Mason, MI — (June 7, 2013) —
Ft Wayne, Indiana’s Geoff Kaiser paid his first visit to Spartan Speedway and came away with the 30 lap feature victory after surviving seven cautions and avoiding trouble after starting 6th. Kaiser held off Doug Dietsch, Leroy Ellis, John Turnbull and JoJo Helberg.
MudclodBob photo
A pair of 0’s shared the front row of the A Main with Doug Dietsch inside and Steve Irwin along side. Dietsch pulled away at the green but a lap two spin by Kevin Feeney was a sign of things to come. After five laps, cars were nose to tail with Dietsch leading Irwin, Kyle Feeney, Kaiser and Cody Hoover.
Lap six found 10th starting JoJo Helberg advancing to 5th and he gained another spot by lap eight, however, 9th starting John Turnbull made a strong move working his way past Helberg into 4th during the ninth circuit.
Meanwhile action was heated for the lead as Steve Irwin took the top position with nine in. Kaiser was all over Irwin with Dietsch a close 3rd and Turnbull battling a charging Helberg. With fourteen complete, yellow slowed things as Cody Hoover spun.
At the halfway mark, Irwin maintained a slight advantage over Kaiser, Turnbull, Dietsch and Helberg. At this point, racing was intense among these cars and continued until lap twenty one when Kevin Feeney spun. The green appeared one more time but it only lasted one lap as three cars tangled in turn one after Kaiser made the pass for the lead.
The three cars involved were Turnbull and Helberg with Kyle Feeney hopping a wheel and making contact with the turn two water barrels. Feeney left on the wrecker while Turnbull and Helberg tagged the tail of the field.
Still another yellow flew on lap twenty three as Irwin and Steve Smith were involved in a turn four altercation. This also collected Don Hamilton. As the green came out again, Kaiser was leading but now had his hands full with Doug Dietsch back in the fray with a charging Leroy Ellis in third.
One more caution would slow things but Geoff Kaiser was not to be denied as he hung on for the win over Dietsch, Ellis, Turnbull, Helberg, Jim Heeney and Steve Smith.
This was a wild and wooly feature with no lack of action and some excellent racing. A nice field of 18 sprint cars were on hand tonight. Dietsch and Steve Irwin won heats with John Turnbull fast timer for the evening.