HOLTS SUMMIT, Mo. (Sept. 7, 2002) - Curt Rackers charged out to a huge lead and never looked back as he captured the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge Pro-Modified feature event last Saturday night at Capital Speedway in Holts Summit, Mo. In the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series ShorTrack Modifieds it was Jamie Carter taking the victory and the other feature winners included Jeff Schlup in the Limited Late Models and Richard “Cooter” Payne in the Super Stocks. Darrell Jones outran a strong field of Pro-Modifieds to win the Uni-Pack Dash-for-Cash.

For the last several weeks the Pro-Modifieds have been dominated by Steve Payne but this past Saturday it was Holts Summit’s own Curt Rackers who showed the others just how fast he could be. Rackers is in a tight points battle for the season championship with Rick Kimberling and Roger Edwards. The winner of the track title will be invited to attend the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge awards banquet later this year in Nashville, TN. Following Saturday’s race Kimberling now holds a slim two points lead over Rackers. Edwards still has an outside chance of capturing the title but his hopes faded Saturday with his eleventh place finish. Rackers started the race back in the fourth row and quickly started his charge towards the front. Robert Knaebel led the first lap while Rackers was already up to the fourth spot. Bob Test briefly led the second lap before Knaebel retook the point. Rackers moved up to third on the second lap and on the third circuit he took the lead. Caution on the fourth lap bunched up the field but it was no help for the rest of the field as Rackers exploded out to a huge advantage in just the next two laps. Knaebel, Test, Steve Payne, David Payne and Darrell Jones were running two and three wide for the second spot. Points leader, Kimberling caught that group by about the tenth lap and started picking his way towards the runner-up spot. Kimberling made a charge but fell back in the last few laps and settled for sixth. The last twenty two laps were ran without a caution, giving Rackers time to lap several cars before claiming the victory by nearly half a lap. Steve Payne made a late race charge to finish second. Jones has been running stronger each week, finishing third Saturday night. Roger Moser may of had the fastest car late in the race as he came from deep in the pack to record a fourth place finish. Knaebel held on the finish in the fifth spot. Kimberling was sixth, David Payne was seventh, Howard Hall was eighth, Test was ninth and Gary Blackburn rounded out the top ten spots. Jones and David Payne were the heat race winners. Jamie Carter wasted little time getting to the bottom of the track and then getting to the front of the Modified field as he sailed to another NASCAR Weekly Racing Series ShorTrack Modified feature win. Carter appeared to have the race well within his grasp by the halfway point of the race but how quickly things can change. About that time Kevin Propst cleared traffic and by using the high groove he was able to run Carter down.

Propst pulled along side of Carter a couple of times and each time Carter would hold him off. Caution waved over the field on the tenth lap setting up a final five lap shootout between Carter and Propst. Before it was all over the caution flag waved several more times and on each restart Carter opened up a nice lead over Propst. Carter went on to take the victory and increase his points advantage over Kevin Stark as the Modified championship is going to come down to the final night of racing action at the 3/8 mile Holts Summit speedway. Roger Edwards finished the race in the third spot, Stark came from deep in the pack to take fourth and Brad Pfeiffer completed the top five spots. Robbie Test finished sixth, Scotty Payne was seventh, veteran Tom Frasher ran eighth, Mike Witt II crossed the line in ninth and Keith Fisher took tenth. Carter and Propst won the heat races.

Car count was down in the Capital Speedway Limited Late Models but there was still plenty of close racing action as Jeff Schlup and Larry Winn battled for the victory. Virgil Jeffery, who will be crowned the 2002 Limited Late Model points champion, took the early lead when he shot by pole sitter Danny Monroe on the first lap. Winn took that spot from Jeffery and held it for a couple laps before Schlup settled into the lead. Winn gave Schlup a run for the money but in the end Schlup stood tall in victory lane. The win was extra special for Schlup as this was his first race back since he nearly destroyed his car in a crash at the State Fairgrounds in Sedalia back in August. Following Schlup and Winn across the line was Monroe in third, Jeffery in fourth and Marion Hooten in fifth.

Larry Winn took the checkers in the only Limited Late Model heat race. Richard “Cooter” Payne continued his Capital Speedway Super Stock domination Saturday night when he captured the feature victory as well as locking up the season points title. The race was filled with close racing action, along with some pretty hard crashes too. Derek Rumble and Willie Bungart had a hard crash on the first lap that sent Bungart to the pits for repairs and knocked Rumble out of the race. Just a couple of laps later, Jerry Unger and Don Matthess made hard contact in turn four that sent both cars to their trailers, out of the race. Payne started the fifteen lap affair in the third row and by the end of the first lap he only trailed Phil Crump for the lead. Crump ducked into the pits during the third lap caution with a flat tire, giving Payne the point on the restart. Roger Nilges moved up to second and coming from his fourteenth starting spot it was Jeff Duncan in third. Duncan quickly moved past Nilges to take second and closed the gap on Payne in very little time. Duncan could pull right up to Payne’s rear bumper but Payne held the preferred line and Duncan wasn’t fast enough to get by the leader using the low groove of the track. Duncan tried several times to pass Payne but each time Cooter would hold him off. A couple of late race cautions would bunch the field up but Nilges and the rest of the pack couldn’t mount any charge on the leaders. Duncan was also unable to charge past Payne on the restarts. Payne pulled away slightly on the final lap and took the victory by about eight car lengths over Duncan. Nilges battled Spencer Barnard for several laps before claiming the third spot. Barnard held on for fourth and Crump recovered from his early flat tire to take the fifth spot. Sid Graves was sixth, Jimmy Ott ran seventh, Chris Luther took eighth, Grandpa Jim Schoenfeld finished in the ninth spot and Willie Bungart came back from his first lap crash to round out the top ten. The Super Stock heat races were won by Payne and Jerry Unger.

The final night of racing action for the 2002 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series will be this coming Saturday night at Capital Speedway. Two of the four divisions have settled on a points champion but both the Pro-Modified and Modified titles are still up for grabs. Action gets started at 7:30 so make plans now to get there early and don’t miss any of the final night’s action! It promises to be a very exciting night of racing.

Coming to Capital Speedway on Saturday night, September 21st, will be the first ever Trailer Crash at the speedway along with the huge Fall Demolition Derby. Contact Capital Speedway at 573-896-5500 for more details or visit their website at www.capitalspeedway.com. Hope to see YOU at the races!

RESULTS

NASCAR WEEKLY RACING SERIES PRO-MODIFIEDS

1. Curt Rackers Holts Summit, Mo.
2. Steve Payne Fulton, Mo.
3. Darrell Jones Columbia, Mo.
4. Roger Moser Auxvasse, Mo.
5. Robert Knaebel Russellville, Mo.
6. Rick Kimberling Slater, Mo.
7. David Payne Holts Summit, Mo.
8. Howard Hall Columbia, Mo.
9. Bob Test Jefferson City, Mo.
10. Gary Blackburn Fulton, Mo.
11. Roger Edwards Jefferson City, Mo.
12. Sonny Kimberling Slater, Mo.
13. John Rathgeber Cuba, Mo.
14. Steve Baugh Columbia, Mo.
15. Scotty Payne New Bloomfield, Mo.
16. Terry Gallaher New London, Mo.
DNS Joe Miller Russellville, Mo.

CAPITAL SPEEDWAY LIMITED LATE MODELS

1. Jeff Schlup California, Mo.
2. Larry Winn Hallsville, Mo.
3. Danny Monroe California, Mo.
4. Virgil Jeffery Hartsburg, Mo.
5. Marion Hooten Mexico, Mo.

NASCAR WEEKLY RACING SHORTRACK MODIFIEDS

1. Jamie Carter New Bloomfield, Mo.
2. Kevin Propst Holts Summit, Mo.
3. Roger Edwards Jefferson City, Mo.
4. Kevin Stark Fulton, Mo.
5. Brad Pfeiffer Boonville, Mo.
6. Robbie Test Jefferson City, Mo.
7. Scotty Payne New Bloomfield, Mo.
8. Tom Frasher Henley, Mo.
9. Mike Witt II Fulton, Mo.
10. Keith Fisher Columbia, Mo.
11. John Bennett New Haven, Mo.
12. Jared Frankenberg Washington, Mo.
13. Joni Petersheim Columbia, Mo.
14. Don Williams
15. Don Cox Holts Summit, Mo.
16. Eddie Schoenfeld Rosebud, Mo.
17. Earl Roark Jefferson City, Mo.
18. Shannon Schaumburg Washington, Mo.
DNS Andy Payne New Bloomfield, Mo.

CAPITAL SPEEDWAY SUPER STOCKS

1. Richard Payne Holts Summit, Mo.
2. Jeff Duncan Ashland, Mo.
3. Roger Nilges Holts Summit, Mo.
4. Spencer Barnard Fulton, Mo.
5. Phil Crump Centralia, Mo.
6. Sid Graves Fulton, Mo.
7. Jimmy Ott Columbia, Mo.
8. Chris Luther Jefferson City, Mo.
9. Jim Schoenfeld Owensville, Mo.
10. Willie Bungart Henley, Mo.
11. Bob Brown New Bloomfield, Mo.
12. Jerry Unger Jefferson City, Mo.
13. Don Matthess Fulton, Mo.
14. Derek Rumble Ashland, Mo.