Following a silent weekend making way for the 64th Annual Hutchinson Grand Nationals, 81 Speedway’s weekly racing series roared back to life Saturday, July 25th atop the 3/8-mile Wichita, KS oval. Racing action saw the Alternative Pest Management USRA Modifieds, Chunky Poodle Rookie Modifieds, HeyGlassman.com Stock Cars, and the AutoTech Service Street Stock divisions on tap.
First out of the staging area for A-Feature action came the HeyGlassman.com Stock Cars. After a spirited battle with his father Craig in heat race action, Hutchinson’s Scott Miller took early control at the drop of the Klein Construction green flag and looked to be well on his way to a second consecutive win. Chris Holle’s #24 settled into second and a battle over third began to take shape between the 48 of Craig Miller, 12C of Clint Smith, and 82 of Joey Richmond. Disaster struck on lap 5 for leader Miller, an expired engine ending his night. On the ensuing restart, Chris Holle took firm control of racing action, while the 3-way battle for second raged on. At the checker Mt. Hope’s Holle claimed his first ever A-Feature victory. Clint Smith won the battle over second, Craig Miller took third, Joey Richmond finished fourth, and George Ramey rounded out the top 5. Heat race wins went to Holle, Smith, and Craig Miller.
In AutoTech Service Street Stock action, a dominating performance by Hutchinson, KS driver Greg Lynch saw him pilot his 321 machine to a clean sweep on the night, claiming both heat race and A-feature honors. Roger Winters, Duane Ware, Mike McIlvian, and Mark Courtright made up your top 5.
Timely cautions and strong restarts helped 18-year-old Dillon Moler from Wichita race to his first career A-Feature victory in Chunky Poodle Rookie Modified A-Feature action. Ponca City, OK’s Chris Lyons kept pressure on Moler, twice finding his way by the 78D. However, both passes were negated by Hoover Mower Sales caution flags that waved before the lap could be completed, relegating the 14L back to the second spot. Cautions continued to play a factor, and Moler utilized strong restarts out of the Chem-Wash Start Zone to create breathing room between himself and Lyons, streaking under the checker by a narrow 0.38 second margin of victory. Lyons, Andrew Wallace, and Walt Brookshire finished second through fourth. The night’s feel good story saw Wichita, KS native Brett Davis return to racing action. Davis claimed a top five finish, after a long recovery due to serious injuries sustained in an auto accident earlier this spring kept him out of the seat of his 65B machine. Heat race wins went to Lyons, Wallace, and Brookshire.
Debuting a brand new VanderBuilt Race Car, Wichita’s Brendon Gemmill raced to his second A-feature victory of 2020 in Alternative Pest Management USRA Modified action, attrition taking its toll on the rest of the field. Starting third, Gemmill wasted little time working by the 42 of Moses and 3J of Nightingale, claiming the lead by lap five. While Gemmill’s lead grew, Moses and Nightingale battled hard for second and Flyin’ Ryan McAninch stuck the nose of his 52 machine into the fray. McAninch worked his way under the 3J of Nightingale before the Hoover Mower Sales caution flag became a prevalent factor just after the midway point. A strong restart enabled McAninch to slip by the 42 of Moses for second and set his sight squarely on Gemmill for the lead. Using the speedway's bottom lane, McAninch drove under Gemmill briefly taking over the top spot. Not to be outdone, Gemmill worked the middle groove to power back around McAninch before another caution waved. While all eyes were on the battle up front, point leader Cody Schniepp worked his 21C machine through the field from seventeenth on the starting grid, lining up fourth on the ensuing restart. Timing the restart well, Schniepp drove to the bottom of the speedway in turn one trying to sneak under the 52 for second, but door to door contact with McAninch sent both drivers spinning, slowing the race once again. Jake Nightingale attempted late race heroics of his own, executing a slide job for the second spot at the exit of turn two, before ending his night against the outside barrier in turn three. The final restart saw the G51 of Lucas Gibbs take his shot at the G3, but Gemmill proved too strong holding on for the win. Gibbs, Moses, C. Schniepp, and Colton Eck were the top five finishers on the night, with heat race wins going to Nightingale and Gemmill.
Racing returns to 81 Speedway next Saturday, August 1st, with Alternative Pest Management / USRA Modifieds, Chunky Poodle Rookie Modifieds, Heyglassman.com Stock Cars and Mini Stocks. Racing begins at 7:00 PM. For more information make sure to visit www.race81speedway.com and 81 Speedway on Facebook and Twitter.
7/25/2020 at 81 Speedway
Heyglassman.com Stock Cars
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 24-Chris Holle[4]; 2. 12C-Clint Smith[5]; 3. 48-Craig Miller[1]; 4. 82-Joey Richmond[3]; 5. 76-George Ramey[6]; 6. 67-Austin Ramey[8]; 7. 60-Andrew Wallace[15]; 8. 47-Robert Foster[14]; 9. 924-Lionel Stillwell[11]; 10. F0-AJ Finch[9]; 11. 7B-Justin Snodgrass[13]; 12. M18-Dakota Dellinger[16]; 13. 1-Scott Miller[2]; 14. 3X-Ray Ketner[12]; 15. 23-Joel Hill[7]; 16. (DNF) 55S-Matthew Scheuermann[10]; 17. (DNS) 42JR-David Squier; 18. (DNS) 17D-Austin Aumiller
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 24-Chris Holle[1]; 2. 82-Joey Richmond[6]; 3. 23-Joel Hill[4]; 4. 924-Lionel Stillwell[2]; 5. 7B-Justin Snodgrass[5]; 6. (DNS) 42JR-David Squier
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 12C-Clint Smith[1]; 2. 76-George Ramey[3]; 3. F0-AJ Finch[2]; 4. 55S-Matthew Scheuermann[5]; 5. 47-Robert Foster[4]; 6. 60-Andrew Wallace[6]
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 48-Craig Miller[1]; 2. 1-Scott Miller[5]; 3. 67-Austin Ramey[4]; 4. 3X-Ray Ketner[3]; 5. (DNF) M18-Dakota Dellinger[2]; 6. (DNS) 17D-Austin Aumiller
AutoTech Service Street Stocks
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 321-Greg Lynch[1]; 2. 64-Roger Winters[2]; 3. 416-Duane Ware[6]; 4. 54-Mike McIlvian[4]; 5. 84T-Mark Courtright[5]; 6. (DNF) 36-Chris Purkey[3]; 7. (DNF) 76R-Bobby Rudd[7]; 8. (DNS) 132-David Blevins; 9. (DNS) 57-Andy McElfresh
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 321-Greg Lynch[1]; 2. 64-Roger Winters[4]; 3. 36-Chris Purkey[6]; 4. 54-Mike McIlvian[3]; 5. 416-Duane Ware[5]; 6. 84T-Mark Courtright[9]; 7. 76R-Bobby Rudd[7]; 8. (DNF) 132-David Blevins[8]; 9. (DNS) 57-Andy McElfresh
The Chunky Poodle Rookie Modifieds
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 78D-Dillon Moler[2]; 2. 14L-Chris Lyons[4]; 3. 06-Andrew Wallace[5]; 4. 61-Walt Brookshire[3]; 5. 65B-Brett Davis[8]; 6. 37D-Dakota Dale[12]; 7. 45-Scott Squier[11]; 8. 11C-Chas Klinkner[14]; 9. 54-Jim Roney[9]; 10. 020-Fred Freeman[6]; 11. 97-Zach Prather[10]; 12. 34R-Jayme Ridpath[18]; 13. 3-Austin Krogmeier[7]; 14. (DNF) 2-Rustin Wilson[1]; 15. (DNF) 38-Cody Johnson[17]; 16. (DNF) 13-Josh Barnes[19]; 17. (DNF) 41J-Brady Lanphier[16]; 18. (DNF) 15-Jason Denny[21]; 19. (DNF) 68-Billy Hardin[15]; 20. (DNF) 32-Jeff Richey[13]; 21. (DNS) 7C-Ray Horton; 22. (DNS) 311-Jason Richey
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 14L-Chris Lyons[6]; 2. 78D-Dillon Moler[4]; 3. 45-Scott Squier[3]; 4. 37D-Dakota Dale[5]; 5. 32-Jeff Richey[7]; 6. 41J-Brady Lanphier[1]; 7. 34R-Jayme Ridpath[8]; 8. 7C-Ray Horton[2]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 06-Andrew Wallace[1]; 2. 020-Fred Freeman[2]; 3. 65B-Brett Davis[5]; 4. 54-Jim Roney[7]; 5. 11C-Chas Klinkner[4]; 6. (DNF) 15-Jason Denny[3]; 7. (DNF) 311-Jason Richey[6]
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 61-Walt Brookshire[4]; 2. 3-Austin Krogmeier[1]; 3. 2-Rustin Wilson[6]; 4. 97-Zach Prather[7]; 5. 68-Billy Hardin[5]; 6. 38-Cody Johnson[2]; 7. 13-Josh Barnes[3]
Alternative Pest Management USRA Modifieds
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. G3-Brendon Gemmill[3]; 2. G51-Lucas Gibbs[11]; 3. 42-Darren Moses[1]; 4. 21C-Cody Schniepp[17]; 5. 747-Colton Eck[15]; 6. 71-Patrick McManus[8]; 7. 5*-Jason McGehee[4]; 8. 69-Cecil Dymond[7]; 9. (DNF) 52-Ryan McAninch[5]; 10. (DNF) 3J-Jake Nightingale[2]; 11. (DNF) 40-Jason Yager[9]; 12. (DNF) 44-Braden Stoner[10]; 13. (DNF) 7J-Jerry Eveland[12]; 14. (DNF) 21B-Bryce Schniepp[6]; 15. (DNF) 2W-Richard Wilson[16]; 16. (DNS) X6-Dylan Allen; 17. (DNS) 7CJ-Chris Eveland
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3J-Jake Nightingale[3]; 2. 21B-Bryce Schniepp[7]; 3. 5*-Jason McGehee[8]; 4. 69-Cecil Dymond[2]; 5. (DNF) 7CJ-Chris Eveland[4]; 6. (DNF) X6-Dylan Allen[1]; 7. (DNF) 747-Colton Eck[5]; 8. (DNF) 2W-Richard Wilson[6]; 9. (DNF) 21C-Cody Schniepp[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. G3-Brendon Gemmill[1]; 2. 42-Darren Moses[5]; 3. 52-Ryan McAninch[6]; 4. 71-Patrick McManus[2]; 5. 40-Jason Yager[7]; 6. 44-Braden Stoner[4]; 7. G51-Lucas Gibbs[8]; 8. 7J-Jerry Eveland[3]