MORRIS, Ill.— With second and third place finishes in “Twin 50” feature races, Paul Shafer Jr., from Portage, Ind., was the overall winner of the Frank Welch Memorial super late model stock car special at Grundy County Speedway Saturday night.
The fourth leg of the track’s Six Pack Summer Shootout honored the memory of Frank Welch, who headed up the fairgrounds speedway’s promotional effort for some 30 years.
The first 50-lap feature saw two-time track champion Ricky Baker score the victory, taking the checkered flag with a 1.533-second advantage over Shafer, who earlier set fast time during time trials with a lap of 14.386 seconds – pacing the 16-car field.
Ten-time track champion Eddie Hoffman, D.J. Weltmeyer, Max Kahler and Rich Bickle Jr. rounded out the “top six.”
Kahler won the second 50 lapper of the night, defeating Weltmeyer by a nose, a mere 0.036 seconds, at the finish. Shafer came home third to grab overall honors because of his higher finishing position in the 50-lap finale with Baker, Boris Jurkovic and Hoffman trailing.
Support division feature races saw Jakob Slusarczyk win the 20-lap pure stock (four-cylinder) main event ahead of Dominic Matts and Matt Ciara. Undefeated so far this season, Breanna Riggins captured the 20-lap headliner for sixers division racers, defeating Dylan Klinger and Randy Grancoruitz. Cayden Hayes and Mason Griffin won 10-lap feature races for high school racing association competitors.
