Karrick, Bidinger & Michael Taylor All Find Victory Lane At Lakeside Speedway

Kansas City, KS - For the first time in the 2008 season, everything went as planned for Lakeside Speedway. That is from a standpoint of putting on a race and getting it done with as little trouble as necessary. Marc Olson and his staff can hold their heads up high. There were 3 drivers that stood, head-and-shoulders above the rest on this Friday night full of racing.

In the Factory Stock division, Mike Taylor (Kansas City, Mo.) seems to be on his game. For the first time in years he feels that he has pulled down the right combination with his racing program.

"Oh definitely," said Taylor, "The motor program, my driving style it's going good. I just want to keep coming out here and getting wins."

Taylor is the first driver in the Factory Stocks to win more than one feature on the season. Since we are only in the third race of the year, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

While Taylor was out in the front, 4 cars were putting on a great race for positions 2 through 6.

Joe Smith Jr., Terry Schmidt, Mike Taylor (Topeka) and Buz Kaster were all nose to tail in the field. Each swapping spots one lap after another.

Joe Smith Jr., who held the early lead in the race, finished in the 2nd position. Terry Schmidt would bring home 3rd, after swapping spots with the 4th place car of Mike Taylor. Rounding out the top 5 was Buz Kaster.

Heat races in the Factory Stock were won by Sean Foster, Mike Taylor (Kansas City, Mo.), Vernon Keever Jr. and Bill Ruesinger. The Factory Stock B Feature was won by Tyler Schmidt.

Nic Bidinger is a man on a mission in 2008. Last night was an impressive run. It was Bidinger's 2nd win in just 3 races.

"It was a really great race track," said Bidinger, "with all the rain we had, they (Lakeside Staff) did a great job in getting this track together. It was a lot of fun!"

The youngster from Perry, KS. made it look easy as he picked his way to the front of the field from his 4th row outside starting spot.

Once at the front of the field, Bidinger would extend his lead and go on to the victory.

Wil Whisler had a strong run and finished in the 2nd spot, coming in the 3rd position was Jason Park, last week's winner, Paul Lanferman, had another good night out finishing 4th and rounding out the top 5 was Jeff Miles.

Grand National Heat winners were Tony Maucelli, Jr., David Powell and Don Marrs.

Tim Karrick was a driver that caught fire late in 2007. As the new season gets underway, the competition might be in for some trouble. A win Friday night, might get Karrick going again for 2008.

Steven Bowers Jr. jumped out to the early lead in the Modified Feature. He would be hounded by John O'Neal for a few laps, but Karrick was coming through the field.

As Karrick caught up to the leader, Bowers, the two would go side-by-side on the speedway until Karrick would take the lead coming out of 4 and never relinquished it the rest of the way.

Karrick worked his way through the lapped traffic very well on this night. At times this can be a downfall for most drivers. Lapped traffic has a tendency of putting you where you don't want to be. For Karrick it wasn't a problem at all as he used the lap traffic to gain an even larger advantage on the rest of the field.

John Allen, last year's track champion, had his best run of the season coming home 2nd. Allen has been bitten by the 'Bad Luck' bug the first 2 weeks of the season. Tonight, he started from the 9th spot and gave his best effort to run down the leader, but ran out of time.

Having yet another solid race was the 3rd place finisher, Danny Charles. Charles and his new ride started 1 spot ahead of Allen and was right there with him at the end. Mark Shaman is another modified racer who is in a new car for 2008. A top 10 competitor from a year ago, put his new car in the 4th position and rounding out the top 5 was the veteran, Gene Claxton.

Heat wins in the Modifieds went to John Allen, Luke Driskell, Gene Claxton and Scott Pippert. The B feature was won by Chad Lyle.