Vermillion County Speedway
Illinois Sprint Week June 9th, 2009
There were 35 sprints and 30 modified for the $2000 to win sprint show and $1000 to win modified show....
At the sign in gate I ran into two of my friends WES McCLARA AND CRAIG CONYER. as they were signing in... always nice to talk with...... also ran into Karen Hayden and was introduced to her very cute son Derek....
I headed for the pit..my first stop was at KENT ROBINSON'S #7R to say hello and see his mom Becky... Chris Nunn had rode over with them.. Chris helped out in the tower tonight with JOe and Karen............ Chris told me he had been under the weather lately and was in hospital on sunday...take care of yourself Chris !!!!
Kent was setting in his golf cart with the #38 sprint driver JEFF BLAND,JR... I had interviewed Jeff a few years ago when he was just a rookie in a modified... sooooo I took the opportunity to update..
Next I ran into the most interesting family ....the SIMON'S.... Landon Simon is the third generation to race... his grandpa Jim and his dad Chris and Uncle Steve all raced before him... now he and his cousin Kyle races.......Kyle and Landon's dad's are brothers.... you have to read Landon's interview.... he was shot point blank in the chest by a 12 gauge shotgun and three months later was in a car accident......all I can say is he has an angel with him.... I interviewed him, his cousin Kyle, his dad Chris and his grandpa Jim..... very very nice people...
From there I interviewed Scott Weir, Shane Cottle, AJ Anderson, Casey Riggs, and Wade Seiler...
On way back I was introduced to Nick Bilbee #17 sprint driver and grabbed an interview with him... He was not racing tonight...
The hot laps were starting so I headed to the grandstand..
They qualified the sprints tonight....
FAST QUALIFIER WAS : BRYAN CLAUSEN with 13.271
2..Brady Short 13.328
3..Ricky Williams 13.347
4..Jon Stanbrough 13.380
5..Bobby East 13.417
6..Chris Windom 13.429
7..Shane Cottle 13.431
8..Jeff Bland,Jr 13.467
9..Hud cone 13.585
10..Casey Riggs 13.605
11..Casey Shuman 13.640
12..Billy Rose 13.722
13..Kyle Robbins 13.737
14..Chris Urish 13.744
15..Bret Tripplett 13.756
16..John Memmer 13.765
17..Mitch Wissmiller 13.778
18..Gary "Bubba" Altig 13.805
19..Scotty Weir 13.830
20..AJ Anderson 13.832
21..Nic Faas 13.839
22..Coleman Gulick 13.872
23..Blake Nimee 13.875
24..Korey Weyant 14.013
25..Tommy Rockwell 14.090
26..Landon Simon 14.204
27..Nick Fisher 14.244
28..Jimmy Davies 14.283
29..Steve Thomas 14.343
30..Chad Branson 14.348
31..Wade Seiler 14.358
32..Kyle Simon 14.384
33..JC Bland 14. 502
34..Al Thomas 14.640
35..Greg Boyd no time
heats were 10 laps...top 4 to the feature
heat one
17f Nic Faas............23 Mitch Wissmiller
17R Kyle Robbins.....7x Hud Cone
Bobby East.............7 Bryan Clausen
Tommy Rockwell......Steve Thomas
JC Bland
the #17f of Faas led the whole race with Wissmiller in second.....after crossing the line in 2nd Wissmiller's motor blew...oil and water was running on the track.... too bad... he looked really good...
so finish was Faas....Clausen....Cone and East.....to feature...
heat two
Coleman Gulick........Gary Altig
Chris Urish.............Casey Riggs
Chris Windom.........Brady Short
Landon Simon........Chad Branson
Al Thomas
before the start of the race the #71 of Branson pulls off the track.....
the #67 of Altig got into the lead and stayed there til the finish..
To the feature are Altig, Riggs, Windom and Brady Short..............
heat three
Blake Nimee.............Scotty Weir
Bret Tripplett...........Casey Shuman
Shane Cottle...........Ricky Williams
Nick Fisher.............Wade Seiler ##### both these drivers were scratches
Greg Boyd
Greg Boyd could not get his sprint to fire...had to go off track...
the 34 of Anderson took the lead and stayed there...
to feature were: Scotty Weir, Shane Cottle, Casey Shuman and Ricky Williams..
heat four
Korey Weyant............AJ Anderson
John Memmer.............Billy Rose
Jeff Bland,jr...............Jon Stanbrough
Jim Davies................Kyle Simon
to feature are AJ Anderson, Jeff Bland,jr....Jon Stanbrough and John Memmer...
consi was 15 laps...top five to feature...
flagger did not like the start.... 3 cars collide in turn 2.... the #72 of Thomas, the #95 of Rockwell and I did not catch the third...
Tripplett gets high and goes off burm in turn two but came back on and kept going....next lap he pulls off the track....
a caution comes out for the #71 of Branson who comes to a stop between one and two...the #71 brings out a 2nd caution ...he has to exit the track...
#6 of Rose has led every lap...
The #24 of Landon Simon gets his two front wheels off the ground... looked like he would go over but didn't ..but did spin.....having no where to go another sprint ran into the back of him...Kyle Simon also stopped on track at same time...
Five to feature: Billy Rose #6..Blake Nimee #79...Chris Urish #77..Coleman Gulick #14x and Korey Weyant #99......
FEATIRE///////
line up
10 Cottle....17w Windom
53 Stanbrough...11w Williams
36 Short....7c Clausen
38 Bland,jr...Cone 7x
37 Riggs...21x Shuman
4m Memmer...67 Altig
5w Wier.....34 Anderson
17f Faas....6 Rose
77u Urish....14x Gulick
79 Nimee...Weyant
This was a good race... the 17w of Windom took the early lead with Cottle on his tail...wasn't long before the #53 of Stanbrough had slipped his way into second...
then it was Windom..Stanbrough, Cottle and Williams , Short and Clausen
the 11 gets by Cottle
now running order is Windom, Stanbrough, Williams, Clausen, Short, Bland, Shuman and Cottle..
by halfway mark i had lost track... I knew that Stanbrough and Clausen had fought a tough battle with Clausen briefly getting past Jon... then Jon took off and had a large lead over the rest of the cars...Brady Short had earned 2nd spot and Clausen had dropped to 3rd...
Finsh......
1..53 Jon Stanbrough (3)
2..36 Brady Short (5)
3..7 Bryan Clausen (6)
4..17..Chris Windom (2)
5..38 Jeff Bland,jr (7)
6..4m John Memmer (11)
7..10 Shane Cottle (1)
8..11u Ricky Williams (4)
9..21x Casey Shuman (10)
10..37 Casey Riggs (9)
11..5 Scottie Weir (13)
12..79 Blake Nimee (19)
13..A J Anderson (14)
14..17f Nic Faas (15)
15..77u Chris Urish (17)
16..67 Gary Altig (12)
17..14x Coleman Gulick (18)
18..99w Korey Weyant (20)
19..7x Hud Cone (8)
20..Billy Rose (16)
great racing guys !!!! goodluck with the rest of week whether it is in Illinois or Indiana....
In the modifieds there were three heats with ten in each one.... there was a late arrival of #32 of Lodge making it 30 cars instead of 29..
Five cars to feature...
heat one
04 Robert Albright...7L Jay Ledford
15j Jimmy Hayden...45m Wes McClara
6b Dave Baldwin...2f Josh Ferguson
24 Jim Ransom....2h Brian Hayden
64 Gary Cook,jr...62 Randy Shuman
first caution came out for the #2h of Brian Hayden who gets sideways collecting the #24 of Ransom and the #6 of Baldwin.... the 6 and 2h have to be pulled off track...
the #7L of Ledford leads the whole race with the #45m of McClara on his tail....
the #04 of Albright pulls off the track...
five to feature are: Jay Ledford...Wes McClara..Gary Cook,jr...Jimmy Hayden and Randy Shuman...
heat two.............wow..is this one ever stacked..
39 Marvin Burton...#10hMark Auler
33r Gary Ricketts...21d Danny Schwartz
00r Tony Roland...21 Derek Losh
22s Chad Kinder...21s Denny Schwartz
40r Tim Reynolds...89 Mike Spatola
on the start the #21 of Losh brings out caution when he goes over burm in turn 2..to tail...I was watching Kinder so did not get too much else of what was going on... the 21s of Schwartz was in 2nd place but went over burn............he pulled off before finish of race...
five to feature are Mark Auler...Danny Schwartz...Tony Roland...Chad Kinder and Marvin Burton...
heat three..
01 Heremy Nichols....88s Alan Stipp
P51 Derrick Hufford...#31v Phil VanSant
#144 Ryan Cary ..#44 Roger Cary
#7r Kent Robinson..#G1 Gabe Menser
#T9 Ryan Thomas
false start....Cary #44 over burm...on restart he almost went over again... he goes to tail...Kent Robinson was on the move to front when coming out of turn three he ran out of room having to go thru the infield and back on losing some spots......
five to feature: Jeremy Nichols...Derrick Hufford...Ryan Thomas up from tail...Alan Stipp and Phil VanSant...
consi...top five to feature
top two cars are Ferguson and Menser....
Ferguson gets out to the lead and led most the way but half way thru when the #2h of Hayden spins collecting the #144 of Ryan Cary bringing out the caution....meantime the #3f of Ferguson was stopped on the backstretch... after leading half the race he is pushed off the track...
the #21s of Denny Schwartz does a repeat of what he did in his heat going over the burm in turn one...he just keeps on going and heads to the pit....
the five going on o the feature are: Gabe Menser...Tim Reynolds...Kent Robinson...MIke Spatola...and Donovan Lodge....
feature....25 laps for $1000...
lineup
7L Jay Ledford....10h Mark Auler
01 Jeremy Nichols...45m Wes McClara
00r Tony Roland...P51 Derrick Hufford
64 Gary Cook,jr...21d Danny Schwartz
T9 Ryan Thomas...15j Jimmy Hayden
22s Chad Kinder....88s Alan Stipp
62 Randy Shuman...39 Marvin Burton
31v Phil Vansant...G1 Gabe Menser
40r Tim Reynolds...7r Kent Robinson
89 Mike Spatola...32 Donovan Lodge
first caution comes out for the #10 of Auler who spins in turn two.... he is not too happy with the P51 of Hufford and lets him know it... he has to go to tail..
the #7L led the whole race but NOT EASILY.... that #45m of Wes McClara was all over his tail.... Wes gave him a run for that $1000 coming up just a little shy of taking him...
second caution came out when the #62 of Shuman gets sideways and collected the #31v of Vansant, the #7r of Robinson and the #89 of Spatola.... Spatola did not stop in track but got his back panel bent in pretty good... #62 is taken off track by wrecker... #7r stays in but to tail...
While the #7L and the #45m were having their own race the #64 of Cook had slipped up to third from 7th... ......the 01 held off Cook , Hufford, Schwartz, Thomas and Kinder..... the #64 made his way around Nichols..... finally the #T9 got around...Kinder was trying the high , the low and finally made it around the #01 of Nichols .....meantime Tim Reynolds had made his way up from 17th to do battle with the #01... he gets around
finish;
1..7L Jay Ledford (1)
2..Wes McClara (4)...........WHAT A RUN FOR YOU WES !!!!!
3..64 Gary Cook,jr (7)
4..T9 Ryan Thomas (9) **you keep this up Ryan we will get those five sold...lol
5..22s Chad Kinder (11) if you could have got around the 01 sooner who knows....
6..40r Tim Reynolds (17) another week of running really strong Tim !!!
7..01 Jeremy Nichols (3)
8..21d Danny Schwartz (8)
9..89 Mike Spatola (19) you were on the move Opie..
10..P51 Derrick Hufford (6)
11..32 Donovan Lodge (20) you were picking them off
12..G1 Gabe Menser (16 ) sure does look good seeing u out there
13..31v Phil Vansant (15) need to get an interview with u
14..39 Marvin Burton (14)
15..10h Mark Auler (2)..need an interview
16..00r Tony Roland (5)
17..88 Alan Stipp (12)
18..15j Jimmy Hayden (10)
19..7r Kent Robinson (18) sorry u had a bad night..
20..Randy Shuman. (13) crashed
Great job Wes McClara..... another couple of laps .... maybe !!!!
Again ..thankyou Joe and Karen for the result sheets... much appreciated....
good food once again....ask my husband.....
on way home we saw five deer and two very close calls... I oculd even see the spots on one deer..
Looking forward to seeing all of you again..
cj