From Bill W
Jacksonville, IL — (July 27, 2012) – Brian Brown captured the Mary Lee Standridge Memorial with the Midwest Open Wheel Association series Friday night at the Jacksonville Speedway in Jacksonville, Illinois. The race was the third leg of Illinois Speedweek in front of a standing room only crowd and paid the Grain Valley, Missouri driver $3,000. Speedweek concludes Saturday night at the Macon Speedway in Macon, Illinois.
Jimmy Bridgeman and Bret Tripplett opened up the feature with scary crashes down the backstretch with one lap in the books. After contact with Brown and the wall, Bridgeman tumbled several times, finally landing in turn three. Both drivers were o.k.
Danny Smith dominated the Dash and looked like he may do the same in the feature. The veteran led the 25-lapper early on. He was chased by Robbie Standridge, Brown, Chris Urish and Jordan Goldesberry. Shortly after the restart, Brown was able to squeak by Standridge with a slider in turn two, and he began to chase down the leader.
A caution for Mike Hess flew with five laps in the books. Chris Urish had moved into third ahead of Standridge and Goldesberry. The final slowdown came with ten laps in the books, when Jimmy Light made contact with the backstretch wall, folding his front end. On the restart, Smith led Brown, Urish, Standridge and Jim Moughan, who had worked himself into the top five.
Brown made a few attempts at the low side of Smith following the restart, but his big chance came in lapped traffic. On lap 20, he shot under the veteran in turn three and was never headed in his win. “I’d like to apologize to (Bridgeman),” said Brown in Victory Lane. “I never saw him. And I want to apologize to (Robbie) Standridge too. I got into him sliding across the track there. I’ve been on the other end of that here too, and it’s no fun.”
“It’s awesome to win this Standridge Memorial,” he continued. “I appreciate you fans. I felt like I was quicker than Danny, but the closer I got and the harder I ran…the tighter I got. I just backed off and made sure to time my run. He is a hell of a competitor. To beat him at a track like this is a heck of a win for our team.”
Smith settled for second. “The track was tricky everywhere. This has always been a good little racetrack for me. I want to thank all the fans for coming out. I appreciate their support. We will take second and go on down the road. I appreciate MOWA and these promoters giving us four races in a row without much travel.”
Urish ran a solid race for third. “My plan from the beginning was the bottom. I didn’t think I could be consistent up on the curb. The track kind of came to me at the end. It was a little late, but the car was really good. I love this place, and I appreciate all the fans being here.”
Moughan advanced to fourth ahead of Jerrod Hull, who earned hard-charger honors after winning the second B main. AJ Bruns, Terry Babb, Robbie Standridge, first B main winner Korey Weyant and Goldesberry rounded out the top ten. Robbie Standridge, Goldesberry, Moughan and Urish claimed heat race wins.
MOWA finishes up Illinois Speedweek Saturday night at the Macon Speedway in Macon, Illinois.
Mary Lee Standridge Memorial Main Event (started), 25 laps: 1. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (4) 2. 4, Danny Smith, Chillicothe, OH (1) 3. 77u, Chris Urish, Elkhart, IL (3) 4. 1m, Jim Moughan Jr., Springfield, IL (5) 5. 12, Jerrod Hull, Sikeston, MO (18) 6. 44, AJ Bruns, Athens, IL (11) 7. 88, Terry Babb, Lincoln, IL (16) 8. 22, Robbie Standridge, Springfield, IL (2) 9. 7s, Korey Weyant, Springfield, IL (17) 10. 65, Jordan Goldesberry, Springfield, IL (8) 11. 4K, Kody Kinser, Bloomington, IN (12) 12. 47, Brett Samonds, Springfield, IL (14) 13. 84, Ben Wagoner, Emden, IL (19) 14. 3, Matt Sutton, Macomb, IL (20) 15. 51, Mike Hess, Springfield, IL (10) 16. 10s, Jeremy Standridge, Springfield, IL (15) 17. 23, Jimmy Light, West Springfield, PA (9) 18. 14T, Jimmy Bridgeman, Farmington, MO (6) 19. 22T, Bret Tripplett, Lincoln, IL (7) 20. 83, Ron Standridge, Springfield, IL (13) Lap Leaders: Smith 1-19, Brown 20-25. BMRS Hard Charger: Hull.
Cooper Racing Enterprises Heat one (started, *qualified for feature, 10 laps): 1. Robbie Standridge (1*) 2. Mike Hess (2*) 3. Brian Brown (5*) 4. Bret Tripplett (7*) 5. Ron Standridge (9*) 6. 05, Paul Patterson, Virden, IL (8) 7. 2K, Ryan Kempin, House Springs, MO (6) 8. 99, Jimmy Davies, Oquawka, IL (3) 9. 2, Alex Pettas, Phoenix, AZ (4)
Midland Performance Parts Heat two (started, *qualified for feature, 10 laps): 1. Jordan Goldesberry (1*) 2. AJ Bruns (2*) 3. Terry Babb (3*) 4. Ben Wagoner (5) 5. Jerrod Hull (7) 6. 9, Paul Nienhiser, Chapin, IL (9) 7. Matt Sutton (6) 8. 2x, Pat Moore, Moline, IL (4) 9. 79, Destini Clark, Bolingbrook, IL (8)
Super Shox Heat three (started, *qualified for feature, 10 laps): 1. Jim Moughan Jr. (1*) 2. Kody Kinser (2*) 3. Jimmy Bridgeman (8*) 4. Jeremy Standridge (6*) 5. Korey Weyant (7) 6. 42, Cory Bruns, Lincoln, IL (5) 7. 87, Mark Siciliano, Springfield, IL (3) 8. 1P, Curtis Evans, Norborne, MO (4)
Heat four (started, *qualified for feature, 10 laps): 1. Chris Urish (1*) 2. Danny Smith (5*) 3. Brett Samonds (4*) 4. Jimmy Light (7*) 5. 01, Tim Montgomery, Fredericktown, MO (3) 6. 5, Caleb Wankel, Jacksonville, IL (6) 7. 52F, Logan Faucon, Elkhart, IL (2) 8. 71m, Paul May, Terre Haute, IN (8)
Dash (started, 8 laps): 1. Danny Smith (1) 2. Robbie Standridge (3) 3. Chris Urish (4) 4. Brian Brown (2) 5. Jim Moughan Jr. (5) 6. Jimmy Bridgeman (7) 7. Bret Tripplett (6) 8. Jordan Goldesberry (8)
Race Bumpers B Main one (started, 12 laps): 1. Korey Weyant (2) 2. Ben Wagoner (1) / 3. Paul Patterson (3) 4. Logan Faucon (7) 5. Caleb Wankel (4) 6. Destini Clark (8) 7. Mark Siciliano (6) 8. Ryan Kempin (5) DNS – Curtis Evans
B Main two (started, 12 laps): 1. Jerrod Hull (1) 2. Matt Sutton (5) / 3. Paul Nienhiser (2) 4. Alex Pettas (7) 5. Pat Moore (5) 6. Jimmy Davies (6) 7. Cory Bruns (4) DNS – Tim Montgomery, Paul May