MORRIS, Ill. — Blake Brown won the 30-lap late model stock car feature race Saturday night at the Grundy County Speedway as the third-mile paved raceway kicked off its 53rd season with its Cabin Fever Season Opener.
The 31-year-old Brown, from Caledonia, Wis., wheeled his Jim Olson-owned, Jeff Olson-wrenched, McCloskey Farms/Snowdance Repair & Recovery/Corrigan Cattle Farm/Olson’s Iron Disposal Recycling-sponsored Chevrolet to the victory.
Earlier, Brown, the 2021 sportsman division champion at speedway, and his wife, Val, announced an addition coming to the Brown family in October.
Starting in the front row pole spot of the 12-car field, Brown led from flag-to-flag, taking starter Greg Kuntz’s checkered flag after a no-yellow flag race with a convincing 2.859-second margin over seven-time late model track champion Eddie Hoffman.
Hoffman had begun pressing Brown for the top spot around the halfway mark until handling issues slowed Hoffman’s progress. Wisconsin visitor Dalton Zehr finished third, followed by newcomer James Lynch, fast-qualifier Jim Weber and 2022 late model titlist D.J. Weltmeyer.
“We got a lot better than we were in qualifying,” said Brown. “The car was real good in the feature. Eddie (Hoffman) obviously had me working for it for a while there. I’m not sure what happened for him to drop back. You can’t ask for a better way to start the season.”
Timmy Stewart was the winner of the 25-lap sportsman main event. Stewart and his Chevy got out front and stayed there despite a couple of yellow flag restarts. Stewart raced to the checkered flag ahead of fastest qualifier Kenny Benson, two-time division titlist Kevin Murphy, Vince Cooper and James Dean.
The 25-lap street stock feature race saw Matt Chester come home the winner. Chester drove his Chevy to the win ahead of Chad Bayuk, defending division champion Scotty Gardner, veteran Randy Weese and Ryan Dawson. Earlier in the evening, Gardner set a qualifying track record with a lap of 16.536 seconds.
Former division champion Dan Schmeissing won the 20-lap four-cylinder headliner. Losing his mother nine days ago, an emotional Schmeissing bested Ethan Wolf and Danielle Dobczyk.