BRUNS AND LUEBKE WIN HEATS AT SYCAMORE BEFORE RAINS COME, FARMER CITY UP NEXT
By Zach Tasker
Saturday night July 12 saw the Illini Racing Series midgets invade the ½ mile dirt Sycamore Speedway for the 5th annual running of the Harry Turner Classic presented by Beyta Gear Service. Heavy rain plagued the area early Saturday morning but stopped around 10am. The race was still on schedule even as more threatening weather moved into the area.
After practice two 8 lap heat races were on the agenda. Heat race #1 went to Patrick Bruns Who rocketed from his 4th place starting spot and tracked down his Mike Wallace Racing teammate Jimmy Clark Jr, who was just coming off his first career midget feature victory one week ago in Jones, Michigan. The two would make slight contact at the start finish line with just a few laps remaining. Both drivers were able to straighten their cars up with Bruns leaving Clark in the distance to win comfortably. Danny Drogemuller would use the high line to get around Clark on the last lap for 2nd place.
Heat race #2 was up next on track with veteran driver Buddy Luebke picking up his first heat race win of the season after starting on pole. A good start allowed him to build up a gap in the early stage of the race. Mike Anderson would start to catch him later in the race but ran out of time and settled for second on a heavy and fast Sycamore Speedway. June 14 Sycamore feature winner Freddie Teer Jr. was right in the mix as well.
Just as the 19 car field feature was pushing off on its pace laps heavy rain begin to unload on the track. Within seconds the track had become a muddy quagmire with cars getting stuck. Officials had no choice but to cancel the rest of the nights racing program. The Harry Turner Classic will now be run on Saturday August 9 at Sycamore Speedway.
For Patrick Bruns, the driver of the #10b Darcy GMC/Mobil 1/Triple T Car Wash & Lube/MWR Lightning/Ecotec, the heat race was a hard fought battle with his rookie teammate for the win “The kid (Jimmy Clark Jr) has come a long way and I am looking forward to seeing him end this year real strong. I think he is going to be a real contender for years to come. We really didn’t have contact we were just running for the same line and Jimmy was trying to come up on the outside and I was inside. We just rubbed a little bit, no big deal. Jimmy and I talked about it and there are no hard feelings.” Even though the defending champion had a strong race car, he felt it would be tough to challenge for a feature win from his 10th place starting position. “I think the feature would have been locked down follow the leader, one lane groove tonight. It’s hard to say, you never know but with as much moisture that was in the track and as much rain was coming down I think we would have had a one lane track. The past month has been pretty good for the MWR/Full Throttle Racing team. We picked up a win at Gas City, Indiana last night (in USAC HPD competition), had a heat race win last night, and had a heat race win tonight.”
2nd heat race winner Buddy Luebke was just as happy piloting his #43 Beyta Gear Service/PBH Indy Buzzard/Honda to the checkered flag after having a miserable year of bad luck on track so far. “After all the trouble we have had this year we finally got that K24 Honda to run and run good right out in front of the heat race. I’m happy mostly for my guys, my confidence level never really changes too much but my guys get sick of going through the motions for the same results. We had to start pretty deep (in the feature) but we had a pretty good car, we would have been right up there unless Bruns got out in front early on then I might have had trouble running him down.”
IRS Points leader Jason Allen had a quiet night in his #54a Hoffie Nursery/Kendall County Concrete Beast/Ecotec. The driver out of Sugar Grove, Illinois started 9th in his heat race and worked his way up to 5th position and due to the invert was scheduled to start in first position in the feature. “I drew really bad and started deep at the back of the heat and it seemed like wherever I went they were there. The car was working really well but in racing you need to work through the traffic. Starting on the pole in the feature I think this could have been the day I win the race. The car was running great and sometimes you just go out there with a feeling. I was starting p1 and I figured if I could get out front and gap the field enough I would be able to hold off any late charges for the lead, but the rain decided our fate so I am looking forward to the next time we visit Sycamore and can’t wait for Farmer City on Thursday.
Jason Allen currently holds a 109 point lead over Patrick Bruns with 9 races remaining in the 2014 season. The Illini Midgets now visit the Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, Illinois for the first time this Thursday July 17 as part of the Farmer City Fair. Racing is at 7pm.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
Heat Race #1 (8 laps): 1)#10b Patrick Bruns 2)#76 Danny Drogemuller 3)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr. 4)#5 Sean Murphy 5)#22 Johnny Heydenreich 6)#21m Kurt Mayhew 7)#21a Bob Shreffler 8)#16 Charlie Holt 9)#9D Brian Dobis 10)#3 Eddie Sauer

Heat Race #2 (8 laps): 1)#43 Buddy Luebke 2)#15 Mike Anderson 3)#54 Freddie Teer Jr 4)#55 Scott Koerner 5)#54a Jason Allen 6)#9s Mike Stroik 7)#6 Dan Smith 8)#2 Andrew Hennig 9)#0 Doug Orseske