An impressive field of 64 I.M.C.A. Late Models signed in for the Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway on April 10, the 2010 series opener for the Deery Brothers Summer Series. A pair of bad draws didn't deter Mark Burgtorf from driving to the $3,000 winner's share in the event, which honored Brent Slocum, who lost his life in the pits at the speedway a few years ago.
Burgtorf, who drew the largest number out of the hat for his heat race, came from the back of the field to take the win in his qualifier. He then drew 11 out of 12 on the redraw and had to drive from the sixth row to score the victory in the 50-lap feature.
At the on-set of the 50-lap event, outside front row starter Ryan Giles took the lead and paced the field for the first three laps. Nate Beuseling, who started right behind Giles, dropped to the inside and took command on the fourth circuit. Beuseling then went to work on the high side of the speedway, running it to perfection, pulling away from the field.
Just seven laps into the race, Beuseling extended his advantage to over half of a straightaway while Giles ran second ahead of pole-sitter Todd Malmstrom and Shawn Mulvany. Beuseling built up a straightaway lead by the time he first encountered lapped traffic on lap 11. Although he continued to maintain a large lead, the leader had trouble negotiating the lapped car of Mark Preston, taking five laps to get around Preston's #57, finally making the pass on lap 16.
One lap after Beuseling made his way around Preston, Burgtorf worked his way into the second position as Beuseling entered heavier lapped traffic. On lap 22, Burgtorf cut the lead in half and pulled to within a couple of car-lengths of the leader by the time the yellow flag waved at the midway point on lap 25.
On the restart, Burgtorf ran the low groove and stayed close with Beuseling, who was dialed in on the top side, but struggled to make a solid pass for the lead. Burgtorf pulled even with the leader on lap 29 and the duo swapped the lead over the next five laps, running side-by-side the entire time. Finally, on lap 42, Burgtorf pulled ahead of Beuseling to drive away to the win.
Beuseling drove to a career best series finish by coming home second. Rob Toland was the big mover on the night. After needing a provisional to get into the 25-car starting field, Toland powered through traffic to finish third after a 22nd place start. Tom Goble ran fourth at the line and Matt Strassheim, a B feature qualifier, finished fifth after starting 16th.
In the Modified division, the old saying "cautions breed cautions" was overheard a couple times during that feature race. Scheduled to be 20 laps, the event was cut back to 12 laps when it timed out after four lengthy caution periods. Pole-sitter Dusty Kraklio was victorious as he led the event in its entirety after holding off early challenges from Darin Duffy. Brandon Rothzen, Rich Smith and Scott Hogan completed the top five.
Randy Wachter was quite possibly the happiest man in town after he scored his first win in the Hobby Stock division. Dan Wenig took the lead from his pole position start and paced the field until Wachter made his way to the front on lap four. Wachter withstood the challenges from Tanner Thomann to score his first-ever victory by half of a car-length at the line. Ray Raker came from 14th to finish third.
Despite a headache midway through the day, it was a great night of racing. Thanks to Sue McDaniel for the Tylenol, which took the edge off for the rest of the night. I was able to watch the qualifying events with McDaniel and the features with fellow blogger Jeff Broeg. It was great to catch up with old friends early in the season. It was also good to meet some new folks at the races last night. For a long time, I've been a member of various Internet message boards. For message board users, there are always a select few people you've always wanted to meet based on what they have to say online. I was glad to be able to finally put the face to the name of one of those folks last night when "72fan" Warren Busse introduced himself following last night's show. Thanks for saying hi, Warren, I hope to see you at a few other events this year.
Prior to the races Saturday night, track owner Amy Laue asked if I would be willing to help watch the pit gate before the security guard arrived for his shift. I gladly accepted the duty of checking for pit passes as everyone passed through the gate. While I had a few chuckles with some folks from back home in Waterloo who weren't expecting to see me greeting them at the pit gate, not everyone was too thrilled when they got to the track. The high car counts and large number of big haulers in the pits limited what would normally be parking for street vehicles in the pit area. The other gentleman and I working the gate were asked to inform everyone wishing to park their cars in the pits that the pits were full. I tell you what, I've scored, announced, been the track steward, pit steward and spotter at a race track before, but I don't think I've ever had my butt chewed as much as I did last night by the lazy folks who felt a sense of entitlement. Parking personal vehicles in the pits is a luxury at 34 Raceway, something very few tracks offer. It was unfortunate to see a number of fans already in mid-season form by the expletives I heard last night. Don't take for granted the facility and program you have in Burlington!
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