8/14/2015
Cherry Raceway
Greg Gokey to Victory Lane in UMP Modified Action
Kids are winners on Nickle Night at Cherry Raceway. Thousands of nickels went home in the pockets of all the youngsters in attendance, one boy and one girl went home with a brand new bicycle and six others got to roll the dice for the feature race inversion and received a driver autographed Cherry Raceway T-Shirt.
In Young Guns action, Dalton Bouschor swept the night taking the heat race win over Jake Woebbeking and Autumn Beeman. In the feature race, Bouschor would take the green from the outside the front row and lead all 15 laps of the main event to score his 6th feature of the year. Autumn started at the back of the field due to mechanical problems and a car change but was able to drive to a second place finish followed by Jake Woebbeking, Dylan Roush and Hunter Hamilton. With just three weeks remaining, Dalton has closed the gap to just 6 points in the championship point race behind Autumn Beeman.
The broom was out again in the Warrior division with Arlie Cooper Jr. taking both the heat and feature race wins this past Friday Night. Calvin Ingleston, Travis Skaggs, Jackson White and Jim Luhtanen rounded out the top five in the main event. Cooper holds a 49 point lead over Jackson White in the point standings.
Another strong field of cars unloaded for the Stock Car division with Emery Smith carrying the checkers in the first heat race over Chris Casey and Brian Abernethy. In heat # 2, TJ Erickson took the win followed by Jeremiah Woebbeking and Dan Wierman. In the feature race, TJ Erickson wasted no time taking over the point on lap #2 from his 6th place starting position. With Erickson out front the battle was heated for the next 6 positions with Wireman, Abernethy, Smith, Fisher and Woebbeking all swapping paint in 3 wide, bumper to bumper action that kept the crown on the edge of their seat. When the checkered flag flew it was TJ Erickson scoring his 7th feature race win of the year followed by Dan Wireman, Emery Smith, Joe Fisher, Chris Casey, Jeremiah Woebbeking, Jeff Chalker, John Gilde and Thomas Poley. Joe Fisher holds a 38 point lead over Jeremiah Woebbeking going into the final weeks of the season.
Michael Luberda Jr. of AuGres, MI scored the win in the first of two heat races for the Lightning Sprints over Justin Ward and Bud Schrader. In the second heat it was Mack Erickson finishing in front of Ricky Droke and Lindsey Erickson. Bob Lenox and Paul Erickson led the 14 car field to the green flag in the lightning Sprint main event. From inside the second row, Lindsey Erickson stormed into the lead with Mack Erickson a close second. By lap #13, Mack started to fade while Jorden Erickson took over the runner up position from his 13 place starting position. Lindsey continued to fend off Jorden until lap 17 when she spun in turn 4 bringing out the caution. Jordan Erickson would lead the final circuits for the win followed by Justin Ward, Mack Erickson, Michael Luberda Jr., Bob Lenox, Lindsey Erickson, Scott Flees, Robert Roland, Ricky Droke and Randy Tinker. Just 24 points separate point leader Justin Ward from Mack Erickson in the Cherry Raceway/Lightning Sprint championship point race.
UMP Modified action saw Ryan Steig carry the checkers in the first of two heat races over Larry Cade and Daryl Lehn. In the second heat, point leader, Joe Rokos notched another win finishing ahead of Jeff Cade and Paul Buckler. Luck of the dice would put Rokos on the pole for the start of the 25 lap main event and Joe took advantage by jumping into the lead as the green flag flew. Ryan Steig and Jeff Cade were in a battle for second with Cade taking over the spot on lap #8. As the laps wound down, Cade closed the gap on Rokos but suffered a blown right rear tire on lap 18. This would put Greg Gokey on the front row with Rokos for the restart. Rokos was up for the challenge holding off Gokey until the final caution came out on lap 22. On the restart, Rokos and Gokey battled wheel to wheel for the final laps with Joe pulling a slide job out of turn 4 and Gokey countering with a crossover move to take over the lead. Hot Rod Joe gave it all he could on the final lap but came up just short and had to settle for a second place finish to Greg Gokey. Larry Cade had the best seat in the house finishing 3rd followed by Kory Maurice, Paul Buckler, Kyle Novak, Ryan Steig, Brian Knight, Jeff Cade and Daryl Lehn.
With the Auto Value UMP Late Models added to the schedule late, it would be a non-points night for Cherry Raceway competitors but would count towards UMP Points. Bill Bray of Spring Lake, MI carried the checkers in the heat race followed by Eric Spangler and Adam Erickson. Again a lucky “Snake Eyes” inversion roll would put Eric Spangler on the pole with heat race winner Bill Bray on the outside of the front row. At the drop of the green, Bray tried to get around Spangler on the outside but came up just short as Eric took the lead. Bray sated close for several laps but was never able to get alongside Spangler and Eric drove on to score the win. Bill Bray held on to finish in the runner up position followed by Phil Hendershot, Nick Kurtz, Jacques Julin, Autumn Beeman JT Anderson, Steve Nieuwenhuis, Tony Gokey and Adam Erickson.
Ron Doberstein Memorial Warrior Invitational is this Friday, August 21st. All 6 regulars divisions will be on hand for a full show of action at Cherry Raceway.
See ya at the track.
Article Credit: Alan Lardie
Submitted By: Michelle Stieg
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