Racing returned last Friday at Belle-Clair Speedway with Mike Hammerle posting a win in the UMP Late Model feature.
Third-starting Ken Rumble jumped into second place at the beginning of the race and hounded Hammerle much of the race.
Hammerle went on to win his first feature of the year with Rumble, 10th-starting Michael Kloos, ninth-starting Ed Dixon and Vince Grondzki completing the top five.
Seventh-starting Dean Hoffman claimed his first UMP Modified feature win this season, followed by Kent Robinson, Chris Smith, Lenny Bryant and Paul Reinneck.
Jeff Herzog posted his first career feature win in UMP Sportsman. Rocky Berliew won the Pure Stock feature.
Tonight, Belle-Clair Speedway will present the first of four special races this season celebrating the track's 60th anniversary as the Pure Stock class will run a 20-lap feature.
POWRi Midgets
Belleville native Brett Anderson knows it's early in the 2008 O'Reilly POWRi National Midget Series season, but he carries the most momentum heading into the second and third rounds of competition this weekend.
The series runs tonight at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach and Saturday at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville.
Having won the April 26 season opener at Macon Speedway, Anderson has a 20-point lead over Gary "Bubba" Altig and Davey Ray.
The series will race in conjunction with the World of Outlaws before it arrives at Belle-Clair on Saturday. POWRi's Micro-Sprint division also will be in action Saturday.
Anderson won at both venues last season -- his first and second career POWRi victories -- and will attempt to extend his points lead over Altig and Ray.
Tri-City hosts six POWRi events this season, including the season-ending Gold Crown Midget Nationals. Belle-Clair hosts the series five times.
Danny Stratton and Zach Daum are tied for fourth in points with 160. Defending series champion Brad Loyet has five POWRi victories at Belle-Clair, including three in 2007, and is looking to get back on track after finishing 11th at Macon. Loyet is seventh in series points.
In the POWRi Micro-Sprint division, Eric Edwards won the Macon race and leads the standings by 30 points over Ryan Guyett and Tony Roney.
Belle-Clair pit gates open at 1 p.m. Saturday and general admission gates at 4 p.m., with hot laps at 6 p.m. and racing at 7 p.m.
General admission tickets are $12 each with children 6-under free. Tickets are just $10 at local O'Reilly Auto Parts Stores.
Tri-City Speedway
In Pontoon Beach, the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to Tri-City Speedway tonight, which will mark the 51st event that the series has sanctioned at the track.
Tickets are $32 for reserved seats in the top five rows, $30 for general admission and kids 12-under are free with paid adult.
In 1979, Steve Kinser won the series first stop at the track and the 20-time series champion has won a record 22 A-Feature races at Tri-City.
He has won in 15 different seasons at the track, with his most recent victory coming in 2002. He has 37 career Top-Five finishes at Tri-City Speedway.
Donny Schatz, the two-time defending series champion, will be looking for his first career win at the track. He scored his first 2008 World of Outlaws win last weekend and his first since joining Tony Stewart Racing.
Craig Dollansky, who is the current series point leader, is out in front in the chase for the Qwik Liner Cup, which awards points to the Top-Five qualifiers each race.
Last Friday at Tri-City, Lebanon's Billy Faust put on a dominating performance in the Super Late Model division to earn his second victory in two nights.
Faust led every lap of the main event and took the checkered flag more than a half-track ahead of second-place finisher Rodney Melvin.
In the Modified division, Tommie Seets Jr. held off Ray Walsh to claim the victory.
Alhambra's Bobby Dauderman led all 20 laps of the UMP Pro Late Model feature to earn his first win in that division at Tri-City. Josh Jackson sprinted to victory in the UMP Street Stock division and Bob Zbinden won the UMP 4 Cylinder (Factory Stock) division.
Highland Speedway
The May 3 feature winners at Highland Speedway were Mark Faust in UMP Late Models, Dean Hoffman in UMP Modified, Russell Eilers in UMP Sportsman, Andy Beavers in Street Stock and Matt Hamblin in UMP Hornet.
I-55 Raceway, Pevely, Mo.
In Pevely, Mo., on an unusually cold night last Saturday, two-time and defending I-55 Raceway UMP DIRTcar Late Model Champion Bryan Collins captured his second victory of 2008.
In the UMP DIRTcar Sportsman division, things were looking great for Jason Keller as he pulled out to a big lead in the main event, but a caution flag flew with just five laps remaining.
That brought two-time defending UMP National Champion and I-55 Raceway track champion Troy Naeger right up to his back bumper and Naeger would pull away for his second victory of the season.
Homer Mooney raced to the UMP DIRTcar/AARA Pro 4 Stock victory.
