WAYNE CARTER CLASSIC TO KAHLER

He was definitely fast. Bad fast. And he drove the wheels off of his No. 17 in both feature races.

But Max Kahler needed a bit of good fortune as well to win the second feature and the overall title in Saturday night's Wayne Carter Classic at Grundy County Speedway.

In Race 2, Kahler was passed by Eddie Hoffman with just two laps remaining. As the white flag fell, however, sparks began to fly from Hoffman's No. 8.

While Hoffman cautiously drove around to a second-place finish, Kahler was able to cruise by and claim the win. Ricky Baker was third, followed by Paul Shafer Jr., D.J. Weltmeyer and Andy Jones.

Was it luck? Or divine intervention? Kahler smiled as he described the scene at the end of Race 2.

"In the second feature, we started to get a little loose and the 8 car (Hoffman) caught up to me," Kahler said. "I gave him a lane, and he still ran me up to the fence.
"As God intended, he got a flat tire and we went right back around him."

It wasn't actually a flat tire, but a suspension breakdown that resulted in Hoffman's tough finish. Hoffman was philosophical on the scales.

"It could have been worse," Hoffman said. "We finished second. I was a little harder than I wanted to be passing the 17 (Kahler). He was giving me room, but then not so much on the way off the corner.

"So I had get in there on him. I don't know. Maybe it was karma, or maybe it (the breakdown) happened because of that. But hey, it was a good race. Good to him. I'm glad he won it."
Before the late-lap drama, Kahler was in command for much of the second race. He took the lead from James Gregait on lap 4 with an explosive surge from the high side, going from third to first.
"Yeah, the high side was good for a couple of laps," Kahler said. "It just happened to be that the guys in front of us weren't the best down low. The high side was open for us and we just made our way through.

"I was happy with the results. We came here to practice in the morning, and thought we had a good piece. We qualified OK, and obviously it raced really well. Overall, I'm really excited."
In the first race, Kahler led briefly before Baker moved into the top spot on lap 15. The two battled for many of the remaining laps.

"I had my hands full," Baker said. "Them guys were all faster than me on the short runs. It took seven or eight laps for me to actually get moving. It felt like I was stopping in the middle of the corners.

"I've gotta thank Max. He probably could have run me over eight times. Once we got going we kind of evened out. But we have to go through this car and make it faster."

Baker beat Kahler to the finish line by 0.517 sconds. Third went to Jones, followed by Larry Schuler, Hoffman and Gregait.

Five Star Race Car Bodies signed on to be a contingency sponsor giving product certificates for each race to the Hard Luck Award winner. The certificate for race #1 went to Tim Cox who wrecked during practice and couldn't start either feature race.

The event was the first in the Six-Pack Summer Shootout Series sponsored by VRS Realty featuring the super late models. The next race will be June 13, honoring Larry Schuler and featuring the Junk Yard Dog Triple-30s.

In the street stock division, Chad Bayuk won for the second straight week. The former track champion was running third behind leader Sal Lozano and challenger Randy Weese with five laps remaining when Weese went around in Turn 4.

On the restart, Bayuk was able to get by Lozano to claim the win. Kristi Preisler was third, while Race Olson, Shaun Quinn Jr., and Zak Chanda completed the top six.

"I just tried to keep some heat in the tires, let them equal out during the caution and hope for a great start," Bayuk said. "That was tough luck for Randy. I wish him better on that. But I'll take the position any day.
"I played it as I went. As long as I've been racing, you throw all plans out the window once you go green."

Breanna Riggins left no doubt who was in command in the Sixers feature, beating Devin Eggert to the line by 2.918 seconds. Third went to David Emery Jr., followed by Seth Rowe, Roger Emery and Kaylee Emery.

As she was in her previous victory, Riggins was fastest on the high side.

"I like the high side," Riggins said. "Sometimes they block that bottom line and it's not always easy to get up there on the outside. But tonight, it seemed to work pretty well for me.

"It feels good. We've just got to make sure we keep working on the car, and getting things squared away. Things will go wrong when you least expect it. So we'll be working hard on it at all times."

The Super Cups feature saw a dramatic finish when Rob Baaske worked past Chris Rossiter as they came out of Turn 4 for the checkered flag. Mak Regnerus was third, followed by Camden Grommes, Richard Bischoff and Ken Slavicek.

"I really hate drama and all that stuff," Baaske said, laughing. "But it was a great run, man. Chris Rossiter did a great job hanging on to that thing. It was a nice, clean race. A lot of fun."

SUMMARY
Super Late Models
Wayne Carter Classic Twin 50s
Fast time: Andy Jones (14.282) New Track Record

1st 50-lap feature: 1. Ricky Baker, 2. Max Kahler, 3. Andy Jones, 4. Larry Schuler, 5. Eddie Hoffman, 6. James Gregait, 7. Scotty Gardner, 8. Scott Koerner, 9. Dennis Lyp, 10. Jake Weinrich, 11. D.J. Weltmeyer, 12. Jeff Wakeman, 13. Caleb Adrian, 14. Bobby Gash, 15. Kyle Shear, 16. Paul Shafer Jr., 17. Anthony Danta. DQ: Rich Bickle.

2nd 50-lap feature: 1. Max Kahler, 2. Eddie Hoffman, 3. Ricky Baker, 4. Paul Shafer Jr., 5. D.J. Weltmeyer, 6. Andy Jones, 7. Rich Bickle, 8. Anthony Danta, 9. James Gregait, 10. Scott Koerner, 11. Larry Schuler, 12. Kyle Shear, 13. Scotty Gardner, 14. Jake Weinrich, 15. Bobby Gash, 16. Jeff Wakeman, 17. Dennis Lyp, 18. Caleb Adrian.
Street Stocks
Fast time: Chad Bayuk (16.755)
1st heat: 1. Zak Chanda, 2. Sal Lozano, 3. Renee Farren.
2nd heat: 1. Kristi Preisler, 2. Brandon Reed, 3. Chad Bayuk.

20-lap feature: 1. Chad Bayuk, 2. Sal Lozano, 3. Kristi Preisler, 4. Race Olson, 5. Shaun Quinn Jr., 6. Zak Chanda, 7. Brandon Reed, 8. Randy Weese, 9. Aaron Vines, 10. Joshua Grenlund, 11. Renee Farren, 12. Christy Penrod.

Sixers
Fast time: Breanna Riggins (19.832)
Heat: 1. Kaylee Emery, 2. Roger Emery, 3. David Emery Jr., 4. Breanna Riggins, 5. Seth Rowe, 6. Devin Egger.
20-lap feature: 1. Breanna Riggins, 2. Devin Eggert, 3. David Emery Jr., 4. Seth Rowe, 5. Roger Emery, 6. Kaylee Emery.

Super Cups
Fast time: Rob Baaske (18.848)
1st heat: 1. Chris Rossiter, 2. Ken Slavicek, 3. Camden Grommes.
2nd heat: 1. Evander Peterson, 2. Mak Regnerus, 3. Richard Bischoff.
20-lap feature: 1. Rob Baaske, 2. Chris Rossiter, 3. Mak Regnerus, 4. Camden Grommes, 5. Richard Bischoff, 6. Ken Slavicek, 7. Makayla Hall, 8. Evander Peterson.