By Mary Jo Hinkle
June 5, 2010
In a hard fought battle with teammate Mark Atkinson, Evan Margeson took the lead two laps before the checkered flag to score his second consecutive victory in the young 2010 racing season.
Eleven cars were in the pits for this, the second scheduled race of the year. Rod Churchill’s #79 car battled electrical problems all night long and was never able to overcome them, so was not a factor in this event. Rob Lindsey appeared for the first time in several years in his own Ellis/Pontiac and Dick Voss had his new Ultramotive in the line up.
Qualifying saw the #98 Tom Maples midget break a rocker arm, and with no replacement available, the car was out for the remainder of the event. The second race in a row where his Ed Pink Ford has let him down.
No trophy dashes were run for any of the groups racing this evening. In the only heat race Mark Atkinson jumped out to the lead at the green flag and was never headed, Margeson worked his way up from 4th starting position to a well deserved second place, followed by Mitch Hoffses, Bend Petter and the rest of the field.
The line up for the main event saw Atkinson once again on the pole, and at the start he took off, building up a comfortable lead over Hoffses who had his hands full battling Margeson who never let off on the pressure. Fireworks on lap five as Petter and Livernash got together between turns three and four, leaving the 13 car stranded with it’s front wheels in the infield grass, but at the same time, the #45 car blew an oil filter and in a small imitation of BP in the Gulf of Mexico, had its own massive oil spill and was through for the night! The red flag was displayed for the lengthy clean up. On the restart the field was lined up as follows, Atkinson, Hoffses, Margeson, Lindsey, Hadman, Koepke, Livernash, and Petter. Now with the field closed up, the racing became even more intense as again Atkinson got off to the lead with Margeson once again pressuring Hoffses for the second position, behind them there was close racing for every spot. Both Livernash and Petter were battling to regain the positions they had lost, all this made for exciting racing until Koepke in the 44 car lost a rear end and stalled coming out of turn four on lap sixteen. The yellow flag came out and the restart saw the cars lined up as follows, Atkinson, Margeson, Hoffses, Petter, Lindsey, Livernash, and Hadman. Two laps before the checkered flag, Margeson went by Atkinson, who had slipped high entering turn one.
Qualifying: 1. Snake Livernash, 13:226 #13 Livernash Beast/Esslinger, 2. Evan Margeson, 13:354 #50 Beal Beast/Ed Pink Ford, 3. Ben Petter, 13:369, #22 Petter Beast Esslinger, 4. Pat Bliss, 13:426 #98 Maples Beast/Ed Pink Ford, 5. Mitch Hoffses, 13:536 #5 Hoffses Hawk/Gaerte, 6. Mark Atkinson, 13:577, #23 Atkinson Beast/Esslinger, 7. Kevin Koepke, 13:742 #44 Dixon Stealth/Gaerte, 8. Rob Lindsey 14:238 #23x Lindsey Ellis/Pontiac, 9. Ray Jones, 14:267 #45 Voss Ultramotive/Nissan, 10. Rhett Hadman, 14:334 #43 Dixon Autoresearch/Gaerte, DNQ Skeet Flake #79 Churchill Challenger/Nissan.
Heat Race: Atkinson, Margeson, Hoffses, Petter, Livernash, Koepke, Lindsey, Hadman (out), Jones (out).
Main Event: Margeson, Atkinson, Petter, Hoffses, Livrnash, Lindsey, Hadman, Koepke (out), Jones (out).
UNOFFICIAL point standings: 1. Margeson 308; 2. Atkinson 268; 3. Petter 266; 4. Livernash 258; 5. Koepke 223; 6. Bliss 176; 7. Hadman 155; 8. Hoffses 127; 9. Nichols; 10. Screeton 105; 11. Jones 100; 12 Flake 50