Wilson captures Kinross mid-season championship

The Mid-Season Championships combined with perfect weather attracted a large crowd to the Kinross Speedpark on Friday night.

Drivers were racing for trophies and recognition as the top three finishers in each feature were rewarded in front of the grandstands.

The racing action started slowly with the 4 Car Dashes as each dash was won from the pole position. Kevin Jackson got his first Late Model win ever at the Speedpark. Mike Fox held off the field while winning the Factory Stock Dash. Barry Glenn never looked back and won the Pure Stock Dash. The 4 Cylinder Dash was much of the same with Dean Eggart taking the victory.

The racing action started to heat up with the pursuit races. Nicole Rader got her first win of the season in the Pure Stock Australian Pursuit by passing the three cars ahead of her. Preston Nightlinger started at the back and passed all the cars in front of him to win the 4 Cylinder Pursuit.

The Late Model heat had fast qualifier George Wilson working his way through the field and holding off Charlie Robert and Kevin Jackson while earning the victory.

The Factory Stock heat race had Cecil Piche moving his way to the front. The race had a long delay when Mike Fox placed an oil trail around turns three and four. It took a big crew including Mike himself to get the track back into racing condition. After the restart Cecil Piche pulled away and won by a decent margin. Josh Ware finished second, and Kevin Johnson third.

Randy Touchtone ran a nice race while winning the first Pure Stock heat. Chris Brady made contact with Nicole Rader putting her out of contention with a blown tire. He recovered and made his way up to a second place finish. Tony Rankin finished third.

The second Pure Stock heat had Ray Golladay Sr. building a big lead while taking the victory. Barry Glenn finished second and John Clawson third.

Excitement was in the air and each race seemed to get more and more exciting. Fourteen year old Donny Mergaert got the win in 4 Cylinder heat number one. He made a pass on second place finisher Kaye Eddington and held on for the victory. James Thompson finished third.

The second 4 Cylinder heat had the third row starters John Gardner and John Mayer going to the front before the first turn. The front row tried to bring the field to the green at a turtles pace. The move backfired as they were overtaken by turn one. John Gardner was the winner. John Mayer finished second, and Brandy Clawson third.

Intermission again proved to be a big hit with drivers bringing their cars out to the track and giving rides to any children that wanted one. There was also an appearance by the monster truck school bus "Over Achiever." This bus with monster truck proportions gave children rides around the race facility.

All four feature races were some of the most exciting races seen in a long time. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it did.

The 4 Cylinders took to the track first and most of the pack tried to go four wide through the first lap. This didn’t work as almost the entire field was involved in the turn three mishap. Race officials decided on a single file restart and the cars went back to racing. John Mayer was the eventual winner by a big margin over second. Dean Eggart and John Gardner went across the finish line side by side for second and third.

The Late Model feature had Charlie Robert running real strong and leading many laps. He ran way up the track in turns three and four and allowed George Wilson to slip underneath for the lead and his fourth feature win of the season. Charlie held on for second, and Tim Aho finished third.

The Factory Stock feature race was incredible. Jared Nightlinger led laps early until Paul Fox and Cecil Piche got by him on the low side. They continued to battle and got side by side while taking the white flag. Fox and Piche ran door to door for the entire last lap and came to the checkered flag stuck together.

After the checkered Fox shot off the end of the track and into the grass on the outside of the track. He got back onto the track and came around to the flag stand where the checkered flag was waiting for him. Paul Fox won by mere inches over Cecil Piche, in undoubtably the best race of the season. Kevin Jackson finished third.

The Pure Stock feature was also very exciting. After a crash caused when Mick Pieri tagged Ray Golladay Jr. in turn three, the feature turned into a three car race. Ray Golladay Sr., John Clawson, and Barry Glenn ran nose to tail and finished in that order.

Clawson had one great opportunity to take the lead, but Golladay Sr. held on to the lead. They worked their way around lap traffic and put on a great show. Ray Golladay Sr. capped the evening with a spectacular burnout on the front stretch.

Racing action resumes again this Friday at Kinross Speedpark. For more information, log onto www.kinrossspeedpark.com.

(Submitted by Steve Lawson)