KANKAKEE, Ill. — Kankakee County Speedway hosted its third stock car racing program of the season Friday night with Mike “Opie” Spatola capturing the 25-lap DIRTcar late model feature race.
Scoring his second feature win of the season at the quarter-mile dirt oval, Spatola, from nearby Manhattan, Ill., and the evening’s fastest qualifier, led from start to finish and raced to the checkered flag ahead of Bob Gardner in the 16-car starting field. Chase Osterhoff finished third followed by Austin McCarty, John Provenzano and Michael Marden.
“Starting on the front row definitely helped,” said Spatola. “I never left the bottom (groove) so I don’t know how racy the track was. All the racing was behind me. We had a real good hot rod and stayed out front and stayed clean. I did get into that one lapped car. I could hear (Bob) Gardner behind me and I pressed it in there.”
Mike McKinney took home top honors in the 20-lap main event for DIRTcar modifieds. Picking up his fifth overall DIRTcar win of the year, McKinney, from Plainfield, Ill., finished ahead of the speedway’s four-time modified champion, Steven Brooks. Beau DeYoung came home third followed by fastest qualifier David Stremme, Billy Knippenberg and Adam Pockrus.
Matt Hammond won the 15-lap DIRTcar stock car division headliner. Joe Brown finished second followed by Allen Provenzano, Kyle Anderson and Don Hilleray. A last lap pass put Drake Compton in victory lane for the 15-lap DIRTcar Pro Modifieds feature race. Jake Montgomery, who led most of the way, finished second with Curtis Caldwell third.
Richard Zifko was the winner of the sport compact (four-cylinder) main event as he defeated Dale Kohler and Cory Schultz. Jerry Legner raced to victory in the 15-lap Crown Vic feature, finishing ahead of Joe Hillman and Matt Prodehl. Tim Hamburg claimed top honors in the 15-lap feature race for vintage stock cars, scoring the win ahead of Cody Clubb and Steve Thorsten.
