Krankel Rolls a Seven in Ironman Late Models!

By Steve Birmingham
 

September 11, 2004; Granite City, IL – Tom Krankel made his only throw of the dice count Saturday by rolling to his seventh Missouri-Illinois Dodgre Dealers Racing Series Ironman Late Model win of the season at Tri-City Speedway.

Steve Meyer, Jr., led the feature from the outside front row and tried to stave off a swift Don Patton and Dick Taylor as Krankel powered his way to the table. Meyer was successful for only four tours before Taylor took command with Krankel right at his elbow. Taylor tried his mightiest to stretch out a lead but Krankel dogged him every lap. Several cautions slowed the action but by lap 11 Shannon Kuhn raced his way alongside Krankel. The trio battled for eight laps before Kuhn and Meyer, Jr., once again racing to the front, tangled in turn two. Both went out on the hook but when the race resumed the stakes tripled with Justin Anderson joining the fray.

The restart saw Taylor lead in turn one with Krankel wresting the point away down the backstretch. One lap later Anderson disposed of Taylor in two. Two laps later Taylor returned the favor in three but Anderson beat him down the front straightaway to swipe the spot back. In the meantime, Krankel rolled to a 10-length at the checkers ahead of Anderson, Taylor, Patton and Pat Ryan. The qualifying heats went to Meyer and Taylor.

With only two racing events left in the Mountain Dew Sportsman season, point-leader Bert Jacoby needed consistent, up-front finishes in his qualifier and the main to maintain his 12-point margin over the red hot Steve Maisel. The challenger led green to checkers in the first heat, but just as Jacoby crossed the finish line right behind Maisel the rear end let go and the points leader coasted to the infield.

The Jacoby crew, thrashed for the next two hours to repair the damage and were able to engineer their man's way to a second place finish behind Maisel in the headliner. Trailing Maisel and Jacoby at the checkers were Marty Kopp, Rick Squires and Sam Kizer. The heats were won by Maisel, Scott Drew and Squires.

Maisel's seventh win of the season moved him to within eight markers of Jacoby as the pair head in next week's Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Racing Series Season Championships.

Tommie Seets, Jr., raced to the second ever Budweiser Modified win of his career, topping John Stanton, Bobby Martintoni, Joe Dresch and Ray Walsh. The qualifiers fell to Brian McCormick, B.J. Seets and Seets, Jr., with Ricky Huebner winning the Semi.

Brandon Hogrenson won his fourth Domino's Street Stock feature of the year, besting Mark Pflueger, Shawn Teeke, Tony King and Brian Crawford. The heats were won by Tommy Gegg, Andy Beavers and David Parker, with King nabbing the Semi.

Aaron Wood won his ninth Auto Trader Factory Stock main over Todd Erickson, Lloyd Donnelson, Michael Davidson and Rodney Bailey. Wood and Erickson won the qualifiers.

Spectator gates for next week's Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Racing Series Season Championships open at 6 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m., and tight championship battles will be settled in all divisions. Adults $10.00, Students (11-17) $5.00 and Children 10 and under $2.00. Parking is always FREE.

Tri-City Speedway is located one-half mile south of I-270 on Illinois Route 203 south (exit 4), just 10 minutes north of downtown St.Louis.