Posted by Kankakee Speedway on 5/7/2005, 12:18 pm
Board Administrator

KANKAKEE – Richie "the Hitman" Hedrick drove his black number zero into the Kankakee Valley Motor Speedway's winner's circle for the second straight week, but the Late Model feature gave the crowd the wildest three-groove show of the young season. "We set the car up to run high," Hedrick explained. "But when I saw (John) Provanzano getting his nose under me. I figured I better get down there." Hedrick roared to the lead on the first green flag and Ryan Dauber, who turned the night's quick time for the second straight week, was right with him for the first eight laps. When he dropped off the pace, Provanzano was there and began challenging Hedrick with 20 laps remaining. Then,with 14 laps to go, the focus shifted to RJ Gall. "We decided to go with a hard tire and I guess I had to drive it harder to warm it up," Gall said. "And I guess I was a little ticked back in fifth, so I started to drive a little harder just out of being upset with myself." Suddenly, Gall discovered a center groove and knocked off Dauber and then third-place Wes Stiedinger. After Gall edged past Provanzano with eight laps to go, Hedrick got the message and moved up to the high groove again. "I don't know if he took too much of my groove or he if just plain had too much for us tonight. I know it was over for me," Gall said. With Hedrick on top and Gall holding his middle line, all that was left for Provanzano was the very bottom -- and he made it work well enough to regain second with two laps remaining. Gall settled for third, ahead of fourth-place Stiedinger and fifth-place Dauber. The $1300 payoff for the Open-Wheel Modified feature winner drew a field of 37 cars, including some of the top national points drivers. On the track, though, no one was the equal of Chad Kinder. Last week's feature winner Scott Bull gave him some token resistance, but the interesting part of the race was well behind Kinder's car. Denny Schwartz had to work his way past William Harrison, but settled in easily to the runnerup slot. Dan Hamstra put on one of the best shows, moving up from 18th in the starting grid to wind up third. Joel Funk turned in his strongest run of the year to hold off a charging Bob Pohlman and wind up fourth. In the Street Stock Division, defending track champ Don McCarthy shook off the bad luck (that had kept him from finishing a single race this season) and ran away with his heat and feature. The bad luck seemed to have landed on Kevin Lenzen and Mike Geary (two past feature winners). There were each knocked out of the competition with mechanical problems. Jay Hamilton, who had battled door handle to door handle with Billy Wicker in a wild-looking battle earlier in the race, wound up in second, with Wicker third and Darrin Kohler fourth. Matt Doris was a surprising fifth. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: 15-year-old driver Brett Peters was taken from the track by ambulance after a NASCAR-style wreck collected eight cars at the beginning of the Street Stock feature. His condition was not released but he was reported to be alert and able to move his extremities as he was loaded by medical personnel. The small Legend cars will make their debut at the track on Friday the 13th. There will also be a full schedule of Late Model, Modified and Street Stock racing. RESULTS: Late Model Division Fast Time: Ryan Dauber – 14.492 First Heat: 1. Rich Hedrick; 2. Ryan Dauber; 3. RJ Gall Second Heat: 1. Kerry Matthew; 2. John Provanzano; 3. Wes Stiedinger Feature: 1. Hedrick; 2. Provanzano; 3. Gall; 4. Stiedinger; 5. Dauber Open-Wheel Modifieds Fast Time: Chad Kinder – 15.447 First Heat: 1. Kinder; 2. Joel Funk; 3. Bob Pohlman Second Heat: 1. William Harrison; 2. Matt Bachman; 3. Jamie Wilson Third Heat: 1. Scott Bull; 2. Nick Allen; 3. Dave Porth Fourth Heat: 1. Denny Schwartz; 2. Vince Cooper; 3. Kevin Hastings First Semi-Feature: 1. Dan Hamstra; 2. Mike Mosier Second Semi-Feature: 1. Frank Marshall; 2. Rick Thomas Feature: 1. Kinder; 2. Schwartz; 3. Hamstra; 4. Funk; 5. Pohlman Street Stock Division First Heat: 1. Don McCarty; 2. Brett Peters; 3. Ken Bushey Second Heat: 1. Jay Hamilton; 2. Billy Wicker; 3. Darrin Kohler Third Heat: 1. Steve Thorsten; 2. Mike Cavanaugh; 3. Bill Stevenson Semi-feature: 1. Terry Vaughn; 2. Tony Hemp; 3. Joe Hillman Feature: 1. McCarty; 2. Hamilton; 3. Wicker; 4. Kohler; 5. Matt Doris