Posted by Rockford Speedway on 7/18/2005, 4:52 pm
Board Administrator

WILBERG, CINA JR., AND EVANS TAKE TOP HONORS AT ROCKFORD By: Kevin Ramsell Saturday, July 16, 2005 (Loves Park, IL) - The 58th season at Rockford Speedway reached the halfway mark on Saturday night. Bobby Wilberg, Nick Cina Jr. and Tom Flippo Jr. claimed feature wins while Ricky Bilderback, Jason Evans and David Lignell were crowned Mid-Season champions. Bobby Wilberg won his fourth feature in the NASCAR Late Model division. Brett McCoy and Bill Hobson for the lead in the early going of the 30-lap main event. The two swapped the lead back and forth until McCoy took the lead on lap 5. Wilberg moved from his fourth starting spot to second by lap 5. Four laps later, Wilberg got on the inside of McCoy. The two ran side-by-side until Wilberg took over the top spot on lap 12. The only caution flew on lap 13 when Matt Berger and Jon Reynolds Jr. made contact coming out of turn four. Reynolds Jr. blew his right rear tire to bring out the caution. Reynolds Jr. crew was able to get a replacement tire on and he was able to return to the race. Wilberg continued to lead at the re-start. Ricky Bilderback moved from his tenth starting spot to second by lap 15. Bilderback tried to get close to Wilberg, but came up short. At the line, it was Wilberg with the win and Bilderback second. McCoy came home third while Reynolds Jr. recovered for a fourth place finish. George Bohn rounded out the top five. Bilderback was named the Mid-Season Champion as he holds a 49-point lead over Reynolds Jr. Nick Cina Jr. captured the feature win in the Budweiser American Short Tracker division. Aaron Rude took the early lead in the 25-lap feature event. Brian Harder and Dave Eggert put on a great side-by-side battle for second. The first caution flew on lap 6 when Randy Samples made contact with B. J. Sparkman in turns 3 & 4. Samples lost his right rear tire and spun. Rude continued to lead on the re-start. Cina worked his way from his fifth starting position to third by lap 10. Five laps later, he got on the inside of Eggert to take over second. He continued to use that inside line to get past Rude for the lead four laps later. The final caution flew with four laps to go when Harder hit the wall in turns one and two. Cina continued to lead on the re-start and went on to win the feature. Dave Wagner took advantage of the double file re-start to come second. Eggert would finish third, while Rude and Jason Evans rounded out the top five. Evans fifth place finish vaulted him to the top of the AST Point Standings with a nine-point lead over Sparkman. Evans was crowned as the Mid-Season Champion. Tom Flippo Jr. took home his second feature win in the Coca Cola RoadRunner division. Steve Hillary claimed the early lead in the 20-lap event. The only caution came on lap 3 when Gina Davies made hard contact with the wall coming out of turn two after making contact with Ricky Weimerskirk. Hillary continued to lead on the re-start. Flippo moved from his fifth starting spot all the way up to second. Flippo got on the inside of Hillary on lap 8 to challenge for the top spot. The two ran side-by-side until Flippo was able to pull away from Hillary on lap 15. Flippo would go on to the win with Hillary second. Dan Carlson would come home third with Dan Pruitt fourth. Tom Barclay rounded out the top five. Full Throttle Wednesday returns this Wednesday night with a full racing program including the Fast/Furious Spectacular Drags. Racing starts at 7:07 p.m. Next Saturday night, it's a full racing program featuring the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series. Plus, its Northwest Bank Kid?s Night with children 11 and under admitted FREE. There will be kid?s stock car rides and a kid's 10,000-Penny Gold Rush. The Kids Rides will begin at 6:00 p.m. The Legends, Bandoleros and Super Cups will race at 6:30 p.m. and the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series will begin at 7:07 p.m. For more information, please contact the track office at (815) 633-1500 or visit the website at www.rockfordspeedway.com.