6/25/2017
RacinBoys
Slone gets first Late Model win at I-44 Speedway
By Ronnie Williams (Lebanon, MO) -- Current NASCAR Missouri State And I-44 Track point leader Mike Slone took the lead from defending champion Brian Brown on lap 2 and withstood a mid race charge from Tim Swearengin to pull away in collecting his 1st NASCAR Pro Late Model win of the season on Clayton Homes/Emerson Copeland Night at the races.
Joe Cooksey and Brown brought the filed to the green with Brown, who arrived just before qualifying after changing a motor in the car jumped to the opening lead as fast qualifier Slone was quick to follow. after starting 4th on the field Slone would smoothly move to the inside of Brown to take a 3 car length advantage. Defending Modified Champion Tim Swearengin moved around Brown on lap 6 and started to close the gap on the leader Slone. getting to within 3 car lengths, Slone started to pull away by lap 14 and never looked back in capturing his 1st win of the season. Swearengin, Brown, Ronnie Hartford and Steve Holt completed the top 5 in the caution free 30 lap feature. Hartford and Holt kept the crowd wondering as they swapped the position with close action the last 12 laps.
Slone set fast time for the evening with Brown capturing The Fast Dash while Hartford took the position heat.
NASCAR Modified action saw Brian Lewis take full advantage of his front row spot and lead all 20 laps of the feature holding back point leader Ricky Icenhower. Lewis and Lebanon's chris Johnson took the field to the green with Lewis wasting no time in taking the top spot as Johnson stayed close behind. Point leader Icenhower who started 6th, mobed around Johnson on lap 4 and started to run down the leader in the caution free feature. Icenhower closed to within 4 car length, but could never get closer as Lewis took home his 1st win of the season. The real battle was for 3rd spot between Johnson and Fast Qualifier Richard Lewis as the diced back and forth with Johnson taking the 3rd place spot followed by Richard Lewis and Wayne Lewis completing the top 5. Richard Lewis topped qualifying halting Icenhower's 4 straight quick qualifying efforts with Icenhower topping the Modified Dash.
NASCAR Street Stock feature action saw Lebanon's Michael Jurgensen run down leader Jordan Nisbett and make the winning pass on lap 6 to capture his 3rd win of the season and his 2nd straight feature win from the 10th starting spot. Nisbett jumped to the opening lead with Jimmy Fohn glued to his bumper. A lap 2 caution slowed the pace as Fohn retired to the pits and front runner Steve Shaw also pitted with problems before returning later. The race between Nisbett and Juergensen was as close as possible while Robert Douglas and Tony Johnson swapped spots for 3rd place. On lap 6, Juergensen made the pass for the lead and it looked as if it might be an easy win, but Nisbett rallied back to close the ground to make it close on lap 12. Juergensen found some extra speed and pulled the car to a 5 length lead in taking the win with Nisbett, Tony Johnson, Robert Douglas and early contender James Ellis completing the top 5. Juergensen set a New Track Record in Qualifying with a lap of 17.169 for the Strret Stocks and made it a clean sweep by also capturing the Fast Car heat from the back. Fohn took the other heat race win.
NASCAR Charger Action Saw current point leader and defending champion Ronnie Taylor took the lead on lap 3 and held back several early challanges from Justin Blake to grab his 3rd win of the season. Lebanon's Breken Johnson jumped to the opening lead as Taylor followed closely. With Justin Blake putting on pressure, Taylor made the move to put some distance on him, but Blake would follow through. Justin Gantt closed the ground quickly and made it a 3 car battle while Johnson, Parker Ellis and last weeks winner Jerry Ellis battled in the 2nd pack. Taylor opened the lead to 3 car lengths, but a late caution closed the ground quickly. Blake, the 2013 Street Stock Champion stayed on taylor's bumper, but Taylor pulled away late in the feature. Blake, Gantt, Johnson and Parker Ellis completed the top 5. Taylor set a new qualifying record breaking his own set last week by touring the 3/8ths mile Asphalt Oval with a time of 18.709. Taylor also claimed the heat race victory.
Action will continue on Monday Night July 3rd with the 5th Annual Master Of The Pros 144 with a 144 lap Pro Lat. For further information call 417-532-2060e Model feature paying $8,000 to win with drivers from 11 plus different states pre-entered. Action will also feature a Full NASCAR show of Modifieds, Street Stocks and Chargers and a Fireworks show after the racing action.
For more information visit the website at WWW.I44Speedway.Net and keep-up with information on our Facebook Page.
Results
NASCAR Pro Late Models
A Ft-1) Mike Slone-Rolla 2) Tim Swearengin-Springfield 3) Brian Brown-Strafford 4) Ronnie Hartford 5) Steve Holt-Strafford 6) Joe Cooksey-Centralia, ILL. 7) Jimmy Fohn-Eldridge 8) David Strode-Independance 9) Joe Ross-Independance DNS-Brennon Willard
Fast Qualifier-Slone 14.854 2) Tim Swearengin 15.007 3) Brown-15.166
Dash- 1)Brown, 2) Swearengin 3) Cooksey 4) Slone
Qualifying Heat-1) Hartford 2) Holt 3) Strode 4) Fohn 5) Ross DNS-Willard
NASCAR Modifieds
A Ft,- 1) Brian Lewis-Willard 2) Ricky Icenhower-Fair Grove 3) Chris Johnson-Lebanon 4) Richard Lewis-Willard 5) Wayne Lewis-Springfield 6) Chris Kerperien-Lebanon
Fast Qualifiers 1) R. Lewis 15.730 2) Icenhower 15.747 3) Johnson 15.880
Dash-Icenhower 2) Johnson 3) B.Lewis 4) R.Lewis 5) W. Lewis 6) Kerperien
NASCAR Street Stocks
A Ft.-1) Michael Juergensen-Lebanon 2) Jordan Nisbett-Lebanon 3) Tony Johnson-Lebanon 4) Robert Douglas-Camdenton 5) James Ellis-Richland 6) Nick Cherry-Springfield 7) Steve Shaw-Rogersville 8) Jimmy Fohn-Eldridge 9) Les Mallard-Fair Grove DNS-Aaron Wile-Bridgeton
Fast Qualifiers 1) Juergensen 17.169(NTR) 2) Johnson 17.783 3) Nisbett 17.847
1st Ht.-1) Fohn 2) Cherry 3) Ellis 4) Douglas 5) Wilke
Fast Heat-1) Juergensen 2) Nisbett 3) Shaw 4) Johnson 5) Mallard
NASCAR Chargers
A Ft.-1) Ronnie Taylor-Springfield 2) Justin Blake-Osage Beach 3) Justin Gantt-Highlandville 4) Breken Johnson-Lebanon 5) Parker Ellis-Richland 6) Luke Oster-Osage Beach 7) Jerry Ellis-Richland 8) Nik Taylor-Bolivar 9) Kamren Farner-Springfield
Fast Qualifiers 1) R. Taylor 18.709 (NTR) 2) Jerry Ellis-19.002 3) Blake 19.105
Heat-1) R. Taylor 2)Blake 3) Jerry Ellis 4) N. Taylor 5) Johnson 6) P. Ellis 7) Oster 8)Gantt 9) Farner
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott