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CLARK MASTERS M40 FOR FIRST CAREER WIN
By Zach Tasker
Saturday night July 5th saw the Illini Racing Series midgets visit the Wolverine state for the first time in its 22 year history. M40 Speedway in Jones, Michigan was the location for the Independence Day weekend spectacular. Rookie Dan Smith, who also won the night’s 2nd heat race by a huge margin, would lead the field to the green for the 25 lap feature in front of a nice crowd. Smith was just lucky to be at the track after a trailer tire blew on their hauler in Illinois heading towards the races. Smith and teammate Mike Stroik arrived at the track just in time for qualifying.
It didn’t take long for sparks to fly as just when the green flag flew for the feature the #10b of Patrick Bruns spun wildly into the grass. Luckily no one hit him but he had a flat left rear tire and would be done for the evening. The race restarted and veteran Scott Koerner would quickly take the lead and start setting the pace. This was an interesting night of racing as none of the drivers in the field had previously raced at M40 speedway meaning everyone was chasing the race track and the setup all night.
Young gun Jimmy Clark Jr. quickly was making his way to the front from his 6th place starting position. Clark had already won the nights 1st heat race in dominating fashion leading every lap. Clark was rocketing to the front but doing it in spectacular fashion with a very loose racecar. It almost looked like he thought M40 had become a dirt track with how sideways the car was at times.
The midget rookie quickly caught Koerner and tried a couple of times to get around the bottom in turns 3 and 4. That wouldn’t suffice and Scott held him off, however going into turn 1 with about 10 laps to go the #10c car rocketed to the outside with a power move and took the advantage. The race was far from over though as Clark had to carve his way through heavy lapped traffic the rest of the race while Koerner was still breathing down his neck. Even though this was Clarks only 8th ever midget race after years of karting he looked like a veteran Saturday night and took checkered flag 0.290 seconds over Koerner.
The driver of the #10c MWR Lightning/Ecotec was ecstatic in victory lane “I can’t even believe it, it’s honestly a dream come true. I never thought I would ever make it to the car ranks (from karting) in general and midget racing is the place I want to be. There is really no other car I would rather drive so it is really like a dream come true, I’m super excited.”
The Lagrange, Illinois native has staked his claim to be the early contender for 2014 IRS rookie of the year “Honestly, I didn’t know how close he (Koerner) was but I know that he is a really good driver and very smooth and doesn’t make very many mistakes so I knew I had to be on my toes and I was driving with everything I had in the peddle and a couple times I got quite sideways but I was able to make it work and I felt like we were still making up ground and I think the key tonight was just getting through the lappers because they were everywhere. “
Clark would echo the sentiment of many drivers who loved their first visit to M40. “Hands down this is my favorite track that we have run on. I love Sun Prairie too, but this track you really feel the speed when it comes to the asphalt. This track I really noticed it compared to Grundy or something like that, it’s got four different corners to it, so that was super fun and I like how the straightaways curve around and it really kept you on your toes and you really felt the speed here. “
Second place finisher Scott Koerner was thinking what if after he let a win slip away in the mid stages of the race. The driver of the #55 Hawk/Ecotec had some advice from a fellow competitor “I think I was just driving it a little too easy and he got by me and I started picking it back up and running them down. I got a couple driving tips from J.R. Roahrig who has a bunch of laps here in the late model so I started running the line he said to and I started picking back up to him but this would be the one night I wish we had more laps. “
Series points leader Jason Allen finished a few seconds behind the battle for the lead and brought the car home in 3rd after a quiet feature from him. The driver of the #54 Hoffie Nursery/Kendall County Concrete Beast/Ecotec had to hold off Mike Anderson in the closing laps. ““About 5 or 6 laps in the motor got hot. I just decided to back off and save the motor. We don’t want to tear anything up here. I think I could have hung with them and battled it out for a 3 car battle for the win but I just backed off and got the motor under temperature to keep it running. I figured I could make the car a little bit wider and keep it in 3rd place. I don’t know how close they were behind me but I figured a podium is better than running it into the ground.”
The night started with Patrick Bruns setting a blistering lap in qualifying besting the field with a time of 13.410 seconds. This Saturday July 12 it’s back to the dirt for the 5th annual running of the Harry Turner Classic at Sycamore Speedway. One of the most prestigious restricted midget races in the country. Defending race winning Mike Anderson is a favorite, but can Jimmy Clark Jr. continue his momentum and win two in a row, or will series points leader Jason Allen finally pick up his first victory? Only one way to find out, come on out to Sycamore Speedway in Northern Illinois this Saturday night!
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
FEATURE (25 laps) 1)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr. 2)#55 Scott Koerner 3)#54 Jason Allen 4)#51 Mike Anderson 5)#9 Mike Stroik 6)#6 Dan Smith 7)#2 Andrew Hennig 8)#3 Eddie Sauer 9)#0 Doug Orseske 10)#9b Brian Dobis 11)#10b Patrick Bruns 12)#10 Mike Wallce (DNS)
HEAT RACE #1 (10 laps) 1) #10c Jimmy Clark Jr. 2)#54 Jason Allen 3)#51 Mike Anderson 4)#10b Patrick Bruns 5)#55 Scott Koerner 6)#9 Brian Dobis
HEAT RACE #2 (10 laps) 1)#6 Dan Smith 2)#2 Andrew Hennig 3)#9 Mike Stroik 4)#3 Eddie Sauer 5)#0 Doug Orseske 6)#10 Mike Wallace (DNS)
QUALIFYING: 1) #10b Patrick Bruns (13.410) 2)#55 Scott koerner (13.769) 3)#51 Mike Anderson (13.855) 4)#54 Jason Allen (13.932) 5)#9d Brian Dobis (13.948) 6)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr (13.988) 7)#9 Mike Stroik (14.063) 8)#0 Doug Orseske (14.155) 9)#2 Andrew Hennig (14.255) 10)#6 Dan Smith (14.695) 11)#3 Eddie Sauer (15.130) 12)#10 Mike Wallace (no time)
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