BILDERBACK TAKES WEEKLY WARRIOR LATE MODEL WIN AT NSTC

Hansberry, Sparkman, Logan Jr. and Ace collect Wins on the opening night.

By: Kevin Ramsell
LOVES PARK, IL (Friday, September 26, 2008) - For the second year in a row, a seven-time track champion won the Weekly Warrior Late Model feature win at the 43rd Annual National Short Track Championships at Rockford Speedway. Bob Hansberry, BJ Sparkman, Jon Logan Jr. and Chester Ace also took home NSTC wins on the opening night of the three day event.

It was a wild start to the 43-lap feature event for the Weekly Warrior Late Models as they saw three caution flags in the first four laps. The worse came on lap 4 when Tim Sargent and Bill Hobson got together in turn one causing Hobson to spin. A seven-car pile up ensued with Bobby Wilberg, Nick Shutkas, Mike Lloyd, Matt Berger, Sonny Schoffen, and Tyler Kelley also involved bringing out the red flag.

Sargent and Hobson were the cause of the incidents and officials declared that the others could get their spot back if they did not go to the pits for repairs. Wilberg was one of those that did not need to go to the pits and he was given his third spot back.

On the re-start, John Paul Odegaard was leading while Wilberg got past Mike Beyer for second with Ricky Bilderback in third on lap 7. Two laps later, Bilderback would go on the inside of Wilberg and take over second.

Bilderback then tried the same move on the inside of Odegaard on lap 12 and would take over the top spot on lap 13. Wilberg would get past Odegaard for second a lap later.

At the halfway mark, Bilderback would pull out to almost a straightaway lead over Wilberg with Odegaard still in third.

The caution flew again on lap 28 when Wes Coon made contact Alex Papini in turns three and four causing Papini to spin.

On the re-start, Wilberg tried to stay close to Bilderback, but he would fall back as Bilderback began to pull away again.

It would be an easy drive for Bilderback as he would go on to the win with Wilberg in second. Odegaard would hold off a late challenge from Jon Reynolds Jr. to finish third. Steve Dobbratz rounded out the top five.

Wilberg had a fast time of 13.879 seconds.

Wilberg also competed in the All-American Sportsmen division and would jump to the early lead in the 43-lap event. Wilberg would have Bob Hansberry in his rear view mirror in the first 27 laps. But, that all change on lap 28 when Hansberry was on the inside of Wilberg for the top spot. As the two came off of turn two Wilberg got loose then sparks flew has his right rear tire came off his car as he was going down the backstretch.

Wilberg was done for the evening and this handed the lead over Hansberry. On the re-start, he would have Doug Bennett and Fred Nason behind him.

With 11 laps to go, Nason would get past Bennett for second and set his sights on Hansberry. Nason would catch up to the Hansberry's back bumper with nine laps to go.

Nason would make repeated attempts to get on the inside of Hansberry, but Hansberry would get a good run off of the corners all the way to the checkered flag.

Hansberry would collect his fourth NSTC All-American Sportsmen win with his past victories coming in 1995, 96 and 2001. Nason's, who was the two-time defending winner, was second with Brock Behnke in third.

Bennett was fourth with David Lounsbury in fifth.

Lounsbury set the fast time going 14.865 seconds.

Sparkman collected his second American Short Tracker National Short Track Championship after holding off Tim Melvin in a wild 43-lap feature event.

Sparkman, who won the championship in 2005, started on the outside of the second row for the feature event. He followed outside front row starter Aaron Rude to the front and then got to the inside of Rude to challenge for the lead on lap three.

The two raced side-by-side for the next three laps until Sparkman was able to get a bite coming off of turn two on lap 7 to take the top spot.

Three cautions would slow the feature event that eventually left only eight cars left with 20-laps to go.

Sparkman would hold off a challenge from 1994 champion Tim Melvin in the final 20-laps to win his second NSTC trophy.

Nick Cina Jr. was third with Steve Erickson Jr. in fourth. Kyle LaPier would round out the top five.

Kelly Evink was the fast qualifier with a time of 15.429 seconds. Melvin failed post-race inspection moving Cina up to second.

Billy Robinson was the early leader in the feature event for the RoadRunners. A caution on the second lap for a three car wreck in turn one was not a good thing for Robinson as it was discovered he was leaking fluid and was sent to the pits. Dan Sander would inherit the lead.

Sanders would get challenged for the lead on lap 4 as Christopher Jones went to the inside and took over the top spot. This caused the top six to run side-by-side for the lead.

On lap 13, the six cars were trying to go around a slow Sam Christofano when Jones made contact with Sanders causing Jones to spin and make hard contact with the outside wall. Jones was able to walk away.

Jon Logan Jr. would go on the inside of Sanders on the re-start and take over the top spot on lap 10 with Charlie Frisch following into second.

A lap later, Frisch was on the inside of Logan to challenge but it was Logan holding on to the top spot while they battled side-by-side. Frisch would get the lead on lap 15, but Logan would give Frisch a shot in turns one and two causing Frisch to get loose, but he held on to the top spot.

But, it was over as Frisch would develop engine problems on lap 18 and was done for the night. This gave the lead back to Logan.

Logan would pull away from Ricky Nielsen and repeat as the NSTC RoadRunner champion. Nielsen takes second with Richard Nielsen in third. Jason Brewster was fourth with Sanders rounding out the top five.

Sam Christofano led qualifying with a time of 16.985 seconds.

Chester Ace took the early lead in the 25-lap Hornet vs. Bandit Challenge. Ace was being challenged in the early going by Steve McBride. McBride would lose the second spot on lap 13 when Vinny Mangiaracina took over the second spot.

Ace would work his way through lap traffic with Mangiaracina right on his back bumper all the way to the checkered flag as he would go wire-to-wire and take home the win in the caution free event.

Steve McBride was third with Cory Skolaski in fourth. Kyle Riedner rounded out the top five.

Ryan Nelson took home a Bullet award with his time of 16.875 seconds.

The racing action will continue on Saturday with Nason's Landscaping Faster Than a Speeding Bullet qualifying getting underway at 2:15 pm and racing starting at 5:05 pm.

The Super Late Models, BRP Big 8 Series presented by Gandrud Chevrolet, USST Super Trucks, Area Sportsmen, and Hobby Stox will be in action on Saturday.