Ihm Takes Farley 2002 NASCAR Season Opener

The 2002 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge got underway at the high banked ½ mile dirt track Farley Speedway on Friday, April 19^th. A large crowd was on hand despite the chilly mid-April conditions.

Mr. Excitement, Steve “Ace” Ihm came away with the Iowa Illinois Taylor Insulation NASCAR Late Model feature win on the smooth super fast track.. Ihm took command at the dropping of the green in the 25 lap main event from his outside front row start. The win was anything but easy for the  Kieler, Wisconsin driver. Ihm was locked in a fierce battle for the lead with Rob Toland, who worked to the front from his fourth row start. Toland had actually taken the lead on the 20^th lap but his pass was erased due to a yellow flag for the stalled car of Steve Boley. Ihm held the lead on the restart and went on to record the season opening win. Toland took second ahead of Duane Coulson and Josh McGowan.

Ron Barker claimed the Quarter Master Modified feature win on opening night. Barker chased down early leader Jason Schuller and set up a classic race for the lead between the two Dubuque drivers. The two drivers swapped the lead several times before Barker was able to move by for good using a slingshot move coming out of turn two on the 15^th lap of the 20 lap main event. Schuller contacted the wall on the last lap but was still able to cross the line in second ahead of Larry Herring.

Dan Shelliam drew the pole for the 15 lap Pro Stock feature and used the front row start to his advantage in leading the race flag to flag. Shelliam drove a very smooth race in scoring a very impressive win. Shelliam won by nearly a ¼ of a lap over Jim Brokus and Jeff Valentine.

The Hobby Stock feature win was up for grabs with several drivers having a shot as the laps wound down. Larry Benn took the checkers ahead of Jerry Merkes and T.J. Leslein. The drivers crossed the stripe with less than a car length separating the three cars.

The all new Farley Flyers provided the fans with 10 laps of non stop action. The mighty 4 cylinder machines raced wheel to wheel, young Jason Roth won the inaugural race over Mark Jaeger. The Farley Flyers will compete at both the Farley Speedway and the Dubuque Speedway throughout the 2002 season.

Racing action will continue every Friday night at the Farley Speedway through September with hot laps at 7 and racing following at 7:30 p.m.

Farley Flyers Feature

1.      31 Jason Roth-Hazel Green, Wisconsin

2.      99.3 Mark Jaeger-Dyersville

3.      17 Randy Leehan-Apple River, Il

4.      14 Levi Benn-Dyersville

5.      66 Kevin Bockenstedt-Farley

6.      69 Becky Roth-Cuba City, Wisconsin

7.      79 Cliff Schanbeck-Delaware

8.      38 Bryan Meloccard-Dubuque

9.      7K Travis Kaiser

10.  1 Mark Thul-Dubuque

11.  1 Tim Koppes-Cascade

12.  38X Travis Schemmel

NASCAR Hobby Stocks

Heat 1

1.      38 T.J. Leslein-Durango

2.      K.C. Ansel-Dubuque

3.      72 Doug Yates-Monticello

Heat 2

1.      97 Steve Dunkel-Worthington

2.      13 Larry Benn-Dyersville

3.      8K Jerry Merkes-Farley

Feature

1.      13 Benn

2.      8K Merkes

3.      38 Leslein

4.      72 Yates

5.      22 Cory Bauer-Monticello

6.      97 Dunkel

7.      81 Ansel

8.      73L Jason Laue-Freeport, Il

9.      98 Jason Rauen-Farley

10.  12 Matt Dunkel-Martelle

11.  23 Dennis Etten-Wyoming

12.  83 Rob Petsche-Centralia

13.  26 Tom Darrow-Monticello

14.  B4Jr. Brian Dirks-Anamosa

15.  44 B.J. Schmidt-Dubuque

NASCAR Pro Stocks

Heat 1

1.      25 Bob Moyer-Bellevue

2.      2K Jeff Kennedy-Dubuque

3.      56 Andy Eckrich-Cosgrove

Heat 2

1.      22 Jeff Valentine-Dubuque

2.      20 Ty Kleiner-Potosi, Wisconsin

3.      35 Jim Brokus-Dubuque

Feature

1.      16 Dan Shelliam-Hazel Green, Wisconsin

2.      35 Brokus

3.      22 Valentine

4.      20 Kleiner

5.      12 Jeff Tharp-Dubuque

6.      69 John Maher-West Branch

7.      97 Jeff Reinert-Dyersville

8.      2K Kennedy

9.      71 Kevin Schroeder-Low Moor

10.  25 Moyer

11.  56 Eckrich

12.  23 Jim Amos-Peosta

Quarter Master Modifieds

Heat 1

1.      74 Scott Nesteby-Asbury

2.      3 Jason Schuller-Dubuque

3.      37B Ron Barker-Dubuque

Heat 2

1.      96 Larry Herring-Lone Tree

2.      S19 Rich Smith-Davenport

3.      24 Randy Less-Hopkinton

Feature

1.      37 B Barker

2.      3 Schuller

3.      96 Herring

4.      24 Less

5.      S19 Smith

6.      74 Nesteby

7.      27 Mark Schulte-Delhi

8.      45 Steve Kohli-Iowa City

9.      57 Ryan Nabb

10.  1D Mel Saffran-Dubuque

Iowa Illinois Taylor Insulation NASCAR Late Models

Heat 1 

1. 44 Duane Coulson-East Dubuque, Il

2. 11 Steve Ihm-Kieler, Wisconsin

3. 78 Rick Wendling-Hazelton

Heat 2

1. 50 Denny Eckrich-Tiffin

2. 12 Ray Guss Jr.,- Milan, Il

3. 3 Josh McGowan-Vinton

Feature

1. 11 Ihm

2. 39 Rob Toland-Hillsdale, IL

3. 44 Coulson

4. 3 McGowan

5. 50 Eckrich

6. 12 Guss Jr.

7. 78 Wendling

8. 12N Terry Neal-Ely

9. 33g Dan Galant-Clinton

10. 21 Luke Merfeld-Dubuque

11. 77 Jeff Aikey-Cedar Falls

12. 79 Darren Mish-Cassville, Wisconsin

13. 98.1 Bobby Hansen-Center Point

14. 95 Ed Sanger-Postville

15. 27 Ed McGuire-Monroe, Wisconsin

16. 58 Dave Eckrich-Corallville

17. 26 Steve Boley-West Liberty

18. 69 Todd Hormel-West Liberty

Farley Speedway

4/19/02

By: Jerry Mackey, simmonspromotions@mcleodusa.net