SHAFER OVERALL GRUNDY COUNTY WINNER

Ricky Baker was quite winded after winning the first feature in Saturday night's "Frank Welch Memorial Twin-50s" event at Grundy County Speedway.

It had nothing to do with the heat, or smoky air.

On Friday, Baker was the man in the dunk tank chair during a picnic celebration at work when a mishap caused him - and part of the tank - to make a hard plunge.

"I took a fall," Baker said. "I think I got a couple of fractured ribs. I'm pretty sore. It hurts to breathe, let alone being in the car."

Baker's luck in the hot seat was better on Saturday. The roll of the dice put him on the front row for the first race. He parlayed it into a wire-to-wire run that was only slowed down by a pair of yellow flags.

"I needed a kind of not-eventful race," Baker said. "But this car isn't perfect yet. We've got to work on it. We'll get it a little better."

Paul Shafer Jr. made an impressive run from the third row to claim second place. Eddie Hoffman ran a steady race to finish third, while D.J. Weltmeyer rebounded from a flat tire to come from the back and take fourth. Max Kahler and Rich Bickle Jr. rounded out the top six.
In the second race, Kahler took the lead from Boris Jurkovic on lap 6, and held off Weltmeyer in a dramatic side-by-side finish. The difference at the line was 0.036 seconds. Shafer finished third, ahead of Baker, Jurkovic and Hoffman.

"I really had to run it there toward the end," Kahler said. "I got a pretty decent lead and was kind of cruising for a minute, but I really had to pick it up when the No. 16 got clear.
"I didn't have nearly as much as he did at the end there. Thankfully, I had built up a big enough gap where by the time he got to us there were only two laps to go. I could sail it in there a mile long and hope she sticks for a lap and get him by a nose."

For Weltmeyer, it was another impressive night of racing among many he has had this season.
"It was tough at the end," Weltmeyer said of the second race. "You're in that spot sometimes, and I've been in that position. I didn't want to hit him hard. Sometimes you do more damage than good, with door-to-door stuff.

"Max gave me a lane on the bottom. Maybe in another half lap we would have had him. I tried to get there as fast as I could, but we just ran out of time."

Shafer, meanwhile, didn't score a win, but his two finishes added up to the overall points title for the night.

"We weren't too bad tonight," Shafer said. "In the first race we had a trailing arm come apart. It was super-free and super-hard to drive. We were fortunate to run second and not tear anything up.

"The second race I just couldn't get forward like I needed to. It would have been nice to win one of those two, but... not too bad. I never got to meet Frank Welch, but I've heard about him, some of the stories. I'm glad to get this trophy."

Breanna Riggins continued her brilliant streak of driving this season with a dramatic win in the 15-lap Sixers feature.

Riggins came from the seventh starting spot to chase down and pass Dylan Klinger on the final lap. She had been right behind him for several laps, before jumping to the high side after the white flag was waved.

"He (Klinger) seemed like he wanted the inside since I was trying to get there," Riggins said. "So I decided to go on the outside and it worked out good. I had to just push and car and hope that it stuck with me.

"Normally we have 20 laps, but it was reduced to 15 laps tonight. I didn't know if I'd get it done in time. When I looked up at one point and saw four laps to go, I had to figure it out right then and there. Thankfully, I did."

The difference at the finish was a scant 0.157 seconds. Third went to Randy Grancorvitz, ahead of Roger Emery, Jeff Allendorf and Seth Rowe.

A wild finish in the pure stocks feature saw Jakob Slusarczyk and Dominic Matts swap the lead on the final lap before Slusarczyk prevailed by a minuscule 0.016 seconds. Matt Ciara was third, followed by Andrew Randall, Dan Schmeissing and Mike Glenn.

"They (his crew) were telling me to hold my line, so I was holding the bottom," Slusarczyk said. "He was trying to shoot through the infield to try and pass me and I wasn't letting it happen."

But it did happen on the final lap.

"It did," Slusarczyk said. "But then I just went into the corner a little bit harder. I avoided a lapped car, and was able to get it to stick. It wasn't the prettiest win, but we did what we had to do."

The High School Racing Association held double features. Cayden Hayes, who a week earlier won the first heat of his career, took another step by winning the first 10-lap main event over Mason Griffin, Mia Burman and Jakob Koppers.

Hayes opened up a big early lead, but Griffin reeled him on. They were momentarily side by side late in the race, but Hayes was able to stay in control.

"Yeah, Mason got up to my left rear quarter," Hayes said. "I wasn't trying to be overly-aggressive, but he had nowhere to go entering Turn 3 and I just closed around him.
"First feature win... it feels amazing right now. I hope to get more."

Griffin bounced back in the second race to claim the victory over Hayes. It was Griffin's first career victory. It came after he almost missed the start.

"I had left my gloves in the truck because we had been sitting in the air conditioning during the other races," Griffin said. "I got kind of scared there for a minute. I'm glad I got out there before that first lap happened."