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Boyles, Briggs, Tarlton, Fritz and Allen
Are Victorious During a Wild Night at Gas City

GAS CITY, Ind., June 16  - Friday night’s first “Jack and Jiggs Classic,” named in honor of track owner Jack Himelick and former promoter Jiggs Thomason, will go down in Gas City I-69 Speedway lore as a wild one, as drivers of 106 cars in five divisions duked it out on the quarter-mile dirt oval before a large, enthusiastic crowd. The big winners were Clinton Boyles (non-wing sprints); Stratton Briggs (USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 midgets); Michael Tarlton (UMP modifieds); Jason Fritz (thunder cars) and Gage Allen (front-wheel-drive compacts).

There were flips in every division except the modifieds. Miraculously all the drivers walked away except for veteran Tom Davies, who was transported by helicopter to a local hospital after he flipped between Turns 1 and 2 with three laps down in the third sprint heat. Davies was responsive to rescue workers, and preliminary reports from the hospital said he had no broken bones but was bruised and sore.

Three of the feature winners started on the pole (Boyles, Briggs and Allen), while Tarlton started second and Fritz third.

Boyles led every lap of the 25-lap sprint feature, which was a torrid, non-stop race. The Greewood, Mo.-based driver extended his point lead as he scored his third Gas City feature victory of the season. He slowed on the backstretch for an instant at the end but still won convincingly in Paul Hazen’s DRC that uses a Kercher Racing Engines powerplant. Garrett Abrams placed second while Shane Cottle was third. Dallas Hewitt and Shane Cockrum rounded out the top five. Physical Medicine Consultants, Kercher Engines and KECO Coatings sponsor the winning car.

Chett Gehrke passed Briggs a couple of times in the midget feature but had to settle for second at the line by mere inches. Defending series champion Aaron Leffel finished third after battling John Heydenreich for that position most of the race. Cory Guingrich rounded out the top five.

Tarlton powered by polesitter Bub Roberts to lead the first nine laps of the modified feature. Then point leader Randy Lines moved into first with a move to the inside on the backstretch and between Turns 3 and 4. He showed the way until Roberts regained the lead at the start-finish line on lap 14, right before a yellow waved and he and a couple of other contenders spun out. Tarlton got the lead again with a move to the outside in Turn 4 on the restart to seal the deal for his sponsors, N U Insulation of Huntertown, Ind., Stewart Repair, and his parents. Darek Snyder came from midfield to finish second over Bradley and Garrett Jameson, while Jessica Sroufe was fifth.

Thunder car point leader Randy Lines got the lead of that feature with an outside move in Turn 4 on the first lap, but lost it to Fritz after a restart on lap 13 at the start-finish line. A couple of laps later Lines found himself off in Turn 1 while some other competitors also spun and others just pitted. Fritz went on to victory with his Rugged Xscape No. 51, but before it was over Kevin Kerlin had come from deep in the field for second. Polesitter Ron Flaugh held on for third followed by Kaleb Nutter and Greg Barlow.

Allen led all 15 laps of the FWD compacts feature, while Eric Solms was second in the Silver Bullet and Josh Gamblin took the show honors. Brandon McDaries and Storm Hayes rounded out the top five.

In addition to Davies’ flip, Kyle Simon flipped in Turn 4 during the first sprint heat. Tyler Kalb flipped in Turn 4 during the midget feature while Andrew Heitkamp got upside down in Turn 3 with 15 laps down in that race. James Headley flipped in Turn 1 during the thunder car feature, and Dillen Loudy got upside down in Turn 3 with one lap down in the FWD main event.

Jack Himelick and Jiggs Thomason were honored during intermission before an energetic six-person bubble ball competition on the frontstretch.

The SpeeD2 midgets were making their first start at Gas City in their current format. They’re scheduled to return to Gas City on Aug. 3.

This coming Friday night, June 22, will be the Jerry Gappens Sr. Memorial, named in honor of the current promoter’s late father. The program will start with hot laps at 6:45 p.m. and will feature non-wing sprint cars, UMP modifieds, thunder cars and super streets. For more information, please see the track’s Web site at GasCityI69Speedway.com and follow it on Facebook (@GasCitySpeedwayOnTheGas), Twitter (@GasCitySpeedway) and Instagram (@GasCitySpeedway).

The results:

Non-Wing Sprint Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Steve Irwin, 3. Adam Byrkett, 4. Aaron Davis, 5. Kayleb Bolton, 6. Bryar Schroeter, 7. David Gross, 8. Kyle Simon, 9. Corey Smith (DNS).

Non-Wing Sprint Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Garrett Abrams, 3. Matt McDonald, 4. Kyle Robbins, 5. Garrett Aitken, 6. Tyler Hewitt, 7. Michael Fischesser, 8. Tony Main.

Non-Wing Sprint Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. Shane Cockrum, 2. Ty Tilton, 3. Brian Vanmeveren, 4. Dallas Hewitt, 5. Brian Karraker, 6. Jack James, 7. Parker Fredrickson, 8. Tom Davies.

Non-Wing Sprint Feature (25 laps): 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Garrett Abrams, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Dallas Hewitt, 5. Shane Cockrum, 6. Steve Irwin, 7. Garrett Aitken, 8. Tyler Hewitt, 9. Ty Tilton, 10. Adam Byrkett, 11. Kyle Robbins, 12. Aaron Davis, 13. Brian Vanmeveren, 14. Jack James, 15. Kayleb Bolton, 16. Tony Main, 17. Brian Schroeter, 18. Parker Fredrickson, 19. Brian Karraker, 20. Matt McDonald, 21. David Gross, 22. Michael Fishesser, 23. Kyle Simon, 24. Tom Davies (DNS), 25. Corey Smith (DNS).

SpeeD2 Midgets Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. John Heydenreich, 2. Stratton Briggs, 3. Aaron Leffel, 4. Mike Hessel, 5. Trey Osborne, 6. Anthony Haas, 7. Tyler Kalb, 8. Andy Martin, 9. Kyle Kriegbaum.

SpeeD2 Midgets Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Chett Gehrke, 2. Alex Watson, 3. Cory Guingrich, 4. Andrew Heitkamp, 5. Becca Stiefel, 6. Tom Hessel, 7. John Watson, 8. Kevin Blue (DNS).

SpeeD2 Midgets Feature (25 laps): 1. Stratton Briggs, 2. Chett Gehrke, 3. Aaron Leffel, 4. John Heydenreich, 5. Cory Guingrich, 6. Anthony Haas, 7. John Watson, 8. Trey Osborne, 9. Kyle Kriegbaum, 10. Andy Martin, 11. Tom Hessel, 12. Mike Hessel, 13. Alex Watson, 14. Andrew Heitkamp, 15. Becca Stiefel, 16. Tyler Kalb, 17. Kevin Blue (DNS).

UMP Modiifieds Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Michael Tarlton, 2. Randy Lines, 3. Darek Snyder, 4. Dillon Nusbaum, 5. Garrett Jameson, 6. Jim Mallery, 7. Cole Sink, 8. Garrett Rons.

UMP Modifieds Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Bub Roberts, 2. Josh Malott, 3. Bradley Jameson, 4. Lee Hobbs, 5. Brent Davis, 6. Pete Wormcastle, 7. Mason Stewart.

UMP Modified Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. Andy Bishop, 2. Jessica Sroufe, 3. Lance Krider, 4. Ernie Guingerich, 5. Todd Gnat, 6. Will Bennett, 7. Travis Nichols.

UMP Modified Heat 4 (8 laps): 1. Jason Jones, 2. J.J. Nordman, 3. John Raney, 4. Jerry Bland Jr., 5. Steven Hogue, 6. Luke Timmerman, 7. Derek Losh (DNS).

UMP Modifieds B Main (10 laps): 1. Steven Hogue, 2. Brent Davis, 3. Garrett Jameson , 4. Jim Mallery, 5. Garrett Rons, 6. Will Bennett, 7. Todd Gnat (DNS), 8. Pete Wormcastle (DNS), 9. Luke Timmerman (DNS), 10. Cole Sink (DNS), 11. Mason Stewart (DNS), 12. Travis Nichols (DNS), 13. Derek Losh (DNS).

UMP Modifieds Feature (20 laps): 1. Michael Tarlton, 2. Darek Snyder, 3. Bradley Jameson, 4. Garrett Jameson, 5. Jessica Sroufe, 6. Lance Krider, 7. Jim Mallery, 8. Jason Jones, 9. Randy Lines, 10 J.J. Nordman, 11. Darek Snyder, 12. Bub Roberts, 13. Andy Bishop, 14. Jeff Bland Jr., 15. Lee Hobbs, 16. Ernie Guingerich, 17. Dillon Nusbaum, 18. Steven Hogue, 19. Josh Malott, 20. John Raney (DNS).

Thunder Cars Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Ron Flaugh, 2. Jason Fritz, 3. D.J. Holt, 4. Greg Barlow, 5. Mark Keith, 6. Kevin Kerlin, 7. Gerald Owens, 8. Rick Paul.

Thunder Cars Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Randy Lines, 2. Mike Reitz, 3. James Headley, 4. Roy Mulkey Jr., 5. Justin Wheeler, 6. Stevie Clark, 7. Bryce Krider, 8. Jason Fuller (DNS).

Thunder Cars Feature (20 laps): 1. Jason Fritz, 2. Kevin Kerlin, 3. Ron Flaugh, 4. Kaleb Nutter, 5. Greg Barlow, 6. Rick Paul, 7. D.J. Holt, 8. Justin Wheeler 9. Gerald Owens, 10. Bryce Krider, 11. Randy Lines, 12. Mark Keith, 13. Roy Mulkey Jr., 14. Stevie Clark, 15. Mike Reitz, 16. James Headley, 17. Jason Fuller (DNS).

FWD Compacts Heat 1 (5 laps): 1. Gage Allen, 2. Eric Solms, 3. Ryan Piker, 4. Josh Gamblin, 5. Brandon McDaries, 6. Randy Brommer, 7. Storm Hayes, 8. Jimmy Headley, 9. Dillen Loudy, 10. Robbie White.

FWD Compacts Heat 2 (5 laps): 1. Joel Smitley, 2. Austin Scott, 3. Austin Dailey, 4. Kolten Sollars, 5. Alyssa Clark, 6. Brad Evans, 7. Scott Harrington, 8. Jacob Beard, 9. Chris Harrington.

FWD Compacts Feature (15 laps): 1. Gage Allen, 2. Eric Solms, 3. Josh Gamblin, 4. Brandon McDaries, 5. Storm Hayes, 6. Austin Scott, 7. Randy Brommer, 8. Jimmy Headley, 9. Alyssa Clark, 10. Austin Dailey, 11. Brad Evans, 12. Ryan Piker, 13. Joel Smitley, 14. Kolten Sollars, 15. Chris Harrington, 16. Scott Harrington, 17. Dillen Loudy, 18. Jacob Beard, 19. Robbie White (DNS).