2011 News Articles

Kloos Holds Off “King Kong” Korte to Start the 2011 Season at Highland

Kloos Holds Off “King Kong” Korte to Start the 2011 Season at Highland

Lynn, Weber, Eilers, Ripperda and Suhre All Winners

(April 4, 2011) HIGHLAND IL – The excitement of returning to the race track for another year and add to the equation it’s the 50th year of racing, the buzz in the pits and the grandstand at the Highland Speedway were reaching unexpected levels. For those of us who have spent the winter here in the Midwest we know the winter was full of surprises including more snow and rain than we have had in a few years. Now you have a spring with limited days of sunshine and very few windows of opportunities for doing track work, you know Promoter Scott Kuhn and his track crew had their work cut out for them. Add to the fact that late last fall the track was reshaped with a lot of dirt repositioned you soon realize that the odds were stacked against the Highland track crew. With that being said, the track crew worked long hours when the weather permitted and had prepped a raceable track under the circumstances for the season opener presented by 97.5 FM The Rock. The fans were treated to great side by side finishes that has made racing at the Palace of Power famous for the last 50 years.

The much talked about return of Randy Korte, from Highland IL, lived up to all the hype. Korte and long time Highland favorite Michael Kloos, of Trenton IL, driving for Gerstner and Sons Racing out of Breese IL, started on the front row of the Becker Jewelers UMP Super Late Model Feature.  Racing alongside each other, when Kloos would take the lead  the 6K faithful would come to life and as soon as the 00 of Korte would grab the lead all the King Kong fans would shake the grandstands, it all came down to the final lap with Kloos on the inside and Korte trying to move to the outside of the 6K taking a shot at the double checkers, but in the end Korte found himself just short of the finish line in second as Michael Kloos, The Trenton Tornado kicked off the 2011 season with a win, Korte was second, Paul Bailey from Pocahontas IL, Mike Schulte from Summerfield IL, and Chad Zobrist out of Highland IL, rounding out the top 5 in the Becker Jewelers Super Late Models.

 

 

 

Brian Lynn, The 2010 track Champion for the Lincoln Speedway made the journey from his Mason City IL home south and found the friendly confines of the Highland Speedway to his liking. Lynn held off the Highland regulars in the Steve Schmitt Modified division and kicked off the 2011 season at the Highland Speedway with a win. Scott Weber from Festus MO in the 4J, was runner up, Brett” the Kid” Korves from Belleville followed in third, the Racing Realtor, Chad Sellers from Breese IL was fourth and Brownstown Il’s, Steve Lach completed the top 5.

Scott Weber doing double duty climbed into his famous 8 Ball Black Pearl Pro Crate Late Model and immediately returned to his winning ways. The 2010 UMP National Champion jumped out to an early lead while the 01 of Casey Montague from Lebanon IL made a valiant effort at the Champ but came up short in the newest class added to the Highland Speedway schedule. DJ Cygan from St. Jacob IL, Dustin Korte out of Highland IL and Matt Santel from New Memphis Il filled out the top five.

Russell Eilers from Highland IL the Speedway’s 2010 Sportsmen Champion grabbed the checker flag in the first feature of the season finishing just ahead of Rob Lee from Sorento IL, his brother ryan Eilers, Justin Ketrow from Trenton IL, and Rick Johnson from Glen Carbon.

The UMP Factory Stocks (formally known as the Highland Street Stocks) had Michael Ripperda of Highland IL outlasting Jeff Buss from Carlyle IL, Stephan Fohne and Jake Hewett from Troy IL and Shaun Hortsmann from Highland IL..

 

In keeping in line with the UMP, the Speedway’s governing body, the class formerly known as the Factory Stocks and Hornets will be called the Sport Compacts and collecting the first Sport Compact victory in 2011 was Jordan Suhre, from Alhambra IL, second was Justin Suhre also from Alhambra, Kyle McMahon from Mt. Vernon IL followed in third, Trevor Isaak from Highland IL, and Jacob Rexing from Brighton IL, finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Next up at the Highland Speedway is Steve Schmitt Motors night, April 9th. To keep up with all the happening of the Highland Speedway visit the tracks web site at HighlandSpeedway.com or on Face Book at Facebook.com/highlandspeedway. New in 2011 is our text messaging program, simply text Highland to 9 10 11 to have all the latest information about the Highland Speedway right on your cell phone. (Normal text messaging rates apply)

 

 

UMP Becker Jewelers Late Models

Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 6K Michael Kloos

2 00K Randy Korte

3 81 Paul Bailey

4 27 Mike Schulte

5 78 Chad Zobrist

6 25 Frankie Martin

7 441 Dan Jacober

8 51R Danny Ripperda

9 18 Bobby Dauderman

10 12 Rick Standridge

11 37 Brian Wolfmeier

12 CRCL7 Matt Weidner

 

UMP Steve Schmitt Modifieds

Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 72 Brian Lynn

2 4J Scott Weber

3 25 Brett Korves

4 E55 Chad Sellers

5 42 Steve Lach

6 75 Darrell Hewlett

7 14 Jeremy Thoele

8 81WIL Ricky Huebner

9 71 Tyler Deibert

10 808X Bob Simmons

11 19 Jimmy Cummins

12 6 Brock Bauman

13 42W McKay Wenger

14 00 Steven Ellison

15 01 Brett Cygan

16 70 Brian Bielong

17 99K Dustin Knerrer

18 808 Kelby Simmons

19 55 Jeff Sparks

20 1D Dean Hoffman

21 55V Brad Venhaus

22 38 Stephen Flannery, Jr

UMP Pro Late Model

Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 8BALL Scott Weber

2 01 Casey Montague

3 10C DJ Cygan

4 36 Dustin Korte

5 17X Matt Santel

6 18L Brent Lewis

7 9T Travis Horner

8 9STAR Jordan Bauer

9 67 Mark Oller

10 94 Ed Lenhardt

11 55 Daniel Heck

12 30 Ryan Seger

13 4 Jason Suhre

14 54 Bob Simpson

15 59R Aaron Heck

16 48 Bobby Martintoni

17 57 Michael Kloos

UMP Sportsman

Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 8E Russell Eilers

2 88 Rob Lee

3 3 Ryan Eilers

4 6 Justin Ketrow

5 92J Rick Johnson

6 45 CJ Simpson

7 1G Len Garson

8 19S Nathan Schmitt

9 115 Aaron Melton

10 1S Steve Stevenson

UMP Factory Stock

Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 15 Michael Ripperda, Jr

2 101 Jeff Buss

3 29 Stephen Fohne

4 6 Jake Hewitt

5 54 Shaun Hortsmann

6 53 Justin Leichsenring

7 33 Troy Bunfill

8 6I Austin Isaak

9 17C AJ Cline

10 64 Brian Crawford

11 8T T J Eilers

12 36 Eric Harris

13 29H Cale Hartnagel

14 18 Jerry Thompson

15 9X Trevor Isaak

16 6A Amber Casey

17 5H James Hale

18 52 Tim Koch

19 441 Cody Ventimiglia

20 1G Zach Gili

21 4J Zack Jordan

22 1Z Zach Hoffman

UMP Sport Compact

Feature

Finish Car No Driver

1 26 Jordan Suhre

2 24 Justin Suhre

3 45 Kyle McMahon

4 9X Trevor Isaak

5 17R Jacob Rexing

6 47 Christian Lee

7 33L Caleb Lintezenich

8 02 Vince Shehorn

9 63 Brett Eilerman

10 7S Kate Smith

11 48 Joe Wagner

12 121V Rick Viviano

13 11 Kyle Swip

14 81LE Lacey Egbert

15 17X Joey Haun

16 18 Sean Boyce

17 17W Brent Weaver

18 55J James Southers

19 81 Scott Egbert

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