Bicycle races highlight evening at Lincoln

Monday, August 19, 2013
Chad Boespflug (No. 41) battles for the lead during the early laps of Saturday's sprint car feature as Casey Shuman runs the top. (Banner Graphic/CAREY FOX)

There was plenty of action at Lincoln Park Speedway Saturday night on both four and two wheels.

A large crowd was on hand to witness a great night of racing as the Little Feet Bicycle Challenge was on tap with a record group of nearly 100 youngsters pedaling their way to the checkered flags for the chance at a payday that included brand new bikes as well as cash prizes. For the fans of four-wheel action, Chad Boespflug dominated the sprint car action for the victory.

Also on the card, Brian Hayden captured the UMP Modified main event as Steve Peeden picked up his ninth UMP Super Stock win of the season and Tim Wright moved up to the top of the national USA points with his bomber win. Patrick Bruns earned a hard fought victory in the first appearance of the USAC Honda/Ignite Midget Series at Lincoln Park Speedway.

Boespflug moved into the No. 41 sprinter a night after a crash in the Paul Hazen No. 57 car at Gas City I-69 Speedway. An evening after Dave Darland piloted the No. 41 to victory lane, Boespflug was a rocket and lapped the field up until the 10th position in gaining the win.

The west coast native scored his sixth victory of the season and his 14th top-five finish in 33 total races this season.

Boespflug started on the pole for the 25-lap sprint car feature with Casey Shuman alongside him on the front row. However, from the opening green flag it became apparent that Boespflug was going to be tough to beat as he ran away from the field. Just five laps in, Boespflug pulled out to a straightaway advantage over Shuman with Jeff Bland Jr., Jon Stanbrough and Shane Cottle in tow.

At the midway point, lapped traffic came into play and Boespflug bounced over the cushion coming off turn four, but stayed in the throttle and kept building his lead. Behind him, Shuman was comfortably in the second spot as Cottle got past Stanbrough for a podium position. With five laps left, Boespflug wasn't caught and went on to finish off the impressive win as Shuman, Cottle, Stanbrough and Brent Beauchamp wrapped the top-five spots.

The United Midwest Promoters (UMP) national points races are heating up for the modified and super stock classes and both fields had front runners at the Putnamville oval on Saturday.

In the super stock class, Peeden came into the weekend fourth in the nation behind Friday's Bloomington Speedway winner, Aaron Fields. However, the No. 2 position was held down by Roy Bruce Jr., who was also on hand and seeking another victory.

The pair put on quite a show for the contingent of fans at LPS as Peeden ripped a stellar slide job on Bruce with five laps remaining and made the pass stick.

Peeden's move off of turn four, as he dove to bottom and slid under Bruce for the lead, held up after several cautions checked the field during the middle stages of the A-main. After Bruce took over the lead from Scott Carrington, who suffered mechanical issues with seven laps remaining, he held the position with Peeden in tow. An evening after Peeden placed fourth ahead of Bruce at Bloomington, he moved up to the top of the podium over his friend and rival, who had his hands full with Kenny Carmichael Sr.

Carmichael was a rocket through the field as he started 15th and powered his way up into a legitimate challenge with the leaders. The Terre Haute veteran took the No. 92 to the front and was able to battle his way past Greencastle's Josh Boller over the final circuits for second overall as Bruce and Boller crossed the line in the top-four spots.

Hayden bumped his rank amongst UMP Indiana South Region points with his fourth victory at Lincoln Park this season. Despite running barely half of the number of modified shows as those in front of him, the Fillmore, Ind. hot shoe will move up from 24th in points after claiming the victory.

Hayden pulled away down the stretch despite a motor that was struggling over the second half of the A-main. He took over the point after advancing from a ninth place start and got by Chad Combs using the top line halfway through the feature.

Combs took over the lead several laps in after advancing past Daniel Lewellen as Paul Bumgardner was in the mix. However, the potential battle for the lead was sidelined as Bumgardner was caught up with a lapped car. The caution reset the field and left Combs out front with Hayden on his bumper along with a side-by-side fight between Randy Shuman and Carmichael Sr.

With 15 laps in the books, Hayden began to build upon his lead with Combs seeking a move to the lead. On this night, however, Hayden would not be topped as he pulled away after a restart with four laps left. Carmichael didn't rest on the start as he capped another hard charging feature with a runner-up spot after getting by Combs with two circuits remaining. Shuman, Lewellen, Jake Humphrey, Collin Thirlby, Larry Lambert and Carlos Bumgardner Sr. took 10th.

In the final feature of the evening, Tim Wright wasted little time in moving up from fifth at the start to taking the lead over the initial five laps. After getting by Bob Farris and AJ Smith, Wright had to withstand multiple restarts, including the last, with just two laps left.

Wright took the green flag and held down the lead as Smith and Blake Cross finished the A-main on the podium. Wright picked up the win over a super sized 28-car field on Saturday night. Smith and Cross each gave Wright a run for the money down the stretch, but he would hold on to the point to claim his second victory of the month as Smith, Cross, Farris and Justin Minardo finished the top-five.

In the USAC Honda/Ignite Series feature, Patrick Bruns held off a late challenge by Johnny Heydenreich to claims the victory.



Lincoln Park Speedway
Sprint car feature
Chad Boespflug, 2. Casey Shuman, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Jon Stanbrough, 5. Brent Beauchamp, 6. Jeff Bland Jr., 7. AJ Hopkins, 8. Keaton Dobbs, 9. Brian Hayden, 10. Conner Donelson, 11. Max McGhee, 12. Levi Shields, 13. Troy Link, 14. Brian Karraker, 15. AJ Francis, 16. Trent Bechinger, 17. Ethan Fleetwood, 18. JT Stapp, 19. Douglas Roberts, 20. Jason Shields, 21. Seth Parker

UMP Modified feature
Brian Hayden, 2. Kenny Carmichael Sr., 3. Chad Combs, 4. Randy Shuman, 5. Dan Lewellen, 6. Jake Humphrey, 7. Collin Thirlby, 8. Larry Lambert, 9. Carlos Bumgardner Sr., 10. Wes McClara, 11. Jeff Deckard, 12. Brett Andrew, 13. John Hipps, 14. Wendall McMunn, 15. Wayne Newlin, 16. Duane Lee, 17. Brent Hudson, 18. Gary Ricketts, 19. Glenn Andrew, 20. Casey Davis, 21. Paul Bumgardner, 22. Terry Fish Jr.

UMP Super Stock feature
1. Steve Peeden, 2. Kenny Carmichael Sr., 3. Roy Bruce Jr., 4. Josh Boller, 5. C.J. Bryan, 6. Doug McCullough, 7. Mike Staggs, 8. Kenny Carmichael Jr., 9. Travis Heramb, 10. Steve Smiley, 11. JR Watkins, 12. Gene Barnett, 13. Tyler Loughmiller, 14. Cullen Goodman, 15. Scott Carrington, 16. Jeff Shepherd, 17. Josh Fagg, 18. David Daniels, 19. Josh McDaniel, 20. Kenny Fields, 21. Brandon Query, 22. Jacob Wright

Bomber feature
Tim Wright, 2. A.J. Smith, 3. Blake Cross, 4. Bob Farris, 5. Justin Minardo, 6. Doug McCullough, 7. David Kikendall, 8. Carlos Bumgardner Sr., 9. Mike Fisher Jr., 10. Tom Courtney, 11. David Wallen, 12. Jordan Almanza, 13. Curt Leonard, 14. Ron Smith, 15. Mark Dickerson, 16. Junior Shepherd, 17. Cody Wright, 18. Lenny Krupa III, 19. Jack Campbell, 20. DJ Smiley, 21. Megan Caveaness, 22. Fred Grayless, 23. Jack Hatton, 24. Harry Shepherd, 25. Kyle Krupa, 26. Damon Harrell, 27. Jerry Hutto, 28. Doug Parker

Honda/Ignite Midget feature
1. Patrick Bruns, 2. Johnny Heydenreich, 3. Aaron Schuck, 4. Adam Thomason, 5. Gage Walker, 6. Joey Greening, 7. Kurt Mahew, 8. Austin Nemire, 9. Cooper Clouse, 10. Emmy Gray

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