2000 RACE RESULTS
Heat - John started on the pole for his heat race, and quickly moved away from the field. John opened up about 15 car lengths between himself and the pack, but the #8 of Greg Porth went along with John and was gradually reeling John in. When the caution came out with 2 laps left, John was in trouble, as Porth's car was working great on the high-side and John's car was more comfortable on the bottom. After the green-white-checker finish, Porth had moved by John for the win and John finished 2nd in the heat.
A Feature - The top 6 of each heat race redrew for starting position in the A feature, and John drew the 12th starting position. It took about 5 tries to get the race started, but we weren't helped by the restarts as each time the race was relined John was put back into the 12th position. The cars that were falling out were each in the inside line, and the flagman continually slid up the cars on the inside and left the outside line just as it had been for the original line-up. Cars that had gone to the pits after the first start ended up actually starting ahead of John on the final restart. It was a raw deal, but when the race finally got underway John quickly moved up. He was in 6th after the 2nd lap and quickly after another restart, the cars of Jay Noteboom & Gary March got together, and brought out another caution, John was in the 4th spot after that restart. Jason Weatherton had the trouble we were hoping for, but enough cars had fallen out of the race before he did, and even if John had won the race he wouldn't have caught Weatherton for the points championship. He was able to move briefly into 3rd, but then the car got loose as the fuel load lightened, and the handling went away. John faded to 6th at the finish.
Standings - The opportunity presented itself to secure a second straight Sioux Speedway championship, but we were unable to do so. It was a great Sioux Speedway season with John capturing 3 top-5 finishes and 4 top-10's in 5 races. John would have easily secured the championship if he hadn't blown an engine on July 4th. John was a contender each time out, and would almost certainly have claimed 3 wins in the 5 outings if not for the contact with Gary March on the final lap of the Memorial Day special. John was able to move into 2nd in the point standings at year-end. So in the inaugural 2 seasons of racing at Sioux Speedway John has finished 1st & 2nd in the points. It's definitely a track John knows how to get around. It sounds as if 2 is enough, and racing at Sioux Speedway may be over, apart from a fair week program. Great job at your home track again, John!
Heat - John started 8th of 8 cars in his heat race, and struggled to find traction on the slippery track, in a heat race filled with strong cars. John got a poor start, and battled for a few laps with the #95 of Tom McKenzie for the 7th spot, before finally moving by. John was unable to make up any track position to gain the final transfer spot, and finished the heat in 7th position, two spots from making the inversion, but would garner a spot in the A Feature.
A Feature - The poor run in the heat race provided John with a 20th starting position in the A feature, obviously he would have his work cut out for him if he was going to make any progress towards the top of the point standings. We did have the advantage that Chuck Clark, Mark Wenzlaff, & Reece Coffee each were starting towards the rear of the field as well, having also missed the inverted lineup for the A feature.
When the green flag fell, John found himself behind a pack of cars that he was unable to get by, John moved up a few positions on the start, and battled with Mark Wenzlaff for position, until about lap 7 when the two got together in turn 4 and Wenzlaff went over the top with damage to his front suspension. When the race resumed, John raced with Nick Mitchell, Jeff Berens and Ken Fridrich who spent nearly the entire race cleanly racing side by side not allowing John to get a good run and clear them. On numerous occasions he would get a run on the cars only to run out of race track and be forced to choose between driving over them, or lifting. A final caution came out on lap 16 just after John finally was clearing the pack, and the race finished under a yellow-checker. John was only able to move up to 16th, Chuck Clark had trouble in the race finishing one lap down in 21st. After his contact with John, Mark Wenzlaff finished 22nd. Rich Hesse & Greg Peck had strong showings finishing 3rd & 4th, respectively.
Standings - This night could have been a huge night for John if things had gone better for us on the race track. With two of the top 5 cars having major trouble, a top-5 finish would have moved us into the top 3 in points, but our hot streak came to a halt this week. The 16th place finish allowed John to remain in a tie with Mark Wenzlaff for 5th in the points battle, just 34 points behind point leader Greg Peck who leads Rich Hesse by 8 points and Reece Coffee by 14 points. John trails the 4th place car of Charlie Clark by 12 points. Next Saturday will be a very important night, as a strong finish will secure a top-5 spot in the season ending standings. Although during the year our goal was raised to winning the championship, our goal at the outset of the season was a top-5 finish in points. Season Championship night will determine if that will be a reality.
Heat - John's hot streak the last few weeks has left him with the 3rd highest point average in the Modified division which unfortunately, doesn't provide a good starting position in the heat races. John started 6th in the 8 car field of the first modified heat race. The lineup didn't look like it would provide a big challenge for making the A, but once the green flag fell it proved otherwise. With just 3 heats and 26 cars in the modified division, the top 6 would advance to the A but only 5 would get in the inversion. John ran in 5th for a few laps before Wally Wagner took that spot away, leaving John in the 6th spot. It appeared that John would be starting from the rear of the field with a 6th place finish, but Wagner experienced engine problems on the final lap, and fell out of contention, when Wagner slowed, Mark Neal got crossed up in front of John and he was able to slide by both of them for a 4th place finish.
A Feature - We once again had a great opportunity to gain ground in the points race. Coming into the night we were 6th, 38 points out of the lead. Greg Peck , Rich Hesse, and Chuck Clark who were ahead of us in points going into the night all started in the rear of the field. Hesse was fortunate to get into the race after ripping off his right front suspension in the heat race, he convinced Tom McKenzie who was driving a modified for the first time, to withdraw from the A feature and open up a spot for him. Amazing how deals can be made at this point of the season. Hopefully, we won't need to call in any favors in the remaining weeks!
John started 11th on the inside of Reese Coffee and behind Mark Wenzlaff, when the race went green John got a good start, and as they were going through turn 3, Jimmy Cole stuck his car in between Mark Wenzlaff and another car in turn 4 leading to a big pileup, John narrowly missed the wreck by moving to the inside. That wreck would also tie up Reese Coffee, who ended up against the wall under the flag stand. Coffee would come to the pits under his own power, but suffered significant rear suspension damage. He would return to the pits numerous times under caution, but his suspension was pretty messed up as was his braking system. Coffee would get lapped numerous times before the race was over and finished 18th. The race would have one more side by side restart, and they were able to complete one lap before another caution came out for an incident including Chuck Clark. Clark would come to the pits and have a lot of sheet metal cut away before returning to the track in the rear. The cards were played, John just needed to hold on for a solid top-5 finish to make up a lot of ground. On that second start John was in 8th position, and was driving his heart out, making a number of daring moves for position and moving up in the field before the caution flew. When they restarted, John was making a move by Mark Neal on the outside when Neal came up into John, pushing him off the top of the track, John and Neal both recovered albeit after losing 3-4 positions, as they raced into turn 3 Neal spun right in front of John and brought out another caution before completing a lap. On the restart, John was able to get the 7th position back. He battled with Wally Wagner and Jeff Berens to move into the 5th position, chasing down Greg Peck and Gary March. After 3 cautions in the first 2 laps, the race went green for the final 15. John's car wasn't as fast after the contact with Neal knocked out the toe on the front end, but he was still able to real in the Peck and March after figuring out how he had to drive the ill-handling car, but ran out of time and was unable to get by either of them. Before that contact, the car was capable of finishing in the top 3, but we were very happy to come home in the top 5 and keep our title hopes alive!!
Standings - This night proved to be the night that we knew we'd need to have a shot at the 2000 season points championship. Clark would finish 13th, and Coffee was well back in the field, Wenzlaff was 10th. John finished 2 spots in front of Hesse and the two will be tied for 5th in the points. The top 6 of Clark, Wenzlaff, Peck, Coffee, Klynsma, and Hesse are separated by 22 points with two nights remaining. It's a crap shoot going into the last two nights. The contenders will be racing their hearts out and we're right in the middle of it just 22 points out of the lead. The dream of a modified division championship is still alive! Go get it John!!
August 19, 2000
Races Rained Out - With just 4 points nights remaining in the 2000 season we lost one night to Mother Nature. A light misting rain throughout the day caused the cancellation of the nights races. We are again reminded that each night for the rest of the year needs to be run as if it may be the last!