Big Win For Ballou

Written By: Matt "Night" Rider
Photos By: Dave Merritt (http://www.davespitpassphotos.com/)

GAS CITY SPEEDWAY (GAS CITY, IN.)- It was another beautiful night for racing at the Gas City Speedway.  The Gas City Speedway ran it's regular program of Sprint Cars, UMP Modifieds, Street Stocks, and Thunder Cars on Friday night.

Rocklin, CA. native Robert Ballou (Pictured Left) took home his second Gas City Sprint Car feature win this season. After the big win, Ballou said, "It felt good to win tonight. We won once here this season. This is probably one of the hardest tracks we come too, because it's D-Shape." Ballou would like to thank Dallas Malvaney, Jim Plew, Donnott Racing Engines, and Hinchman Uniforms for all their support this season. 

Fortville, IN. native Jonathan Hendrick came home with a hard fought second place finish in the Sprint Car feature. "It was good. We've been having some trouble lately, so it was good to come out of here with a top three finish," Hendrick said.  Taking third was Carmel, IN. racer Andrew Elson. "It felt really good to finish in the top three. It was just hard to pass out there tonight," Elson said. Finishing fourth was Chris Gurley, while fifth belonged to Kokomo, IN. racer Shane Cottle.

 Claypool, IN. racer Zeke McKenzie took the checkers, winning the 25 lap UMP Modified finale. An excited McKenzie said, "It felt great to win tonight. We are doing good this season. We have three feature wins, two at Gas City Speedway, and one up north in Butler, MI." McKenzie went on to explain, "We got a lot of help from family, my Uncle, and Ryan Cripe." McKenzie would like to thank his Grandpa, his Dad, Zach, Rick, Cripe, and all of his sponsors for all their support this season.

Coming home with a strong second place finish was Columbia City, IN. racer Tommy Beasley II. "It felt awesome to have another good run tonight. We're leading the UMP Modified point standings, so it was a good points night for us," Beasley II said. Finishing right behind Beasley II was North Manchester, IN. native Ryan Cripe. After the race, Cripe said, "It felt real good to get a top three finish tonight. I just wish we could get up there and race with Zeke." Cripe would like to thank the McKenzie family and Dwayne Eakright for all their support this season. Fourth went to JD Francis, while Jeff Ochs took home a top five finish in the UMP Modified feature.

Craig Walker came home with the Street Stock feature victory on Friday night. Brandon Roundtree took second place, while third belonged to Brett Clark. Landon Miller raced his way to a hard fought fourth place finish, while Jeff Baldauf ended the night in fifth.

DJ Holt started outside the front row and never looked back, winning the Thunder Car finale. Polesitter Josh Owens put together another solid race to come home second. Third went to Jerald Owens. Jason Strout finished the night in fourth, while Mark Keith came home with the final spot in the top five feature finishers.

Gas City Speedway will not race it's regular program this coming Friday (July 9th). They will return to action on Saturday, July 10th, as the speedway welcomes back the USAC National Sprint Cars. This is going to be a very exciting race, as the USAC National Sprint Cars will be running the 23rd annual Indiana Sprint Week Series. I'll be there, will you?