LINCOLN, Ill. — The 2024 racing season is officially underway at Lincoln Speedway after three rainouts to start the season.
Believe it or not, despite little to no rain in the forecast, several small spots of heavy rainfall were popping up in Central Illinois making everyone at the track nervous. Fortunately, we made it through the night unscathed and five drivers celebrated season opening victories.
In the 305 sprint cars, veteran Aaron Andruskevitch jumped out to an early lead and fended off a strong challenge from youngster John Barnard. Barnard followed him closely at times ready to pounce but was never able to overtake the No. 21. Following the pair were Evan Turner, Kyle Barker, and Joe Jiannoni.
The MARA Midgets brought another strong field of nearly 20 cars to the track for their 20-lap feature event. Alex Midkiff led early before Patrick Bruns got by for the lead. Bruns lead, however, was short lived as he got into the wall after a couple of laps out front.
Midkiff went on to lead the final five laps to claim the victory. Following him at the finish were Mark McMahill, Mitchell Davis, Jace Sparks, and Tyler Roth.
Longtime Lincoln racer, Mike Brooks led early on in the DIRTcar Modified feature before sliding a little to sideways on the fourth circuit in turn one. Brooks was relegated to the tail for the restart, handing the lead to Jared Thomas. Thomas led for a couple laps before Michael Ledford snuck by to race out front and hold off Mike Chasteen, Jr. for the victory. Brian Lynn, Tim Luttrell, and Guy Taylor completed the top five.
In what may have been the best race of the night, the DIRTcar Pro Late Models had an edge of your seat type race. While the battle wasn’t for the lead, the battles from second on back were outstanding. Dakota Ewing, who is off to a good start this year, arrived late at the track and was racing through the field. Braden Johnson, last year’s champion, and Ewing put on an epic back-and-forth battle of slider after slider going for second. The racing attorney, Denny Woodworth, was also involved as was Ryan Miller. On a late race restart, the four put on a great show racing for podium spots. Meanwhile, Chase Osterhoff was cruising at the front, hitting his marks and going on to the convincing victory. Ewing took second with Johnson, Woodworth, and Miller completing the top five.
Rounding out the night’s action was a pint-sized field of DIRTcar Street Stocks. Jaret Duff raced out front early but didn’t have it easy as Justin Crowell followed closely in second. Eventually Duff was able to get away and claim the feature win. Crowell, Rudy Zaragoza, and Jeremy Madsen completed the top four.
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