2010 News Articles

IT WAS PINK ALL OUT AT HIGHLAND: MELVIN, HARRISON, CUMMINS, HORSTMANN, AND SUHRE CLAIM TOP HONORS

It was Pink All Out At Highland: Melvin, Harrison, Cummins, Horstmann, and SUHRE Claim Top Honors in benefit race

(August 3, 2010) Highland IL – If you were in attendance this past Tuesday night at the Highland Speedway when you walked into the grandstand you knew something special was going on. How many times do you go to a race track and the walls are painted pink? In fact, pink was the color of the night, from the many balloons tied to railings, to the many volunteers, fans, and all the Highland officials, wearing the color to commemorate the occasion, Racin For A Cause. A race inspired by the members of the Highland racing families whose lives were touched by this dreaded disease. The proceeds from the night’s activities benefited the St. Louis Chapter of the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Besides being a night of remembrance for all who have been affected by the disease, the highlight of the evening was a night of fast paced racing.

 

The UMP Late Models started the evening with qualifying, Michael Kloos driving the Gerstner and Sons 6K lead qualifying in group one, “Fast” Frankie Martin from DuQuoin IL was fastest in group two and Pocahontas IL’s Paul Bailey led the third group.

 

The heat races were won by, Kloos, Martin, and the B-12 of Kevin Weaver from Gibson City IL. The consolation race went to Bobby Dauderman.

 

The Highland crew reworked the track during the intermission ceremonies and a quick warm up before the drop of the green flag gave an indication of what we were in store for. You knew that it would be an exciting feature,

 

The first three rows of the start had Kloos on the pole, outside of him was Weaver. The next row was Martin and Multi time UMP Champion Rodney Melvin. Row three included Ryan Unzicker and former UMP Champion Mark Faust.

Missing from the front three rows were such notables as NASCARS Kenny Schrader (7th), and 2009 UMP National Champion and 2010 Summer Nationals Points Champion Jason Feger (14th).

 

Kloos took the lead at the drop of the green and jumped to a three car lead until a caution came out on lap four for a mishap in turn two involving Weaver and Faust. The result of the incident sent Weaver off on the “hook” and Faust to the rear of the field. The line up for the restart was Kloos, Melvin, the 24 of Unzicker and the 9 of Schrader.

Kloos again was the leader with Melvin staying within shouting distance of the 6K. While Kloos and Melvin controlled the front the 25F of Feger had moved from his 14th start position up to 8th.

 

Lap 13 the yellow flag came out this time for a spin involving the 77M of Jason McBride and 2009 UMP Pro Late Model Champion Bobby Dauderman. The restart still had Kloos on point followed by Melvin, Unzicker, Martin and current Highland Points leader Chad Zobrist making his first appearance in the top five.

By the time lap 17 rolled by Feger had moved into the top five. While most of the field stayed to the middle and bottom of the speedway Feger was living up to his moniker as the “High Side Hustler” several times scraping the “pink” off the walls. Lap 20 Feger was 4th, lap 22-3rd and setting his sites on revenging his loss the previous Tuesday when Kloos won by a fender during the Madison County Fair race.

 

As each lap passed Feger kept making a charge at the leaders, and for thirty eight laps as the leader Kloos had things starting to happen behind him. Feger put his nose up along side the 27 of Melvin and that was Melvin’s clue to go, it was now or never. On the two to go flag, Melvin jumped out to the high side right in front of Feger breaking his momentum, and passing the 6k of Kloos. The 25 of Feger could no more than settle for a second place finish behind the Logan IL driver. Kloos came up a bit short at the very end as he and Feger were side by side crossing the stripe and finished third. Forth place went Ryan Unzicker and Chad Zobrist followed in fifth. The special hard charger award went to Feger for his move to second from his 14th starting position.

Rodney Melvin -Late Models

 

This was an emotional evening as nearly every one in attendance could relate to losing someone close to them because of this disease. Emotions were also ridding high in the UMP Steve Schmitt Modifieds as history could be just around the corner.

 

Mike Harrison, along with the cars of Russell Eilers and Chad Zobrist participated in a TV segment held earlier in the week in downtown St. Louis promoting the Race For The Ta Tas event. Promoter Scott Kuhn and one of the race organizers Jackie Eilers were interviewed for a segment aired on KSDK-TV‘s morning program..

The number 24 was wrapped in a special design commemorating the event. With the special wrapping on his car, Harrison collected career wins number 298 and 299 racing “on the road” and promoting this event.

 

The UMP Steve Schmitt Modifieds had Harrison starting in the sixth spot in the feature. The 42 of Steve Lach started on the pole with 00 of Steve Ellison outside. By lap seven Harrison moved into the lead. A caution at lap 18 bunched the field. Harrison on the point with the 155 of Chris Smith in second, Lach was next followed by Tyler Diebert in the 84, and rounding out the top five was the E55 of Chad Sellers. While Harrison held the lead Smith laid in waiting for the driver of the 24 to make a mistake, but this was Mike Harrisons race to win. With a one lap shoot out Harrison sped to his 300th career victory, Smith was second, the E55 of Sellers made a valiant effort coming from the 7th starting position to finish 3rd, Lach and Diebert finished fourth and fifth respectively. During the intermission ceremonies Mike Harrison auctioned off the sides of his race car with the commemorative race For The Ta Tas wrap, the monies collected were donated to the benefit.

Harrison Wins #300

 

Jimmy Cummins started outside of the front row in the Extreme Sportsmen feature. Current Highland points leader Russell Eilers was on the pole. Cummins in the number 19 jumped out to the lead. Eilers tried every move in the book and every spot on the racetrack to pass Cummins. At one point the number 19 had all three Eilers brothers in tow as Robbie was driving the number 1car. A late race caution set up a shootout to the finish. Cummins, Eilers, the 3E of Ryan Eilers, Allan Geiseking in the MPR number 6, and Rick Johnson in the 92 rounding out the top 5. Cummins wasn’t to be denied as he held on for his fourth win at Highland in 2010. Russell Eilers had to settle for second, Ryan Eilers, Geiseking, and Johnson finished third thru fifth respectively.

Jimmy Cummins – Extreme Sportsmen Winner!

Jimmy Cummins Extreme Sportsmen Winner
Jimmy Cummins Extreme Sportsmen Winner

 

Shaun Horstmann claimed the Street Stock victory

Shaun Horstmann Street Stocks

 

 

and Jordan Suhre was the class of the field in the Factory Stocks.

Jordan Suhre Factory Stocks

 

Highland Notes:

This Saturday August 7th, the evening will start off with three makeup features from the rainout from the last regular night of racing. Also it is Topless night as the Late Models, Modifieds and Sportsmen will be allowed to remove their roofs.

Tuesday August 10 – will be a test and tune

Saturday August 14 – Kettle River Furniture night – with furniture races during intermission.

Saturday August 21 – The Monster Midwest Series returns with $2000 to win on the line for the UMP Super Late Models.

 

Become a fan of the Highland Speedway by joining us in Facebook at Facebook.com/highlandspeedway also visit the track web site at Highland Speedway.com

 

Feature Finishes for the Racing For The Cause

 

UMP Late Model – Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 27M Rodney Melvin

2 25F Jason Feger

3 6K Michael Kloos

4 24 Ryan Unzicker

5 78 Chad Zobrist

6 9 Ken Schrader

7 25M Frankie Martin

8 circle 7 Matt Weidner

9 0 0 Tom Carson

10 77B Clay Baumann

11 28B John Beck

12 81 Paul Bailey

13 51 Mark Faust

14 77M Jason McBride

15 18 Bobby Dauderman

16 117 Chuck Mitchell

17 441 Brian Wolfmeier

18 B12 Kevin Weaver

19 31 Brent Helmkamp

20 92B Brant Kehrer blackflagged

 

Hard Charger – 25F Jason Feger

 

UMP Steve Schmitt Modified – Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 24H Mike Harrison

2 155 Chris Smith

3 E55 Chad Sellers

4 42 Steve Lach

5 84 Tyler Deibert

6 76 Eric Goetter

7 0 0 Steve Ellison

8 21 Randy Dickman

9 M41 Steve Maisel

10 25 Denny Tribout

11 22 Chuck Milam

12 71 Lynn Tidwell

13 316 Stephen Plog

14 3R Jeremy Thoele DNS

 

Hard Charger – 76 Eric Goetter

 

UMP Sportsman – Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 19 Jimmy Cummins

2 8E Russell Eilers

3 3 Ryan Eilers

4 6 Allan Geiseking

5 92J Rick Johnson

6 441 Aaron Melton

7 96 Matt Koch

8 25 Denny Tribout

9 1G Lenny Garson

10 196 Jon Ripperda

11 1 Robbie Eilers

12 18 Jimmy Miller

13 23 Dennis Wernle

14 0 7 Andy Casper

 

Hard Charger – 6 Allan Geiseking

 

UMP Street Stock Feature

1 54 Shaun Horstmann

2 4 Larry Smith, Jr

3 52 Chuck Johnson

4 101 Jeff Buss

5 15 Michael Ripperda, Jr

6 11 Casey Schaefer

7 7 Dennis Ponder

8 29 Stephen Fohne

9 94 Dustin Clary

10 8T TJ Eilers

11 55V Brad Venhaus

12 36 Eric Harris

13 88 Kenny Landolt

14 59 Billy Whitehead

15 52J Chuck Johnson

16 1Z Zac Hoffman

17 6 Jake Hewitt

18 2 Brian Handegan DNS

19 14 Tommy Gaither DNS

 

Hard Charger – 7 Dennis Ponder

 

UMP Factory Stock – Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 26 Jordan Suhre

2 9X Trevor Isaak

3 6 Austin Isaak

4 99 Bob Zbinden

5 28J Justin Hall

6 17R Jacob Rexing

7 97 Bobby Funderbeck

8 21M Willy Myers

9 9T Travis Horner

10 18R Rob Shaw

11 91 Tyler Deibert

12 4 Casey Burns

13 29H Cale Hartnagel

14 441 Cody Ventimigla

15 74H Ryan Higginson

16 77 Chad Burgess

17 45 Kyle McMahon

18 81 Nick Knebel

19 77D Charlie Durbin

20 6S Shea Gagne DNS

 

Hard Charger – 99 Bob Zbinden

(Photo Credits –StLRacing.com & Photo Billy)

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