By Greg Soukup
Back in the day, Ernie Banks played baseball for the Chicago Cubs and his favorite saying was ‘Let’s play two!!!’ because he loved the game that much. This Memorial Day weekend, Eagle Raceway showed how much it loves its fans and drivers by saying ‘Let’s race two!!!!.’ Saturday evening was 1/3 mile Mayhem, presented by Mammoth Station and Hotsy.
Yesterday, the second part of the twin bill was Memorial Madness, presented by Quasar Drive-In in Valley, Nebraska.
Both nights provided some of the best racing action that you will see anywhere with car counts of 187 Saturday and 153 on Sunday. Great weather both days greeted the large crowds that filed through the front gates,, setting the stage for a weekend long to be remembered.
There were no serious incidents in the preliminary racing.
Before the main events began, a tribute was held by the light of glow sticks to remember not just those who had given their lives in service of our country, but also to recall those in our everyday lives. People had donated money to memorialize loved ones that had gone too soon, and the departed’s names were read after a moment of silence. A touching moment for those of us who recall them.
Stu Snyder’s 5, the 23 of Brandon Bosma, Jason Danley in the 4X and Nate Weiler’s 4W led the initial circuit of the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver main event. Shayle Bade’s 03 and Weiler both moved up a spot to third and fourth when Bosma got loose on lap 2 with Danley taking over second place. Billy Alley got past Weiler on lap 4, putting his #11 into fourth as Bade got past Danley to grab second. Alley moved up to third the next circuit. You could throw a blanket over the top 3 with 8 circuits remaining as the battle raged on. Alley managed to get past Bade for second with 3 to go. No further changes in the top 4 meant the victory went to Snyder with Alley second, Bade third and Danley fourth.
This was win #3 on the year for Snyder. I joked with Stu about his promise a few weeks back about winning every or every other week, and he said “But at least one of us (Stu and Bade are working from the same shop this season) in the last couple of weeks we’ve pretty much finished up front. With Shayle and I and everything that’s happening, we’re running really well. The track was tricky tonight. Even with starting out front that was a hell of a workout trying to get the car through a 25 lap green. white, checkered race without messing up. I was under the cushion, I was over the cushion, I was cutting through the middle in 3 and 4 trying to get through lapped traffic as quickly as I could to try and put cars behind me. I looked at the scoreboard about halfway through to see how many laps were left and I saw Shayle was there and I knew it was going to be a good night for our shop with us finishing 1, 2 or at least both of us on the podium. We’ve got good cars, we’re rolling good, but you know how this sport works; hero one week and zero the next week. We’ll try to keep the ball rolling, do the work in the shop and see what happens.” Stu’s sponsors include Leiting Motorsports, MRSNY Automotive, KRL Racing, SLS Motorsports, Stephenson’s Truck and RV Repair, Mr. Yards and More, Tailored Computers, Swirlfire Apparel, Simpson Racing Products, Harris Decals, Bully Brands, BR Motorsports, Speedway Engines and Gana Excavating.
Front gates open at 5:15 with hot laps at 5:45. Adult front gate admission is $15, youths 6-12 are just $5 and children 5 and under are free.
Pit gates open at 3:15 with pit admission being $30.
Racing begins at 6:30 with all 5 classes competing; AM Contracting IMCA Stock Cars, Avid Realty IMCA SportMods, S&L Trenching IMCA Modifieds, Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprint Cars and Valentino’s IMCA Hobby Stocks.
RESULTS:
IMCA RaceSaver Sprint Car
38 Entries
A Feature 1
25 Laps | 00:06:17.598
1. 5-Stuart Snyder[1]; 2. 11-Billy Alley[9]; 3. 03-Shayle Bade[6]; 4. 4X-Jason Danley[3]; 5. 77X-John Klabunde[7]; 6. 25-Gunnar Pike[16]; 7. 12-Tyler Drueke[20]; 8. 18W-Cole Wayman[12]; 9. 14-Joey Danley[19]; 10. 91-Adam Gullion[13]; 11. 9A-Hunter Hanson[15]; 12. 14N-Nick Barger[8]; 13. 11D-Dominic White[10]; 14. 4W-Nathan Weiler[5]; 15. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[4]; 16. 14G-Gene Ackland[17]; 17. 7C-Chris Morgan[11]; 18. 23-Brandon Bosma[2]; 19. 76-Jay Russell[14]; 20. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[18]
B Feature 1
12 Laps | 00:02:46.907
1. 14G-Gene Ackland[1]; 2. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[4]; 3. 14-Joey Danley[9]; 4. 12-Tyler Drueke[8]; 5. 23V-Michalob Voeltz[2]; 6. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[3]; 7. 14J-Josh Riggins[5]; 8. X-Dylan Waxdahl[11]; 9. 1B-Brandon Horton[12]; 10. 15-Kaden Schliemann[7]; 11. 2A-Alex Salzman[6]; 12. (DNS) 67-Waylon Phillips
C Feature 1
10 Laps | 00:06:08.476
1. 14-Joey Danley[4]; 2. 67-Waylon Phillips[5]; 3. X-Dylan Waxdahl[1]; 4. 1B-Brandon Horton[8]; 5. 6B-Bayley Ballenger[3]; 6. 4J-Jacob Gomola[9]; 7. 32-Trefer Waller[12]; 8. 3B-Blake Ballenger[6]; 9. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[13]; 10. 11C-Cole Cloud[10]; 11. 10-Brad Schreiner[11]; 12. 88-Kyle Tyler[7]; 13. 17JS-Julianna Satriano[14]; 14. 08-Chase Koelliker[2]
Heat 1
10 Laps | 00:02:27.311
1. 5-Stuart Snyder[2]; 2. 18W-Cole Wayman[1]; 3. 11-Billy Alley[6]; 4. 91-Adam Gullion[4]; 5. 14G-Gene Ackland[3]; 6. 14J-Josh Riggins[7]; 7. X-Dylan
Waxdahl[5]; 8. 67-Waylon Phillips[9]; 9. 4J-Jacob Gomola[8]; 10. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[10]
Heat 2
10 Laps | 00:05:33.831
1. 23-Brandon Bosma[7]; 2. 7C-Chris Morgan[3]; 3. 4X-Jason Danley[5]; 4. 76-Jay Russell[6]; 5. 23V-Michalob Voeltz[8]; 6. 2A-Alex Salzman[9]; 7. 08-Chase Koelliker[2]; 8. 3B-Blake Ballenger[1]; 9. 11C-Cole Cloud[4]; 10. 17JS-Julianna Satriano[10]
Heat 3
10 Laps | 00:06:45.077
1. 11D-Dominic White[6]; 2. 77X-John Klabunde[1]; 3. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[7]; 4. 9A-Hunter Hanson[9]; 5. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[5]; 6. 15-Kaden Schliemann[4]; 7. 6B-Bayley Ballenger[3]; 8. 88-Kyle Tyler[8]; 9. 10-Brad Schreiner[2]
Heat 4
10 Laps | 00:02:18.555
1. 03-Shayle Bade[1]; 2. 4W-Nathan Weiler[2]; 3. 14N-Nick Barger[4]; 4. 25-Gunnar Pike[7]; 5. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[6]; 6. 12-Tyler Drueke[9]; 7. 14-Joey Danley[5]; 8. 1B-Brandon Horton[8]; 9. 32-Trefer Waller[3]