KOERNER DOMINATES AT GRUNDY TO PICK UP FIRST PAVEMENT WIN
By Zach Tasker
Illini Racing Series midget competitor Scott Koerner had one feature win in IRS competition coming into Saturday night September 21. It was on the dirt of Kankakee County Speedway last season. He also has a couple of heat race wins, also coming on dirt. He had never visited victory lane on pavement, which is peculiar considering that is what his background is racing many Friday nights with a super late model at Grundy County Speedway. Koerners best shot to end that dry spell was Saturday night at the Grundy oval in Morris, Illinois as he started the 25 lap feature in pole position on the night of the 3 Wide Life Alex Pruett Memorial side by side with Mike Anderson.
Koerner got off to a quick start and built a comfortable lead. The action behind him was hot and heavy with many drivers battling for position. The #5 of Sean Murphy had moved into the runner up spot midway through the race and posed the biggest threat to knock Koerner off of his perch. However with just a handful of laps remaining the smurfinator had his right rear trailing arm break causing his car to become very difficult to control and sending a shower of sparks behind the car. Somehow Murphy would nurse the car home to 4th finishing position. After Murphys mechanical problem Patrick Bruns would slip by and finish in the 2nd spot a few car lengths behind Koerner who would take the checkered flag in the 2nd straight yellow flag free feature race at Grundy County Speedway. Danny Drogemuller came on strong in the closing laps of the race to finish 3rd in his #76 National Animal Welfare Society Spike/Ecotec .
The race winner was happy to get the monkey off his back in the #9 Task Management Beast/Ecotec “It’s a pretty good feeling. I haven’t even won a heat race on pavement and now we finally won a pavement race and it’s a feature right to begin with so that’s good. I was just trying everything I could and we had a couple of weeks off so I just went through everything and anything I could on the car just to make sure everything was right and as good as I could get it.” The Joliet, Illinois native had a for sale sticker on the top of his sun visor so anyone wanting to join the IRS next year has a chance of getting a proven race winning car “If anyone is interested all they have to do is get a hold of us and it could be theirs. We are working on putting a new one together in the winter,(this win) gives you a bit more driving ambition to work on the car all winter and to get that done too. ”
Runner up Patrick Bruns had a strong showing in 2nd position and all but wrapped up the season championship. All the driver of the #83 Full Throttle Racing/JET Motorsports/Cains Marine Welding/Tin Cup RV Park/Advanced Financial/Mobil 1/Triple T Car Wash & Lube/Depke Gases & Welding Supplies Beast/Ecotec has to do this Saturday at Rockford Speedway is start the 50 lap feature and he will be crowned the Illini Racing Series champion for the second successive year “Scotty was on a rail tonight, I had nothing for him so we just brought it home in one piece. It’s nice to get another top 2 finish for the Full Throttle Racing team. I had a rough heat race, I feel bad for Aaron (Willis), I hope he is ok. I know cars can be fixed but hopefully he is ok.” The Champaign, Illinois native had to battle the last few laps with Sean Murphys trail of sparks launching into his face “I wasn't sure what was wrong, there were a lot of sparks. The car was pretty loose all over the place and I was trying to give him plenty of room so nothing would happen and fortunately I was able to get back by him again. “
The night also included some thrilling heat race action, in the first heat Sean Murphy picked up the win with a late race pass on Dave Ohlendorf. The race was marred by a lap one incident involving Aaron Willis Jr who made contact with the back straight wall and begin to roll multiple times. Willis was uninjured. In the second heat race Joe Knippel, who was driving in his final race of his storied career, which featured 5 IRS drivers championships, won in his last ever heat race making a daring 3 wide pass midway through the race to win over Eric Greenup and Bob Shreffler. Aaron Willis posted the fastest time in qualifying with a lap of 15.957 seconds.
The Illini Racing Series moves onto the high banks of Rockford Speedway for the final race of the 2013 season this Saturday September 28. The IRS midgets will battle for 50 laps as part of the National Short Track Championship.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
FEATURE (25 L) 1)#9K Scott Koerner 2)#83 Patrick Bruns 3)#76 Danny Drogemuller 4)#5 Sean Murphy 5)#11 Joe Knippel 6)#7 Mike Anderon 7)#52 Mike Gass 8)#31 Kourtnay Borman 9)#4 Eric Greenup 10)#21 Bob Shreffler 11)#0 Doug Orseske 12)#2a Andrew Hennig 13)#10t Mike Wallace 14)#79 Eric Pershey 15)#24 Lamont Critchett 16)#2 Dave Ohlendorf 17)#10 Aaron Willis Jr. (DNS)
HEAT RACE #1 (8 L) 1)#5 Sean Muprhy 2)#2 Dave Ohlendorf 3)#76 Danny Drogemuller 4)#83 Patrick Bruns 5)#7 Mike Anderson 6)#9k Scott Koerner 7)#10T Mike Wallace 8)#31 Kourtnay Borman 9)#10 Aaron Willis Jr
HEAT RACE #2 (8 L) 1)#11 Joe Knippel 2)#4 Eric Greenup 3)#21 Bob Shreffler 4)#0 Doug Orseske 5)#52 Mike Gass 6)#2a Andrew Hennig 7)#79 Eric Pershey 8)#24 Lamont Critchett
QUALIFYING: 1)#10 Aaron Willis Jr (15.957) 2)#10t Mike Wallace (15.994) 3)#5 Sean Murphy (16.014) 4)#83 Patrick Bruns (16.024) 5)#2 Dave Ohlendorf (16.032) 6)#76 Danny Drogemuller (16.061) 7)#9k Scott Koerner (16.135) 8)#7 Mike Anderson (16.187) 9)#31 Kourtnay Borman (16.210) 10)#11 Joe Knippel (16.284) 11)#52 Mike Gass (16.290) 12)#21 Bob Shreffler (16.322) 13)#0 Doug Orseske (16.348) 14)#4 Eric Greenup (16.430) 15)#2a Andrew Hennig (16.612) 16)#79 Eric Pershey (16.615) 17)#24 Lamont Critchett (17.015) 18)#54a Jason Allen (no time) 19)#8 Jimmy Clark Jr. (no time)