The second half of the seventh annual Thaw Brawl at the Izzo family LaSalle Speedway was held on Saturday night, March 31st. The Late Models would be going an extra twenty five laps on Saturday night but would be well rewarded with an extra ten grand in additional prize money to the winner. Along with the Late Models of MLRA, the IMCA Modifieds and Sport Mods would both be running another complete show.
For once, the weather prognosticators were "right on" as just as had been predicted, some light rain rolled through northern Illinois on Saturday morning. It was hardly enough to settle the dust though and by Noon the sun was out and the wind was blowing a gale. Out of the wind it wasn't half bad during the afternoon but you just kind of knew that as evening settled in, it was going to be a cold night for racing. Everyone kind of held their breath to see what management's decision was but before lunch time they had already announced the things were full speed ahead and that the show would indeed be held. The grandstand, enclosed as is is the whole length of the front chute, would provide some relief to the race fans in the main grandstands but in the pits it would be absolutely brutal was in anything, the wind seemed to pick up speed and cut to the bone.
The car count was down just a bit with a few less cars in each of the support classes and the Late Model field was down nine from Friday night. The usual mechanical issues put a few cars on the sidelines for Saturday and the only new car was that of Kolby Vandenbergh, who after two nights of promises that he was on, finally showed just in time to tail a heat race event.
The track was considerably different from Friday night's track. Another full day of track work plus the strong wind dried the track out considerably and made for a much different type of race. In fact, the four heat races were pretty lifeless with everyone hugging the inside berm and not much happening.
Thank goodness for Scott Schmitt. The surprise quick qualifier got hung to the outside in his heat and went backward to the point he had to run a B Feature. In that race, he went to the top side early and showed blazing speed as he ran away with that event and showed everyone that the high side was now good.
The brothers Simpson shared the front row and it was Chad that took the early lead, building up a nice edge in the early going. Some of the best racing of the night occurred with Chris Simpson then moved to the top side, despite his better judgement, and quickly became much faster. He battled with Ricky Weiss for second and as they swapped lanes on the track and multiple near misses, it was breathtaking racing. Chris was finally able to take the second spot following a lap sixteen yellow and once in second, he quickly reeled in his brother.
Despite being a driver that thrives on the low groove, Chris was extremely fast on the top side and he quickly disposed of his brother to take over the lead, and once in front, he pulled out to a comfortable margin.
Lapped traffic was a challenge a couple of times with Rusty Schnenk also pounding the cushion as he moved into second. The nearest anyone got to Chris Simpson was when he kind of got hung up in the traffic, but with a couple of beautiful moves he freed himself and then regained his margin.
One last yellow with five to go gave the field one more shot but Chris got away good on the green and moved comfortably back in front. Weiss, who spent much of the feature event jumping from groove to groove, trying to figure out the best line, finally settled for the low groove which began to pay dividends at the end and Schnenk only nipped him by inches for second at the line. Chad Simpson settled for fourth and Brian Shirley completed the top five.
There were only four yellow flags in the seventy five lapper and only five cars that didn't make the distance. Simpson's biggest scare came early in the race when three back markers stacked up in turn four and Simpson slid into them, trying to avoid the wreck. He suffered some sheet metal and spoiler damage but it didn't seem to affect his car's performance.
Illinois race fans, rightly proud of their strong Late Model contingent, took a hit to their egos on this night as the top four finishers were from out of state and Weiss didn't damage the reputation that he has built this Spring with a couple of strong runs. It was disappointing that Brandon Sheppard scratched out of the show with mechanical problems following qualifying.
For the second straight night Rodney Sanders and J.C. Wyman had to rely on MLRA provisionals to make the feature as Sanders continues to struggle with his new chassis and also for the second straight night, Hoker Trucking, the event sponsor, saw their sponsored car take victory lane.
The Modifieds ran non stop in their twenty five lap feature race and it was Missouri star Hunter Marriott that took home the big check. He started fifth in the main and by the time he worked his way into second, Matt Werner had built up a considerable advantage. However, Marriott was really "up on the wheel" as he pounded the outside cushion while most of the field hugged the low side. He gradually caught up to Werner just as they hit lapped traffic and with plenty of cars to work past, Marriott stayed on the high side which allowed him to find racing room and take the lead.
Once he got the top spot, he continued to push that line and he pulled away for the win. Friday night winner Justin Kay started eighth and it took him a number of laps to find some open racing room. Once that happened, he was able to charge forward and he worked his way to third and was closing on Werner but ran out of laps. Rookie Jaden Fryer finished fourth ahead of Tim Hamburg.
The Sport Mods saw the biggest increase in entries with six new entries on Saturday night. However, after one night to figure out the track, defending national champion Tyler Soppe came from the fourth row to win the main. Hunter Longnecker started on the pole and led a number of laps but Soppe was on the move from the get-go and he quickly caught the leader, sweeping past him and taking over the lead. One late yellow gave the field one last shot, but Soppe pulled away for the win. Behind Longnecker, it was Justin Green, Dustin Schram and Brandon Setzer. Earlier, last night's winner Schram and strong running Johnathan Logue collided with only three laps completed, ending each's chance to win the main.
Hot laps started an hour earlier on Saturday night and by reducing the number of qualifying events and there being less yellows, the time of the show was reduced substantially. The final checkered flag waved before 9:30 pm but with the weather conditions being what they were, the crowd was considerably less than that of Friday night. It probably didn't help either that Friday night's show didn't end until Midnight. Both nights featured good, action packed racing with is expected anytime a big show hits the track at LaSalle.
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