7/3/2015
Cherry Raceway
Greg Gokey fends off stiff competition to take home Mid-Season Championship Hardware
This past Friday, Cherry Raceway kicked off the Independence Day Holiday weekend in front of a full house with a bang. First it was Mid-Season Championships on track in all classes, then fireworks overhead at the end of the night. Oh, and just for fun, Bar Stool Races thrown in at intermission time along with a special presentation to the “Cowboy” Steve Nieuwenhuis for 25 consecutive years of racing at Cherry Raceway. Great times were had by all on a beautiful night for racing.
The Young Guns division made their way on to the front stretch for opening ceremonies and would be the first to get the green flag for the night. Chris Casey took the green in the heat race and led green to checkers for the win finishing ahead of Autumn Beeman and Dalton Bouschor. In the feature event, Andrea Taghon took the lead from her 5th place starting position on the first lap. Point leader, Autumn Beeman battled back to overtake Taghon on lap #3. Just past the midway point of the 20 lap event, Taghon once took command passing Beeman on the bottom coming out of turn 2. A side by side battle would continue the next several laps when slower lapped traffic and the leaders got together bringing out the caution. On the restart of the one lap shootout, Autumn Beeman took over the point for the final time and drove on to score her 3rd feature win of the season. Andrea Taghon held to finish second followed by Hunter Hamilton crossing the finish line sideways for third as he battled with Chris Casey 4th and Dylan Roush 5th.
Brandon Thirlby picked up the win in the first of 2 heat races for the Auto Value UMP Late Model division followed by Eric Spangler and Nick Kurtz. Victory in heat #2 went to Greg Gokey over Andy Nickerson III and Rob Lewis. In the feature event, point leader and pole sitter Greg Gokey took the lead as the green flag flew with Andy Nickerson III a close second. As the laps clicked off, Brandon Thirlby had worked his way to take over the runner up spot on lap #9. Caution flew on lap #13 for Rob Lewis and bunched the field for the restart. Back under green, Eric Spangler got the jump on Thirlby for second and started putting the pressure on Gokey. The green would stay out for the remaining laps with Gokey running the high groove and fending off all challenges to take the checkers. Eric Spangler held on to finish 2nd followed by Brandon Thirlby, Andy Nickerson III, Jacques Julin, JT Anderson, Nick Kurtz, Don Erickson, Steve Nieuwenhuis and Tyson Roush.
In Warrior action, Jeremy Tulick would score the heat race win in his first start of the year at Cherry Raceway finishing ahead of Russ Carrier and Jackson White. In the feature event, Jackson White took the early lead from the pole but surrendered the lead to Arlie Cooper Jr. on lap #5. Arlie Cooper went on to lead the remaining laps and score his third win of the year over Jackson White, Willard VanHaitsma, Jeremy Tulick, Travis Skaggs, Jim Luhtanen and Russ Carrier.
UMP Modified action would see Kory Maurice visit victory lane in the heat race followed by Joe Rokos and Jerry Kent. In the 20 lap main event, “Hot Rod” Joe Rokos started on the pole and jumped to the early lead with Dennis Taghon applying the pressure. In the closing laps Taghon started eating into the lead and pulled back onto the back bumper of Rokos. Joe was strong enough to hold off the challenge and drove into victory lane for the celebration. Joe explained in a post-race interview he thought something broke causing a vibration but he still had enough to hold on for the win. Dennis Taghon finished a close second followed by Jeff Cade, Kory Maurice, Paul Buckler, Larry Cade, Kyle Novak, Jerry Kent and Brian Knight.
Heat race action for the Lightning Sprints would see Josh Ward drive into victory lane over Jordan Erickson and Justin Ward. As the green flag flew on the Mid-Season Championship race, Justin Ward took the lead with Lindsey Erickson in tow. Starting near the tail of the field Jordan Erickson in just his second week behind the wheel of Randy Plamondon’s #2 sprinter flew to the runner up position by lap #5 and took over the point one lap later. On lap #9 Ward was back in front but the determined Erickson powered his way back to the point for good to take the win. Mack Erickson battled back from an early spin to finish second while Justin Ward slipped back to third. Lindsey Erickson and Bud Schrader would round out the top 5.
The first of two heat race wins for the Stock Cars went to Peni LaLonde over Jeremiah Woebbeking and Derrick Beard. TJ Erickson would visit victory lane in the second heat followed by Kevin Stricker and Mike Babcock. In the Main event, Jeremiah Woebbeking and Peni LaLonde would battle for the lead for the first 8 laps while TJ Erickson had worked his way to third from tenth by lap #3. On lap #11, Erickson took the lead from Woebbeking and set his sights on the finish. By lap #14, Allen Oyer had moved into the runner up position and was working the high side in an attempt to overtake Erickson. After a late race caution with just 5 laps to go, TJ moved up the high side and kept Oyer at bay to take home the win. Allen Oyer finished a close second followed by Jeremiah Woebbeking, Brian Abernethy, Chris Casey, Joe Fisher, Kevin Stricker, Derrick Beard, Ty Phillips and Peni LaLonde.
The American Ethanol Late Model Tour will make a stop at Cherry Raceway this coming Friday, July 10th. Current Tour point leader Eric Spangler along with all the top runners in the tour are expected to join our Cherry Raceway regulars for a great night of Late Model Action. Click on the American Ethanol link on the Cherry Raceway website to see the current standings.
See ya at the track.
Article Credit: Alan Lardie
Submitted By: Michelle Stieg
