The Keeppers

Arrived late at the track so I wasn’t able to draw a number so started in the back of the heat. Finished 4th but since Dylan won Feature last week his 2nd place finish didn’t count. A 4 was drawn to determine the Feature line up which put me in 3rd. It started raining after the first lap so and the track was slick. Even a yellow to dry off the track at lap 12 didn’t do much and we finished off the Feature in a light drizzle. It was very difficult to race so 2nd was all I could do. #20 Rattareee won.

Here is the write up from the website: FactoryStocks-Bobby Ratterree and Greg Breedlove ran side by side for the opening 5 laps with Breedlove nipping to lead lap 2-Ben Solberg came charging to run down Ratterree on lap 5 as Ted Welschmeyer of the Sedalia Area came charging also-cosidering the rain the last 2 days-track was pretty good and racy.Ratterree and Solberg battled as defending champion James Ellis made a strong charge-light mist started falling and the caution flew for Joe Davenport.Restart on lap 12 with a 4 car battle with Ratterree becoming the 6th different Factory Winner with Solberg,Welschmeyer,Ellis and Lonnie Henderson in the top 5.

My right rear tire was bad from the prior nights feature race, I shouldn’t have used it again but did and it cost me 2nd to C Jackson. I didn’t race him very hard because it really didn’t matter anyways since if you win at this track the prior week they require you to start no better than 6th place for the current week’s feature. I started 6th with Lebow on my inside. First lap someone got into his back left corner so he was out. On restart I was able to get between 8 (Coats) and 4 (Palmer). Flood and Bryant were up just high enough on the track that I was able to use the low side to my advantage and got around them both in one pass. Now in 2nd I was able to once again drive hard down low while he was up high on the outside. My car stuck and I managed to get around him in corner 1/2. Corner 3/4 Bryant and Jackson got together taking Jackson out of the race. I didn’t know that because there was no caution. My 2nd feature race at Monett…very unexpected with a 6th place start at such a tough track.

I lead the first 10 laps but had trouble with some roughness in the track out of corner 4. On several occassions it slowed me down and on one such Bryant had a good run and dove down in side and around me in corner 1/2. I really should have won this race but will have to settle for 2nd.

In the heat started first dropped to forth. In the A they draw to invert and drew a 4 so he got lucky and started on the front row. He got out to a lead and with six laps to go got a caution, the 65 got by a couple times but Dylan got back by for the win.

When you win the previous week’s feature Midway requires that you start in 11th place for the following week’s feature. Due to the accident from Tuesday my car had not been rest with camber, caster, toe, or scalling it out so the car would not drive like it used to. Tomorrow we’ll get it set up again. The good news is that Dylan had his first Midway win and there were some fast cars there.

I went from 6th to passing the 2nd place car in less than a lap. On corner 3/4 I had a nice high pass on Orange #18 and he plowed into me pushing me right off the track. I went off 4, bounced on the asphault and then hit head on into the wall. The car was really busted up. Front right fender, bumper, nose, upper a-arm, lower a-arm, both spindles, left rear brake in pieces, front right tire and rim destroyed, back left tire bent, Trailing arm connection to rear end housing bent, and worse of all the frame in the front was bent. There is probably more wrong with the car which will be discovered upon it being repaired. K Jackson and his dad (Tim) are working on it to try and have it finished by this weekend.

I had a good Heat race, since I had to start in the back and C Jackson (56 - old Hendricks car) started on the pole I really didn’t have a chance at first but 2nd was great since Monett uses passing points. The more cars you pass the better chance you have to start closer to the front during the feature. Sure enough I started on the outside of the front row with Senters (25) on my inside. I beat him to corner 1/2 after the green and found the high side was golden. The track was absolutely ideal for me and it was the fastest I ever ran at Monett. Usually they run 15 laps but they ran 20 because it was a special Modified race also going on. I led all 20 laps and secured my first Monett win. Since this is considered the most difficult track to win at I can say I was shaking afterwords I was so excited. They say if you can win at Monett that you can win anywhere so this trophy I really cherish. I rewatched the video afterwards and some of the fastest cars there were well spaced out behind me…even after the two cautions. I can say that it was one of those rare nights where I truely dominated. Jackson finished 2nd and then Bryant. Nice way to finish off Father’s Day.

I’m not sure if it was me or the car but I really struggled during the heat race…I just couldn’t get things to work. During the feature I passed a few cars, just missed the 33 Red Camaro(Tyrone) when he turned sideway. Not sure how I missed that but Chad (4) was not so fortunate and tore up his car pretty good. I was able to watch the race back on tape afterwords and I was very fortunate that I did somehow manage to miss the number 33. After a few cautions I kept finding myself still in 7th…but I was now in 5th. B Maggard (160) was following J Tillman when Tillman dropped some water on the track which caused Maggard to slip off the track and lose a couple positions. Now in 4th with my brother-in-law Sundance (6 7/8) in front of me he moved up the track (most everyone was running the high side except me but when Sundance glanced back he thought I was up high (which I may have been just for the moment he caught a glance of me) and so I took advantage of my line again and managed to steal 3rd. Bryant won with Tilman in 2nd.

After starting in the back (7th) I managed to work my way up to win my heat. At Midway they draw a number between 1 and 4 and invert the field accordingly. Unfortunately the 4 number was drawn so even though I finished first in my heat I had to start 7th in the feature with B Maggard on my outside. Only two cautions during the race and it looked like Maggard was going to win it when he got caught up in another car and had to go tail back. I kept passing cars to 3rd place and then 29 turned sideways on a restart so on the next restart I was in 2nd. I had to work Lonnie (76) a few laps but finally got him on the inside and led the rest of the 20 lap feature to my first Midway Feature win out of 18 cars. It was a win I was proud of since it was only the second full Feature race for me at Midway.

Here is the write up on their website:
The Factory Stocks again provided another outstanding feature as the 4th different winner in as many point races would be crowned. On the start Lonnie Henderson and Terry Green brought the field down as Henderson took the early advantage with Green close by. On lap 5, Troy White grabbed the 2nd place honors as Steve Schultz, Bobby Maggard, Jr., and Sundance Keepper, Ben Solberg and point contender Dylan Keepper were charging and swapping spots. Green retired with problems on lap 7 ending his night as Henderson continued to lead. Around lap 9, Coca-Cola Fall Brawl champion Maggard, Jr. started his forward movement as he moved into 3rd and then on lap 10, moved around White to grab 2nd place and was closing fast. On lap 10, White spun gathering point contender Bobby Ratterree and Bobby Maggard was collected also with another car as all 3 went to the back of the pack. On the restart, Ben Solberg moved into 2nd place and applied pressure to Henderson while the top side-low side battle was on. On the 14th lap, Solberg took over the top spot and held off a late surge from Henderson to keep the new winners streak alive as Henderson, Steve Schultz, Maggard, Jr. and Dylan Keepper rounded out the top 5.

The track was very rough but Bryant, who started in front of me, seemed to have it down and put a good distance between the two of us…I finished 2nd. I started 8th in the feature and quickly moved up to 5th, Senters turned sideways so I was then in 4th. Tillman, Maggard, Bryant were all way too fast for me so I finished 4th, which is not bad since these are some of the best Factory Stock drivers around (Tillman and Maggard both have been racing for over 20 years). The track was tough to master as only 8 out of 16 cars finished the feature. Bryant won the feature.