[Task Force]

BRUNS PICKS UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF, WINS 2014 IRS OPENER
By Zach Tasker
The entire talk of the Illini Racing Series midget off season was weather Patrick Bruns could adjust to a new race team to win his 3rd consecutive IRS championship. Bruns took a big leap towards that step Saturday night on the dirt of Sycamore Speedway scoring the opening win of the season in the spring shootout. Packed grandstands and a beautifully prepped race track greeted the 18 midgets as Freddie Teer Jr brought the field to the green for the 20 lap feature.
Teer would lose the lead on lap 3 to Bruns who had started in 5th position, however Teer would remain a contender until late in the race when he spun while battling for the lead with Bruns and teammate Jason Allen. Allen would be all over the race leader many times trying to get by on the outside in turns 1 and 2, however getting around the outside and keeping up the momentum would prove to be a challenge. Restarts were his best chance, after a lap 9 red flag for a Dave Ohlendorf flip, Allen pounced to the outside and was momentarily alongside for the lead, but his maiden win will have to wait for another week.
Bruns motored away on a restart with 4 laps remaining to take a comfortable win over Allen, 3rd place was Aaron Schuck, who also won the nights first heat race. Mike Anderson and Scott Koerner rounded out the top 5. Bruns, who also won the nights 2nd heat race after race leader Buddy Luebke pulled off with mechanical problems was surprised and elated after the nights racing “We struggled a little bit last weekend in Iowa with the car and early on tonight the guys were making some wholesale changes. The guys were throwing some things at it and we tried a little bit of different setup in the feature and it really worked well. I have to thank Darcy Automotive for coming on board here and we got Mobil 1 and Triple T back with the car here this year but most importantly MWR technology, the Chevy Ecotec ran really strong.”
The driver of the #10b Darcy GMC/Mobil 1/Triple T Car Wash and Lube/MWR Technology Lightning/Ecotec had a spin in the nights practice session but quickly recovered “We kind of got lucky in the heat race and were able to pick up a win. We started on the 3rd row in the feature and I tell you what, Brad and Scott have been with me for a long time and we knew what we needed to do. Mike Wallace, Scott Corry, Scott Baran and his boys, Russ the engine tuner, these guys all work really hard as do the guys back at the shop. It’s exciting to come out here and win a race but this one is really special with what these guys have went through all winter building these two brand new race cars. I’m looking forward to getting the (teammate) Jimmy Clark car running a little bit better and I know he’s going to be a contender for rookie of the year this year.”
It looked for a few laps that Jason Allen might have had enough to get by the two time and defending IRS champion, however the driver of the #54a Hoffie Nursery/Kendall County Concrete/MWR Beast/Ecotec just didn’t have enough on the outside groove “Patrick kept it around the bottom and that’s where we had a run. I tried to get around him up high, we could run high and stay the same speed as him but we just couldn’t get by him. I could close on him in 1 and 2, I was trying to cross him coming off and get him low but he drove a good race and kept it right on the bottom. Turns 3 and 4 I was having a little bit of trouble so I was trying some different things just to see if I could try to get around him but he drove a great race. “
Rounding out the podium was “Hollywood” Aaron Schuck. The driver of the #53 Razor Image/Britney Hull Photography/Impact Race Products/Fatheads Eyewear ***/Ecotec looked strong in the night’s heat race but ran out of time trying to catch the top two cars in the feature. “We always come here and usually run pretty strong but usually we fade late in the feature so it was nice to have a solid run and start the IRS season off this way. We are not running the full schedule but it’s always nice to finish good no matter who you are running with. It always slicks off a little here. It was definitely a lot more moisture in the track for the feature than I was anticipating. The track prep was actually pretty good compared to the times we were here in the past. We were trying a few things out in the heat race to make it better for the feature and I think we did all right. “
The next stop for the stars and cars of the Illini midgets will be this Saturday May 17 on the paved high banks of Rockford Speedway. Will anyone stop the Bruns/MWR juggernaut up front? Will Jason Allen score his first career IRS victory? Only time will tell.


UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
FEATURE (20 LAPS): 1) #10b Patrick Bruns 2)#54a Jason Allen 3)#53 Aaron Schuck 4)#15 Mike Anderson 5)#24 Scott Koerner 6)#21 Kurt Mayhew 7)#6 Dan Smith 8)#21a Bob Shreffler 9)#54 Freddie Teer Jr 10)#3 Doug Orseske 11)#77 Lamont Critchett 12)#5m Sean Murphy 13)#9 Brian Dobis 14)#79 Eric Pershey 15)#2o Dave Ohlendorf 16)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr. 17)#31 David Budres 18)#8 Buddy Luebke

HEAT RACE #1 (8 LAPS): 1)#53 Aaron Schuck 2)#77 Lamont Critchett 3)#15 Mike Anderson 4)#21 Kurt Mayhew 5)#9 Brian Dobis 6)#21a Bob Shreffler 7)#6 Dan Smith 8)#2o Dave Ohlendorf

HEAT RACE #2 (8 LAPS): 1)#10b Patrick Bruns 2)#54a Jason Allen 3)#54 Freddie Teer Jr 4)#31 David Budres 5)#79 Eric Pershey 6)#24 Scott Koerner 7)#8 Buddy Luebke 8)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr 9)#3 Doug Orseske 10)#5m Sean Murphy