Midgets: Race Results from Rushville Fairgrounds
6 July 1998
Rushville, IN: Its said that the only constant thing in life is change. Morristown native Mike Smith seemed to prove that wrong Saturday night in front of a packed crowd at the Rush County Fairgrounds. "The car handled really good." said Smith, "We didnt change the car all night." Smiths recent good luck has come on the heels of a slow start to the 1998 race season. If it had not been for bad luck, Smiths team would not have had any luck at all. He had 3 DNFs during the early part of the season and that bad luck may be better left in the past. The track took on rubber early in the evening and into the feature the #23 Central Soya, Stone Harbor Illus. Ellerman Roofing, Crop Prod. Services TQ seemed to get better and better. Smith had to get better as on his heels during the feature was points leader and defending champion, Terry Goff. One caution in the feature tightened up the field. With Smiths car sticking well into the corners, he had no problem leading all 20 laps from his outside row one starting spot. The same spot that Robert Nichols had 2 weeks previous in capturing his win at Rushville. "We have some momentum leading into Kokomo for next week and Im looking forward to it," added Smith.Terry Goff picked up one of his three second place finishes in the feature. His other two were the Trophy Dash in which his younger brother Carey "Oogie" Goff won and in his heat race. Oogie was able to place third in the feature as well as taking the Trophy Dash win earlier in the evening. Kyle Lux started on the pole position but quickly fell back before ending up fourth and Rick Robinson had a strong showing rounding out the top five in the feature.
Collin Ambrose stuck the quick qualifying lap on the night by almost 2 tenths of a second. That was Ambroses only bright spot of the evening has he limped home for third in the Trophy Dash and did not make it through the last chance race. Bobby Walton also had good luck early with the fourth quick qualifying time. Starting on the pole in the Trophy Dash, Walton slid high into turn one made contact with Terry Goff and ended up with a broken rear axle.
AJ Felker took a night off from USAC midget racing and took home a heat race win. 1996 Rookie of the year, Jim Weir also picked up a heat race win. 1989 UMRA champ Ron Combs cruised to win his heat race. J.L. Brewer, rookie Jason Willis, Bruce Leisure all were strong in picking up their heat race victories as well. Iowas Mike Raymond and current track record holder Jerry Frickman both posted semi-feature wins.
Smith jumped two spots to sixth in the overall points standings with his strong weekend performance. Terry Goff still leads the points standings as he looks to capture his sixth UMRA title. Oogie Goff is second, while Chris Coers remains in third in spite of a disappointing evening for him that included flipping his ride. Ron Combs and Robert Nichols, Jr. round out the top five in the driver points.
One of the biggest shows of the year is on tap for UMRA next Friday the 10th as we travel to Evans Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, IN to compete in the Badger Nationals show. The following Saturday night the 11th will land UMRA back at the Decatur County Fairgrounds in Greensburg, IN as Terry Goff will defend his feature win from a month ago.
Top Ten Qualifiers (Track Record 12.394)
1. #16 Collin Ambrose 12.894 (Western KY Trucking, AMF Bowling,
Jackson
Racing, M-30); 2. #96 Carey Goff 13.039; 3. #1 Terry Goff 13.092; 4. #26
Bobby Walton 13.099; 5. #46 Jerry Frickman 13.109; 6. #6 Bruce Leisure
13.118; 7. #12 Rick Robinson 13.120; 8. #10 Mike Dick; 9. #31x Jason
Setser 13.200; 10. #71 Robert Nichols, Jr 13.203.
Trophy Dash (4 laps)
1. #96 Carey Goff, 2. #1 Terry Goff, 3. #16 Collin Ambrose, 4. #26
Bobby Walton
(Top two finishers transferred from each heat race)
Heat #1 1. #29 A.J. Felker, 2.#12 Rick Robinson, 3. #4 Mike Raymond,
4.
#99 Jack Walter, 5. #29m Bob McClure
Heat #2 1. #84 Jim Weir, 2. #96 Carey Goff, 3. #88 Chad Cory, 4. #22
Chris Coers, 5. #52 Doug Andrews
Heat #3 1. #74 Ron Combs, 2. #1 Terry Goff, 3. #24 Greg Pittman, 4.
#45
Chris Kramer, 5. #65 Scott Spaeth
Heat #4 1. #14 J.L. Brewer, 2. #71 Robert Nichols, Jr., 3. #44 Andy
Hartman, 4. #87 Travis Stickels, 5. #76 Matt Arrington
Heat #5 1. #25 Jason Willis, 2. #23 Mike Smith, 3. #46 Jerry
Frickman,
4. #3 Paul Leisure, 5. #18 Steve Leisure
Heat #6 1. #6 Bruce Leisure, 2. #61 Kyle Lux, 3. #37 Hale Kile, 4.
#43
Austin King, #5. #9 Matt Bruielly
Semi Feature #1 (Top four finishers transferred)
1.#4 Mike Raymond, 2. #24 Greg Pittman, 3. #45 Chris Kramer, 4. #88
Chad
Cory, 5. #99 Jack Walter, 6. #29m Bob McClure, 7. #85 Scott Petry, 8.
#10 Mike Dick, 9. #66 Mark Lodge, 10. #16 Collin Ambrose, 11. #94 Nate
Brannin, 12. #22 Chris Coers, 13. #31x Jason Setser, 14.#52 Doug
Andrews
Semi Feature #2 (Top four finishers transferred)
1. #46 Jerry Frickman, 2. #76 Matt Arrington, 3. #44 Andy Hartman, 4.
#37 Hale Kile, 5. #98 Jerry Riley, 6. #18 Steve Leisure, 7. #77 Tony
Keith, 8. #83 Greg Stroup, 9. #42 Brian Campbell
Feature
1. Mike Smith (Central Soya, Stone Harbor Illus. Ellerman Roofing,
Crop
Prod. Services), 2. Terry Goff, 3. Carey Goff, 4. Kyle Lux, 5. 12 Rick
Robinson, 6. Mike Raymond, 7. Bruce Leisure, 8. Ron Combs, 9. Jim Weir,
10. Jason Willis, 11. A.J. Felker, 12. Greg Pittman, 13. J.L. Brewer,
14. Jerry Frickman, 15. Matt Arrington, 16. Andy Hartman, 17. Chris
Kramer, 18. Jack Walters, 19. Chad Cory, 20. Hale Kile
UMRA Overall Points Standings (Unofficial through 7/04/98)
1. Terry Goff 1034; 2. Carey Goff 779; 3. Chris Coers 698; 4. Ron Combs
597, 5. Robert Nichols 591; 6. Mike Smith 553; 7. Collin Ambrose 517; 8.
Austin King 460; 9. J.L Brewer 418; 10. Jerry Frickman 396
