Berck and Brown victorious at The Nebraska Cup

By Greg Soukup

The weather for the Nebraska Cup, presented by the Nebraska Lottery and Hoosier could not have been better. A good crowd turned out to see the ASCS Midwest Sprint Cars and the SLMR Late Models compete on the high banks of America’s Home Track, and nobody left disappointed.

The only serious incident in the preliminary events came in the first heat for the ASCS Sprint Cars. The left rear axle on Jason Johnson’s #41 snapped, sending him up and over. Johnson was not seriously injured.

Al Humphrey’s 6, the Z62 of Justin Zeitner, Kyle Berck’s 14 and the 26JR of Corey Zeitner were the first four back to the flag stand on lap 1 of the SLMR A Feature. Al Zeitner’s 7 came into contact with the implement tire in front of a light pole in turn 3 head-on, bringing out the red flag. Berck used the restart to grab the lead. The next circuit saw Tad Pospisil put the 04 into fourth. Justin Zeitner slowed dramatically on lap 5 and headed to the pits. That moved Humphrey into second, Pospisil into third and Corey Zeitner into fourth. Pospisil passed Humphrey for second on the restart and Jesse Sobbing moved the #29 past Corey Zeitner to take over fourth. Corey Zeitner took the fourth spot back the next time around before moving up to third on lap 8. A car spun in turn 3 the next lap and the yellow lights came on in the corners. Brian Kenkel stopped his 33X at the top of turns 1 & 2 on the restart. The next slowing of the action came on lap 14 when Mark Peters’ 1M stopped in turn 1. Sobbing used the restart to take the fourth spot back again. Peters looped his racer again in turns 3 & 4 on lap 15. Corey Zeitner took advantage of the restart to move up to second. The 77 of Cory Dumpert came to a halt in turn 4 with 9 to go. Humphrey moved up to fourth on the restart. Mike Collins stopped, then headed the #3 to the pits the next lap. Sobbing again took fourth with 6 laps remaining. Dumpert and the 1 of Justin Gregg spun in 1 & 2 with 4 to go. Humphrey moved up to third and Pospisil took fourth on the restart. Pospisil passed Humphrey the next time around to snag third. Sobbing struck the front stretch wall hard with 2 laps left. From there to the finish the top 4 remained unchanged with Berck winning, Corey Zeitner second, Pospisil third and Humphrey fourth.

“It’s always so much fun to come back to Eagle; I just wish that I could do it more often! I ran here weekly for a long time, and I honestly think that this is the funnest little bullring that I’ve ever been to of all of the places that I’ve raced. And, experience goes a long, long way here. The Stealth Design, Ford powered Missile Chassis was hooked up tonight” Berck said. Berck’s sponsors include Aurora Agronomy, Missile Chassis and Ford.

The final A Main of the season saw the Midwest Region ASCS Sprints come out onto the track. Tyler Drueke looped his #12 on the initial start. The first attempt at a complete restart saw John Klabunde’s 77 stop in turns 3 & 4 and the 5X of Jason Martin spin after contact with the 35 of Trevor Grossenbacher who started flipping end over end into turn 3. Grossenbacher’s mount went back to the pits on the hook, but Martin took his racer to attempt to replace the top wing that was damaged in the melee. When a lap finally was in the books, Brian Brown’s 21 was in the lead, Jay Russell’s 76 was in second and Jack Dover’s 53 and the 24B of Don Droud Jr. rounded out the top 4. Dover jumped up to second on lap 3. Brandon Hanks spun the 3H at the bottom of turn 1 on lap 18 for a caution period. Danny Lasoski cracked the top 4 on lap 19 in the 1M. Josh Baughman took a wicked ride the next time around, ending up with his 17X hanging from the catch fence in turn 4 after vaulting over the wall. Lasoski passed Russell for third on the restart and the final slowing of the action came with 9 to go when Droud Jr. came to a halt at the top of 4. The top 4 were Brown, Dover, Lasoski and Russell.

This was Brown’s first ever victory at Eagle Raceway. “I’m so happy that I can finally mark this off of my bucket list! We’ve had some really bad luck here, but Chad Morgan gave me a great set-up and Zach and my wife Heather make it a lot easier on me to go out and win” related Brown. Brown’s sponsors include Casey’s, FVP, Searsboro Telephone and Impact Signs.

This was the final competition of the season. We would like to thank all of our sponsors, the many many teams who came out to race and of course, the fans for being there every week. It would not be possible to do this without all of those factors. See you in 2015!!

RESULTS:

360 Sprint 9/7/2014

A Feature:1. Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO), 2. Jack Dover (Springfield, NE), 3. Danny Lasoski, 4. Jay Russell (Elwood, KS), 5. Ryan Roberts (Aurora, NE), 6. Jason Johnson (Greenville, TX), 7. Brandon Hanks (Burlison, TN), 8. Billy Alley (Lincoln, NE), 9. Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE), 10. Tony Bruce Jr. (Liberal, OK), 11. Cody Ledger (Omaha, NE), 12. Wyatt Burks (Topeka, KS), 13. Stu Snyder (Waverly, NE), 14. Josh Baughman, 15. John Klabunde (Fort Calhoun, NE), 16. Toby Chapman (Panama, NE), 17. Gage Dorr (Elmwood, NE), 18. Jason Martin (Lincoln, NE), 19. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 20. Trevor Grossenbacher (Lincoln, NE)

B Feature:1. Cody Ledger (Omaha, NE), 2. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 3. Jason Johnson (Greenville, TX), 4. Josh Baughman, 5. Wyatt Burks (Topeka, KS), 6. Trevor Grossenbacher (Lincoln, NE), 7. Jason Danley (Lincoln, NE), 8. Mark Parsons (Rushville, MO), 9. Shayle Bade (Lincoln, ne), 10. Chris Morgan (Topeka, KS), 11. Mike Boston (Alvo, NE)

Heat 1:1. Stu Snyder (Waverly, NE), 2. Gage Dorr (Elmwood, NE), 3. Jay Russell (Elwood, KS), 4. Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO), 5. Tyler Drueke (Eagle, NE), 6. Billy Alley (Lincoln, NE), 7. Josh Baughman, 8. Jason Johnson (Greenville, TX), 9. Mike Boston (Alvo, NE)

Heat 2:1. Brandon Hanks (Burlison, TN), 2. Jack Dover (Springfield, NE), 3. Jason Martin (Lincoln, NE), 4. Ryan Roberts (Aurora, NE), 5. Wyatt Burks (Topeka, KS), 6. Toby Chapman (Panama, NE), 7. Shayle Bade (Lincoln, ne), 8. Chris Morgan (Topeka, KS)

Heat 3:1. Don Droud, Jr. (Lincoln, NE), 2. Tony Bruce Jr. (Liberal, OK), 3. Danny Lasoski, 4. John Klabunde (Fort Calhoun, NE), 5. Cody Ledger (Omaha, NE), 6. Mark Parsons (Rushville, MO), 7. Jason Danley (Lincoln, NE), 8. Trevor Grossenbacher (Lincoln, NE)

SLMR Late Model 9/7/2014

A Feature:1. Klye Berck (Marquette, NE), 2. Corey Zeitner (Omaha, NE), 3. Tad Pospisil (Norfolk, NE), 4. Al Humphrey (Giltner, NE), 5. Bill Leighton (LaVista, NE), 6. Robbie Andersen (Omaha, NE), 7. Brian Kosiski (Papillion, NE), 8. Bill Koons (Blair, NE), 9. Andrew Kosiski (Omaha, NE), 10. Mark Peters (Henderson, NE), 11. Jim Johnson (Plainview, NE), 12. Keegan Nordquist (Beresford, SD), 13. Cory Dumpert (York, NE), 14. Jesse Sobbing (Glenwood, IA), 15. Justin Gregg (Hastings, NE), 16. Randy Foote (Stewart, IA), 17. Mike Collins (Mcclellend, IA), 18. Brian Kenkel, 19. Justin Zeitner (LaVista, NE), 20. Al Zeitner (Bellevue, NE), 21. Mike Wallace (Carter Lake, IA), 22. Dylan Schmer (Aurora, NE)

B Feature:1. Bill Leighton (LaVista, NE), 2. Andrew Kosiski (Omaha, NE), 3. Justin Gregg (Hastings, NE), 4. Brian Kenkel, 5. Jim Johnson (Plainview, NE), 6. Mike Wallace (Carter Lake, IA), 7. Keegan Nordquist (Beresford, SD), 8. Bill Koons (Blair, NE), 9. Bob Milander (Pierce, NE), 10. Tommy DeFreece (Cairo, NE), 11. David Livingston (Blair, NE), 12. Jesse Kroger (Canton, SD), 13. Ben Sukup (Norfolk, NE)

Heat 1:1. Corey Zeitner (Omaha, NE), 2. Al Humphrey (Giltner, NE), 3. Cory Dumpert (York, NE), 4. Robbie Andersen (Omaha, NE), 5. Brian Kenkel, 6. Bill Leighton (LaVista, NE), 7. Keegan Nordquist (Beresford, SD), 8. Mike Wallace (Carter Lake, IA), 9. Jesse Kroger (Canton, SD),

Heat 2:1. Justin Zeitner (LaVista, NE), 2. Tad Pospisil (Norfolk, NE), 3. Dylan Schmer (Aurora, NE), 4. Mark Peters (Henderson, NE), 5. Randy Foote (Stewart, IA), 6. Jim Johnson (Plainview, NE), 7. Justin Gregg (Hastings, NE), 8. Bob Milander (Pierce, NE), 9. David Livingston (Blair, NE)

Heat 3:1. Klye Berck (Marquette, NE), 2. Jesse Sobbing (Glenwood, IA), 3. Brian Kosiski (Papillion, NE), 4. Al Zeitner (Bellevue, NE), 5. Mike Collins (Mcclellend, IA), 6. Andrew Kosiski (Omaha, NE), 7. Bill Koons (Blair, NE), 8. Ben Sukup (Norfolk, NE), 9. Tommy DeFreece (Cairo, NE)