ANDERSON AND SMITH COLLECT HEAT WINS BEFORE RAIN COMES TO GRUNDY COUNTY
By Zach Tasker
Saturday night June 7 saw for the second week in a row the return of the Illini Racing Series midgets to the Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois. The stars and cars of affordable midget racing were in hurry up mode all day as threatening weather was approaching. For the second consecutive weekend defending series champion Patrick Bruns was the quickest car in qualifying setting a lap of 15.869 seconds. The driver of the #10b Darcy GMC/Mobil 1/Triple T Car Wash & Lube/MWR Lightning/Ecotec seems to have the Grundy momentum early in 2014 “It’s kind of funny, the car got faster after the accused illegal side panel and nerf bar was taken off. To come out here and set two fast times in a row is just a testament to what Mike can do and I am proud to be a part of this operation. It’s a little disappointing seeing the rain come tonight but we still had all 4 cars strong in qualifying, we had a strong heat race and we were looking forward to the feature. I just want to say congratulations to Jimmy Clark, his first top 3 finish in a heat race. That kid has come a long way this year and I’m looking forward to what he is going to do the rest of the year.”
The night’s two heat races were up next on tap at the 1/3 mile paved oval and the first of the two 8 lap contests were won by Mike Anderson. The “Passin Assasin” was fresh off of winning the IRS feature at Grundy County Speedway on May 31 and was looking to go back to back. The driver of the #51 Heros West/RHO Chemical/Paint Work by Z Hawk/Fontana had a great multi lap side by side duel with Dave Ohlendorf on his outside. The former IRS rookie of the year would eventually muscle past to take the victory. “We started off side by side for a couple laps, and then he got the best of me. After the yellow flag and the restart I kind of got back underneath him and he was working great on the outside, he would have been tough tonight again as always. It feels good to come out of that heat race, that’s a fast heat race with a lot of good cars. I think we had a pretty good car, we were going to have to start outside row three in the feature and I think over time we could have made something of it but when the rains come everyone loses. “
The second heat would prove to be even more exciting than the first. Two IRS rookies would wow the crowd as they drove like two midget racing veterans putting on a show. Dan Smith lead wire to wire from pole but had to earn it as young shoe Travis Mahoney making only his second ever midget start rocketed from 6th starting position to challenge for the win. Mahoney tried to peak around smith but would run out of laps. Smith, hailing from Mukuwonago, Wisconsin would pick up an impressive first career IRS heat race win in his #6 Industrial Truck Repair Spike/Ecotec “It was pretty close, he (Mahoney) came up behind me with one and a half laps to go. I could see his nose there so from then on I was just giving it everything I had. I have a good team; they are kind of taking the reins and making adjustments as they see. I’m just doing what I can on the track.”
Unfortunately right before what would have been another thrilling IRS feature at Grundy, the rains started to fall and wouldn’t let up, forcing race officials to cancel the rest of the night’s program. The IRS now transitions back to dirt with Sycamore Speedway the next stop on the schedule this Saturday night June 14, racing is at 6:30pm.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:
HEAT RACE #1 (8 LAPS): 1)#51 Mike Anderson 2)#2 Dave Ohlendorf 3)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr. 4)#10b Patrick Bruns 5)#54a Jason Allen 6)#10aAaron Willis Jr 7)#54 Lamont Critchett 8)#10 Andrew Genkinger 9)#9 Mike Stroik
HEAT RACE #2 (8 LAPS): 1)#6 Dan Smith 2)#93 Travis Mahoney 3)#9dBrian Dobis 4)#16 Erica Ensor 5)#7 Aaron Schuck 6)#3 Bob Shreffler 7)#2aAndrew Hennig 8)#55 Scott Koerner 9)#0 Doug Orseske (DNS)
QUALIFYING: 1) #10b Patrick Bruns (15.869) 2)#10 Andrew Genkinger (15.881) 3)#10a Aaron Willis Jr (15.980) 4)#10c Jimmy Clark Jr (16.059) 5)#2 Dave Ohlendorf (16.179) 6)#51 Mike Anderson (16.288) 7)#54 Lamont Critchett (16.330) 8)#54a Jason Allen (16.340) 9)#9 Mike Stroik (16.402) 10)#16 Erica Ensor (16.479) 11)#7 Aaron Scuck (16.538) 12)#93 Travis Mahoney (16.590) 13)#9d Brian Dobis (16.605) 14)#55 Scott Koerner (16.690) 15)#6 Dan Smith (16.730) 16)#3 Bob Shreffler (16.791) 17)#2a Andrew Hennig (18.674) 18)#0 Doug Orseske (no time)