Veterans Lead The Way At Lakeside Speedway

Kansas City, KS - After having 2 practices washed out by rain, it was any ones' guess on what was going to happen at Lakeside Speedway for their season opener on Friday night. If you were to think hard enough you just might be able to figure out what did happen. The veteran drivers stood tall!

In the Modfiied division, Tom Charles is no stranger to victory lane. The Bonner Springs driver has picked up his share of wins over the season. As a matter of fact he picked up an opening day victory just a few years ago. Friday night he added another opening night win to his credit.

"I thought this race was going to turn out like the one from last year, with a flat," said Charles in a post race interview, "I got to thank Jay Neal of BSB Manufacturing, they hooked me up with a shock package some springs and some stuff on the rear end. His sponsorship made it possible. I really don't have the money to be doing this."

All that Charles did was have to run down the early leader, Tim Karrick. The two veteran drivers would work their way through lap traffic and Charles would close the gap on Karrick. Lap 19 would change the complexion of the race.

"My plan was to give the car 25 laps," said Charles, "I changed so much on the car. I felt that Tim was coming back to me, but who knows what might have happened. The car felt really, really good and it was fun to be battling again."

Charles had been fighting with Karrick all night long. As Karrick went through turn 3 into turn 4, something in the front end gave way shooting him up into the wall. Charles, during this time, was making a move to try and pass Karrick for the lead. Everything worked out and Charles was out in front.

On the restart Charles and John O'Neal Jr. resumed where the race left off. The two battled, but it was Charles getting the upper hand.

Nic Bidinger stormed into the top 5 and with the white flag in hand he began his march toward the front. When the checkered flag dropped on the field, Bidinger found himself with a 2nd place finish on the night.

John O'Neal Jr. held a respectable 3rd place finish in the A Main, 4th went to Cody Owens and rounding out the top 5 was Aaron Marrant.

The Grand National class saw the return of a former track champion at Lakeside Speedway, Gene Claxton. At the end of the night, it looked as if Claxton had never left the class.

Chad Clancy, the 2009 Grand National Champion, jumped to the early lead. It wasn't a large margin as Claxton and Tim Shields were hot on his tail. For 7 circuits he led the way. It was number 8 that gave him some trouble.

Claxton worked the low line and the high line trying to figure a way around Clancy. On lap number 8 he put it to the high side of turns 1 and 2 and exited with the lead down the back straight. He would not relinquish the lead as he would hold off Tim Billings to the checkered flag.

Claxton may have gotten the win, but it was a battle none the less. Clancy gave it his shot up front, then Tim Shields gave it a go and finally Billings made a hard run. The class is beginning to show signs of improvement from top to bottom. The final product should improve the racing in the Grand National class.

It was a bad night for drivers trying to run down Claxton too. Clancy would eventually pull off the track after leading some laps and Shields, who gave Claxton some early fits, also pulled off the track with problems.

In the end as Claxton led the field, it looked like days of old as he put the I-35/Lakeside Speedway Border War Grand National in the Budweiser Victory Lane.

Billings finished 2nd, Don Marrs held down a surprising 3rd, Michael Morse Jr. finished in the 4th spot and rounding out the top 5 was Chad Shaw.

The Factory Stock class has been a hot topic in the off-season. The I-35/Lakeside Speedway Border War was opened up to this class in the off season and a lot of people were talking about the rules provisions being made. Jason Ryun doesn't seem to mind the new rules, as he won the opening night Factory Stock feature by a country mile.

If you didn't look hard enough, you might have missed Ryun. Gone was his old number of 27. He welcomed in the #08 in style on Friday night.

"A good friend of mine, my best friend, past away in December and we used to race together," said Ryun, " I told his wife and kids that this year is a tribute to Tony and we were going to run his number. I don't know if he was riding shotgun, but boy it felt fast."

Fast might have been an understatement. Ryun would run unchallenged for the top spot the entire 15 laps of the feature. Brad Whitney, who came off and impressive heat win, might have had something for Ryun. After a mechanical failure for Whitney on lap 2, only bench racing would tell if he did or not.

Nate Barnes, the hot rookie driver from '09, finished in the 2nd position, 3rd went to Justin Seifert.

Next week the action starts all over again at Lakeside Speedway. The first green flag flies at 7:30 p.m. For more information about Lakeside Speedway, log onto their web site lakesidespeedway.net.