[Task Force]

WILLIS JR SWEEPS THE NIGHT AT TOM ARTHUR MEMORIAL
By Zach Tasker

Sunday September 1 saw the Illini Racing Series midgets return to the Grundy County Speedway for the second night in a row. This time it was the annual running of the Tom Arthur Memorial. Mike Anderson was looking to sweep the weekend after winning on Saturday night. Scott Koerner, who was pulling double duty also racing his late model as part of the "night of features" would start the 25 lap feature on pole position alongside Danny Drogemuller. Aaron Willis Jr looked very fast in the nights first heat race winning by a convincing margin. Willis would quickly work his way up to the lead from his 6th place starting spot.
The Coal City, Illinois native was looking to avenge the previous nights heartbreak after spinning out of 2nd place on the final lap looking to make a move for the lead. The feature was run with a frantic pace as the whole 25 laps went yellow flag free and finished just in time as a severe thunderstorm was heading towards the track with heavy rains pelting the Morris 1/3 mile oval just minutes after the checkered flag. Willis controlled most of the race and won in dominating fashion multiple car lengths ahead of Sean Murphy and Scott Koerner. Points leader Patrick Bruns and Danny Drogemuller rounded out the top 5.
This was the 2nd IRS win of the season for the driver of the #10 on the Rocks Spirits & Gaming/RQ! BBQ/Charter Fitness/Ken-Rich Concrete Raising Beast/Ecotec "Mike Wallace Racing put together an awesome car for us. This team is nothing but professional. They work their asses off 24/7. They gave me nothing but the top notch car. Nobody wanted to work the outside, little did they know that was the fast groove so that's why I went around. It was good last night and it was even better tonight."
The win was even more impressive as Willis swept both the nights feature and heat race "We should have double dipped them last night but I fouled up going into turn 2 on the last lap trying to win it and tonight I drove it a little more conservative, used my head a little more and it payed off. This win is special as Tom Arthur was such a huge supporter of this series and midget racing in general and it means a lot to win this in his name. He was a great guy and we got along real good and we all miss him."
Sean Murphy drove another solid race in the #5 Potential Ag/SET Racing Engines Twister/Ecotec but couldn't keep pace with the #10 car. "Second place is just not quite enough. (Mike) Wallace and Aaron just had a great car tonight and I don't think there was anybody who could hold a torch to them. " Scott Koerner rounded out the podium in the #9k Task Management Beast/Ecotec after a nice battle with Murphy "The car felt pretty good, me and Sean were pretty close but the 10 car was pretty much gone so I didn't know what else to do there. It was decent, it could always be better. The track was slick but that was the same as last night." Koerner would score a double top ten as he brought his late model home in the 9th position.
The nights second heat race went to Patrick Bruns. The IRS has two weekends off now after a long stretch of summer racing. There are two events remaining on the 2013 calendar. Saturday September 21 will see the IRS return to Grundy County Speedway for the final time in 2013 before heading to Rockford Speedway on September 28 for the season finale as part of the National Short Track Championship.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: FEATURE (25 L) 1) #10 Aaron Willis Jr 2)#5 Sean Murphy 3)#9k Scott Koerner 4)#76 Danny Drogemuller 5)#83 Patrick Bruns 6)#7 Mike Anderson 7)#0 Doug Orseske 8)#52 Mike Gass 9)#54a Jason Allen. 10)#24 Lamont Critchett 11)#88 Basil Hicks 12)#31 Kourtnay Borman 13)#2 Andrew Hennig 14)#4 Eric Greenup

HEAT RACE #1 (8 L) 1)#10 Aaron Willis Jr. 2)#0 Doug Orseske 3)#76 Danny Drogemuller 4)#7 Mike Anderson 5)#31 Kourtnay Borman 6)#88 Basil Hicks 7)#24 Lamont Critchett

HEAT RACE #2 (8 L) 1)#83 Patrick Bruns 2)#5 Sean Murphy 3)#9k Scott Koerner 4)#54a Jason Allen 5)#52 Mike Gass 6)#2 Andrew Hennig 7)#4 Eric Greenup