Kil-Kare Speedway
1166 Dayton-Xenia Rd.
Xenia, Ohio 45385
937 429-2961
www.kilkare.com
 
Gibson, Stapleton, Hamilton, Sneva, McKee Take
Open Wheel Friday Features at Kil-Kare
 
 
by Jerry Wahl
 
Xenia, Oh. - It was all open-wheel racing Friday night at Kil-Kare Speedway to witness the USAC Ford Focus midgets, American Modified Series modifieds, Buckeye Super Sprint Series, and KOIL Thunder Roadsters in action on the three-eights mile asphalt track. A good crowd was on hand on a hot night to witness the action and was not disappointed as the action was hot and heavy.
  The American Modified Series had a strong field of cars with twenty-six drivers taking time trials with Greg  Stapleton the quickest at 13.892 making for a fine field for their fifty lap feature.
  Twenty six cars faced starter Mike Stapleton's green flag for the start of the feature with Shane Shirk and Mike Stacy leading the pack to the green with Shirk edging ahead but back in the pack a multi-car pile-up occured on the backstretch to make for a complete restart. Eliminated was Jamie Brenneman, Charlie Goins and Jason Mahaffey. Stacy got the jump on the restart with Shirk second and fast timer Greg Stapleton third. Mike Pippin brought the caution our on the second lap when he spun on turn four. Stacy, in his second appearance of the season at Kil-Kare continued to set the pace as Stapleton went to work on Shirk, slipping on the inside to take second on lap seven.
  Stacy  began to lap cars on lap nine as Stapleton was inching closer to leader Stacy only to see the caution again when Joe Jennings hit the turn three wall and was out of action. Mahaffey returned to the track after making repairs as Stacy continued to lead and Stapleton moved up on his rear bumper. Chad Poole had his hands full holding off Mike Carroll as Carroll passed on the outside for fourth. Stapleton kept trying the outside and ran side by side with Stacy as they battled for the lead but they made contact on the frontstretch with Stapleton spinning into the grass on turn one. Stacy admitted causing the spin and went to the tail with Stapleton put up front. Josh Smith challenged Poole for fourth as Poole managed to hold him off.  As Stapleton ontinued to lead with ten laps to go Mike Carroll  was trying to catch Shirk for seond as Shirk tried to hold him off as they lapped traffic. Carroll moved to the  outside  but again Shirk shook him off.  Stapleton took the win in the Underwood Vinyl and Tile special as Carroll stole second when Shirk got slowed by a slower car on the last lap to finisher third. Poole was fourth and fifth was Smith.
  The Buckeye Super Sprint serrieswinged sprint cars had seventeen cars for their feature with Paul buckingham and Josh Burdette leading the field for their thirty lap feature. Buckingham shot into the lead with Burdette  second and Mike McVette third. The first caution came out on lap eight with Burdette setting the pace with on the restart but fast timer Zach Gibson showed how fast he was as he advanced to take the lead onle to see the action showed due to a stalled car on the backstretch on lap twenty-two. B uckingham second with Dave Saxer, Trent Stephens  and Talon Stephens rounding out the top five.  Gibson powered ahead of the field to take the win by almost a half lap lead over Talon Stephens, Trent Stephens, Tom tolbert, and Tim Buckingham.
  Paul Buckingham took advantage of his front row starting slot to take the lead at the drop of the green in the first heat of the sprint heat to hang on to it all the way, taking the win over Mike McVetta, fast timer Zach Gibson and Tom Tolbert. Trent Stephens made shambles of the second heat as he ran away like a scared rabbit to win by half a lap over Daniel Brown, Talon Stephens, and Josh Burdette.
  J.T. Hiltibran and Katie Hargitt brought the nine car Ford Focus midgets to the green for their twenty five lap feature event. Hiltibran took the lead at the drop of the green only to see the yellow fly when Chet Gerhke spun on turn four. Kyle Hamilton then showed as the leader with Hiltibran running second.  Cottongim took over second on lap four with fast timer Jordan Pennington third. Gerhke worked his way up from the tail to take third on lap ten. Hamilton had a half lap lead at the halfway point as Cottongim and Pennington battled side by side for third. Hamilton stayed out front until the checker as he lapped all except the second place finishing Chet Gerhke who really worked hard to take second. third was the young lady driver Katie Hargitt followed by Pennington, and Hiltibran.
  Kyle Chady led the first six laps of the first heat of the Ford Focus midgets only to have fast timer Jordan Pennington slip by him to take the lead with Tyler Cottongim taking second and Chady third.  Second fast timer Kyle Hamilton took the second heat over Chet Gerhke and J.T. Hiltiban.
  The KOIL Thunder Roadsters made their first ever appearance at KilKare. Jeremie Johnson and Byron Stowe brought the cars to the green with Johnson taking the lead and Al Renner secnd. Toby alfrey and ames Edsall made it a four car battle with Alfrey taking over second and Edsall a close third. Al Renner contined to set the pace at the halfway mark as the top four cars ran bumper to bumper. Alfrey moved up closer and closer on Renner as Sneva and Edsall battled for third. Unfortuately Alfrey made contact with frontstretch wall, loosing a wheel and pput out of action. Renner, a former legend car driver at Kil-Kare had the lead on the restart with Sneva and Edsall right behind with Sneva charging around Renner for the lead with Edsall taking second spot dropping Renner back to third. Sneva  clinched the win with Edsall second. Tony Wacher slipped by Renner on the last lap to take third with Renner fourth and Byron Johnson fifth.
  The KOIL thunder Raoadster first heat saw Toby Alfrey steal the lead from Byron Stowe to take the first heat over Stowe and T.J. Sneva. Tony Wacher showed tghe way in the second heat to pull away from Jeremie Johnson and Nelson Stewart.
  For the first time in a long time Kil-Kare Speedway will have racing on a Wednesday night, July 23, when a full program of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series will take to the track with the gates opening at 6 p.m. and racing at 8 p.m. Friday night, July 25, the program will be repeated plus the Trailer Race of Mayhem will highlight the night.
 
 
 
Kil-Kare Speedway results July 18
 
 
 
USAC Ford Focus Midgets
Fast time - Jordan Pennington 13.363
Heat - Jordan Pennington, Tyler Cottongim, Kyle Chady, Katie Hargitt
Heat - Kyle Hamilton, Chet Gerhke, J.T. Hiltibran
Feature (25 laps) - Kyle Hamilton, Chet Gerhke, Katie Hargitt, Jordan Pennington, J.T. Hiltibran, Tyler Cottongim, Doug Cross, Bill Kriegbaum, Kyle Chady
 
American Modified Series
Fast time - Greg Stapleton 13.892
Feature (50 laps) - Greg Stapleton, Mike Carroll, Shane Shirk, Chad Poole, Josh Smith, Ross Kilinghofer, Bill Burba, Bud Perry, John Lawhorn, Gary Eaton, brad Yelton, Steve Foster, Rob Yelton, Mike Stacy, Dean Pitts, Brian Reese, Wayne Watercutter, Brad Williams, Jason Mahaffey, Rodney Roush, Joe Jennings, Jim Lewis, Mike Pippin, Jimmy Johnson, Charlie Goins, Jamie Brenneman
 
Buckeye Super Sprint Series
Fast time - Zach Gibson 11.106
Heat - Paul Buckingham, Mike McVetta, Zach Gibson, Tom Tolbert
Heat - Trent Stephens, Daniel Brown, Talon Stephens, Josh Burdette
Feature (30 laps) - Zach gibson, talon Stephens, Trent Stephens, Tom tolbert, tim Buckingham, Daniel Brown, Paul Buckingham, Kevi Youster, Ryan Gillanwater, Dave Saxer, Ted Saxer, Josh Burdette, Mike McVetta, Tommy Kunz, Lloyd Halsey, Kurt Huber
 
KOIL Thunder Roadsters
Fast time - T.J.Sneva 14.536
Heat - Toby Alfrey, Byron Stowe, T.J. Sneva
Heat - Tony Wachter, Jeremie Johnson, Nelson Stewart
Feature (25 laps) - T.J. Sneva, James Edsall, Tony Wacher, Al Renner, Jeremie Johnson, Byron Stowe, Nelson Stewart, Darrel Brown, Toby Alfrey
 
VARC
Feature (15 laps) - Austin McKee, Mike Ellis, Brian Butler, Chris Butler, John Lawhorn