CORNING — In the last seven SLMR races dating back to June 15, it was Kyle Berck in victory lane each and every time. With Agri-Vision posting a $1,000 bonus to any driver that could break the Berck string and Malvern Trust and Savings Bank adding another $1,000 to the winner’s purse there was $3,000 on the line for anybody who could beat Berck’s No. 14 speed machine.
On a cool, but dry, early fall evening, it was Omaha’s John Anderson and his 21x machine that finally stopped the Berck express.
Starting fourth in a full field of 25 late models, Anderson was just one spot ahead of Berck on the grid. It took Anderson only six laps to move to the lead, while Berck battled with Ben Schaller and Tad Pospisil.
With 10 to go, Berck moved into second place and steadily closed the gap on the leader. A dive into turn one with two laps to go nearly pulled him even with the leader, but Anderson rocketed out of turn two and went on to win by nearly three-quarters of a second. Berck was followed by Tad Pospisil, Bill Leighton Jr, and JC Wyman at the checkers.
Houck Memorial
Earlier in the evening, it was Atlantic’s Jason O’Brien pocketing the $1,000 check for winning the Ray Houck Memorial Dash sponsored by ACS, I-80 Speedway and Avila Farms. A four-wide salute with 90 race cars on the track to honor Ray started off the night’s events.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American support classes, it was Luke Ramsey’s Chat Mobility hobby stock holding off Jeremy Purdy to claim his fourth win of the season. But while Ramsey won the race, Purdy virtually locked in the class championship as he only needs to take a starting flag on the season’s one remaining point race to be crowned champion.
With only 12 hobby stocks on hand, the field spread out on the big half mile, but up front Ramsey and Purdy put on a show for the fans on hand. Less than .20 seconds separated them at the end.
In the Stalker Chevrolet b-mods, it was Jon Plowman adding to his season as he captured win No. 10 in 15 starts and inched closer to a national title in NASCAR Whelen Division 3.
The odds of Plowman getting the win looked dim when a series of cautions just two laps into the race sent his car to the pits on the hook of a wrecker. A quick check found no significant damage, and he was back on the track at the rear of the field.
Several more cautions slowed the race and eventually forced officials to trim the race distance from 15 laps to 10, but Plowman’s No. 17 machine still made its way to the front. Blain Peterson, Jerod Weston, Josh Sink and Dustin Jarillo made up the top five.
Altoona’s John Davis got his first win of the season in his Poet Biorefining modified, as 19 modifieds started in a race destined to be riddled with five caution flags. Essex youngster Daniel Foote paced the first half of the race, riding the high-side of the track until a slip too high allowed Davis and Jeff Wiggins to slip by on the back stretch.
Davis was untouchable as he went on to the win, with Wiggins and Jeff James following. The dominating No. 70 of Jesse Dennis finished fourth after struggling with mechanical problems early in the race and moving from 15th to fourth in the final 10 laps.
Joe Zadina took his Northland Oil pro-stock back to victory lane for the sixth time this year, and the three bonus points for the win combined with Greg Miller’s third place finish, let Zadina cut the point margin from 22 points to only 15 points with one week to go.
Creston’s Kevin Sharp paced the first six laps of the feature until he found out just how fast “too fast” was entering turn three. Bringing out the caution, Sharp went to the back, but he wasted no time moving back through the field to eventually finish second. Miller was third followed by Tony Hardisty and Craig Garner.
King of Hill
Kevin Sharp ended the evening taking home the Pro-Stock King of the Hill crown, holding off Clay Mercer in the final pairing. Brad Derry gave the crowd the thrill of the night when his stock car caught a rut entering turn one and stood on two wheels before settling back to ground, narrowly avoiding a nasty roll in his King of the Hill battle against eventual winner Sharp.
The 2014 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season will come to a conclusion on Saturday, with the highlight of the evening being the battle between Chris Spieker and Jason O’Brien for the late model track championship. Tied in points, Spieker currently holds the tie-breaker with one more win than O’Brien. The tie means it will be winner takes all as the two show down on the Saturday.
The ACS season will conclude just one week later with the 17th annual NAPA Tradition at ACS, as four divisions will compete for over $25,000 in prize money in one of the state's richest one-day shows. See www.acspeedway.com for details.