Krick Holds On To Win Whelen 50 @ the Zoo

Luke Krick held off a late race challenge from Outlaw Super Late Model point leader Mike “Bubba” Brooks to win Saturday night’s “Whelen 50” at Kalamazoo Speedway.  Jeff Ganus finished a solid third ahead of AJ Foote and fast qualifier Brian Bergakker.  Todd Harrington led the second half of the top ten over Billy Shannon, Dave Lober, Marty Crawford and former Cyber Stock champion Doug Smith.  Krick and John Chapman won the heat races.  Brooks will take a slim 32 point lead into this Saturday nights “Sun Drop 50” over Bergakker, while Ganus sits just 44 points back in third.

One week after losing the point lead Buddy Head rebounded by winning the Super Stock feature.  James Roden ran the best race of his career to finish second ahead of Matt Frazier, fast qualifier Kenny Head and Darren Lane.  1989 Outlaw Super Late Model champion Chris Orr finished sixth ahead of Chris Shannon, Patrick Kirkendall, Ryan Wheeler and Dave Leonard.  Kenny Head and Cory Kruzel won the heats.  Kenny now leads brother Buddy by just 5 points with Chris Shannon sitting 156 points behind in third.

Outlaw Super Late Model regular AJ Foote made a special appearance in the “Pro Stock Prodigy 30 Presented by Steensma” and emerged victorious.  Brent Hook finished second ahead of fast qualifier Toby Montgomery, Travis Hall and Brad VanAvery.  Point leader John Foote finished sixth beating out Greg Brown, Bud Hybels, Jerry Pierman and Rob Ruimveld.  The Pro Stock points see five drivers within only 80 points.  John Foote leads by just 36 over Montgomery with Hook (-40), VanAvery (-41) and Hybels (-80) rounding out the top five.

Dave Long came out on top of the twenty lap Mini Stock feature over Jerime Damron, fast qualifier Frank Stager, Jeremy Collins and Shane Clark.  Noah Gallandt led the second half of the top ten over Doug Smith, Andrew Brest, Rick Mann Sr. and Logan Knight.  Collins and Chaz Hook won the heat races.  Long will take a 85 point lead into this Saturday night’s “Mini Stock Momba-25 Presented by 7UP” over Damron, with Clark 154 markers out in third place.

The Cyber Stocks ran a 25 lap special called the “Wham Bam Cyber Slam Presented by Shifters”.  Jack Cook started dead last after setting quick time, slowly made his way through the field and made a late race pass for the lead to win over Jerry Jansen III, defending champion Jerry Jansen, Keegan Dykstra and point leader Barry Jenkins.  Walter Neilson IV finished sixth ahead of early race leader Jason Ratashak, Matt Majewski, Dion Vrooman and Jim Leonard.  With the victory Cook closes to within just 4 points of Jenkins for the Cyber Stock point lead.  Jansen III (-112) and Nielson IV (-124) also remain in contention for the title.

This Saturday night, July 13 another full 5 in 1 show takes place featuring the “Sun Drop 50” for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Outlaw Super Late Models.  Mike “Bubba” Brooks, “Flyin” Brian Bergakker and Jeff Ganus all sit within just 44 points of the lead heading into this week’s event.  The Super Stocks and Pro Stocks will run regular shows while the Mini Stocks will run 25 laps in the “Mini Stock Momba-25 Presented by 7UP”.  The fan favorite Cyber Stocks will complete the program.  For more information on Kalamazoo Speedway visit www.kalamazoospeedway.com.