Jewett Takes Home Factory Feature, Bidinger Continues Domination Of Grand Nationals & The Legend, Gene Claxton, Wins Modified Feature

Kansas City, KS - Again, the weather could have been the story at Lakeside Speedway. Rain fell off and on all day long in the KC area, but it spared Lakeside and the races went off as scheduled. At least for some of the racers they went off as scheduled.

In the Factory Stock division, it was Marshall Jewett picking up the win. For the fans that watched the race, Tyler Schmidt took the checkered flag, but in post race inspection would see his win taken away by the Lakeside Speedway tech officials.

More than 32 Factory Stocks checked in to do battle on Friday night and for the 3rd time this season, we saw a new winner in victory lane. The main event was filled with action and excitement.

Terry Schmidt jumped out to the early lead and looked to have everything under control until he lost a tire going down the back stretch. This handed the lead over to Jewett, who at the time was battling with Tyler Schmidt, Mike Taylor (Topeka), Jason Ryun and Darrin Christy.

Yellow flags were plenty in the main event, Jewett would still gain control at the drop of every green flag. He would hold the lead until the last lap. Coming off of turn two, Schmidt gained a run on Jewett and made the pass for the win, it appeared.

After Schmidt took the checkered flag, ten cars were pulled in the pit area. Lakeside Tech Officials tore down each and every car looking for infractions. All cars passed tech, except for Schmidt. (At the time of the story, it is unknown on the infraction.)

With infraction it moved Jewett to the win, Taylor to 2nd, coming in 3rd was Jason Ryun, Darrin Christy finished fourth and rounding out the top 5 was Daniel Stimson.

It looks like you can put the Grand National class back on the list of being, fully functional. Many fans had them on 'life support'. Rumors of pulling this class from the weekly show were rampant in the off season. As of the 4th race of the season, they are averaging 25 cars per week, enough for a full field.

Nic Bidinger hasn't worried about the extra cars showing up this season so far. Friday night Bidinger put another win on the board. It was his 3rd of the season in just 4 races.

Gary Donaldson took out to the early lead, but would end his night in a ball of flames in turn four. A tough break for a competitor that was having a great night up to that point. Tony Maucelli would take his shot at the lead.

Maucelli held onto the lead for a good part of the feature. As the laps continued to wind down on the feature, Bidinger was getting closer and closer to the front of the field.

The two combatants went at each other door to door and wheel to wheel. Maucelli would gain the lead every time Bidinger would try to take it from him. Going into turn four, Maucelli's night would end as he spun from a right rear flat.

Bidinger took the lead and never looked back.

Jason Park would finish 2nd after a hard fought battle with the 3rd place finisher, Jim Baker, Jason Park came home in 4th and rounding out the top 5 was Mike Busby.

When we talk about competition the Modified division has a lot of it these days. Friday night a 'timeless legend' in the racing community, Gene Claxton, put his modified back in victory lane. Claxton becomes the 4th different modified driver to win a feature this season.

Why do you classify Claxton as a legend? The man has won 300 plus features in his career, he has one of the best personalities and he has been a positive representative of the sport for decades. Friday night, he had to earn every bit of the win, holding off Chad Lyle, Danny Charles and Bubba Harvey.

Claxton raced his way to the front from his 4th place starting spot. Last season, Claxton picked up a victory and was on the doorstep to several other wins. As he now feels that he is car is better and his team has a better handle on adjustments, this might not be the only time we see Claxton in victory lane.

As Claxton raced to the front, Chad Lyle held onto a tight 2nd place spot. A few times on the race track it appeared that the two might have been stuck together, they were that close to one another. On a couple of occasions, Lyle, poked his nose inside of Claxton's, but Claxton would regain the lead each and every time.

Behind those two was a good battle between Danny Charles, Bubba Harvey and Dave Trauernicht. Trauernicht would have mechanical problems and pull off, so Charles and Harvey would battle back and forth.

Charles would wrestle the 3rd away, Harvey finished in the 4th spot and Kerry Davis, who has been fighting gremlins most of this season, had a solid finish in the 5th position.

With 4 races and 4 different winners this class has become even more exciting that it already was. It can only get better, because you know some of the names that haven't won yet, that will before the end of the season.