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Midgets: Race Results after 11 July 98 - Grundy County

14 July 1998

The Ninth 1998 Sportsman Event happened to fall on the Bob Lockard Memorial. The National Boys co-sanctioned with ARCA for a showing of 54 cars between the three classes. The Sportsman made 23 of the 54, with 22 of them qualifying. Dave Rawlings, in his #87 rolled in the pits at the last minute, having spent the last 30 hours straight putting the new engine in, and hadn't had a chance to fire it before heading to the track. Doug Orseske (#43) showed, but without his car, not having been able to put together a new engine after blowing up the week before. Tommy Shilkuski (#54) was also a noticeable missing element. The Stands were full with cheers for local drivers, and the spectators had a great show ahead of them.

The Nationals fired up first for hot lapping, with the Sportsman warming up behind them. After the Nationals did their qualifying, it was the Sportsman's turn at the track. Rookie Sean Murphy in his #5 car, tore up the asphalt with a fast qualifying time of (16.454). Mike Aimaro #4a; Susan Spencer #24; Mike Ohlendorf #2; Jon Anderson #37 and; Rookie Matt Daily #4d made up fast six qualifiers.

The First Heat Results were: 1.#2 M. Ohlendorf; 2.#24 Spencer; 3.#37 Jon Anderson; 4.#4a Aimaro; 5.#58 R. Bettenhausen; 6.#5 Murphy; 7.#91 McCabe; 8.#75 S. Shilkuski; 9.#10 Billhorn; 10.#36 Jimmy Anderson; 11.#4d Daily; 12.#20 Smrekar.

The Second Heat Results were: 1.#14 Fifield; 2.#18 Knippel; 3.#1 D. Ohlendorf; 4.#99 Peceniak; 5.#77 Kenning; 6.#38 Guess; 7.#8 D. Bettenhausen; 8.#44 Guimond.

The National Feature was first on the agenda. What a fiasco IT turned out to be. There were five Red Flags along with countless Yellow Flags. One of the Red Flags fell when the Hines car got upside down in turn one. There were two alternates used, and yet at the end of what turned out to be a VERY long race, there were only eleven Nationals who took the checkered flag.

The Sportsman were the last race of the evening. Unfortunately, after the hour and a half to get through the National Feature, the Sportsman didn't even see the track until after eleven thirty. But.... when the Sportsman fired off, with 21 cars making the feature race, the green flag fell and it was Sean Murphy in his #5 on the pole position and taking the lead. He left the entire field behind, pulling a number of car lengths away from the rest of the field, until the first of two Yellow Flags.

After the second yellow flag, with the field bunched back up again, Murphy set the pace from his lead position again. As the leaders were approaching lapped traffic, there was congestion and for several laps the lead cars and lapped cars were taking to the corners three wide. Unlike the National Feature race, the Sportsman took to the track and ran a race that had the fans on their feet. It's not often that you can hear the roar of the crowd over the roar of the engines, but the Sportsman had them making all sorts of noise.

Just two laps before the end of the race, Mike Aimaro in his #4a took the lead from Murphy and went on to win the race.

Feature Results were: 1.#4a Aimaro; 2.#5 Murphy; 3.#58 R. Bettenhausen; 4.#24 Spencer; 5.#75 S. Shilkuski; 6.#91 McCabe; 7.#14 Fifield; 8.#2 M. Ohlendorf; 9.#37 Jon Anderson; 10.#36 Jimmy Anderson; 11.#18 Knippel; 12.#20 Smrekar; 13.#4d Daily; 14.#99 Peceniak; 15.#94 Deheve; 16.#1 D. Ohlendorf; 17.#77 Kenniing; 18.#8 D. Bettenhausen; 19.#44 Guimond; 20.#10 Billhorn; 21.#38 Guess.

POINTS...CAR#....DRIVER
..1....2251.......24........Susan Spencer
..2....2183......75........Scotty Shilkuski
..3....2094.....14.........Jimmy Fifield
..4....2026.....37........Jon Anderson
..5....2018......58........Roger Bettenhausen
..6....1825.......2 .........Mike Ohlendorf
..7....1568......87........Dave Rawlings
..8....1475......99........Rich Peceniak
..9....1384.......1. ........David Ohlendorf
10....1351......18.........Joe Knippel
11....1296......20.........Dave Smrekar
12....1217......54.........Tommy Shilkuski
13....1208......43.........Doug Orseske
14....1195........5 ..........Sean Murphy
15....1190.......91.........Quinn McCabe
16....1186.......4d........Matt Daily
17....1130.......10.........Mick Billhorn
18....1015.......36........Jimmy Anderson
19......958.......8 ..........Dick Bettenhausen
20......925......4a........Mike Aimaro
21......810.......12.........Mike Hess
22......676......77........Bob Kenning
23......501.......88........Mike Smith
24......425......94........Dave Deheve
25......345.......3..........Bill Hoffmeyer
26......335......21.........Bob Schreffler
27......205......44........Terry Guimond
28......200......26........George Clark
29......200......38........Bobby Guess
30......136.......33........Dennis Peceniak
31......120........16........Billy Shoemaker
32........20........26........Bobby Brandom
33..........0........11.........Mark Shuck
34..........0........25........Mike Mellhorn