[Buckeye_Openwheel]

As we entered the grounds of Winchester speedway Sunday for the Must See Racing Xtreme speed challenge and gazed up at sun just peaking out from above the colossal walls of banking, we wondered what might be in store for the group of drivers who had congregated to challenge the unnerving track. An elite field of 19 sprint cars and 15 super modified were on hand . The cars displayed along pit road glistened in the morning sun , setting the scene for the amazing day of racing we had in store. As the cars took to the track for hotlaps it was obvious early that the high temperatures and unfettered sunshine had made the track surface slick and speeds would be off from what was seen a year ago.
In supermodified action the teams seemed better prepared for the 37 degree banking, putting up several new track records in qualifying despite the slick conditions. Kyle Edwards in The 11 , Jim Paller in the 64 and Mike McVetta in the 22 were all under the previuos track record , McVetta was fastest and the new track record holder at the end of qualifying with a time of 13.801 , which was not far off the times of the sprint cars. Disappointingly the 70 Machine of Dave McKnight developed engine issues as he came out to make his qualifying run, immediately pulling in and returning later in the session with a motor sounding a tick off He never got a chance to really put down a fast lap and McKnight had looked really strong in hot laps. In the First of three heats, the 11 of Kyle Edwards quickly worked his way to the front from a third starting and checked out from the field , he was followed to the line by the 3 of Kyle Vanderpool and the 92 of Larry Lehnert. In heat 2 Jimmy McCune in the 88 Biobased machine jumped out to and early lead and would eventually close the deal after being challenged for the final 4 circuits by the 64 machine of Jim Paller, who looked strong throughout and would come home second , third would be the 00 entry of Zack Gibson. In The third heat the 70 of Mcknight would not answer the call still suffering from engine woes and Mike Mcvetta piloting the 22 would quickly jump out to the lead and never look back, Brian Gingras came home second in the 8 in his super modified debut and the 0 of Brad Wyatt finished third a little off the pace of the leaders.
After the heats, the story quickly became the 70 machine and crew who was working furiously to figure out the engine issues plaguing the car. The car was pushed out twice but refused to fire. As the field was pushed off for the feature the Mcknight car fired but Mcknight immediately returned to the pits, with the field forming up the 70 machine was finally pushed off and joined to field in his eleventh starting position. The field took the green flag in perfect formation lead by the 5 of Sondi Eden and the 00 of Zack Gibson, the field would remian in side by side formation into turn three and four when the the 5 of Eden slide high forcing the 00 hard into the outside wall, the ensueing incident snaring the 64 machine of Jim Paller as the rest of the field took evasive action to barely miss the melay. Zack Gibson would climb from his severely damaged machine uninjured, the incident would also end Jim Paller’s day. However the 5 of Sondi Eden also involved would emerge from the pits and rejoin the field for the restart which now featured the 3 machine of Kyle Vanderpool and the 8 of Brian Gingras on the front row. Gingras would dispose of Vanderpool at the drop of the green flag and take the top spot. Vanderpool would quickly fade and the top five would stack up behind leader Gingras. On Lap seven the yellow would fly as the 92 of Larry Lehnert would have a steering issue and brush the wall coming out of turn 4. On the restart the top five ( 8 Brian Gingras , 88 Jimmy McCune ,22 Mike McVetta, 11 Kyle Edwards and 70 of Dave Mcknight who had methodically worked his way forward from his 11th starting position) would charge at the green flag each try to maneuver around the car in front, the action was furious from that point on. the top five running nose to tail and challenging each other on each corner, while navigating heavy lapped traffic. In lapped traffic Gringras still leading would choose the wrong line and become trapped behind a lapped machine allowing the 4 cars behind to slip past, That gave the point to Jimmy McCune who would have a similar issue on the next lap getting boxed in behind a lapped machine by Mike McVetta, who with the move would take the lead bringing Dave McKnight with him, Mcknight would challenge McVetta immediately and after another lap would take the top spot from McVetta on a dive bomb pass in 3 and 4. McKnight would continue to be challenged by mcVetta and lapped traffic throughout the remainder of the race, at one point entering turn one three wide on the outside of two lapped cars battling for position, the close call bringing the 70 within inches of the outside wall. Mcknight would capture the win followed by McVetta the 88 of Jimmy McCune, The 11 of Kyle Edwards who was mired behind the 88 machine for a large portion on the race, and the 8 of Brian Gingras rounding out the top five with a strong run for his first time out in the car. Overall the race was epic, seeing super modified racing that close at those speeds is harrowing , the front pack seemed near disaster multiple times and Dave McKnight put in a performance that will be talked about for a long time.

In Sprint action the always fast 50m of Brian Gerster would set fast time at 13.461 in qualifying. In heat race one, the Trufuel 40:1 machine driven by Troy DeCaire and 50m of gerster would knife their way through the field to a one two finish both looking like contenders for the feature with the 71 Machine of Brian Olsen coming to the checkers in third. In the second Heat it was the 26 of Aaron Pierce showing his strength to take home the win followed by the 40 of Tim cox and the 71 of Jason Cox who recovered from a lap two spin. In the final heat Jojo Helberg in the black 7 would storm his way to the front from his 5th starting position to take the point on lap 4, the 75 of jerry Caryer would take second in an impressive run and the 50:1 machine of Mike Larrison would round out the podium. For the Feature it was the 7 of Helberg and the 88 of Jimmy McCune fresh off his third place finish in the super modifieds to pace the field. Helberg would take the lead in the first turn and set sail as the field scorched around the half mile, immediately all eyes were on the 50m of Brian Gerster quickly moving up to second from his 6th place starting position by lap 5. Gerster would quickly track down Helberg and by lap 10 the dual were running nose to tail. The battle would rage for the remainder of the race Gerster challenging low at every opportunity and Helberg fast enough to stave of the challenges. Helberg would go on to a hard fought victory surviving the twenty lap battle with Gerster, who would take second, Jimmy McCune would again come home third , Aaron Pierce in the black 26 fourth and last years champion Troy Decaire in the 40:1 rounding out the top five.
The Xtreme Speed challenge should be on every fans list of races to attend, the speed around the historic high banks of Winchester is truly breathtaking . This years races were classics and both winners garnered their victories through tough racing. Congratulations to both Dave McKnight and Jojo Helberg, on this great day of racing you both earned the right to be call champions of the winchester speedway


Pete Smith
Staff Writer Luvracin.com

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[johnnythunderhead]

it was in deed awesome!

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