COMMENTARY-Weekend Recap

Friday night we made the drive to Cameron, Missouri to watch the ASCS Midwest series at US 36 Raceway. After the carnage ended and the dust settled, Jack Dover won his fifth feature of the year.

My Take…

What an extremely disappointing car count! Only 13 sprinters showed up, and six ended up finishing the crash-filled A feature. Out of the thirteen car field, there were some strong teams including Dover, Billy Alley and Brian Brown. Coincidently, that was the top three A main finishing order.

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On the start of the A, Mike Boston and Natalie Sather touched wheels, with Sather getting the worse end of the collision. Sather took a tumble and was unable to make the re-start.

During Sather’s flip, the 21L of Mike Lefholz ran over some debris, causing him to flip near the entrance to turn one. As Lefholz’s car tumbled into the infield, it almost took out Hall of Fame photographer Joe Orth. Luckily for Orth, the car came to rest one flip shy of landing on top of him.

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Jay Russell’s back luck continued. Less than a week after a nasty crash at Eagle, Russell’s rear axle broke, causing him to get upside down again. It was another rough ride for the Elwood, Kansasdriver, but fortunately Russell was unhurt in the crash.

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Bobby Becker had a nice run, finishing fourth behind Brown in the A feature. Becker survived repeated pass attempts from Mike Boston, before Boston eventually succumbed to a flat tire during the late stages of the race.

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It was my first trip to Cameron, and despite the low car count, I thought it was a nice little track. It was an easy drive from Lincoln, and I’m already looking forward to watching some more shows there in the future-I just hope more than 13 cars show up!

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Saturday we returned to Eagle Raceway, and were treated to an entertaining A feature! Jack Dover again proved he was the driver to beat this weekend, winning his second feature in consecutive nights, and sixth of the season. However, Dover’s win was far from easy.

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Mike Boston nearly spoiled Dover’s perfect weekend. Boston used lap traffic to close on Dover, and nearly made a pass for the win at the two took the checkers.

Jason Danley was also in the mix for much of the race, and finished third. It was a great race, and one of the better features I’ve seen this year.

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While all eyes were watching the race up front, Josh Riggins quietly put together a nice run, finishing fourth behind Dover, Boston and Danley. Bobby Becker rounded out the top five.

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The track was in very nice shape all night, and there was plenty of cushion for the sprints to eat up when their feature started.

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Mark Pace had one of the night’s scarier moments. As they took the green flag for the B, Pace was forced up high and into trouble. As the cars went into turn one, Pace looked as though he was going to drive straight up the exit from the track and into the pits. Instead, Pace hit the implement tire barrier near the pit entrance, sending his car into the turn one fence and light pole.

Luckily, Pace was uninjured in the crash, and even took a moment to bow to the crowd upon his exit from the car. Pace sacrificed his car, but managed to keep from driving up into the pits and a potentially dangerous situation. Pace is a good guy, and despite his wreck on Saturday, turning into a very solid driver. I hope to see him back in action very soon!

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Jay Russell’s run of back luck continued on Saturday. Russell was able to purchase new parts after his Friday crash in Missouri, and rebuilt the back end of the car at the Speedway Motors parking lot on Saturday morning.

However, Russell was again plagued by rotten luck, and got upside down for the third time in a week. The incident happened during his heat race, so Russell was able to make repairs and transfer out of the B, eventually finishing 14th in the feature.

Hopefully Russell’s bad luck ended this weekend. He’s had a season’s worth of bad nights in just one week.

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Overall it was a real nice evening to be outside at the races. I’ll admit I felt a little strange not being in Knoxville, but it was nice to relax and enjoy the racing with my fiancée and friends atop section F.

I’ll be an Eagle regular through the rest of July before returning to my NOS duties in August.

And Finally…

It was a great weekend for Team Dover. Despite losing their crew chief Wayne Priddy, Jack Dover proved he could run fast on his own. It looks as though the team made the correct choice of staying home instead of running the ASCoT Speedweek.

Dover will look to extend his winning streak Friday night, as the ASCS sprinters make their way to the half-mile Crawford County Speedway near Dennison, Iowa.

I’ll be there to see it, and add another new track to my list.

Next Up…
7/18-ASCS Midwest, Crawford County Speedway
7/19-ASCS Midwest, Eagle Raceway