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GILLE AND WARE TAKE IT TO THE BANK ON OPENING NIGHT
By: Kip Ripley
The 75th NASCAR Season Opener at Rockford Speedway featured strong fields of cars and exciting feature racing, while also padding the pockets of a couple the nights big winners. When the dust settled on a chilly Saturday evening, Jake Gille (Stanley Steemer NASCAR Late Models), Howie Ware (Bargain Hunter Sportsmen), Kelly Evink (Miller Lite American Short Trackers), Zach Cichon (Windsor Pizza Parlor Roadrunners) and Stephen Hillary (Kickstart Bandits) were the lucky few who were able to lay claim to Opening Night victories.
STANLEY STEEMER NASCAR LATE MODELS
Gille, the 2015 NASCAR Late Model track champion, bagged the $1,000 first prize courtesy of Fitzgerald Equipment for his Opening Night triumph. Starting in third place, the Winnebago resident sprung to the lead on the seventh lap after passing early-race leader Adam Cartwright. Following a Lap 10 caution, Gille was able to establish and maintain a lead over Spring Classic winner Max Kahler and sail to the victory. Kahler came home in second place, five carlengths behind Gille at the line. Willie Nelson had a solid opening night, qualifying third and finishing the feature race in the third position. Cartwright came home fourth after holding off several late-race challenges from reigning Track Champion Jon Reynolds Jr, who settled for fifth.
BARGAIN HUNTER SPORTSMEN
Howie Ware used his outside front row starting spot to explode to the lead at the drop of the green flag in the 25 lap Sportsmen feature. Ware then held off multiple late-race challenges from Chad Smith and raced to the Opening Night win while also collecting the $500 winners bonus courtesy of Murphy’s Bar and Grill. Following Ware and Smith across the line was Alex Weber, who made it a three-way race for the win during the final five laps. John Featherston hung onto fourth after surviving a four-way scramble in the race’s final 10 laps. Sportsmen Rookie Nick Schneider charged from eleventh starting spot to claim fifth.
MILLER LITE AMERICAN SHORT TRACKERS
Reigning track champion Kelly Evink started his title defense the right way, setting fast time, winning his heat and winning the 25-lap season opening race for the mighty four cylinders. Evink’s road to victory wasn’t easy though, as raced from an eighth place starting spot and survived multiple yellow flags the onset of the race. Once things settled down, Evink began his pursuit of leader Steven Erickson. The two raced side-by-side for seven laps before Evink completed the pass for the lead on lap 10. But even with Evink out front, Erickson kept the pressure on and made Evink earn his keep. A late race restart allowed Evink the space he needed to ease to victory, while Erickson held off persistent advances from Matt Berger for second. Berger ended up third, followed by David Russell in fourth and Amanda Bohn in fifth.
WINDSOR PIZZA PARLOR ROADRUNNERS
Zach Cichon made it look easy in winning the 20-lap season opening feature for the Roadrunner class. The Poplar Grove resident started from the outside front row and outran the 16-car starting field in a caution free affair. Terry Ciano Jr finished second after holding off a hard charging Austin Fowler, who settled for third after making a thrilling drive from his eleventh starting position. Greg Batelli and Tyler Vincetich rounded out the top five.
KICKSTART BANDITS
Stephen Hillary may have turned in the most dominant effort of the night, taking the lead on lap 3 of the 20-lap feature and sailing to victory. Ryan Finley finished second ahead of Steve Dickson, who escaped near disaster early in the race and stormed back to collect third. Jeff Allendorf came home fourth and Charlie Schork was fifth.
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