By MudclodBob/BN
Gas City I-69 Speedway closed out the 2010 season in fine style with an exciting feature as Scotty Weir nosed out Jon Stanbrough for the 25 lap victory.
24 cars entered the pits on a cool but nice autumn evening. The track was fast and heavy for the heat races. The three heats were won by Josh Spencer, Justin Grant and Wes McIntyre. Winner of the B main was Mike Spencer. On the last circuit of this race the 16 of Todd Kirkman was solidly in a transfer spot when he encountered some problems in turn two. After a wild series of crazy, bicycling, twisting gyrations he managed to keep it on all four and still took the final transfer spot for the main.
After a very short intermission, the mud was pounded out of the fence with shovels so all could see the action that was to unfold. At nine o’clock EST the feature took to the track.
22 cars lined up to take the green for the feature with the 53 of Stanbrough on the pole. As the green waved, balls of clay were still shooting skyward into the lights which is really nothing new, and at the end of the initial lap Stanbrough was in front, which wasn’t new either.
At the five lap mark Stanbrough was still front but the G1 of Weir had moved from 4th to 2nd and had his sights on the 53 of Stanbrough with Justin Grant, Chris Gurley, and 7th starting Brett Burdette up to 5th.
The top five running order stayed the same through lap 15 as 16th starting Mike Spencer was moving up through heavy traffic. All the while Scotty Weir was inching ever closer to Stanbrough and taking Justin Grant along with him. On lap 17 Weir passed Stanbrough for the top spot but Jon was not ready to throw in the towel and stayed with Weir as Grant moved in on the leaders. Lapped traffic was heavy and the racing intense as the laps counted down and on the white flag lap with lappers in front of them, Weir took the low line as Stanbrough chose the high side and they made a sandwich of the lapped car with Weir coming out on top with Grant, Brett Burdette and Chris Gurley rounding out the top five. The race went non stop green to checkers.
On a side note, a new team debuted their new 1B sprinter. The car is owned by Russell Bliss from Charlotte, NC and was piloted by Justin Marvel. The pretty blue car was battling with Mike Spencer for the B main win when mechanical woes hit while leading. Look for this car to run Indiana tracks and USAC in 2011. Some pictures will appear in our galleries tomorrow.
25 lap feature
1. Scotty Weir
2. Jon Stanbrough
3. Justin Grant
4. Brett Burdette
5. Chris Gurley
6. Shane Cottle
7. Wes McIntyre
8. Josh Spencer
9. Mike Spencer
10. Casey Riggs
11. Mike Miller
12. Todd Keen
13. Travis Welpott
14. Todd Kirkman
15. Dwayne Spille
16. AJ Francis
17. Rick Horne
18. Landon Simon
19. Justin Marvel
20. Mike Jonas
21. Nick Speidel
22. Matt Goodnight
For complete results, go to http://www.gascityi69speedway.com. On behalf of everyone at Gas City I69 Speedway, we would like to thank all drivers, crews, fans and friends who supported the speedway this year. We could not have done it without you. Dirt is being added to the track tomorrow so see everyone in April 2011.