A trip to the Masters
Shawano Speedway was finally able to resume its racing season last week, but I wasn’t in attendance. I made the trip to The Masters event at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond. The Masters included two nights of dirt late model racing as part of the UMP SummerNationals Tour, also dubbed, “The Hell Tour.”
The reason it is referred to as The Hell Tour is because the tour includes 29 races in 32 days at 28 tracks. When drivers aren’t racing, they are traveling to another track. Cedar Lake Speedway is the only track with two races on the tour. The Masters event included a complete show both on Friday and Saturday night.
There were 43 late models on hand Friday night at Cedar Lake Speedway, and 44 on Saturday night. Most of the drivers were from Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. But there were also drivers there from Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi. Pete Parker was the only driver from eastern Wisconsin who made the trip to Cedar Lake Speedway. Parker did not qualify for the feature on Friday or Saturday night. He did win the C-Main on Friday night. Parker is no stranger to the UMP SummerNationals Tour, as he won the first ever UMP SummerNationals Tour championship in 1988. In 1988 the tour consisted of six races.
Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark. won the 40-lap feature on Friday night at Cedar Lake Speedway. Will Vaught of Crane, Mo. crossed the finish line first at the end of the feature on Saturday night but was disqualified for being 13 pounds light at the scale after the race. This gave the win to Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa.
All in all it was a good weekend of racing, and hopefully some of the drivers who were racing at Cedar Lake Speedway last weekend will make the trip to Shawano Speedway on Wednesday, Aug. 4 for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series show. Birkhofer, Jeep Van Wormer of Pinconning, Mich. and Brady Smith of Solon Springs all raced at Cedar Lake Speedway last weekend, and also have the Shawano Speedway race on their schedules.
I talked to Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill. last weekend and he stated he is planning on making the trip to Shawano Speedway for the World of Outlaws show. Those are just a few of the drivers planning on coming to Shawano Speedway on Aug. 4. Of course, drivers can change their plans. I will try to provide updates over the next month in this column as to which drivers plan on attending the World of Outlaws race at Shawano Speedway on Aug. 4.
Shawano Speedway Notes: As stated, I was not at Shawano Speedway last weekend, but based on what I have read and heard, there was some controversy in the IMCA Modified division. According to reports, Tim Jorgenson finished in the top four in the IMCA Modified feature and had his engine claimed by Paul Thorpe after the race. Jorgenson declined the claim, meaning he will be suspended from all IMCA sanctioned events for 30 days and has to pay a $2,000 fine after the 30 day suspension in order to race in IMCA sanctioned events again. This is an IMCA rule, which Shawano Speedway must follow since it is sanctioned by IMCA.
It’s the second engine claim in the IMCA Modified division at Shawano Speedway this year. Only time will tell as to how this will impact the IMCA Modified division the rest of the season.
See you at the track.