wasn’t giving up however, and regained the position the next time around. Lap 13 saw Pointer also pass Drueke to take over third, but Drueke charged back to take third with 9 laps left. Drueke again passed Bade with 3 to go to snag second. The final top 4 were Martin, Drueke, Bade and Mike Boston who got past Pointer the last lap.
“I’ll say the same thing that Trevor said last week; it’s easy to win when you start on the front row. We felt that we had the car to win last week, so we kept the same set-up. Next week it won’t be so easy when the handicap starts up. But, that just makes it more exciting” Martin related. Martin’s sponsors include Midwest Linings, Truck Plus, Deuces Wild Power Coating and EMI/Speedway Motors.
IMCA Sprint 04/23/2016 A Feature: 1. Jason Martin (Lincoln, NE), 2. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 3. Shayle Bade (Lincoln, ne), 4. Mike Boston (Lincoln, NE), 5. Shon Pointer (Grand Island, NE), 6. Gene Ackland (Martell, NE), 7. Adam Gullion (Lincoln, NE), 8. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 9. Trevor Grossenbacher (Hickman, NE), 10. Jason Danley (Lincoln, NE), 11. Toby Chapman (Panama, NE), 12. Clint Benson (Papillion, NE), 13. Stu Snyder (Waverly, NE), 14. Nate Weiler (Omaha, NE), 15. Matt Richards (Lincoln, NE), 16. Ron Love (Lincoln, NE), 17. Keith Dragoo (Lincoln, NE), 18. Blain Petersen (Essex, IA), 19. Joey Danley (Lincoln, NE), 20. Richard Weers (Lincoln, NE)
B Feature: 1. Stu Snyder (Waverly, NE), 2. Nate Weiler (Omaha, NE), 3. Ron Love (Lincoln, NE), 4. Jason Danley (Lincoln, NE), 5. Blain Petersen (Essex, IA), 6. Tim Hilfiker (Greenwood, NE), 7. Nick Bryan (Lincoln, NE), 8. Ryan King (Bennet, NE), 9. Lee Bowes (Lincoln, NE), 10. Jason Becker (Lincoln, NE), 11. Boyd Peterson (Ithaca, NE), 12. Joe Miller (Vail, IA), 13. Jason Rakes (Hastings, NE)
Heat 1: 1. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 2. Jason Martin (Lincoln, NE), 3. Clint Benson (Papillion, NE), 4. Gene Ackland (Martell, NE), 5. Keith Dragoo (Lincoln, NE), 6. Ron Love (Lincoln, NE), 7. Blain Petersen (Essex, IA), 8. Nick Bryan (Lincoln, NE), 9. Jason Rakes (Hastings, NE), 10. Lee Bowes (Lincoln, NE)
Heat 2: 1. Trevor Grossenbacher (Hickman, NE), 2. Shayle Bade (Lincoln, ne), 3. Adam Gullion (Lincoln, NE), 4. Shon Pointer (Grand Island, NE), 5. Richard Weers (Lincoln, NE), 6. Nate Weiler (Omaha, NE), 7. Tim Hilfiker (Greenwood, NE), 8. Boyd Peterson (Ithaca, NE), 9. Joe Miller (Vail, IA)
Heat 3: 1. Mike Boston (Lincoln, NE), 2. Terry Richards (Denton, NE), 3. Matt Richards (Lincoln, NE), 4. Joey Danley (Lincoln, NE), 5. Toby Chapman (Panama, NE), 6. Stu Snyder (Waverly, NE), 7. Jason Danley (Lincoln, NE), 8. Ryan King (Bennet, NE), 9. Jason Becker (Lincoln, NE),