From Bob Fricke, Photo by Mike Campbell
A twenty car field for the Elwer Fence 360 sprints was led to green by veterans Kent Wolters and Jeff Williams. Williams took the early lead with second row starter Todd Heuerman giving chase. Through the opening eight or nine laps of the feature, Heuerman and Williams were battling in an exciting side-by-side tussle. The orange colored No. 18 of Heuerman made a strong pass on the outside for the lead on lap 10.
For Heuerman, lapped traffic proved to be his next biggest obstacle as he stayed mostly on the top of the track working through the field. A close call for Heuerman coming off of turn four nearly stuck him in the wall before a dive to the bottom allowed him to escape the developing trouble.
Kyle Sauder was moving into contention from his ninth starting position to 2nd behind Heuerman, by the time a caution flag flew from a Butch Schroeder spin in turn four on lap eighteen. The subsequent restart saw Sauder racing closely to Heuerman’s tail until Sauder made the deciding pass on the outside for the lead and win on lap 21. It was Sauder’s first win at Limaland since 2002 and the sixth of his career in sprints all-time at Limaland Motorsports Park.
“It’s been a while since I competed here regularly,” recalled Sauder. “I give this win to all my crew guys and to God for giving me the talent to do this kind of thing. My car was set up real well and one thing I haven’t done this year is worry much about the car.” Looking ahead, Sauder said, “This car won the King of the Quarter mile last year and we’ll see if it can’t be two in a row this year.”
Elwer Fence Sprints
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 6S-Jr Stewart; 2. 34-Luke Hall; 3. 11-Tim Allison; 4. 5W-Jeff Williams; 5. 10-Pete Ischi; 6. 98-John Kettlewell; 7. 4B-Andrew Bowsher; 8. 4J-Bob Gehr Jr.; 9. 2M-Ethan Hoy
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 6-Mike Dussel; 2. 17-Jared Horstman; 3. 57-Mike Dunlap; 4. 1W-Kent Wolters; 5. 28H-Hud Horton; 6. 6N-Dain Naida; 7. 35-Ron Blair; 8. 6Z-Zach Ames; 9. 21-Traviis Hery
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 7K-Kyle Sauder; 2. B20-Butch Schroeder; 3. 18-Todd Heuerman; 4. 2H-Dallas Hewitt; 5. 10J-Jarrod Delong; 6. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild; 7. 2-Brent Gehr; 8. 32M-Derek Hastings
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 6N-Dain Naida; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild; 3. 35-Ron Blair; 4. 4J-Bob Gehr Jr.; 5. 98-John Kettlewell; 6. 4B-Andrew Bowsher; 7. 2-Brent Gehr; 8. 32M-Derek Hastings; 9. 2M-Ethan Hoy; 10. 6Z-Zach Ames; 11. 21-Traviis Hery
A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 7K-Kyle Sauder[9]; 2. 18-Todd Heuerman[3]; 3. 11-Tim Allison[5]; 4. 5W-Jeff Williams[2]; 5. 6-Mike Dussel[10]; 6. 57-Mike Dunlap[4]; 7. 6S-Jr Stewart[11]; 8. 1W-Kent Wolters[1]; 9. 6N-Dain Naida[16]; 10. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[17]; 11. 34-Luke Hall[8]; 12. 28H-Hud Horton[14]; 13. B20-Butch Schroeder[6]; 14. 35-Ron Blair[18]; 15. 10J-Jarrod Delong[15]; 16. 10-Pete Ischi[13]; 17. 4J-Bob Gehr Jr.[19]; 18. 2H-Dallas Hewitt[12]; 19. 17-Jared Horstman[7]; 20. 98-John Kettlewell[20]