[Task Force]

ANDERSON PICKS UP SECOND WIN OF SEASON AT GRUNDY COUNTY
By Zach Tasker
For the second consecutive weekend the stars and cars of the Illini Racing Series midgets visited the Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois on Saturday August 2. As always a super competitive field of 16 cars visited the 1/3 mile paved oval as part of the Illinois State Championship. The front row for the 25 lap feature was inhabited by two drivers with tons of laps at the Grundy County Speedway, Dave Ohlendorf and Scott Koerner. Unfortunately for them both suffered early retirements from the race. Koerner would make contact with Mike Stroik entering turn 3 on the opening lap of the race ending both their nights. Ohlendorf would make two unassisted spins on lap 5, one in turn two and one in turn three prompting the black flag to be shown.
All this commotion meant Mike Anderson, who had previously won at Grundy County back on May 31 had vaulted into the lead. The “Passin Assasin” would control the rest of the race from there. Rookie Jimmie Clark Jr. was scheduled to start the feature in 6th position however due to a mechanical problem with the car he didn’t make the call for pace laps in time, joining the track just in time for the green flag. Clark started in last position and methodically worked his way through the field.
A yellow flag for a Travis Mahoney spin in turn 4 with four laps remaining brought Clark from about seven car lengths behind Anderson to right on his tail tank for the restart. Clark pounced and drove to the outside in turn 1 but it wasn’t enough as Anderson held him off for the win to strengthen his 3rd place position in points. Speaking of points, current points leader Jason Allen drove to a quiet but respectable 3rd place position gaining valuable points on his championship rival Patrick Bruns who had a uncharacteristic mid pack night struggling with his car.
Anderson let the fans know in victory lane the battle for the lead was closer than even most thought “The car was more or less falling apart on me the whole last ten laps. Torque tubes were smacking me in the leg and I was just trying to nurse the car through. I did not want to see that last yellow come with 4 to go, that was a dagger. I just knew I was going to have to protect my lead as best I could and hopefully force him (Clark) to go to the outside and see if he could make it stick and from what I have heard he ran pretty damn hard behind me. Good for the kid, he has come through and been running all season pretty well for himself and it just feels good to take home a win.”
The driver of the #51 Heros West/RHO Chemical/Paint Work by Z Hawk/Fontana is always a crowd favorite at Grundy and beating the IRS super team of Mike Wallace Racing is added satisfaction. “I’m not going to say those guys are like the evil empire but if Darth Vader wore a helmet he would be Patrick Bruns. I won’t take anything they do away from what they do out of that garage. They do their homework and they are fast week in and week out, those are the guys you want to beat and there are a lot of other good cars in the IRS that run pretty strong. You have Freddie Teers car with Allen in it, that is always a strong contender, I hated to see Ohlendorf have a spin tonight, him and Scotty Koerner , those guys on this track are real good. You take it when you can get it, we had a nice lead going there and then some yellows came out and we were able to keep it. I thank God man, things fall in line sometimes and things happen for a reason I guess. “
The Joliet, Illinois native is looking forward to heading back onto the dirt this weekend and going for race wins, not points “After last week I said the point’s thing is kind of out of the question. All you do now is go out and try to win, obviously you should try to do that all year but now it’s just like what the hell, we have nothing to lose lets go. It feels good to win here at Grundy, it’s going to feel really good if we can put it together and get two in a row and win again next week at Sycamore, we are already looking forward to that.”
2nd place finisher Jimmy Clark Jr was looking to score his second career midget feature victory after winning at M40 speedway in July but will have to wait another week for that “Mike Anderson just drove a great race, he didn’t make any mistakes. It was just really hard to get underneath him. I tried to get on the high side a couple times but just got way too loose up there. He drove a great race with no mistakes so he definitely deserved that one, but 2nd place was a good run for us especially after having that little bit of a malfunction at the beginning of the race and having to come into the pits. I had to start last but overall I thought it was a good run. When I saw that yellow I started pumping my fist and stuff because me and him were staying at about the same gap and I couldn’t really close up on him but I knew I could do something maybe if I got a caution and that happened and I gave it all I could but just pushed it too hard and got too loose and it couldn’t make it happen.”
The driver of the #10c MWR Lightning/Ecotec every lap displays his spectacular driving style, with the car dead sideways in the corner looking like he is on dirt even though he is on a pavement track. “I love it (a loose racecar) that is just my style. I charge the corner and get on the brakes really hard. It’s so fun to drive, it’s just how I have always done it and it’s kind of hard to change things you have always been doing. “
With only 6 races remaining in the IRS season the point’s race is heating up hotter than ever this season. Jason Allen holds a slim lead on two time and defending champion Patrick Bruns. Allen was relieved to have a good night at Grundy County Speedway, a track which is typically his nemesis “We have never had good luck at this track until now, we had the battery issue earlier in the year and we have overheated and got a flat last time we were here so this podium feels good. I wish we could have got 2nd or even won it but I’ll take a 3rd tonight. It’s a good points night, I believe he (Bruns) still qualified in front of us but we got him in heat and the feature so its close”
The driver of the #54a Hoffie Nursery/Kendall County Concrete Beast/Ecotec will be on maximum attack during the season’s final two dirt races. “I’ll be looking to try to put a W up on the board for those, I think we have a better chance on the dirt than on the pavement. The only one on pavement that I could possibly see a win at would be Rockford unless Bruns has another bad night or we get the car straightened out for the pavement. I’m just looking forward to the dirt races, they are a lot of fun. I used to be a pavement driver and now I always want to drive on the dirt. “
Clark Jr and Dan Smith were the night’s two heat race winners, with Patrick Bruns once again setting the pace with the fastest time in qualifying. The IRS now goes back to the dirt this Saturday night August 9 at Sycamore Speedway for the Harry Turner Classic presented by Beyta Gear Service. This race is one of the most prestigious in all of restricted midget racing and was scheduled to be run on July 12 before heavy rains came after the night’s heat races in which Patrick Bruns and Buddy Luebke won. Come join us this Saturday night to see who will etch their name in the record books!


UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
FEATURE (25 Laps) 1)#51 Mike Anderson 2)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr. 3)#54a Jason Allen 4)#6 Dan Smith 5)#16 Erica Ensor 6)#10b Patrick Bruns 7)#2a Andrew Hennig 8)#93 Travis Mahoney 9)#0 Doug Orseske 10)#10a Aaron Willis Jr. 11)#2 Dave Ohlendorf 12)#43 Buddy Luebke 13)#55 Scott Koerner 14)#6 Lamont Critchett 15)#9 Mike Stroik 16)#12 Bryce Dunn (DNS)

HEAT RACE #1 (8 Laps) 1)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr 2)#54a Jason Allen 3)#9 Mike Stroik 4)#51 Mike Anderson 5)#55 Scott Koerner 6)#2 Dave Ohlendorf 7)#10b Patrick Bruns

HEAT RACE #2 (8 Laps) 1)#6 Dan Smith 2)#93 Travis Mahoney 3)#10a Aaron Willis Jr. 4)#2a Andrew Hennig 5)#16 Erica Ensor 6)#0 Doug Orseske 7)#12 Bryce Dunn 8)#43 Buddy Luebke 9)#6 Lamont Critchett

QUALIFYING 1)#10b Patrick Bruns (15.911) 2)#55 Scott Koerner (15.994) 3)#51 Mike Anderson (16.058) 4)#9 Mike Stroik (16.066) 5)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr. (16.147) 6)#54a Jason Allen (16.253) 7)#2 Dave Ohlendorf (16.262) 8)#10a Aaron Willis Jr (16.276) 9)#16 Erica Ensor (16.359) 10) #93 Travis Mahoney (16.432) 11)#6 Dan Smith (16.612) 12)#2a Andrew Hennig (16.710) 13)#0 Doug Orseske (16.765) 14) #43 Buddy Luebke (17.590) 15)#6 Lamont Critchett (no time) 16)#12 Bryce Dunn (no time)


Video of saturday nights feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H56O...YRQxHAhGvHP6Hg