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June 6th Provenzano launches LaSalle Speedway opener in style
By: Betty Glynn
La Salle, IL – Mike Provenzano, of Marseilles, scored his first Late Model victory at La Salle Speedway Saturday night with a full moon hiding behind the clouds. The former Kankakee Motor Speedway track champion had been absent from the Illinois Valley track until the new rules for division brought him back to his old stomping ground. His season opener win launched the 2009 points chase.
The Late Models format includes a number draw for the heat position, along with a passing points system which determines the dash and feature grid. The top six passing point’s earners duke it out in the Rhyne Competition Engines sponsored dash event to decide the top six starting spots of the main event.
Jason Jaggers and Roger Markham earned the front row starting positions in front of Provenzano and Ed Williams Sr. A pair of former track champions, Roger Markham and Keith Piano, rolled into the third row. Just after the start line it was Jaggers pulling away from Provenzano with Ralph, Roger, Mike Glynn and Piano.
Jaggers and Provenzano quickly started to distance themselves from the other sixteen contenders while brothers Ralph and Roger battled for third. During the eighth lap of the circuit, Provenzano pulled up next to Jaggers for a shot at the lead. His first attempt was successful and he managed to pull ahead by a nose length before the next lap was scored. Glynn was catching Ralph from a low line and made his pass during the beginning of Lap 12 but a caution halted any chance of side by side racing between the two. The final single file restart returned the field to the previous lap standings.
From then on the twenty five lap feature event was mostly uneventful with too much distance between the first and second place cars for any real action up front. Glynn’s low line run was not enough for a powerful highside charge by Ralph.
Provenzano didn’t have to protect his lead as he flew solo to the checkers ahead of Jaggers, Ralph, Glynn, Rich Bell, Piano, Aaron Schmitt, Busch, Ed Williams Jr., John Piccatto, Jim Loomis, Ed Williams Sr., Roger Markham, John Small, Jeff Small, Wagner, Knutti, and Travis Mahoney.
Jaggers secured his pole with the dash win while Roger Markham, Provenzano and Ed Williams Sr. crossed the finish line behind him. Provenzano was uncontested in the first heat race with Ralph Markham, who came from the tail of the grid, finishing in second. Roger Markham and Piccatto crossed third and fourth. Ed Williams Sr. won the second heat from the front row outside over Piano, Glynn and Jaggers.
Reigning Open Wheel Modified track champ Vince Cooper started his twenty lap feature event in the same place as Provenzano on the grid and finished in much the same order. Cooper was unstoppable from the end of the second lap on. He took command from pole sitter Brad Stewart to lead by more than a quarter of the track’s distance at times.
During the early laps, Cooper was all alone while Joe Adam, Matthew Grimerger, Jason Anderson and Dale Lueth gave chase. Several cautions during their main brought the action back into a single file format but without hesitation Cooper flew his machine on a solo mission.
Ninth place starter Nathan Balensiefen charged his way to the front by Lap 11. With four laps unscored a side by side challenge between second place runner Adam and Grimerger ended in Grimerger’s favor.
Cooper cruised to an easy win over Grimerger, Adam, Balensiefen, Tom Knippenberg, Lueth, Justin McCoy, Travis Kohler, Mike Marden and Mark Vervynk.
Cooper won heat number one over McCoy, Adam, and Marden. Brad Stewart won the second in front of Grimerger, Lueth and Anderson.
Steve Lewis swept the Street Stock division winning both his heat and feature races. Lewis carried the field of seventeen flag to flag for the fifteen lap main event. Rick Koltveit ran a strong second finishing in front of Jimmy Partipilo, Randy Lucas, Alex Clubb, Gary Schmitt, David McKinney, Matt Ramer, Roger Rickels, Darryl Matthews, Jay Mesarchik, Mark Gradert, and Steve Schwemlein.
Jeff Semmens won the first heat finishing in front of Koltveit, Partipilo, and Lucas. The Street Stock’s last heat race might have been led by the full moon affect. A six car pile up betweens turns one and two ended with Nick Sell leaving the clay oval on a stretcher and quite a few cars done for the night. Sell spent the night in ICU with a concussion but was released the next day. During the final lap, Lewis made a last minute pass and a quick slide in front of Alex Clubb to steal the win. Marty Gradert and Mesarchik topped off the top four.
A fight to the finish ended with Phil Burdette putting forth a dramatic finish en route to victory circle for the Hornet division. Nick Clubb ended the event in second over Mike Morrow, #0, Asa Robart, Larson, Brown, Seitz, Legner, Alm, DJ Kilanowski, and Breitbarth.
La Salle Speedway Scoreboard Results 06/06/09
Late Models – 18 Cars
Rhyne Competition Engines Dash: Jason Jaggers, Roger Markham, Mike Provezano, Ed Williams Sr.
Heat One: Mike Provezano, Ralph Markham, Roger Markham, John Piccatto
Heat Two: Ed Williams Sr., Keith Piano, Mike Glynn, Jason Jaggers
Feature: 1. Mike Provezano, 2. Jason Jaggers, 3. Ralph Markham, 4. Mike Glynn, 5. Rich Bell, 6. Keith Piano, 7. Aaron Schmitt, 8. Busch, 9. Ed Williams Jr., 10. John Piccatto, 11. Jim Loomis, 12. Ed Williams Sr., 13. Roger Markham, 14. John Small, 15. Jeff Small, 16. Wagner, 17. Knutti, 18. Travis Mahoney
UMP Modifieds – 16 Cars
Heat One: Vince Cooper, Justin McCoy, Joe Adam, Mike Marden
Heat Two: Brad Stewart, Matthew Grimerger, Dale Lueth, Jason Anderson
Feature: 1. Vince Cooper, 2. Matthew Grimerger, 3. Joe Adam, 4. Nathan Balensiefen, 5. Tom Knippenberg, 6. Dale Lueth, 7. Justin McCoy, 8. Travis Kohler, 9. Mike Marden, 10. Mark Vervynk, 11. Don Cole, 12. Brad Carrington, 13. Brad Stewart, 14. Paul Smith, 15. Jason Bahrs, 16. Jason Anderson
UMP Street Stocks – 23 Cars
Heat One: Jeff Semmons, Rick Koltveit, Jimmy Partipilo, Randy Lucas
Heat Two: Steve Lewis, Alex Clubb, Marty Gradert, Jay Mesarchik
Feature: 1. Steve Lewis, 2. Rick Koltveit, 3. Jimmy Partipilo, 4. Randy Lucas, 5. Alex Clubb, 6. Gary Schmitt, 7. David McKinney, 8. Matt Ramer, 9. Roger Rickels, 10. Darryl Matthews, 11. Jay Mesarchik, 12. Mark Gradert, 13. Steve Schwemlein, 14. Matt Hughes, 15. Jeff Semmens, 16. Justin Rutledge, 17. Danny Deutsch
UMP Hornets – 21 Cars
Heat One: Mark Sutton, Jamie Deford, Phil Burdette, Mike Morrow
Heat Two: Harold Reiter, #51, Nick Clubb, Chad Williams
Feature: 1. Phil Burdette, 2. Nick Clubb, 3. Mike Morrow, 4. #0, 5. Asa Robart, 6. Larson, 7. Brown, 8. Seitz, 9. Legner, 10. Alm, 11. DJ Kilanowski, 12. Breitbarth, 13. Cain, 14. Deford, 15. Mark Sutton, 16. #51, 17. Reiter, 18. Williams
May 28th Unzicker is the Monster of the Midwest at La Salle Speedway
By: Betty Glynn
La Salle, IL – El Paso racer Ryan Unzicker had forty laps to prove himself as the top monster Thursday night at La Salle Speedway. With a stacked field of nineteen contenders to outrun, he made a mad dash for the lead during the first lap and fought off some heavy hitters to score his big victory. With the likes of Dennis Erb Jr., Jason Feger, Eric Smith and Kevin Weaver rolling up behind him he had to earn his first victory at the Illinois Valley speed arena and a coveted place in the record books the hard way.
The Monster Midwest Dirt Late Model Series race kicked off the 2009 season. The season opener boasted twenty eight Late Model drivers along with twenty two UMP Modified cars as their support division.
First up was qualifying with young gun Brandon Sheppard, of Berlin , charging hard for the fastest timed lap. His quick time guaranteed his pole position of the first of three heat races. On the front row outside of Brandon sat Daren Friedman. Rolling into row two was Eric Smith and Steve Dimmick. Brandon Sheppard was fast out of the blocks and took control early on. He captured the checkers with Smith, Friedman, Scott Schmitt and Richie Hedrick behind him.
Dennis Erb Jr. scored the second heat race win over Unzicker, Joe Harlan, Michael Kloos, Mike Mataragas and Jayme Zidar. Unzicker led for the first three laps until Erb used a low line to steal the lead for the first and final time.
The third heat race winner was former La Salle regular Feger. He took command from the pole and traveled in his own zip code until the checkers dropped ten laps later. Steve Sheppard Jr., Frank Heckenast Jr., Kevin Weaver, Ted Loomis and Jimmy Dehm completed the top six finishers.
Zidar, Bell , Dehm, Mike Glynn and Mike Provenzano earned the transfer positions from the semi feature race of ten laps.
At 9:21 pm the thunder of Late Models returned to the area’s largest outdoor sports venue. Twenty contenders all with one thing in mind – winning. On the front row was pole sitter Unzicker next to Steve Sheppard. Steve’s son Brandon held the inside of row two with Feger as his second row partner. Smith and Erb rolled into the next row ahead of Friedman and Harlan in row four.
When the flagman signaled the green, Unzicker wasted little time taking the helm with Steve Sheppard in second and Feger already powering up the outer rim of the track. Brandon Sheppard had some problems navigating turns one and two bringing out a yellow before the first lap was scored.
For the restart, it was Unzicker over Steve, Feger, Erb, Smith, Friedman and Harlan. While Unizicker chose a lower line Feger lived up to his nickname of the Highside Hustler working the highest groove at full throttle. During the fifth lap out, he found himself a little too close to the unforgiving concrete barrier. After skimming his back side off the turn two wall the right side tire went flat. A trip pitside placed him back at the tail of the seventeen remaining cars.
By Lap 11, Unzicker had started to distance himself from Steve Sheppard and Erb as they battled side by side for second. Erb took over the runner up position setting his sights on Unzicker who seemed to be on auto pilot lapping traffic with ease. During Lap 22, Smith challenged Steve Sheppard for the third running position forcing door to door combat. While they battled, Unzicker and Erb pulled away to a comfortable lead. Feger was thundering his way up front using the rim again.
Twenty four minutes after starting the event, a caution slowed the pace for the final time. Now the field was back together for a six lap shootout. In single file format, Unzicker still held the lead over Erb, Smith, Friedman, Brandon Sheppard and Feger. The leaders hit the gas hard with a duel ensuing between Unzicker and Erb. With three laps to go, Erb grabbed the lead but an unrelenting Unzicker brought the action back side by side. On the final lap, Unzicker had charged his way back to the number one position for the final time.
A caution late in the race can change the outcome but can create some added excitement for the fans. “I think the caution at the end could have changed things. I hated to see Unzicker loose after leading the whole race but it was great racing and a good show for the fans,” Monster Midwest promoter Don Hammer explained post race.
Unzicker took home the $2,000 check and trophy over Erb. Smith put forth a solid performance scoring third place. Feger was still coming on strong charging his way back from last to an impressive fourth place finish. Friedman crossed under the checkers in sixth ahead of Weaver, Brandon Sheppard, Heckenast, Provenzano, Harlan, Dehm, Steve Sheppard, and Bell as the final finishers. Seven contenders were already pitside for the final laps.
Jeff Leka led flag to flag en route to the first heat race for the UMP Modified division. Mike Spatola claimed second in front of Chad Osterhoff and Kevin Hastings. Dale Lueth and Tommy Duncan duked it out for the win in the second heat race. Lueth prevailed the victor over Duncan, McKay Wenger and Nathan Balensiefen.
Twenty two Modified drivers made the call for twenty lap main. Leka and Lueth rolled in front with Spatola and Duncan staking claim to row two. Osterhoff and Wenger were in row three. Lueth and Leka came around the first turns fast and furious when Leka slid up into Lueth’s higher run. Lueth kept the high trek but hit some rough ground and fell back a few positions. Unlucky for Lueth contact with Balensiefen ended with Lueth being pushed hard down the front stretch signaling caution and forcing the pair to the rear of the field.
By Lap 5, Spatola had moved his speed plant up to the door of Leka. Leka opened the door and Spatola took over the lead for the final time. Wenger stole third as Leka slipped back. A caution with three to go brought the pack back together but after the restart second place runner Wenger appeared to break something in the front end when his machine didn’t turn left and ended his night in the turn three wall.
With a green, white, and checkers finish Spatola led the pace to the end. Spatola won the $1,000 prize over Osterhoff, and Leka. Starting tenth on the grid, Alan Weisser scored a big finish on his sixteenth birthday with a strong fourth place finish. Kevin Hastings finished fifth over Justin McCoy, Ray Bolinger, Thad Wilson, Jeremy Nichols, Balensiefen, and Duncan.
June 6th the regular weekly racing program at LaSalle Speedway gets underway with Late Models, Modifieds, Street Stocks and 4 Cylinder Hornets.
La Salle Speedway Scoreboard Results 05/28/09
Monster Midwest Series Late Models – 28 Cars
Fast Qualifier: Brandon Sheppard
Heat One: Brandon Sheppard, Eric Smith, Daren Friedman, Scott Schmitt, Richie Hedrick, Mike Provenzano, Steve Dimmick, Brian Crebo, Aaron Schmitt, Derek Chandler
Heat Two: Dennis Erb Jr., Ryan Unzicker, Joe Harlan, Michael Kloos, Mike Mataragas, Jayme Zidar, Rich Bell, Mike Glynn, Roger Markham
Heat Three: Jason Feger, Steve Sheppard Jr., Frank Heckenast Jr., Kevin Weaver, Ted Loomis, Jimmy Dehm, Ed Williams Jr., Joe Burba, Scott Brewer
Semi Feature: Jayme Zidar, Rich Bell, Jimmy Dehm, Mike Glynn, Mike Provenzano, Scott Brewer, Roger Markham, Joe Burba, Steve Dimmick, Brian Crebo, Derek Chandler, Aaron Schmitt, Ed Williams Jr.
Feature: 1. Ryan Unzicker, 2. Dennis Erb Jr., 3. Eric Smith, 4. Jason Feger, 5. Daren Friedman, 6. Kevin Weaver, 7. Brandon Sheppard, 8. Frank Heckenast Jr., 9. Mike Provenzano, 10. Joe Harlan, 11. Jimmy Dehm, 12. Steve Sheppard Jr., 13. Rich Bell, 14. Mike Mataragas, 15. Scott Schmitt, 16. Michael Kloos, 17. Richie Hedrick, 18. Ted Loomis, 19. Mike Glynn, 20. Jayme Zidar
UMP Modifieds 22 Cars
Heat One: Jeff Leka, Mike Spatola, Chad Osterhoff, Kevin Hastings
Heat Two: Dale Lueth, Tommy Duncan, McKay Wenger, Nathan Balensiefen
Feature: 1. Mike Spatola, 2. Chad Osterhoff, 3. Jeff Leka, 4. Alan Weisser, 5. Kevin Hastings, 6. Justin McCoy, 7. Ray Bollinger, 8. Thad Wilson, 9. Jeremy Nichols, 10. Nathan Balensiefen, 11. Tommy Duncan, 12. Mike Marden, 13. Mark Vervynk, 14. Tom Knippenberg, 15. Mark Novorolsky, 16. McKay Wenger, 17. Joe Adam, 18. Jim Farris, 19. Dale Lueth, 20. Gabe Menser, 21. Donovan Lodge
