By Angie Dickens - Jeffersonville, IN. - Anyone that ventured outside Saturday evening knew it was a slightly cool out. In fact, it got down right cold at The Sportdrome (Jeffersonville, IN) but that did not stop several people, including myself from showing up for the Xtreme Winged Figure 8 1 hour Enduro. The car count was a bit low as many have not completed their car for the 2009 season and/or they have not got all the kinks worked out just yet. Nevertheless, there were still 24 cars on hand with 22 of them taking the green flag. Artie B. Ware set in the pole position in his #38 machine after turning in a time of 20.2578. The rest of the top 5 consisted of #6 Chris Harmon, #5 Gary Isgrigg, #91 Gerald Poe and #85 Alan Williams, Jr. As the starting line up began their pace laps, the #00 machine of Raymond Johnson appeared to have some type of trouble as he exited the track and headed to the pits. Johnson did not make qualifying so this automatically put him at the tail end of the field. Luckily for Johnson, his troubles were that of a transponder not working correctly so he was able to make a quick fix and return to the track before the drop of the green. Around 8:45pm (EST) things began to heat up a notch as the green flag waved and put these figure 8 cars into action. Artie quickly took over the top spot followed by Chris Harmon, G. Isgrigg, G. Poe and J. Robert. There was racing from the front of the pack to the back. On lap 2, the #00 of Raymond Johnson and the #05 of Kevin Sewell got tangled, sending Johnson to the pits and Sewell making several trip in and out until finally retiring that ride. Meanwhile, Artie and the rest of the top 4 lined up and set themselves ahead of the rest of the field. It appeared that Artie would have a dominating performance but it was too early to tell. In an hour long race...an hour long figure 8 race at that...anything can happen! Five minutes into the show, Artie finds himself stuck behind some lap traffic. This allows for Chris Harmon to pull close to Artie's bumper but also separates the front two for the 3rd and 4th place cars. As the top 2 continue to put cars a lap down, a battle for 5th place was taking place between the #85 of Alan Williams, Jr. and the #91 of Gerald Poe with Williams capturing the spot. Although, the field is becoming spread out, the intersection was pretty calm- there were several close calls but no serious contact. They had only completed a little over 10 minutes when the #55 of Bud "Budman" Russell lost a transmission creating lots of smoke which fogged up the intersection. This could have made it very interesting but surprisingly everyone made it through unharmed. Back up front, the action was picking up. Artie and Chris began battling side by side for a few laps. On lap 66, Chris challenged Artie for that top spot. It appeared that Artie was not going to let go. On lap 68, Chris Harmon took over the leadership role and never looked back. Unless something unfortunate was going to happen, you could almost predict the finishing order as the top 5 remained as it had most of the evening. Plus, at the point, there were only a handful of cars left competing. As we all know, in an event such as this, it is not over until the checkered flag falls. And guess what? On lap 153, 55.24 minutes into the hour long race, the red flags is brought out. The #79 of Jerry Newkirk catches fire after running several laps with the car backfiring and not running so mechanically sound. This red flag gives the drivers a chance to cool the tires, take a deep breath and plan their attack. All Chris Harmon had to do was keep himself out of trouble and out front. Artie ran 2nd and #27 Ricky Heine had silently moved into the 3rd position. The remaining 5 minutes had you guessing if Artie would be able to hold off a charging Heine or not. Heine did all he could do to pressure Artie but was unable to succeed. On lap 165 the clock had reached 60.00 minutes bringing out the checkered and the end to an exciting event that anyone would have been proud to have their name mentioned as the winner. As you know, there is only one winner and that was Chris Harmon. Rounding out the top 5 were Artie B. Ware in 2nd, Ricky Heine in 3rd, Greg Isgrigg in 4th and Alan Williams, Jr in 5th.
So, all in all, the racing was great! As the weather warms up and season progresses, I look for many more cars, more fans in the stands ( hey, keep in mind it was COLD) and many more battles on and off the track so be sure to plan a trip to The Sportsdrome to check out the action packed Xtreme Winged Figure 8 cars.
Monday, April 13, 2009
POSTED 4-13-09 XTREME WINGED FIGURE-8 ONE HOUR ENDURO RESULTS
By Angie Dickens - Jeffersonville, IN. - Anyone that ventured outside Saturday evening knew it was a slightly cool out. In fact, it got down right cold at The Sportdrome (Jeffersonville, IN) but that did not stop several people, including myself from showing up for the Xtreme Winged Figure 8 1 hour Enduro. The car count was a bit low as many have not completed their car for the 2009 season and/or they have not got all the kinks worked out just yet. Nevertheless, there were still 24 cars on hand with 22 of them taking the green flag. Artie B. Ware set in the pole position in his #38 machine after turning in a time of 20.2578. The rest of the top 5 consisted of #6 Chris Harmon, #5 Gary Isgrigg, #91 Gerald Poe and #85 Alan Williams, Jr. As the starting line up began their pace laps, the #00 machine of Raymond Johnson appeared to have some type of trouble as he exited the track and headed to the pits. Johnson did not make qualifying so this automatically put him at the tail end of the field. Luckily for Johnson, his troubles were that of a transponder not working correctly so he was able to make a quick fix and return to the track before the drop of the green. Around 8:45pm (EST) things began to heat up a notch as the green flag waved and put these figure 8 cars into action. Artie quickly took over the top spot followed by Chris Harmon, G. Isgrigg, G. Poe and J. Robert. There was racing from the front of the pack to the back. On lap 2, the #00 of Raymond Johnson and the #05 of Kevin Sewell got tangled, sending Johnson to the pits and Sewell making several trip in and out until finally retiring that ride. Meanwhile, Artie and the rest of the top 4 lined up and set themselves ahead of the rest of the field. It appeared that Artie would have a dominating performance but it was too early to tell. In an hour long race...an hour long figure 8 race at that...anything can happen! Five minutes into the show, Artie finds himself stuck behind some lap traffic. This allows for Chris Harmon to pull close to Artie's bumper but also separates the front two for the 3rd and 4th place cars. As the top 2 continue to put cars a lap down, a battle for 5th place was taking place between the #85 of Alan Williams, Jr. and the #91 of Gerald Poe with Williams capturing the spot. Although, the field is becoming spread out, the intersection was pretty calm- there were several close calls but no serious contact. They had only completed a little over 10 minutes when the #55 of Bud "Budman" Russell lost a transmission creating lots of smoke which fogged up the intersection. This could have made it very interesting but surprisingly everyone made it through unharmed. Back up front, the action was picking up. Artie and Chris began battling side by side for a few laps. On lap 66, Chris challenged Artie for that top spot. It appeared that Artie was not going to let go. On lap 68, Chris Harmon took over the leadership role and never looked back. Unless something unfortunate was going to happen, you could almost predict the finishing order as the top 5 remained as it had most of the evening. Plus, at the point, there were only a handful of cars left competing. As we all know, in an event such as this, it is not over until the checkered flag falls. And guess what? On lap 153, 55.24 minutes into the hour long race, the red flags is brought out. The #79 of Jerry Newkirk catches fire after running several laps with the car backfiring and not running so mechanically sound. This red flag gives the drivers a chance to cool the tires, take a deep breath and plan their attack. All Chris Harmon had to do was keep himself out of trouble and out front. Artie ran 2nd and #27 Ricky Heine had silently moved into the 3rd position. The remaining 5 minutes had you guessing if Artie would be able to hold off a charging Heine or not. Heine did all he could do to pressure Artie but was unable to succeed. On lap 165 the clock had reached 60.00 minutes bringing out the checkered and the end to an exciting event that anyone would have been proud to have their name mentioned as the winner. As you know, there is only one winner and that was Chris Harmon. Rounding out the top 5 were Artie B. Ware in 2nd, Ricky Heine in 3rd, Greg Isgrigg in 4th and Alan Williams, Jr in 5th.
So, all in all, the racing was great! As the weather warms up and season progresses, I look for many more cars, more fans in the stands ( hey, keep in mind it was COLD) and many more battles on and off the track so be sure to plan a trip to The Sportsdrome to check out the action packed Xtreme Winged Figure 8 cars.
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