HIGHLAND, IL (March 31, 2013) After Mother Nature decided to try and spoil our fun, we moved forward and played in the mud. Nobody can predict the future as we all found out. We greatly appreciate all of the fans that came out and braved the weather with us. Hold on to your general grandstand admission ticket stub. The ticket stubs from your paid general grandstand admission will get you $5 off one of the next two regularly scheduled races. Bring your ticket stub to the ticket booth one of the next two races and get $5 off your general admission price.
There are many opinions and comments about Saturday night racing at Highland Speedway and everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Right or wrong we attempted to defeat Mother Nature. As it is every week, it is a gamble and you win some and you lose some. It is very hard to make these decisions not knowing what the outcome will be like; life would be much easier if we all had a crystal ball to predict what will happen. To set the record straight, we did not force anyone to race Saturday night. We had two drivers meetings, at both meetings we asked the drivers if they wanted to race. Some did not, however the majority did say they wanted to race. We did not force any team or driver to go out on the track or even enter the pits for that matter. Everyone that was on the track chose to be on the track. There were several teams that opted not to race, Kenny Wallace and regular drivers included. The drivers and teams that chose to leave prior to the start of events at the National Anthem were reimbursed for their pit passes. A huge thank you goes out to the cars that did come out to help pack the track. There were several drivers that did come out and help and we greatly appreciate that, including the entire Daum Insurance Micro field. The entire Daum Insurance Micro field was ready and waiting to work the track and that was greatly appreciated. We cannot begin to express our gratitude to an entire field of cars and several other cars from other classes coming out to help us pack and prep the track.
Due to the weather, lack of driver and team participation in packing track, changes in the running order, and time constraints from curfew, after the Daum Insurance Micro heats we were forced to go straight to the features lining up from the pill draw. We managed to complete the UMP Late Model, UMP Steve Schmitt Modified, and Daum Insurance Micro Features before curfew. The UMP B-Dry Solutions SportMods were lined up and ready to go, however the City of Highland has very strict rules about Highland Speedway starting a race after curfew. If we would have been able to start the race prior to 11pm, we are allowed to complete the race that is on the track; however we were unable to make that deadline.
The UMP Late Model Feature was ran off of pill draw and after hot lapping the track to try to get it to come around. Only 14 of the Late Models chose to start the race and it was a slick and bumpy race with a caution in the first lap for a spin. Five laps in another caution was called while Mike Hammerle led Michael Jacober, Shannon Kuhn, and Brant Kehrer. After a crash involving Kuhn, Chad Zobrist, Tim Hancock Sr., and Kehrer; Hammerle still led Michael Jacober, Bobby Martintoni, Jim Moon, and Richie Standridge. After a caution brought out by Martintoni, Michael Jacober took the lead after a door slam pass on Hammerle to send him to second, Moon to third followed by Chad Zobrist and Standridge. Michael Jacober had a half track lead and Standridge drew a caution, which brought Hammerle, Moon, Chad Zobrist and Dan Jacober back to work on chasing him down. The UMP Late Model Feature ended with Michael Jacober taking the checkered flag followed by Chad Zobrist, Jim Moon and Dan Jacober.
The UMP Steve Schmitt Modified Feature was also ran off of the pill draw. Only sixteen UMP Steve Schmitt Modifieds chose to roll out for the feature. Justin Ketrow and Dean Hoffman started off on the front row. At the early caution Hoffman led Ketrow, Brian Bielong, Timmy Hancock Jr., Brock Bauman, and Mike Harrison. Hoffman breaks and Ketrow takes the lead followed by Bielong, Brock Bauman, Harrison, Hancock, Jr, and Cody Bauman. The UMP Steve Schmitt Modified Feature ended with Justin Ketrow taking the checkered flag followed by Mike Harrison, Brian Bielong, and Brock Bauman
The first night of the season for the Daum Insurance Micros proved to be an exciting one. The Micros proved to be very prompt. They were waiting lined up for their heat races in a timely and extremely efficient manner. The first heat race finished with Jeremy Zumwalt taking the checkered flag followed by Joe Miller and Joey Wirth. The second heat race finished with Jimmy Stearns taking the checkered flag followed by Tyler Vantoll and Kevin Horcher. The third heat race finished with Dylan Benscoter taking the checked flag followed by Austin Vantoll and John Potter. The third feature of the night was the Daum Insurance Micro Feature and it proved to be a great track for Micro racing with Jeremy Zumwalt taking the checkered flag followed by Jimmy Stearns, Joe Miller, Joey Wirth, and Tyler Vantoll.
We would like to apologize to the UMP B-Dry Solutions SportMods and the UMP Hamel Coop Street Stocks for not being able to get their features in. We will be running those features prior to the start of events on Saturday, April 6th. We will be starting an hour earlier to get these features completed.
For complete results visit our website and look at the results page.
