ARNOLD MOTOR SUPPLY NIGHT AT BVR 7-30-08
Jeremiah Davis
(07/30/08)
After two weeks of rain and no races, Buena Vista Raceway in Alta roared back to life, as cars hit the track Wednesday night.
Promoter Jeff Herrig put a ton of work into the track, making it pristine at nights beginning, and provided for fast racing.
Arnold Motor Supply night was full of action, and saw the Modifieds take their turn at King of the Hill.
The Modified King of the Hill started off in round one with Brad Williams of Lytton taking on Nick Deal of Walnut.
Williams got the better of Deal, and moved on to the second round.
Next up was Jim Thies of Mapleton facing off against Randy Brands of Boyden. Thies made easy work of Brands, and advanced to face Williams in the second round.
The third race of the first round saw Clay Christensen of Spencer taking on Stacey Mills of Webb. Mills gave it all he had, but Christensen was just too much, moving on to the second round.
The final race of the first round pitted Justin Sackett, of Schaller, against Mike Albertsen, of Audubon. Albertsen made easy work of Sackett, and moved on to the second round.
The first race of the second round saw Williams taking on Jim Thies. The two raced hard, and were side by side most of the race, but Williams held Thies off, and advanced to the final.
Next up in the semi-final round was Clay Christensen and Mike Albertsen. This was yet another tight race to begin with, but Albertsen held him off, moving on to face Williams in the final.
The final race was one to remember. Williams and Albertsen ran all three laps door-to-door, beating and banging all the way around the racetrack.
Going into the final turn, Williams dove his car to the bottom, with Albertsen strong on the high side. Williams slid up, made contact with Albertsen, and was able to keep it straight and take the win. Albertsen ended up going off the racetrack, but put up a fight nonetheless.
When the Modifieds hit the track for their feature event, Williams looked to back up his strong run in the King of the Hill event, and so did Albertsen.
When the green flag dropped, Albertsen and Christensen raced for the lead, with Williams and Thies coming from deep in the pack very early to challenge for the third position.
Williams continued to march toward the front, and took second from Christensen at the halfway mark, but just a lap later, got together with yet another hard charger, Nick Deal. The contact between the two cars resulted in a flat left-rear for Williams and a trip to the pits.
Williams wasnt the only racer with tire troubles. On the restart, Thies discovered he had a flat right front, and had to pit to change it as well. Luckily for Thies, the caution came out, so he didnt lose a lap.
When racing resumed, Albertsen asserted himself as the man to beat in this A-Main. He stretched out his lead over Christensen, who was dealing with pressure from Nick Deal.
After a late caution, Deal slid past Christensen for second, and held that position to the end. Up front, Albertsen was not to be denied, and held on for the win. Deal came in second with Clay Christensen finishing third, and Jim Thies rebounding nicely to finish fourth.
The Stock Car feature saw plenty of caution flags, as well as a lot of action.
They got off to a wild start, three and four-wide after taking the green flag. Brian Blessington of Brit, along with Randy Lawry of Cherokee and Matt Scharn of Sioux City all raced hard for the lead in the opening laps.
Lawry settled into the lead, with Blessington and Scharn beating his back bumper. While racing hard, Blessington lost control briefly, but that was all it took. Another Scharn, this time Mike, as well as David Smith of Lake CIty, were all collected in Blessingtons spin, which ended his night, as well as Smiths.
When the action picked back up, Lawry slipped up, handing the lead to Matt Scharn, who had to deal with a hard charging Chris Ullrich of Kiron and Dustin Smith of Lake City.
Ullrich and Smith moved past Scharn and battled fiercely for the top spot over the waning laps.
After a late caution, Ullrich and Smith ran side by side over the final two laps. The pair came to the finish line side by side, beating down each others doors. Ullrich just edged out Smith, taking the win by only a bumper. Lawry held on for third.
The Sport Mods also got off to an exciting start, going 5-wide in the first turn, upon taking the green flag.
Once the racing settled in, Luke Wanninger of Jefferson raced to the lead, leaving Denny Berghahn of Omaha to fend off challenges from several drivers, including Brett Meyer of Lytton.
After a quick caution, Wanninger set sail, never looking back. Meyer raced hard to take second place, while Berghahn faded at the end, relinquishing third to Mick King of Odebolt over the final laps.
The Hobby Stock feature also saw plenty of cautions, as well as one driver showing his extreme dislike towards another in the heat of the moment.
Kyle Robinson of Cherokee led early on, with Ryan Roder of Marathon and Michael Murphy of Jefferson giving chase.
On a restart after an early caution, Robinson had to hit the pits with a flat tire, giving the lead to Murphy.
Murphy had challengers to deal with, including Tim Rupp of Cherokee and Doug Smith of Lake City.
Smith moved to second after a caution midway through the race, and over the course of several laps, proceeded to give Murphy all he could handle for the top spot.
On the final lap, the early leader Robinson ended up spun on the front stretch, bringing out the caution and setting up a green-white-checker finish.
While under caution, Robinson unbuckled, climbed from his racecar, threw his helmet on the ground, and proceeded to show his immense displeasure with Mark Hill, also of Cherokee, who had apparently made contact with Robinson.
After Robinson had returned to his car and taken it to the pits, racing resumed. When the green flag dropped on the green-white-checker, Smith made his move.
He slid past Murphy, and proceeded to lead the final two laps, his only of the race, and picked up the win. Murphy finished a strong second with Tim Rupp coming home third.
The Sport Compact feature saw one of its biggest turn-outs of the year.
The usual suspects dominated the feature, with Daniel Smith of Lake City, Shawn Turner of Sioux City and Dan Rhiley of Bennington, NE leading the way.
Rhiley took the lead for good when Smith slipped up in turn four. Rhiley went on to win, with Turner second and Smith third.
