Donahue Boys 1st and 2nd on Military Appreciation Night

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Kevin Donahue took advantage of his front row pole spot and held back race long challenges from younger brother Kyle in capturing his 2nd consecutive O’Reilly Auto Parts NASCAR Whelen All American Series Pro Late Model feature win on Military Appreciation Night at the “High-Banks” of the Lebanon I-44 Speedway.
 
The draw put top 4 in total points in the inversion which meant the Wildwood, Missouri Donahue Brothers Racing team occupied the front row while point’s runner-up Brian Brown and current point leader Jake Griffin started in row 2. On the start, Kevin shot to the opening lead as Kyle back in his primary car this week was glued to Kevin’s inside quarter panel while Brown, Griffin and defending track champion JC Newell followed closely. On lap 3, Griffin made his way around Brown as Newell followed closely. Up front, the battle between the Brothers was close as Griffin and Newell were side by side and slowly closing on the lead duo. On lap 6, Kevin opened up a 4 car length lead as Newell was working on the inside of Griffin and Brown stayed a solid 5th. On lap 8, Newell made the pass around Griffin and began to reel-in the leaders as leader Kevin started to pick-up the race pace. The only caution waved on lap 17 for a single car spin bunching-up the pack as 2014 Champion Kaleb Allison had moved into the top 5. On the restart, Kyle shot again to older brother’s inside as Newell had swung to the top groove while Allison and Griffin were now staging a tight battle. After a 5 lap side by side race for the lead, Kevin who had won the previous week was in position to go back to back as Newell was trying to close in on 2nd place runner Kyle Donahue. Brian Brown took advantage of the caution and moved back around Allison to claim 5th spot. Up front, Kevin Donahue opened the lead margin and never looked back in grabbing his 2nd win as younger brother Kyle took home the runner-up position with Newell, Griffin and Brown completing the top 5 after Brown had a tough battle with Allison.
 
Donahue has been on a roll leading the last 60 laps of Pro Late Model features and gave the credit to Willie Allen of WAR and his father. “After some of the bad luck we have had the last couple of seasons this is great. We had Kyle’s main car at Nashville being worked on after the wreck a couple of weeks ago. The entire team has worked hard keeping these 2 cars in race shape and winning on Military Appreciation Night is wonderful.” said Kevin Donahue. Runner-up Kyle thought he had a car that maybe could have pulled into the winners circle.” My car was really great early in a run and the restarts but with JC right behind us, I didn’t feel the time was right. Kevin had a good car in longer runs. We will work this week to make this car stronger as we are in this Championship Chase. Allison and Newell took home qualifying heat races

Defending Modified Champion Tim Swearengin was looking for his 5th consecutive feature win, but knew that it was going to be a workout. Swearengin was able to make a lap 5 pass in turn 2 of the 20 lap feature and then held back Ricky Icenhower to make the drive for 5 possible. Icenhower was a 7 time winner in 2015 and he brought the field to the start from his pole spot as Terry Taylor was on his outside with Swearengin dropping back just a bit. The 2nd lap saw Swearengin move around Taylor and set his sight on the leader. For the next 3 laps, Swearengin would make a run in turns one and two only to see “The Iceman” pull back ahead with a slight lead. On the 6th lap, Swearengin made a low move in turn 1 while shooting ahead out of turn 2 opening-up a 5 car advantage. Swearengin would find his car not as strong in turns three and four as Icenhower began to cut into the lead. During the final 3 laps, Icenhower would get as close as 4 car lengths, but no closer as Swearengin takes his 5th in a row with Icenhower, Taylor, Jimmy Poindexter, and Brian Lewis completing the top 5 in the caution free event. Swearengin also topped the heat race.

Defending Hoosier Tire Street Stock Champion Jordan Nisbett muscled his Terry Brumley Tribute Camaro around leader Mikey Juergensen on the 5th lap and with stood a late race charge from point leader Justin Allen and Juergensen to claim his 5th win of the season in another action packed feature event. Juergensen, last week’s feature winner quickly grabbed the opening lead with Nisbett, Nick Cherry, Allen and Les Mallard following. Juergensen was working the middle groove flawlessly as Nisbett and Allen were having a side by side battle and Cherry slowed with problems. Juergensen saw his lead gone on lap 5 as he drifted a little high and Nisbett shot to the top spot as Juergensen and Allen were door to door. With Nisbett setting a steady pace, Allen snuck around Juergensen on the 8th circuit and began to close-up the gap very quickly as Juergensen was right on his bumper. As Allen kept gaining distance, lap 13 would find it unlucky for the current point leader as he got sideways while attempting to grab the lead dropping him back to third. Nisbett would then hold back Juergensen for the win with Allen, Mallard and Tony Johnson completing the top 5. Nisbett and Allen won the heat races.
 
In Coca-Cola Charger action, another new face in the winner’s circle and another outstanding feature as Nik Taylor took the opening lead and then had to fend back what seemed like the entire field in taking his first win of the season. Nik Taylor headed the field to the green as Justin Gantt, Japheth Nisbett, Ronnie Taylor, Billy Taylor, point leader Jerry Ellis and brother James Ellis were swapping spots up to the very front pack. Gantt was keeping the leader Taylor guessing as he worked the top and bottom lanes both. A lap 5 yellow kept the field bunched together as Taylor was driving a near perfect race with Gantt and now Ronnie Taylor putting on pressure while James Ellis had overtaken point leader Jerry Ellis for fourth place while Nisbett was trying to hold back Billy Taylor and 11 year old Ty Allison. In the final 2 laps, Gantt looked high and low, but Taylor held firm to become the 6th different feature winner of the season. Following the youngest Taylor to the line was Gantt, point’s runner-up Ronnie Taylor, James Ellis and point leader Jerry Ellis completing the top 5 of an 8 car pack battling for the win. Heats went to Ronnie Taylor and James Ellis.

Sportsman action saw another first time feature winner as St. Louis driver Jake Piel jumped to the opening lead over current point leader Jimmy Fohn and never looked back in taking the well-deserved victory. Piel also made it a clean sweep by capturing the heat race win.
 
Action continues Saturday Night with the new summertime 7pm start time as gates open at 5pm.

I44 Speedway PR

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