VOIGT FINDS HIGHLAND VICTORY LANE AFTER LONG ABSENCE

Hoffmann, Oller, Ketrow, Ripperda & Funderburk Winners

HIGHLAND IL (August 6, 2001) It’s been a while since the number 30 of Mark Voigt of Marine IL has made his way to the Casey’s General Stores Victory Lane  in the Becker Jewelers Late Model Division at the Highland Speedway.  Getting there this time was no easy task as Voigt had to battle the top drivers of the Highland Speedway including “The Highland Bulldog” defending Highland Speedway Champion Chad Zobrist.

Getting to the 25 lap main event drivers first must run in preliminary heat races and their heat finish qualifies them for the dash. Top heat finishers were, from heat one , “Fast” Frankie Martin from DuQuoin IL, and runner up “The Undertaker” from Alhambra IL, Bobby Dauderman, Heat two winner Matt Weidner  from Highland IL and runner up “The Gear Jammer” from Summerfield IL, Mike Schulte, and the top two from the third heat Zobrist and Voigt. The dash finish determines the line up for the feature and the dash lineup is determined by the luck of the draw. The driver from Marine IL drew the number 4 pill and started outside in the second row behind Zobrist who drew the number 2 pill, and “Fast” Frankie Martin drew the pole starting position. In the Dash the 78 of Zobrist jumped to the lead only to have the 30 of Voigt and the Circle 7 of Matt Weidner, who started third, challenging at various spots on the Highland ¼ mile oval. Zobrist won the dash and the pole for the nights feature event, Voigt and Weidner finished second and third and would start the feature in that order.

 

It took the feature a couple of tries before a full lap was counted but once everyone settled down, Chad Zobrist took control of the race with Voigt and Weidner doing battle for second  for what looked like a repeat of the dash. At the midway point of the feature, Zobrist tangled with a lap car bringing out the yellow and putting the field into a single file restart.

After just two laps Ray Emling from DuQuoin IL brought out the yellow on lap 14. The line up remained the same with Zobrist, Voigt and Weidner running 1, 2, 3.

At the drop of the green on the restart Voigt climbed to the high side of the track and was putting pressure on Zobrist. At lap 17 “The Bulldog” left the door open just enough for Voigt to get squeeze his racer past Zobrist. The momentum that carried Voigt past Zobrist was too much for “The Bulldog” to recover from and Mark Voigt went on to win his first Becker Jewelers Late Model feature of the 2011 season. Zobrist finshed second Weidner third, Daudermann fourth and Rick “The Salty Dog” Salter rounded out the top five.

Steve Schmitt Modifieds

Brian Bielong won his heat and took the top spot in the dash landing him a start on the pole in the Steve Schmitt Modified feature event. Leading for the first 14 Laps of the twenty lap race Bielong’s luck began to change as he started to encounter lap traffic. The1D of Hoffman was keeping pace and a caution on lap 13 brought the

field together, Bielong, Hofmann, Jimmy Cummins in the 751, Fair race runner up, Chris Smith, who was trying to the top side working again and the 42 of Steve Lach was the top five. The race to the finish got pretty wild as Bielong and Hoffman battled with Hofmann grabbing the lead on lap 15 as the 70 of Bielong suffered some front end damage. While Hofmann took the win Bielong showed great determination and brought his wounded racer home in second, Cummins, Smith and Lach was the top five.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UMP Pro Late Models:

In a small field of cars Mark Oller took home the trophy with Bobby Martintoni second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UMP Sportsmen:

The dominance of Rob Lee in the UMP Sportsmen division came to a halt as trouble in a heat race sent the 88 off on the hook which resulted in a bad starting spot in the feature. A large number of drivers were on hand in the Sportsmen division and Justin Ketrow grabbed his second win of the season. Russell Eilers, Steve

Stevenson, Rick Johnson finished second thru fifth respectfully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UMP Factory Stocks:

Michael Ripperda Jr was the winner in the UMP Factory Stocks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UMP Sport Compacts:

Bobby Funderburk was the Sport Compact winner for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

August 9 Test & Tune Practice Night (6:00 – 9:00 p.m.)

August 13 Jr. Fan Club Nickel Race & Prize Giveaways & The Scott Wernle Memorial Night – 25 lap UMP Sportsman Feature

(Photo credit – Photo Billy)

 

UMP Becker Jewelers Late Models – Feature

1 30V Mark Voigt

2 78 Chad Zobrist

3 CRCL7 Matt Weidner

4 18 Bobby Dauderman

5 1S Rick Salter

6 25 Frankie Martin

7 37 Brian Wolfmeier

8 27S Mike Schulte

9 0 Dewayne Kiefer

10 12T Dave Thornton

UMP Steve Schmitt Modified – Feature

1 1D Dean Hoffman

2 70 Brian Bielong

3 751 Jimmy Cummins

4 15 Chris Smith

5 42 Steve Lach

 

UMP Sportsman – Feature

1 6 Justin Ketrow

2 3E Robbie Eilers

3 8E Russell Eilers

4 1S Steve Stevenson

5 92J Rick Johnson

 

UMP Factory Stock – Feature

1 15 Michael Ripperda, Jr

2 54 Shaun Horstmann

3 101 Jeff Buss

4 6 Jake Hewitt

5 52 Tim Koch

 

Sport Compact – Feature

1 97 Bobby Funderburk

2 9X Trevor Isaak

3 18R Robert Shaw

4 26 Jordan Suhre

5 15I Jeremy Izard