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BIRKY LAPS 'EM IN LIBERTYBrian Birkhofer turned in a thoroughly dominating performance during the Fifth Annual Liberty 100, lapping the entire field during the rain delayed event that took 18 hours to complete. The Muscatine Iowa pilot earned $7000 for his efforts. Birkhofer started the 100-lap race on the outside of the front row after finishing second to Denny Eckrich during the Cutting Edge Fast dash, shadowing the pole sitter for the first eight circuits. Lapped traffic quickly came into play, forcing Eckrich to hesitate slightly in the second corner and giving Birkhofer the break he needed. Shooting underneath Eckrich as they exited the second corner, Birkhofer took command of the race and never looked back. Slicing through traffic high and low, Birkhofer managed to put one half of the field a lap down by the time the first yellow flag flew on lap 21. Heavy rain began falling before racing could resume, forcing cars off the racetrack under red. Efforts to dry the track proved fruitless when persistent showers moved back in, forcing officials to postpone the race until the next day. With 20 of the original 27 starters reconvened on Sunday afternoon, racing resumed with 21 laps complete. From that point on Birkhofer appeared to be on a mission, stretching out his lead to a full straightaway after each of the several cautions that dotted the next 37 laps. By the time the final yellow flag flew on lap 57, Birkhofer was already lapping cars inside the top ten. Refusing to slow down, he passed the sixth place car of Darren Miller on lap 82, fifth place Ray Guss Jr on lap 87 and fourth place Ron Boyes succumbed three laps later. Matt Furman, nursing home a sick motor in third was next on lap 96. Birkhofer put a loud exclamation point on his day by closing in 10 car lengths and eventually passing the second place car of Eckrich on the final lap as the hometown crowd came to it's feet in approval. Thirteen cars finished the event, with Sonny Findling in seventh, Rob Toland in eighth, Dennis Erb in ninth and Chris Speiker tenth. Matt Furman took home $2000 for capturing the First Annual Race of Champions during Friday evening action at the West Liberty Raceway. The event, patterned after Winston Cup's "The Winston" featured previous Budweiser Open Late Model Shootout winners, 2000 and 2001 Track Champions from the West Liberty, Farley and Dubuque Speedways. The three highest points earners during the evening's heat race action filled out the ten car field. The format called for a random pill draw for starting positions during the first ten lap segment, followed by a ten minute break in which crews were allowed to attend to the racecars on the front stretch, with the final fifteen lap segment. In a preview to the 100 lapper scheduled for the next evening, Birkhofer ran away with the first segment from the front row, while Furman clawed his way from seventh up to third. Taking completely opposite approaches to the final segment, with Birkhofer immediately jumping underneath his racecar to assist in changing everything possible, to the more relaxed attitude of Furman, who relaxed by reading a magazine at the rear of his machine while his crew made a minor change underneath. When a fan in the grandstand drew the number six pill for the second segment invert, Gary Webb lined up on the pole, but was quickly beaten into the first corner by Furman. Birkhofer worked his way into second three laps later but was only able to inch closer to the leader, falling several car lengths short at the checkers. Scott Megonigle backed up his Miller Time Modified season championship by taking home the modified portion earlier in the evening. Megonigle tracked down earlier leader Jason Schueller by keeping his mount on the bottom of the racetrack while Schueller rode the rim. After getting passed for the lead, Schueller searched high and low for a faster line, but was unable to retake the lead. Darrall Brick, Chris Speiker and Terry Walker rounded out the top five. Andy Eckrich also backed up his Pro Stock Season Championship, taking the lead away from Dale Franklin following a lap eight restart. Gary Beuter, Matt Gilchrist and Chad Simpson rounded out the top five after Ty Kleiner was disqualified in post-race inspection. Tim Zeman dominated Hobby Stock action to start out the evening, leading all twelve laps of the main event after coming from last to first in the Fast Dash to earn the right to start on the pole. CJ Ormsby, Todd Hansen, Dave Elliot and Matt Bodman rounded out the top five. Racing action has concluded at the West Liberty Raceway located on the Muscatine County Fairgrounds for the 2001 season. The 2002 Spring Championship's will tentatively kick off next season on Saturday April 6th, 2002. For more information, please contact Simmons Promotions at 563-744-3620 or on the internet at www.SimmonsPromotionsInc.com. BUDWIESER OPEN LATE MODEL SHOOTOUT LATE MODEL RACE OF CHAMPIONS MILLER TIME MODIFIEDS 1. m2 Scott Megonigle, Cedar Rapids PRO STOCKS DNS BOMBERS |
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