One heck of an evening in Toledo for the MSA Supermodifieds and the Auto Value Super Sprints!
The evening started with qualifications.
In the Supermodifieds Chargin Charlie Schultz was the fastest at 13.010 with Trent Stephens second with a 13.190.
The Super Sprints beat the track record 3 times during the session.
Jason Cox was the first with 12.544, then Jim Swain beat the old time but didn't quite get the new record with 12.634. Finally, Chargin Charlie Schultz lit the pavement on fire and went for a double with a fast time and new track record of 12.389! That computes to over 145 mph!!
Heat race winners were:
Supermodifieds
Heat #1 - Bobby Dawson
Heat #2 - Liquid Lou Cicconi
Heat #3 - Trent Stephens
Super Sprints
Heat #1 - Jason Blonde
Heat #2 - Bill Tyler
Heat #3 - Dave Baumgartner
Feature time!!!!
The invert in the Supermods was 9 putting Dawson on the pole. He jumped out to an early lead. Racing in the pack was exciting with lots of passing. Several gave a good try at a run on Dawson, mainly Cicconi, Stephens, Lichty, & Sammut. Benson had a good run. He and team mate Lichty battled for position for numerous laps. Ultimately, two showed that they had the go to get it done. Schultz charged up from the 9th starting position and with a few more laps, might have gotten Dawson. In the end, it looked like this:
#28 Dawson
#7 Schultz
#74 Benson
#84 Lichty
#49 Cicconi
#64 Paller
#77 Ice
#8 Lilje
#19 Stephens
#09 Smith
#78 Sammut
The race was great - lightning fast - 40 laps green to checker in less than 9 minutes!!!
Now for the Super Sprints...
Schultz rolled the dice and came up 10 for the invert (what the luck!). Jimmy McCune jumped out to the early lead from his outside front row starting position. All eyes were on Schultz who charged up through the field, around lap 10 he had made his way to 2nd and there was a yellow for a spin by Ryan Litt in turn 1. It didn't take long before Schultz passed McCune for the lead. The field had just taken the crossed flags at the halfway point when Schultz had something happen to the left rear, spun and kissed the turn 4 wall.
This put McCune back in 1st. On the re-start the battle began again. Both Baumgartner and Jason Cox started closing in on McCune but the Toledo driver gave the hometown fans something to cheer about.
Top 10:
#88 McCune
#12s Baumgartner
#40x Jason Cox
#26 Bloom
#10s Blonde
#20 Flint
#37 Hurrin Hank Lower
#42 Feeney
#7 Helberg
#70 Eden
The evening was wonderful. Weather was very nice and there was a great crowd on hand to see two exciting races!
