From Dean Reichel
It’s a wrap on the 2012 season at Double X Speedway. Saturday night marked the season championship at the track with a full evening of racing in four classes and awards presented to those drivers that made the commitment to compete at the venerable speedplant this season.
The headline class at Double X has always been the winged sprint cars, this year presented by Xxtreme Glass of California. Point champion Tyler Blank of California closed the season out in style by capturing the feature event as well as the season point championship. At the checkered, Tyler held a comfortable lead but the entire race was not quite as comfortable. Blank started on the pole due to the top four qualifiers being inverted on championship night. At the drop of the green flag Blank went to the point with Slater’s Bryan Grimes, Sedalia’s TJ Muths and Cody Baker of Lone Jack in tow. Following a red flag on lap 3, Grimes took the high line around turns 1 & 2 to lead Blank down the backstretch. Blank executed a classic and calculated low to high pass in turns 3 & 4 to take the lead back from Grimes. Blank would lead the remainder of the event with Grimes, Baker, Muths, Lanny Carpenter of Clarksburg and Sealia’s Tyler Utz rounding out the top six. Heat race victories were claimed by Grimes and Baker.
In the Cooper Racing Street Stock division, the “Tipton Tornado” Tim Cressley made it two in a row to close out the season at Double-X. While Cressley was setting the pace, there was much racing going on back in the pack. Eldon’s Keeth Strange, Derek Henson of Russellville, and Tuscumbia’s Dale Berry were racing in a pack and racing hard for the place and show positions. Following Cressley under the checkered flag were Berry, Henson, Curt Turpin and Nick Turner, both of Jefferson City, in the top five. Heat races were claimed by Berry and 2012 Street Stock Champion Henson.
The Double X Hobby Stocks took to the track for their final event of the season and it was a familiar face picking up the win as Sedalia’s Will Register claims another victory. Chuck Coffey of Windsor would chase Register to the stripe with California’s Rudy Wirts, Eldon’s Laura Atkinson and PJ Grimes of Sedalia completing the top five. Point Champion Register claimed the heat race victory.
Also in competition were the 600 cc Micro Sprints. Columbia’s Dean Hathman was not to be denied on championship night at he passed pole sitter Drew Shively of Columbia on lap two and opened a commanding lead to claim the victory. Shively would take second, Jefferson City’s Kyle Schlotz was third, Columbia’s Scott Hathman fourth and Lane Wilson of Creighton rounded out the top five. Hathman and Hathman claimed their respective heat race events.
After the completion of the evening’s championship races, the awards were presented for the season point races and special awards were presented as well. Results and photos from the Awards Ceremony will be published at a later date.
Following the awards presentation, some special events were held. In the Street Stock Powder Puff race, two drivers made the call with Amber Troesser of Linn making a last lap pass of Russellville’s Susie Henson to claim the victory. The Hobby Stock Powder Puff had some excitement when red light conditions occurred as contact was made between race leader Ellie Wirts and Taylor Walters, both of California, leaving Wirts in the guardrail and pit bound. In the end in was Walters claiming the victory in the event. The Mechaincs also got their turn to race as well. In the Street Stock division Russellville’s Cole Henson took the victory over the rest of the field. The two man Sprint Car Mechanics Race was claimed by David Burlingame of California. The Hobby Stock Mechanics was claimed by speedway promoter Kyle Wirts of California. The final race of the evening was a ten lap non wing exhibition of the 600cc Micro Sprints claimed by Kyle Schlotz of Jefferson City.
On behalf of the owners and staff of Double X Speedway, we would like to extend a heartfelt “THANK YOU” to all of our drivers, crews, fans and sponsors for supportring us during the 2012 season and we look forward to providing you with affordable racing entertainment for many seasons to come.