VAN DER WAL NABS HAWKEYE DOWNS SPORTSMAN TITLE AS
BURKE, HINRICHS, ALLEN, FILLING, AND OSBORN POST WINS
(Cedar
Rapids, IA 082402)- Despite a trio of
rain showers that soaked the speedway Friday night, racing at Hawkeye Downs
went on as scheduled after about a two hour delay. “KRNA/KHAK Back to School
Night” featured racing in all five ASA Papa Johns Cup Iowa Wireless divisions.
The heats and dashes were scrapped after the rain delay with the features only
program lined up by an invert of average points.
Curt Van Der Wal secured his second
straight Budweiser Sportsmen points title by finishing second in the 25 lap
feature for that division. The race was won by Tom Burke, who picked up his
first win of the season.
Burke, of Nevada, IA, started
outside row two and avoided trouble behind him on the opening lap which saw
several cars collected in a crash after the car of Mel Schappert spun. Burk
took the lead on lap two and built a substantial lead as Van Der Wal,
Brian Franks, Craig Bender, and others battled through traffic. Van Der Wal,
cut into Burke’s lead after he cleared traffic but could draw no closer than a
car length as the checkers waved. Brian
Franks finished in third with Bender fourth and Kevin Lee fifth.
Kyle Hinrichs of Swisher picked up
his 7th win of the season in
the Foreman Hydraulics Legends, holding off Chris Sevey at the stripe. Eric
Appleget bolted into the lead early after starting outside the first row.
Appleget saw his lead erased after a caution which set up a great four car
battle between Appleget, Sevey, Hinrichs, and Ross Zumbach over the final ten
laps. Zumbach finished third with Appleget fourth and Crystal Horn fifth.
Hinrichs will win his first Foreman Hydraulics
Legends Championship by starting next week’s feature.
After starting off the evening by
singing the Star Spangled Banner, Brian Allen of Hiawatha found himself back in
Coca-Cola Victory Lane by winning the Miller Time Modified Feature.
After a first lap crash in turn
three forced a restart Allen cruised into the lead and left the rest of the
pack far behind. There were some great battles for second through fifth place
as Jim Williams, Larry Clausen, Mike Schulte and Johnny Spaw swapped positions
for several laps. Spaw was subbing for Arlo Becker in the familiar purple #88
Modified.
Larry Clausen crossed the stripe in
second behind Allen with Spaw finishing in third, Schulte fourth and Bob Gase
fifth.
Rodney Rocarek was uninjured in a
lap one crash which saw his #11 Modified flip on it’s top after hitting the
wall in turn three.
Mike Schulte has the opportunity to
win his 12th track championship next week.
Randy Filling of Toddville notched
the win in the Barron Motor Supply Super Stocks after starting outside row one.
Filling roared off to a big lead and was lapping slower traffic by the sixth
trip around the quarter-mile before picking up 3rd win of the
season. Back in the pack cars were running as many as four wide as the laps
ticked off.
With six laps to go the second through fifth place cars were
running nose-to-tail with Jim Hanson eventually securing second, Kurt Bohnsack
third, Brad Dvorak fourth, and Jeff
Franks fifth.
The point title is still very much
up for grabs with Bohnsack and Dvorak, who are team mates for Special K
Motorsports, battling for the title.
Chad Osborn, a rookie in the
Performance Concepts Late Models, picked up his second win of the 2002 season
Friday night, holding off point leader Johnny Spaw over the last several laps. Osborn, who also competes
on the dirt started in the second row and had the lead before ten laps were
scored.
A caution just past the halfway mark put Spaw on
Osborn’s bumper but the rookie was able to fend off several challenges from the
veteran Spaw over the last half of the race. Scott Delsing finished a very
strong third with Lorin Kurth fourth and Jeff King fifth. King was driving a car with the GM Powered fuel-injected
“spec” engine currently being tested at Hawkeye Downs.
Spaw helped his chances for another track
championship by finishing second and by virtue of the fact that both of the
other challengers for the title, Brian Gibson and TJ Schaefer, didn’t finish
the race.
The fans also proved themselves winners as they
waited out the rain and were rewarded with
some exciting racing.
The Rainbow Painting and Sandblasting Season
Championships are slated for Friday night, August 30. The event will also
feature an on-track autograph session at 6:30 pm. Race time is 7:30pm.
1.
Tom Burke, Nevada
2.
Curt Van Der Wal, Ankeny
3.
Brian Franks, Central City
4.
Craig Bender, Cedar Rapids
5.
Kevin Lee. Cedar Rapids
6.
Johnny Mudd. Cedar Rapids
7.
Martin Ballard, Marengo
8.
Ron Fisher, Shelldsburg
9.
John Henecke, Hiawatha
10.
Matt VanGelder, Oskaloosa
11.
Bob Ahrendsen, Cedar Rapids
12.
Paul Walder, Cedar Rapids
13.
Lyle Williams, Center Point
14.
JJ Meyer, Cedar Rapids
15.
Jerry Keeney
16.
Mel Schappert, Cedar Rapids
17.
Andy Duggan, Marion