By Greg Soukup
It was warm and windy when Accelerated Graphx presented the Cracklin’ Classic at Eagle Raceway Saturday night. The fans were treated to some of the best racing so far this season, and the kids enjoyed a color run at intermission.
There were two incidents leading up the A Features, both in the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Cars. Nick Bryan’s car rolled in hot laps and Neil Nickolite flipped hard in the second sprint heat. Bryan was not seriously injured and was able to make repairs to his cars and roll out for the B Feature. Nickolite opted to be transported for observation by private vehicle.
The initial start of the Racesaver IMCA Sprint Car finale was called back when the 44 of Keith Dragoo jumped the start. Dragoo led the first official lap with Doug Lovegrove’s 1, the 100 of Clint Benson and Adam Gullion’s 91 following. Lap 2 saw Benson pass Lovegrove for second. Trevor Grossenbacher jumped up to third on lap 5 but the pass was negated when Ryan King did a 360 degree spin in turns 1 and 2 and the yellow caution lights were lit. Lap 6 saw Dragoo pull into the infield, putting Grossenbacher fourth. Gullion pulled a big slide job on Benson in turns 1 and 2 two laps later for the lead. Grossenbacher got past Lovegrove the next lap to take third. Tyler Drueke put the #12 into fourth on lap 14. Benson and Drueke made slight contact with 8 to go, dropping Benson to fourth. Shon Pointer’s 20P stopped in turn 4 with just 1 lap left to set up a green, white, checker finish. Zach Blurton used the restart to put the 2J into fourth making the final top 4 Gullion, Lovegrove, Grossenbacher and Blurton.
Gullion’s first 2017 victory at Eagle Raceway moved him into second place in points, just 2 markers behind Grossenbacher after previous points leader Joey Danley have motor problems all evening. “It’s been a little while. We busted off 3 in a row last year and then my crew chief who is my best friend and a salesman for me at Precise Roofing who had been with me a long time got burned. It completely disrupted everything last year and I don’t think we could hit our behinds if our hands were glued there! He came back and we started to turn things around for the Nationals where we lost a magneto. Then, this year we got a different car and we’ve got some different equipment. We changed a few things with our shock package. So, we’re trying to learn things all over again, but we’re still struggling. I went really, really aggressive with our set-up for the feature; far more than I have in the past. I committed to the bottom for the first few laps and then Trevor actually got a really good run on us and passed me and I think even got past Doug on the backstretch but we got a yellow. So, I’m thinking ‘Either I’m going to get passed trying or if I stay on the bottom he’s going to pass me’. So, I had to give it a shot. I started running the top, trying to be consistent, hitting my marks and getting through traffic when it came. Things just kind of fell our way. When you’re out front and it’s slick you never really know where everybody’s coming from, where they’re catching you at or where you’re beating them. So, I kind of started searching around. I guess we were out to a pretty big lead before that last caution and I think we pulled away a little after it. All in all, I think we had a pretty good night. Hopefully we can turn this into an even bigger positive and turn the rest of our season around. I knew Doug was going to be running the bottom. I’ve known him a long time and talk to him a couple of times a week, so I knew he’d be down there. I got lucky with Trevor showing me the top; I probably wouldn’t have gone up there and tried it if he hadn’t done that. Sometimes it pays to get those breaks and in my case it did. I need to thank everyone who’s stood behind me for so long. People like that pay off when you can win. After you struggle and then get a win it makes everything a little bit more worthwhile. We’re coming into the second half of the season now, so we’ll see if we can’t pick up some momentum” said Gullion. Gullion’s sponsors include Cheetah Racing Engines, King Racing Products, BE Motorsports, Octane Ink, Pro Shocks, Midwest Roofing Supply, Walker Air Filtration, Red Devil Brakes, Weld Wheels, Shoenfeld Headers, Butlerbuilt, Simpson and Filley Custom Powdercoating .
Next up is this coming Tuesday, June 13th. The Craftsman World of Outlaws returns to America’s Home Track after a 5-year hiatus for the 2017 Eagle Nationals. Front gates open at 4 P.M. and the Pit Gates will open at 2. Hot laps will kick off at 6:30, qualifying starts at 7 with racing beginning at 7:30. For ticket information and pricing, please visit https://slspromotions.ticketforce.com/ordertickets.asp?p=229&src=eventperformances
RESULTS:
IMCA Sprint A-Feature
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
1. Adam Gullion 91
Lincoln, Ne
2. Doug Lovegrove 1
Waverly, Ne
3. Trevor Grossenbacher 35
Hickman, Ne
4. Zach Blurton 2J
Quinter, Ks
5. Matt Richards 1R
Lincoln, Ne
6. Clint Benson 100
Papillion, Ne
7. Tyler Drueke 12
Eagle, Ne
8. Terry Richards 18
Denton, Ne
9. Toby Chapman 7KX
Panama, Ne
10. Ryan King 93
Bennet, Ne
11. Mike Boston 51
Lincoln, Ne
12. Shayle Bade 03
Lincoln, Ne
13. Nathan Weiler 4W
Lavista, Ne
14. Gene Ackland 14G
Martell, Ne
15. Tim Hilfiker 20
Greenwood, Ne
16. Nick Bryan 52
Lincoln, Ne
17. Dan Satriano 17
Papillion, Ne
18. Shon Pointer 20P
Grand Island, Ne
19. Boyd Peterson 57B
Ithaca, Ne
20. Keith Dragoo 44
Lincoln, Ne
IMCA Sprint B-Feature
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
5. Chase Weiler 0
Lincoln, Ne
6. Ron Love 5
Lincoln, Ne
7. Jimmy Grasso 8G
Omaha, Ne
8. Tim Fricke 62
Lincoln, Ne
9. Chad Fegley 77D
Eagle, Ne
10. Brandon Horton 1B
Omaha, Ne
11. Paul Hendrickson 19JR
Lincoln, Ne
12. Jason Miller 77
Omaha, Ne
13. Joey Danley 14
Lincoln, Ne
DNS Neil Nickolite 12N
Bellwood, Ne
1. Terry Richards 18
Denton, Ne
2. Ryan King 93
Bennet, Ne
3. Mike Boston 51
Lincoln, Ne
4. Gene Ackland 14G
Martell, Ne
IMCA Sprint Heat 1
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
1. Clint Benson 100
Papillion, Ne
2. Shon Pointer 20P
Grand Island, Ne
3. Doug Lovegrove 1
Waverly, Ne
4. Tim Hilfiker 20
Greenwood, Ne
5. Terry Richards 18
Denton, Ne
6. Chase Weiler 0
Lincoln, Ne
7. Jason Miller 77
Omaha, Ne
8. Joey Danley 14
Lincoln, Ne
IMCA Sprint Heat 2
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
1. Adam Gullion 91
Lincoln, Ne
2. Matt Richards 1R
Lincoln, Ne
3. Shayle Bade 03
Lincoln, Ne
4. Dan Satriano 17
Papillion, Ne
5. Paul Hendrickson 19JR
Lincoln, Ne
6. Chad Fegley 77D
Eagle, Ne
7. Tim Fricke 62
Lincoln, Ne
8. Neil Nickolite 12N
Bellwood, Ne
IMCA Sprint Heat 3
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
1. Keith Dragoo 44
Lincoln, Ne
2. Trevor Grossenbacher 35
Hickman, Ne
3. Nick Bryan 52
Lincoln, Ne
4. Zach Blurton 2J
Quinter, Ks
5. Gene Ackland 14G
Martell, Ne
6. Mike Boston 51
Lincoln, Ne
7. Brandon Horton 1B
Omaha, Ne
IMCA Sprint Heat 4
Driver Nbr
------------------------------ -----
1. Tyler Drueke 12
Eagle, Ne
2. Nathan Weiler 4W
Lavista, Ne
3. Boyd Peterson 57B
Ithaca, Ne
4. Toby Chapman 7KX
Panama, Ne
5. Ryan King 93
Bennet, Ne
6. Ron Love 5
Lincoln, Ne
7. Jimmy Grasso 8G
Omaha, Ne