Hiiemaa cashes in on Gold bounty

Robert Hiiemaa had the last laugh as the defending late model champion at Laird International Raceway cashed in on a bounty placed on Michael Gold to claim $1,000 for his feature win on Friday night.

The special Friday night show was held as a kickoff to the 2nd Annual LIR Summer Extravaganza this weekend at the track, located on the Laird Fairgrounds.

With Gold opening a large gap in the late model points race, track owner and promoter Donnie Varcoe added some interest to the premiere division at LIR by placing a $500 bounty on Gold.

If a driver, who started behind Gold in the feature, could pass the points leader and win or if a four car dash qualifier could win the feature, they would collect the $500 bounty. If Gold won the feature, he would collect a $250 bonus.

After a pair of cautions early in the feature, Hiiemaa jumped out to a sizable lead while the remainder of the field battled for position.

With Rod Bolduc Jr. and Nick Guerriero, who was making his LIR debut, forced to the pits with car problems, Gold and Robert Sartini were left in second and third spot to challenge Hiiemaa for the win.

With a late caution tightening up the field for a restart, Hiiemaa got a great jump off the restart and held off a hard charging Gold and Sartini for the win.

Gold would collect second place honours despite being spun out on turn four by Sartini on the final lap and rolling across the finish line last.

With Hiiemaa, who qualified for and won the four car dash, collecting the $500 bounty on top of the regular $500 first place feature prize payout in the late model division, Hiiemaa collected a total of $1,000.

Hiiemaa would be able to collect an additional $1,000 bonus if he could collect the bounty again on Sunday.

Getting into the spirit of the bounty hunt, Gold painted "wanted dead or alive" onto the rear of his car.

In heat race action, victories were recorded by Rick Ellis and Jeremy Van Hoek.

In the modified division, Kevin Oicle won his 21st consecutive race with his seventh consecutive clean sweep of the feature and two heat races.

In the factory stock class, David Slingsby captured his first feature of the season by beating out Kevin Pace.

With Pace leading the entire race and Slingsby desperately trying to pass, the two rubbed together while driving side by side down the back stretch on the final lap. Pace suffer the worst damage as he cut his right rear tire and barely hung on to cross the finish line in third position behind Mike Murphy.

Car problems to division points leader John Fragale forced the driver to remain pitside for the feature and lose valuable points in the race for a track title.

Slingsby also won the first heat while Murphy won the other.

In the stock four division, Mike Baraluk would be crowned the feature winner following tech inspections as Mike Savino, who captured the checkered flag, and third place driver Gordon Hunt were disqualified for using street racing tires, which are illegal at LIR.

Baraluk, Steve Baraluk, Hunt and Wes Speers won the heat races.

In pure stock, Len Bibeau won the feature and a heat race while Joe Addison won the other heat.

Racing continues with a 50 lap $500 pure stock shootout and a stock four dash for $400 on Sunday to close the Summer Extravaganza. Qualifying on that night begins at 5 p.m. with racing to start at 6 p.m.

On Saturday, a Demolition Derby will be held at 7 p.m. with $1000 cash going to winner and $500 to second place.

Saturday's events begin with a show and shine for transports, bikes and antique cars at noon with judging to take place at 4 p.m. A Leather Alley Rally Motorcycle Parade is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. and a pig, beef and corn roast at 2 p.m.

Five local bands will be jamming the stage all day including the Fairlane Cruisers, Black Dirt Road, Stifflers Mom, Tu Dawgs and Batteries Not Included.

Aside from the beer garden, other activities during the weekend includes paintball, 4-wheeler rides, lazer tag, a ballon bounce, pony rides, hay rides, a fish pond, a dunking booth and face painting.

On Sunday, players can pre-register at noon for a Horseshoe Tournament which begins at 1 p.m. Entry fee for the tournament in $15 per team.

Passes for racing on Sunday are $12 and $15 for the day on Saturday including the demolition derby.

For more information on the Summer Extravaganza or to check out the updated points standings and official results from any race date or season in LIR history, click here.