Compelling finishes

LA MONTE — LA Raceway ended its 2008 season on Friday night with a big crowd and exciting finishes to the races and the points championships.

Members of the Everts family dueled in the hobby stocks feature race.

Danny Everts and his son Jacob, both of Knob Noster, began the night at the top of the points leaderboard with Danny holding a slim two-point advantage.

Jacob jumped out to an early lead, but Danny stayed close throughout, eventually working his way to his son’s bumper with two laps remaining. On the final lap Danny made his move, pulling alongside Jacob in turn four.

As they came to the wall on the home stretch, Danny bumped against Jacob, forcing Jacob’s car into the wall as sparks flew through the air.

That small bump allowed Danny to win the race and the season points title.

“We’ve got a competitive spirit, we’ve got very equal cars, and kind of whoever gets in front, you know,” Danny Everts said. “Tonight I had to (beat) Jake to win the points championship. I had to pass him. There had been a little talk that I put him in the wall. I didn’t actually put him in the wall. The wall and him and I all made contact, but I didn’t do it on purpose. When you get old and blind, you can’t see the wall.”

Jacob ended the race and the season in second place while Jeremy Gordon took third in the race and finished in fourth overall in the points standings.

Troy Reasoner, of Urich, entered the street stocks feature race with a healthy 37-point lead in the standings, but was not content to back into the title.

Reasoner raced out to an early lead on his way to the race victory that helped him sew up the points championship.

Marc Carter and Ted Welschmeyer challenged Reasoner throughout the race, but Welschmeyer spun out with two laps remaining and left the track. Carter  left the track at that point, leaving Bryan Arnold and Jay Lyle to chase Reasoner to the finish.

“Well, I didn’t really think I was going to win the feature, but it worked out pretty good,” Reasoner said. “I thought them guys were going to get around me, but they didn’t. We’ll just take it how we get it.”

Arnold finished the feature race in second, Lyle was third, Jeff Lazenby  was fourth, and Scott Krause completed the top five.
In the points race, Krause picked up second place, Arnold grabbed third, Steve Bugg finished fourth, and Carter ended up in the fifth spot.

The 305 sprints feature race quickly became a battle of the two racers holding the top two spots in the points standings.

Mitchell Moore, of Edgerton, Kan., began the evening with a 13-point lead, and he was being pursued by Jonathan Cornell, who held the second spot.

Both Moore and Cornell started near the middle of the pack, but they didn’t need long to move to the front. Once Moore grabbed his lead, Cornell began his dogged pursuit.

Despite a great push by Cornell, Moore held him off for the victory and the points title.

Tom McGarry was third, followed by Bradley Roberts and Michael White.

“In a way I’m glad it’s over, but I’m not. It was a lot of fun this year,” said Moore after being awarded the trophy for his points championship. “Cornell ... was strong. Coming into the last race, it seemed like there was a lot of pressure. I was glad to be able to do it that way, you know, come out with a win. That’s the best way to win a championship right there.”

The night of racing ended with another exciting finish in the modifieds feature race. Jason Thompson, leading the points standings by a wide margin, went out in style with a last-second win over Terry Kirk.

Thompson, of Concordia,  and Kirk battled for the last several laps before Thompson came in low around turns three and four, took a slim lead and held on for the victory.

“It was a really good race,” said Thompson. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get around him. ... I got lucky. I mean, that’s just what it took. One lap, I hit three and four just perfect and that’s what it took to win it.”

While Thompson took home the season title, Terry Schultz finished second, Jimmy Dowell third, Justin Moon fourth, and Dave Meyer fifth.