McHenry results

DirtNews Digest Your Online News Source for Late Model Dirt Track Racing "Get Some Dirt On Your Computer!" Todd Turner, editor

Email address: DirtNews@aol.com Web site: http://members.aol.com/dirtnews/digest =================================== CONTENTS: July 3-4 results (published July 5) UMP: Aukland first repeat winner on Summernationals CAPSULES: Roundup of other holiday weekend events =================================== UNITED MIDWESTERN PROMOTERS UMP Summernationals

McHENRY, Ky. (Friday) Rick Aukland is the first UMP Summernationals driver who can boast, "Repeat after me."

The Fargo, N.D., became the first two-time winner on the 20-race series, racing past polesitter Randy Sellars on the 19th of 30 laps for a victory worth $5,000 at Central Park Raceway in the eighth leg of the endurance test.

"Finally, we get another one," said Aukland, who leads the Summernationals point standings and previously won Saturday's Jackson 100 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway. "I was wondering if anybody was going to get two in this deal."

"I think this is the year, I guess you'd call it parity," said Aukland, who won four Summernationals events last year, including the stop at Central Park. "You look at STARS and Hav-A-Tampa and UMP, all the specials, there's been a lot of different winners this year, nobody's dominated for sure."

Sellars, who won the Summernationals opener June 25 at Benton, Mo., held on to finish second ahead of Steve Barnett, Billy Drake and Tony Izzo Jr. Jeff Wilson, Gary Keeling, Butch Shay, Steve Ryan and Dan Sturgeon finished sixth through 10th on the wide 3/8-mile oval in western Kentucky.

When the race began, Sellars appeared to have the best chance at notching a repeat Summernationals victory. The 1993 UMP national champion jumped into the lead from his pole position and pulled away from Drake after a tight race for the first few laps while Kris Patterson, Izzo and Aukland gave chase.

Sellars stretched his lead to half a straightaway by the eighth lap, as Drake, Izzo, Barnett and Aukland broke away slightly from the rest of the field. As Sellars began entering slower traffic on the 13th lap, Aukland shifted to an outside groove and began his march toward the front. He swept around Izzo and Barnett on the 14th lap, and held third position on a lap-15 restart after the race's only caution for Mike Gibbs' spin exiting Turn 4.

Aukland returned to his outside line to steal second place from Drake on the 16th lap, and edged past Sellars on the 19th circuit.

"I wasn't very good on the bottom. I couldn't stay down there good," Aukland said. "After I got to the front and could use the high side going in and the low side going out, that's the way we were the best."

"There was some traction down low off of both ends to get a hold of, and that's where Sellars was beating me a little off the corners," Aukland added. "I just wasn't very good if I stayed on the bottom all the way around, I had to let it skate out a little bit, I was too tight down there."

Sellars put up a fight for three laps, staying within a car length of Aukland when they passed under the flagstand to complete lap 23. But Aukland pulled away the remaining laps to win by half a straightaway and record his second victory in two trips to Central Park.

CAR COUNT: 43 late models.

FAST QUALIFIER: Steve Barnett, 15.13 seconds (3/8-mile oval).

FAST DASH (sets first three rows of feature): Randy Sellars, Billy Drake, Rick Aukland, Tony Izzo Jr., Kris Patterson, Kevin Claycomb, Steve Barnett, Todd Rust, Donnie Tudor.

FIRST HEAT (eight laps; top three advance): Steve Barnett, Dan Sturgeon, Steve Ryan, Johnny Wheeler, Dion Deason, Tim Tungate, Jeff Napper, Robert Kirby, Travis Wilson.

SECOND HEAT: Mike Gibbs, Doug Ault, Todd Rust, Dennis Erb Sr., Bill Millikan, James Wettstain, Jeff Glisson, Butch Barber, Kevin Perkins, Wayne Miller.

THIRD HEAT: Jeff Wilson, Jim Curry, Jeff Mounce, Brian Anderson, Donnie Tudor, Bruce Fiser, Joe Morris, Buddy Sisk, Gerald Barnett.

FOURTH HEAT: Butch Shay, Gary Keeling, Dennis Erb Jr., Dan Schlieper, Cale Kern, Ron Crossley, Ned Lucas, Danny Hatcher, Jason Bingham.

FIRST CONSOLATION (10 laps; winner advances): Dennis Erb Sr., Johnny Wheeler, Wayne Miller, Kevin Perkins, Dion Deason, Robert Kirby, Jeff Glisson (Bill Millikan, Tim Tungate, James Wettstain, Jeff Napper, Butch Barber and Travis Wilson scratched).

SECOND CONSOLATION: Dan Schlieper, Donnie Tudor, Brian Anderson, Bruce Fiser, Cale Kern, Ron Crossley, Ned Lucas, Jason Bingham, Joe Morris (Buddy Sisk, Gerald Barnett and Danny Hatcher scratched).

FEATURE (Pos., driver, car no., hometown, chassis, winnings) 1. Rick Aukland (12), Fargo, N.D., Rayburn, $5,000 2. Randy Sellars (3), Mayfield, Ky., Rayburn, $2,000 3. Steve Barnett (89), Franklin, Ind., Rayburn, $1,200 4. Billy Drake (9), Bloomington, Ind., Shaw, $1,100 5. Tony Izzo Jr. (16), Bridgeview, Ill., GRT, $1,000 6. Jeff Wilson (55), Franklin, Ind., Rayburn, $700 7. Gary Keeling (K5), Paducah, Ky., GRT, $600 8. Butch Shay (1x), Louisville, Ky., Rayburn, $500 9. Steve Ryan (69), Boaz, Ky., Rayburn, $450 10. Dan Sturgeon (26), Bloomington, Ind., MasterSbilt, $400 11. Kris Patterson (0), St. John's, Mich., Rayburn, $230 12. Dennis Erb Jr. (28), Carpentersville, Ill., Rayburn, $230 13. Dan Schlieper (s9), Pewaukee, Wis., Outhouse, $230 14. Dennis Erb Sr. (26), Carpentersville, Ill., MasterSbilt, $230 15. Jeff Mounce (81), Mitchell, Ind., MasterSbilt, $230 16. Jim Curry (7), Norman, Ind., Rayburn, $230 17. Todd Rust (30), Owensboro, Ky., MasterSbilt, $230 18. Doug Ault (1a), Brownstown, Ind., MasterSbilt, $230 19. Mike Gibbs (33), Bedford, Ind., GRT, $230 20. Kevin Claycomb (28), Vincennes, Ind., Rocket, $230

NOTES: Winner Rick Aukland plans on sticking with the Summernationals series, figuring his series points lead will guarantee him a spot in the dash (and help him get good feature starting spots) for upcoming $10,000-to-win races in Iowa and Minnesota .... Aukland considered zipping up to the STARS race in Pittsburgh to defend his Penn National 100 title .... the feature ended at 11:30 p.m. .... car builder C.J. Rayburn sat on the backstretch terrace to watch a race that featured nine of 20 drivers piloting Rayburn cars .... injured driver Terry English, using a walker to get around, also watched from the terrace .... controversy developed when Doug Ault, who won the second heat, was penalized after the race for jumping a start and placed a lap down .... Ault filed a protest with the track, which deferred to UMP president Bob Memmer, who said Ault should merely be penalized one position .... the reversal knocked Dennis Erb Sr. into a consolation race, and he let Memmer know he wasn't happy with the decision to change rules announced at the prerace driver's meeting .... track points leader and defending UMP champion Donnie Tudor failed to make the feature field .... Kevin Perkins of Russellville, Ky., was driving the No. 27 Larry Shaw chassis formerly driven by Stacy Taylor of Jacksonville, Ark. .... the Fourth of July evening was on the cool side with temperatures in the 60s .... more than 200 drivers have participated in at least one Summernationals race.

SATURDAY'S SUMMERNATIONALS RACE: Barren County Speedway, Glasgow, Ky., $5,000 to win.

CREDIT: Todd Turner <DirtNews@aol.com> of DirtNews Digest. ------------------------------------------------------------- THURSDAY'S CAPSULES

MAHAN GETS FIRST SOUTHERN ALL-STARS WIN: Mark Mears let Bill Mahan borrow a car for the 50-lap Southern All-Stars event at Moulton (Ala.) Speedway, but he may have lent the wrong one. Mahan beat Mears to the finish for a $3,000 victory, Mahan's first career win on the circuit. Mahan took the lead on the 26th lap when leaders Brandon King and Ted Lackey tangled on the backstretch, then cruised to the victory. There were 32 cars in attendance. FEATURE (50 laps): (1) Bill Mahan, (2) Mark Mears, (3) Kelly Hanvey, (4) E.J. Carter, (5) Mike Head, (6) Casey Bratton, (7) Gary McPherson, (8) Bo Shirley, (9) Bryon Michaels, (10) Dale Ledlow. ------------------------------------------------------------- FRIDAY'S CAPSULES

SHAVER WINS STARS RACE AT PORTSMOUTH: Steve Shaver charged from his ninth starting spot to collect a Short Track Auto Racing Stars (STARS) victory worth $6,000 at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park. Todd Andrews outdueled Rick Eckert for the runner-up spot.

STUHLER SCORES MACS VICTORY AT BEDFORD: Gary Stuhler of Greencastle, Pa., captured the 35-lap Earl Beaumont Memorial at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway, a Mid-Atlantic Championship Series victory worth $2,500. Stuhler, who also won the May 23 MACS race at Bedford, led the final 18 laps after taking over from Bob Salathe, who ended up second. The race, which drew 37 late models, was run in honor of former tech man at the southcentral Pennsylvania track. FEATURE (35 laps): (1) Gary Stuhler, (2) Bob Salathe, (3) Jack Pencil, (4) Scott Haus, (5) Tom Myers, (6) Scott Rhodes, (7) Chris Shuey, (8) Nathan Durboraw, (9) Bob Wearing Jr., (10) Denny Chamberlain.

AIKEY GETS FIRST NASCAR BUSCH ALL-STAR TOUR VICTORY: Jeff Aikey won a 50-lap feature at Farley (Iowa) Speedway for his first career NASCAR Busch All-Star victory. Denny Eckrich and Scott Koskovich took turns leading early in the race before Aikey grabbed the point at the northeastern Iowa oval. FEATURE (50 laps): (1) Jeff Aikey, (2) Ray Guss Jr., (3) Denny Eckrich, (4) Rick Wendling, (5) Steve Kosiski, (6) Steve Boley, (7) Layne Meyer, (8) Steve Hennies, (9) Brian Birkhofer, (10) Denny Osborn, (11) Jay Johnson, (12) Joe Kosiski, (13) Gary Webb, (14) Steve Ihm, (15) Dan Galant. ------------------------------------------------------------- CAPSULE CREDITS: Lynn Acklin <SOUTHERNALLSTARRACING@msn.com> of Southern All-Stars, Erick Seager <erick@sswinc.com> and Amy Byler <abcbyler@zoomnet.net>. ------------------------------------------------------------- CORRECTION: Illinois driver Ray Guss Jr.'s name was misspelled in some editions of the previous DND report. -------------------------------------------------------------