9/7/2021
Bloomington Speedway
Jake Swanson, Brad Strunk, Derek Groomer, and Steve Peeden Win The Burton Memorial At The Red Clay
98 cars packed the pits on Friday night at Bloomington Speedway for the huge Josh Burton Memorial race to kick off the Labor day weekend. 33 sprints and a loaded roster started the MSCS night with CJ Leary posting the fast time of 11.390 around the very fast high banked red clay. Heat race winners were Nick Bilbee, Justin Grant, Jake Swanson and Chase Stockon. The B main was won by Emerson Axsom to setup the 30 lap A main paying 10,000 to win. The race started off with the early lead going to Nick Bilbee who is close to being crowned the Lawrenceburg Speedway champ for 2021. Nick would lead for a couple laps but then Justin Grant stormed to the bottom of turn 3 and 4 and would take over the lead. Back in the pack both Robert Ballou and Emerson Axsom were picking off cars from the back and had almost made it to the top 10 before even 10 laps in. A caution half way through the race bunched up the field and this would be a big factor in the 10 grand to win A main. On the restart the 5 of Jake Swanson took the lead and brought the crowd to its feet. This would be a long green flag run as Jake started to get to the lapped traffic and both him and Justin were setting a fast pace with still 11 second laps long into the race. Jake with 5 laps to go only had a 2 car length lead but he hit the next few lapped cars just right and built a lead at the checkers of almost 4 car lengths to pick up the huge Burton payoff of 10,000 dollars. Jake at the checkers was followed by Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr., Brady Bacon and Nick Bilbee. Robert Ballou was the hard charger from 18th to 7th! Once again thanks so much goes to the entire Burton Family, Friends and Sponsors for raising the funds for this awesome race where we remember Josh and how great he was as a person and as a local hero racer. It is truly one of the biggest events in Indiana and it showed how great of an event it is with the caliber of racers that show up every year.
The MMSA group brought a strong 30 entries to the Josh Burton Memorial. Their heat races were won by Bryan Brewer, Jaylon Mills, Nolan Keifer and points leader Brandon Coffey. Their B main was won by Justin Davis which setup the 20 lap A main event. Kayla Roell looked strong early in the A main as she battled Brandon Coffey early in the feature. The 2S of Brad Strunk came strong from the 7th position and would take the lead from the top 2 and would go on for a very strong win. Following him to the checkers were Kayla Roell, Brandon Coffey, Jaylon Mills and Jeff Schindler. Congrats to the entire MMSA group as they put on an awesome show for the Josh Burton Memorial.
The UMP Mods had 19 entries for the 1,000 to win Josh Burton Memorial race. Group fast times were Derek Groomer(13.091), Jordan Wever(12.932) and Levi Kissinger(13.005). This setup the 3 heats which were won by Jeff Deckard, Jordan Wever and John Demoss. This setup the A main with an invert of 2 which put Jordan Wever and Jeff Deckard on the front row. With a rough start to the race we had multiple restarts and a few cars that had damage that headed to the work area early. On the restart it would be Deckard, Groomer and Demoss battling for the lead. Southern Indiana UMP points leader and possible champ now Derek Groomer took his 13th win of the year. Derek would probably tell you this is his biggest win because him and Josh were friends so the win is bigger than the 1,000 dollars that goes with it. Following Derek Groomer at the checkers it was John Demoss, Jeff Deckard, Levi Kissinger and Dustin Bruce.
The UMP Super Stocks would bring 16 entries for the Josh Burton Memorial. Fast times were put in by Brad Frye(13.452) and Travis Howe(13.628). Heat races were won by Josh Litton and Steve Peeden. This would setup the A main event with an invert of 3 which put Justin Massie and Steve Peeden on the front row. Massie and Peeden would have a good battle with Massie on the bottom and Peeden on the top. Wes McClara and Josh Litton were having a good battle for 3rd also as the bottom and top were about even in speed on the last feature of the night. Justin and Wes really got the bottom going halfway through the race and they were running 1st and 2nd glued to the bottom with 10 to go. This would change on the final 5 laps as the bottom started to go away and another real good friend to Josh Burton who had dropped back to 3rd during the race started to get the top cushion to really work and Steve Peeden was headed back to the front. Peeden took the lead with just 2 to go and went on for the big 1,000 to win feature. Following Steve at the finish was Justin Massie, Wes McClara, Steve Hollars and Josh Litton. It was an awesome show and once again thanks so much to the Burton family and to all the great race fans and teams that made this race one of the best for sure in 2021 as Josh was one of the best!!! Only 2 more Fridays for the red clay so we will see you next Friday at Bloomington Speedway!!!
Submitted By: Jill Spiker
