Larry Lowrey Jr.

April 23, 2011

 

Topeka, KS -Easter Weekend at HPT.Com Speedway felt a little more like the Fourth of July on Saturday night. Fans might have been looking for eggs, but what they got seemed like a basket full of fireworks.

 

Dave Samuels has won a track championship at HPT.Com Speedway and he has picked off 2 feature wins in 2011. In a feature that was packed full of excitement, it was Samuels that walked away with feature win number 3 out of 4 in 2011.

 

Samuels started 11th in the evenings feature event. He would have to bust his way through some impressive talent to get to the front. In 15 laps it could have seemed impossible, not to Samuels.

 

Getting the jump on the field at the start of the main event was Jim Powell Jr. Powell took to the lead and looked to be extending it throughout the night. Powell warded off the early challenges in the night, but there was one challenge that was still coming on strong.

 

As the laps wound down in the main event, Samuels had finally moved into the 2nd position and set his sites on the leader, Powell. As the white flag was waved by HPT Flag man, Bob Bardsley, Samuels knew that he had one chance remaining. The two went down the back stretch heading for turn number three.

 

When Samuels got to turn 3, he was on the back bumper of Powell. Powell pushed up off the bottom of the race track. As Powell went up the track Samuels swooped in on the bottom of the track. The two would exit turn number 4 making contact and then having to dodge a lapped as they went by the flag stand. Samuels had inched out Powell by 12 inches at the line. An exciting end to a great feature event.

 

Steve Herrick finished in the 3rd position, it was another strong night for Gerald Wahwahsuck as he finished in the top 5 yet again and rounding out the top 5 was Zachary Henrey.

 

If late race heroics weren't your cup of tea, than tonight might have not been your favorite night of the 2011 season. The B Mod feature packed in a lot of excitement too.

 

Last season Dustin Thulin was a multiple feature winner at HPT.Com Speedway. This season he has a new car and has been working the kinks out of it. After Saturday night, it's save to say that 99 percent of the kinks should be gone after an impressive win.

 

It would take the B Mods a little while to get going, but once again when they got going they put on a show.

 

Thulin took to the point from the outset of the race. He won his heat race and started on the pole of the feature event. He would use all the energy he could muster behind the wheel of his new TRE by Bone Chassis.

 

The winner from opening night, Dalton Kirk, made it back to race again at HPT. He would find himself in a familiar position. Kirk was looking to take over the lead while sitting in the 2nd position.

 

Even though he is a young driver, Kirk showed a lot of maturity on the track. Close and clean racing is what he is about. Kirk and Thulin went toe-to-toe in the late goings of the race, but each driver gave the other the respect that drivers should show each other on the track. On the last few laps Kirk made runs at Thulin but could not get the job done as Thulin would win his 1st feature of 2011.

 

Curtis Dreasher ran up front all night long and finished in the 3rd position, Mike Higley turned a lot of heads after starting 22nd and finishing 4th in the feature and Mike Eisenhut kept his string of good features together finishing in the 5th position.

 

If someone was looking for pure jubilation they might have found it in the pit area with Randy Kohn. Kohn picked up his 1st career win on Saturday night.

 

The excitement was nothing short of spectacular. Kohn got out of his car and celebrated the win with the fans in the crowd. It was a win that has been a long time coming. The feature race was a nerve racking win for the first time winner, Kohn.

 

During the feature event Kohn had put together a very comfortable sized lead on the rest of the competition. Kohn looked to be walking to his 1st win. That was until a couple of late cautions reset the stage.

 

AJ Christian had been up front most of the night too. Could he jump passed Kohn on one of the final restarts? The question begged to be asked and Kohn had the answer.

 

Kohn would hold off AJ Christian to the flag. It was both an exciting and emotional win for Kohn as he was interviewed on the front straightaway. In just his 2nd full season of racing he located victory lane.

 

AJ Christian has been close in 2011, just not close enough to pull down a win. Saturday night was the same old routine again, finish in the top 5. Christian did just that picking up the 2nd place finish. Daniel Canady, Jimmy Millard and Sandy Okruhlik rounded out the top 5.

 

Modifieds were the last class to take to the track for their feature event on Saturday. Cody Agler rolled to his 1st win of the 2011 season.

 

Agler, the youngster from Emporia, is coming off his 3rd full season of racing. Last year in his sophomore season he picked up multiple wins at HPT.Com Speedway. It took him 4 races to get his 1st win of 2011, but don't expect it to be his last.

 

The green flag dropped on the A Main, it was Agler who got the drop and took off with the lead.

 

Last week it was Agler trying to run down Darron Fuqua and this week the rest of the Modified competitors were looking to run Agler down.

 

They didn't get the job done. Agler kept his poise and composure and drove on to an easy victory.

 

Steven Bowers Jr. started in the 22nd spot on the starting grid. Earlier in the night he was having some issues, but it appears that his crew is top notch. They got Bowers fixed and out on the race track. Just past the halfway point, Bowers began to catch fire.

 

Working the line that nobody wanted to run. It was about as high as you could get on the track without knocking the wall down. Bowers, in the end, would roll past 20 cars on his way to finishing 2nd in the A main.

 

Third place went to a hard charging Shad Badder, 4th was Justin Folk and the 5th position went to Allen Henrey.

 

Next week the BriggsAuto.Com Super Saturday Showdown returns to HPT.Com Speedway. Gates will open up at 5:30, hot laps are scheduled for 6:15 and the races go green at 7:00 p.m.

 

Ticket prices are $10 for adults, children are $5, seniors are $8 and for military personnel with their i.d.'s will get in for FREE!

 

For more information log on to www.hpt.com for all your racing information.

 

Feature Results

 

B Modified B Main #1

 

Heath Murray

Aaron Hilderman

Richard Prochnow

Billy Sheperd

Danny Masters

Darren Robinson

Toby Teel

Jason Teel

Bob Dauer

Brandon Jones DNS

Brent Fielder DNS

Tim Thompson DNS

B Mod B Main #2

 

Jacob Ebert

Mike Higley

Bryan Rigsby

Shelby Calderwood

Tracy Schaefer

David Mason

Mike Ireland

Tony Filbert

Mike McGinnis

Trevor Baker

Gus Harrison DNS

Jeremy Lile DNS

B Mod A Feature

 

Dustin Thulin

Dalton Kirk

Curtis Dreasher

Mike Higley

Mike Eisenhut

Truman Asher

Jacob Ebert

Dylan Whitehead

Brian Murphy

Aaron Hilderman

Richard Prochnow

Seth Schroer

John Grist

Bobby Penny

Bronson Combs

Derek Huffman

Chase Galvan

Marty Grist

Gary Holthaus

Kyle Olberding

Jeff Davis

Christopher Dishong

Heath Murry

Bryan Rigsby

Factory Stock A Feature

 

David Samuels

Jim Powell Jr.

Steve Herrick

Gerald Wahwahsuck

Zachary Henrey

Matt Field

Jeff Miller

Eric Weyer

Tyson Young

Ken Gracia

Greg Deters

Brent Alverson

Bob Troutwine

James King

Leif Weyer

Frank Jaynes DNS

Dominic Thyfault DNS

Henry Mabe DNS

 

 

Modified B Feature

 

Ryan Phillips

Steven Bowers Jr.

Danny Charles

Anthony Tanner

Josh Henrey

Allen Halderman

Jared Rogers

Jason Keim

Mike Gish

Nic Bidinger DNS

Buddy Thompson DNS

Mod A Feature

 

Cody Agler

Steven Bowers Jr.

Shad Badder

Justin Folk

Allen Henrey

Todd Wichman

Kyle Covert

Kerry Davis

Tyler Schmidt

Chase Junghans

Tom Grist

Josh Everhart

Ryan Phillips

Allan Broers

Jay Bailey

Bill Robison

Anthony Tanner

Derrick Brown

Paul Snyder

Jeff James

Danny Charles

Darron Fuqua

Jake Richards DNS

Justin Johnson DQ

Pure Stock A Feature

 

Randy Kohn

AJ Christian

Daniel Canady

Jimmy Millard

Sandy Okruhlik

Barry Richardson

Zachary Henrey

Darrell Cremer

Steve Stewart DNF

Darren Davenport DNS

Dave McLaughlin DNF

Tanner Allensworth DNF