Tradition Breaks Records

Sept 25, 2011

            A record 159 race cars from five states filled the infield at the Adams County Speedway on Saturday, September 24^th to compete for their share of over $27,000 in prize money and their place in the history books as a winner of the 14^th annual Tradition at ACS.

            All four competitive classes had full field plus, with 41 hobby stocks, 40 B-mods, 38 stock cars and 28 modifieds racing their way thru nineteen heat races and ten last chance races to claim a place in the twenty-four car feature events.  In addition a dozen Central Vintage Racing Association coupes were on hand to give the crowd a taste of racing as it was some forty years ago.

            The first driver to take his place in victory lane was Glenwood’s Jesse Sobbing.   Coming off a win in his heat race Sobbing drew the sixth starting position for the ACS B-mod feature event, but by the end of the first circuit he had moved to the front and never looked back.  The Tradition win caps a season that saw him capture the national NASCAR Whelen All-American Series division two dirt crown by winning fifteen of sixteen starts this year. 

            Following Sobbing was Adel’s Dylan Book,  ACS regular Jerod Weston from Red Oak, Des Moines’ Glenn Gladson Jr, and Council Bluffs’ Jeff Jones in fifth.  Rounding out the top ten were Matt Richards, Doug Smith, Denny Berghahn Jr, Dylan Peterson, and Chris Vannausdle.

            Just qualifying for the starting grid in the Recycling Services hobby stock division was a challenge with 41 cars on hand.  It took a top three finish in either a heat or B-feature to make the field, and several quality drivers watched the feature from the infield.   

            Shannon Anderson of Atlantic, currently sitting in second place in the IMCA national hobby stock points, drew the pole position for the 24 lap feature, but it was outside front row starter Devin Smith, Lake City, who shot to the lead on the first lap and never trailed.   By the lap twelve break it was Smith followed by Andy Boeckman of Wall Lake (who had charged from eighteenth to second in twelve laps) with Anderson slipping to third and ACS track champion Matt McAtee in fourth. 

            Smith opted not to try for the CPS/Syngenta $500 bonus he could have won by opting to restart the last half of the race from outside row four and went on to lead every lap of the feature race.  Boeckman held on to second, followed by McAtee, John Watson of Des Moines, and Dusty Van Horn of Atlantic in fifth.  Finishing sixth thru tenth were Rick Ritchie, Bedford, Shannon Anderson, Chuck Madden Jr., Avoca, Josh Sink, Stanton, and Matt Webb of Des Moines.

            Taking home the $1500 winner’s check in the CPS modified twenty-five lap feature was John Davis, driving his Altoona based 02 hot rod.  Davis had the field covered leading most of the race by a safe margin and winning by more than five seconds.  The racing behind him was furious as ACS regulars Jesse Dennis, Corning, Dennis Elliott, Mt. Ayr, and 2011 track champion Kirby Stiens fought side by side for the next three positions.  With Dennis claiming the high line around the turns Stiens and Elliot swapped positions several times throughout the race.  At the end it was Elliott in second, Dennis third, and Stiens in fourth. 

            Coming home fifth was ACS points runner-up Jeff James of Stanton followed by Derrick Hicks, Ravenwood, MO, Luke Wanninger, Jefferson, Ryan Stiens, Conception Junction, MO, Daniel Hisabeck, Adel, and Eric Hanna, Maryville in tenth. 

            The final feature race of the evening is the namesake Tradition for the pro-stock / street stock / factory stock cars.  It was ACS 2011 track champion Jason Rold showing his championship ways by getting a win in his heat race, drawing the fifth starting position in the feature and needing only one lap to take the lead in the thirty lap feature event.  Rold looked to have the perfect set-up for the smooth, slick track that greeted the final event of the evening.

            At the midpoint break Jason opted not to accept the CPS/Syngenta challenge to drop back to outside row four on the restart with the possibility to increase his winner’s purse from $1600 to $2800.   Instead he held onto the lead and held off a serious challenge from two Corning drivers, Tony Hardisty and Clay Mercer during the second half of the race. 

            At the checkers it was ACS regulars Rold, Mercer, and Hardisty, followed by four high quality traveling racers the likes of Bill Osbahr, Avoca, Steve Jackson, Polk City, Jason Minnehan, Churdan, and Keith Knop, Shelby.  Rounding out the top ten were Greg Miller of Lorimor, Brad Derry, Bedford, and Nathan Wood, Sigourney.

            With the dirt track racing season over the next event for the ACS regulars will be the annual awards banquet to be held at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic on Saturday, January 28^th, 2012.    Details will be available at acspeedway.com or www.facebook.com/acspeedway.

2011 Champions Crowned at ACS

Sept. 11, 2011

With 103 cars signed in and a clear sky overhead the stage was set for the final points night for the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season at the Adams County Speedway.  When it came down to a winner-takes-all situation in the Coors Light Silver Bullet late models it was Mt Ayr’s Paul Glendenning capturing not only the win, but his first track championship as well.

            Trailing JC Wyman by two points entering the final night Glendenning needed either to finish in front of Wyman by more than one position or to win the feature in order to lock down the championship.  And win the feature he did, but not without a challenge nearly every lap of the twenty-five lap feature.  From the drop of the green flag it was Atlantic’s Jason O’Brien charging to the front.  O’Brien had won his heat race by a commanding six seconds over Glendenning and when he took the lead on lap five it looked like he might run off and hide from the field.  But Glendenning, with Wyman glue to his rear bumper moved thru traffic and they were running one, two, three by lap eleven. 

            On lap twelve O’Brien and Glendenning touched in turn two spinning to a halt.  Fortunately for both of them another car stopped in turn one brought out the yellow sending the realignment back to the prior lap.  When O’Brien made a quick trip to the pits it turned the lead over to Glendenning, but left Wyman directly behind him.

            For the second half of the race Wyman tried every move he could to get around Glendenning’s #33 , and while he could pull even he was never able to take the top spot away.  At the checkers the margin was less than four tenths of a second.    In third was Corey Zeitner, with Trent Jackson fourth and Al Zeitner fifth.

            Glendenning took the championship by a five point margin – the five bonus points he received for the win.  Wyman was second with Justin Zeitner third, Trent Jackson fourth, and Jason O’Brien fifth.

            In the Late Model King of the Hill event it was Corning’s Trent Jackson and Atlantic’s Jason O’Brien facing off in the championship round.  Jackson had advanced with wins over Jack Larson and Max Stone, while O’Brien had defeated  Tim Cooney and JC Wyman to get to the finals.  Jackson took the King’s trophy home  taking the last checkered flag of the evening.

            In the Poet Biorefining modifieds it was only one point separating Conception Junction’s Kirby Stiens from Stanton’s Jeff James for the championship race.   While the feature race was the Jesse Dennis show, as the Corning driver lead all but the first two laps of the eighteen lap race to capture his second win of the season, Kirby battled his way as high as second before dropping back to third at the checkers.  James, on the other hand, found himself mired in traffic mid-pack and was never able to make a charge to the front. 

            At the end of the feature it was Dennis, Jared Stiens, Kirby Stiens, Derrick Hicks and Dennis Elliott in the top five.  Jeff James finished ninth leaving him eleven points behind Stiens in the points race.  Mt Ayr’s Dennis Elliot was four points behind James for third, with Creston’s Todd Van Eaton and Jesse Dennis next in line.

            In the full-bodied Northland Oil pro-stock division Avoca’s Jason Rold carried a comfortable thirty point lead into the evening knowing a finish of thirteenth or better would lock in his first ever track championship.   In a division know for trading paint and bending sheet-metal Rold started eleventh and ran to a conservative fifth place finish to win the points battle. 

            Waging a battle up front in the feature were two Corning area drivers, Clay Mercer and Tony Hardisty.  Mercer held the lead for the first fifteen laps until Hardisty was able to slip by and claim the win in a race that was extended an extra lap due to a late yellow flag and a green, white, checker restart.   Bedford’s Brad Derry finished second in the feature garnering him forty-three points and securing what should be the national Division 3 Dirt championship based on his points won at both ACS and I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, NE.   

            Rounding out the top five in the feature were Greg Miller, Craig Garner, and Rold.  In the points battle behind Champion Rold were Hardisty, Derry, Miller, and Glenn Orr.

            Knoxville’s Bill Gibson came to the track with the first ever Stalker Chevrolet B-Mod points championship firmly in hand as he held an insurmountable lead over Stanton’s Jerod Weston and Blain Petersen of Essex.   In a feature event that hosted several new cars Gibson started sixth and wasted no time moving to the front and capturing his eighth win in fifteen starts this season.  Creston’s Robert Hague garnered his best finish of the season running second, followed by Villisca’s Chris Vannausdle, Omaha’s Larry Robinson Jr, and Fairfax, MO’s Tim Sutter.

            In the points battle Gibson finished eighty-nine points ahead of Petersen, with Weston ten points back in third, Bedford’s Trent Davison fourth, and Hague in fifth.

            The champion’s trophy in the Chat Mobility hobby stock division will end up in the Waukee home of Matt McAtee.   With a division leading three wins for the season McAtee finished twenty three points ahead of Bedford’s Rick Ritchie with Clarinda’s Jeremy Auten just two points further back in third. 

            Auten did everything he could to improve his points position by winning the feature event from his inside row four starting position.  Veteran racer David Weeda from Mt Ayr finished second followed by Ritchie, Creston’s Patrick Pellman, and Clarinda youngster Kenny Champ. 

            The lights will stay dark at ACS on September 17^th, but action will roar back to the speedway on the 24^th for the fourteenth annual Tradition at ACS.  Pro-stock and modified drivers from far and wide will race for $1500 to win, while hobby stock and B-mods will run for $1000 to win.   Since no NASCAR license is needed at the Tradition car counts are expected to swell as drivers compete for the largest single-night purse found in the area.  Gates open an hour earlier than normal with the pits opening at 3:00 o’clock, grandstands at 4:00, and racing starting at 6:00.   See www.acspeedway.com for full details.